Free BEYOND THE LOOKING-GLASS: Book One in the BEYOND Series by Gordon Rothwell Page B

here, believe me.”
    “I bet you came to take us back to that awful school,” Jace said.
    “We hate it, Mommy,” Tress chimed in.
    “Children, we came because we love you,” Aleeta pleaded. “We were afraid you might be hurt.”
    “We’re not babies,” Jace replied. “We can take care of ourselves. Mr. Silver here treats us better than anyone at that stupid school ever did.”
    Tress spoke up with a quaver in her voice. “If you take us back to that horrid old school, they’ll punish us. Put us in that metal room with those wires on our heads, to make our minds right. Please, Mommy, don’t make us go back to that awful place again”
    Aleeta crossed over and knelt down next to Tress. She hugged her tightly. “Oh, my dear,” she said, “I’m so sorry. I never knew.”
    Kellen peered over at Long John Silver and his scowling pirates. They had been taking in the whole scene. “Wal, folks,” Long John said, “I think we’uns have a good pictoore of what these here tykes is running away from. Fer one, I sez no. Yer kiddies will stay aboard The Hispaniola . They’ll sail with me and my shipmates at dawn. To the Isle of Treasure. Wi’ or wi’out ye. Make up yer minds what ye decide to do by sun-up.”
     
    ~*~
     
    The bright moonlight shimmered on the lagoon waters like a silvery highway. Aleeta stood next to the schooner’s wooden railing at the schooner’s bow. The only sounds were the constant flapping of the canvas sails in the night breeze and the creaking of the ship’s rigging.
    “Standing there, you look like a mythical Norse goddess.” Kellen stepped out of the shadows into the glare of the moonlight.
    “I don’t feel very mythical. Only small and weak.”
    He placed his strong hands on her shoulders. She patted them, acknowledging her ex-husband’s concern.
    “You were strong enough to get us this far. I can still see the way you handled old Bill Sikes and that giant Jabberwock.”
    Aleeta smiled. “They got me mad.”
    “Yeah. I seem to recall that aspect of your nature.”
    Aleeta began to laugh, but it quickly dissolved into a sob. She tried to fight back her tears. “Oh, Kel, what can we do? I never thought about what would happen if the children didn’t want to go back with us.”
    “They’re kids, Allie. They don’t know what they want. Today, they want to sail off on a big adventure and play pirate. Who knows what’ll catch their fancy tomorrow.”
    He hugged Aleeta to him and she didn’t resist.
    “We’ve got to decide tonight, Kel. What do you think?”
    “I think there’s only one sensible solution. Go along with Long John and his pirates to Treasure Island. What’s waiting for us if we go back? I hate to think what. Falconer and his IPA goons have in store for us. Probably an all-expense paid vacation in one of their lovely re-education camp, or worse. They’re sure to take our kids away, and stick them in some kind of ghoulish rehabilitation facility.”
    She shivered. “I’m so frightened….”
    “Me, too. But we can’t give up. Not after we’ve come so far. When I was on that prison hell-ship I thought I was a goner for sure. But I survived. And we will, too. I promise.”
    “What if the chamber’s solar-powered generator fails? Or if the IPA police destroy the unit altogether?”
    “I’m willing to risk it, if you are.”
    “Oh, darling, I don’t know...”
    “We’ll be together as a family again. I say we can lick anything the fates throw at us. How about it?”
    She bit her lip, then smiled and nodded. “I don’t know how long we’ll have, dearest. But I say it doesn’t matter so long as we’re together. Let’s weigh anchor and sail for that Isle of Treasure in the morning.”
    Kellen kissed her and wrapped his arms about her in a tight bear hug.
    They stayed that way, as they looked out at the moon-streaked lagoon and the beckoning horizon they’d be heading for quite soon.
     
    ~*~

FIFTEEN
     
    At dawn, Anton stumbled out of a