Perhaps as an apology for tackling her, Finn offered to show Lori around town. Realizing that their errands for Bobby had been the only time she’d left the house since she’d moved in, he explained that there was more to Redwell than roots and dried herbs. Shocked at how quickly she had said yes, he was trying to rack his brain for places to show her that weren't, well, places that sold roots and dried herbs. He wasn’t from Redwell either and most of the things he knew were also from errands he’d run for Bobby.
“You ready?” he turned, hearing her voice float down the stairs. There was a singsong quality to her voice when she was happy, like she could break out into song at any minute or was seconds away from humming something.
“Yep just waitin’ on you. Come on, before it gets too cold out,” he busied himself with putting on a coat and readjusting his hat for the fifth time, instead of watching her.
“Alright, now you two be back before dark, ya hear?” Bobby lectured as he dried his hands off on a dish towel before throwing it onto his shoulder. “Otherwise I will be forced to eat all of your dinner,” he chuckled. Though he heard him mutter “I’d save you some of course, kid” to Lori as he walked past her and held the front door open for them. He had never seen the old man so high spirited or relaxed before. If he didn’t know what he did about the girl, he could easily have assumed they were father and daughter. As they made their way out the door Bobby looked at the back of Lori’s retreating head and mouthed the words not a scratch to him. Finn nodded once and they were off.
Davina was thrilled that the first thing they did was grab something called hot chocolates. The cafe they went to was tiny but smelled of fresh baked bread and pastries. To her surprise she realized it was Miriam Fowler’s bakery, and once the woman saw her she insisted the drinks were free. Her eyes all but lit up when they landed on Finn, but she didn’t know what to call the look she gave the two of them. What she could tell was that the woman still had a bit of guilt about their first interaction. Davina made sure to give her a warm smile before leaving.
The drink was smooth, wonderfully sweet, and felt good in her cold hands as they wandered the town. Although maybe wander wasn’t the right word. Finn seemed to have somewhere in mind, but enjoyed stopping every now and then when she wanted to look at something or walk into a shop. They discovered a new tea shop, where they picked up a few flavored tea bags they thought Robert might like, and a bookstore where Davina tried not to drool over the seemingly endless rows of books. Finn had to all but drag her out once he saw the annoyed looks the owner gave them once he realized they weren’t going to buy anything.
The spot he had in mind was a small patch of shoreline, past the docks and bobbing ships, where there was a small strip of sand and gentle rolling waves. Had she not dipped her toes into it, despite Finn’s cautions, she would have never known that the sea could be so peaceful. The water slowly covered her feet before retreating back into itself, only to lap around her ankles once more, like a shy but playful child. The cliff side overlooking Malden Bay at the shrine hovered over sharp looking rocks, and angry gray water.
They finished their drinks in silence, sitting in the sand while gazing towards the horizon that looked like the edge of the world to Davina. They didn’t stay very long due to the cold air that came off the water that chilled them to the bone, and the fact that her feet were numb with cold once she put her shoes back on, Finn didn’t gloat too much. But her pockets were filled with seashells that clinked together every now and then as they made their way back towards the house.
Davina was surprised at how much fun she’d had with Finn. They’d been getting along better since that day he apologized to her, but she didn’t know that they could get along this well. He had just spent most of the day walking around town with her, making her laugh at awful jokes, talking with her about what living with Robert was like before she moved in, and pointing out shells he thought she might like.
She was so distracted by thoughts of how good the day was, that she completely forgot about the plumes of smoke from the night before. Finn, of course, was quick to notice the bits of charred paper that floated out of the metal trash cans scattered every few blocks. As they chatted about which superpower was the best to have (flight for Davina, and invisibility for Finn), a red crest of Nescio landed in front of him. The six arrows in the fist were burned, and if he sniffed the air hard enough he could still imagine the smell of burning paper.
When the front door groaned in a welcome back, the edges of twilight were beginning to darken the sky, surprising Davina with how quickly the day had flown by. Robert peered around the corner with a look of feigned relief on his face, as if he had been waiting for them. He scoffed about the house being too quiet without them and wanting an invitation to their next adventure. Davina left the room to give him a bit of space when she saw the glimmer of emotion in his eyes as he held the teabags and seashell she’d picked out for him.
It was days like this that could make Davina forget about where she came from. She could pretend that the fabricated story they’d come up with was real, that she had a normal childhood, a normal family. But it was the little things, like the look Finn gave her when she said she didn’t know what hot chocolate was, or how April Saunders didn’t understand how she could never have tried taffy before, or…or how Robert had stared at her in disbelief when she said she’d never worn shoes before, that reminded her that she was different.
It was things like watching a sister get collected right in front of her, that reminded her that she didn’t belong.
⟴
Davina had grown so comfortable with their daily routine of venturing out of the house and collecting things for Robert, that she didn’t even realize November turned into December. What little blue the sky held had hidden itself behind thick pale clouds that threatened snow at a moment's notice. After finishing with the field guide, Robert had begun quizzing the girl on how to treat various ailments with plants. He’d tell her to “find me somethin’ that’ll help with a cough” and would either turn the house upside down or search through the merchant stalls until she found what she was looking for. When she’d come back with yarrow or ginger he would nod once then give her another challenge. “Find somethin’ for depression”, she’d spent the afternoon with Finn rotting through shelves in the house until she found St. John’s wort and chamomile. “Bring me something for a fever”, an evening with Finn bargaining with a seller for tulsi tea, and quickly grabbing some garlic from their pantry.
After a few days of their challenges, Davina started to have a bit of fun with her answers, “cure for an upset stomach?” a handful of grass, surely you’d puke after eating it, then problem solved. Robert shed a few tears from laughing so hard when she came back with hemlock as “the cure for insomnia.” It was the hunt for “a solution to arthritis” that had the pair outside that evening. Amazed that there was no turmeric in the entire house, they were walking towards the heart of town when they heard the screaming.
It was like a caged animal, the way this person wailed and sobbed. The screeching grew louder despite Finn making them stop in the middle of the street. She was looking up into his face for a possible answer when they poured into the street. A woman burst from a house down the block and tore into the street. She was a blur of tattered green skirts, dirty hair that fell into her face, and wide eyes that hadn’t known peace for some time. The woman raced in their direction, the sound of her bare feet slapping the street drowned by her incoherent screams. Three men skidded out of the house after her, not uttering a sound but the hungry and greedy looks in their eyes sent chills down her spine. Even as Finn pulled her behind her she felt a gust of wind and heard their labored breathing as they ran past.
Looking around the wall that was Finn, she watched in horror as one of the men lunged and tackled the woman, sending them both skidding across the ground. Her screams died with one hopeless cry, and as they roughly hauled her to her feet and dragged her towards the direction they had come from. Other people had begun gathering on the street, curious eyes peered out of windows, and people leaned into others to whisper. As the trio of men passed where they stood the woman pleaded for their help.
“-ease! Please! You don’t understand! It’s not what it seems! Everything is a lie! It’s all lies!” The woman coughed up a sob, and would have crumpled onto her knees had one of the men not shoved her forward to keep moving. “The silencing!” Davina gripped onto the back of Finn’s coat, her lungs forgetting how to exhale. “You don’t understand! They’re killing us in the name of a false God!” Her cries of “help me” quickly stopped once she was pushed into a large carriage.
As it drove away, she could see the woman’s face still screaming, still pleading through a small glass window in the back of the carriage. Almost as if she were a puppet on strings, Davina released her grip on the back of Finn’s coat and walked into the middle of the street, the sound of his voice an inaudible whisper. She met the woman’s eyes as they moved further down the street, and in a language she had refused her hands to speak since she said goodbye to Sister Zinnia, gestured the words stay strong sister. The woman’s eyes widened and her screaming mouth stilled. The look of stunned wonder on her face was the last thing she saw as the carriage rounded the corner.
Davina stood there long after the carriage was gone, after the curious faces left their windows, and the street was empty once more. She was aware of Finn standing beside her, silent but oozing worry, but her mind couldn’t let go of the woman’s face. Had she known her? What shrine was she from? What community wore green? How many others were in the city? Were there any others? Or did the only other runaway sister in the world just vanish before her very eyes?
She had never seen a Collector before, but after witnessing that, she could spend her whole life content with never seeing another. What had that woman done to garner their suspicion that she hadn’t?
She hadn’t noticed there were tears in her eyes until her face was buried in Finn’s coat. When he had pulled her in for a hug she wasn’t sure, but she was grateful for the perfume of sea and coffee that invaded her senses. Wrapping her arms around him she let the smell of her homes gently guide her from the labyrinth that was her mind.
It was Finn who broke their embrace first. The normally wide eyes he liked gazing down at were miles away and rimmed with red. Realizing whatever had just happened clearly upset her he turned them around and headed for the house. Maybe Bobby could fix this. The old man had a way of reading her emotions that he just...didn’t. Not that he envied him at all. Nope, not at all. He seemed to know when to let her stare off into space, when to give her a small assignment to do that kept her hands busy, or when to send a cheesy joke her way. Yeah, Bobby will know what to do.
As they stepped into the sitting room, Lori still hadn’t uttered a word, which worried him. As she sat hunched in her chair he couldn’t help but think about how she hadn’t been this quiet around him since he...well, since he refused to talk to her when he first got there. He liked that she talked to him, asked him questions, and still wanted him around.
“Well that was quick.” Bobby shuffled down the stairs, his easy smile falling from his face when he got a glimpse of Lori’s face. He was quick to whip around and ask Finn “what the hell happened?” As he explained about the deranged homeless woman that was taken away by the men, Bobby’s eyes sharpened in understanding and he nodded once before crouching in front of her. Without looking he waved Finn away and slid something out from under the collar of his shirt. As he climbed the stairs, Finn worried about the girl, and wondered how a silver necklace would make things better.
⟴
For the rest of the day, the house was too quiet for anyone’s liking. Davina moved through the house like a ghost, going from staring blankly at an upside down book, to numbly blinking at the fireplace. Finn tried to coax a few words out of her, but when he realized she wasn’t even hearing him, he gave up after a few attempts. Robert gave the girl space.
When Anne left he’d spent years learning as much about the walled-in community as he could. After discreetly asking around he found a woman who’d left her community seven years after her own “ceremony”. Marigold and he communicated for two days through scraps of paper, before she disappeared. In that short amount of time he learned too much. The hierarchy, the one-on-one classes where they drilled false doctrine into your mind, a life spent in silence so one could never speak against the family. It had explained the flat look in her eyes, hopelessness.
He’d woken up on the third day to find the woman missing, with a note thanking him for his hospitality and a warning not to go looking for her. He saw that look in Davina’s eyes sometimes. The emotion would drain from her face and he knew exactly where her mind was. Marigold had been in her shrine for thirteen years, and he knew from her story that first day at the dining room table, that she had been in one since she was around two. He often wondered what she would have been like had she grown up somewhere safe. Then of course he got mad, how could parents leave their kid at a place like that? One thing was certain, whether she was Davina or Lorraine, he would keep that kid safe no matter what it took.
As a way to cheer her up, Robert and Finn started decorating. Having no idea what the holiday was, Davina thought nothing of the boxes they were bringing down from the attic or the hushed whispers when they thought she wasn’t listening. It wasn’t until the two of them hauled a tree into the sitting room that she asked what they were up to.
Robert’s muffled voice came from under the branches of the pine as he screwed the trunk into a metal base, “it'll be Christmas in two weeks, kid.” Before she could open her mouth and ask what the sun Christmas was, he cut her off. “Now I know your momma didn’t celebrate it, but I thought we would this year,” his voice was steady but she saw the wink he sent her through the branches. She nodded quickly, knowing this was a topic a normal kid would probably know about, and it would look odd to Finn if she didn’t.
As if to prove their point Finn inquired what they did every year if not celebrate, from where he was propping up the tree and keeping it straight.
“My wife didn’t really believe in all that 'mumbo jumbo' as she called it.” She was always impressed with how quick Robert was to lie on his feet.
“So what, this is your first Christmas?”
“Yeah, I guess it is.” She smiled at the excitement in Finn’s voice and the glimmer in his eyes that made him look like a little kid. “Do you guys want any help with the-?” She watched as their tree began tilting towards the right and then crashed onto the floor with a magnificent thud. She couldn’t help but laugh at the frozen looks of horror on their faces as they stared at the tree.
Hearing her laugh again was like witnessing nature spring back to life after a harsh winter.
After righting the tree, which Davina didn’t understand but helped with anyway, they set about decorating the thing. The boxes they carried down earlier contained carefully wrapped trinkets and glass balls which they strung onto the branches. She’d never really ventured into the attic before, the layers of dust halting her cleaning frenzie with a series of sneezes, but she never would have guessed that something as delicate as the golden and white teardrop shaped ball was up there. When they were done boxes and packaging were strewn across the floor, the room was cramped with the tree pressed up against the front windows, and her family was happily exhausted.
Robert quickly explained the idea of the holiday while they cooked dinner. He mentioned that for some people the holiday had a deeper religious aspect to it, but that it was merely just a day of gift giving, music, and food for them. If she were honest with herself, Davina relaxed a little when he assured her that there wouldn’t be some spiritual...ceremony attached to the day. She wasn’t quite ready for another religion, and Robert knew it.
Finn found her curled up in her chair beside the fire staring at the tree after dinner. Decorating the tree that afternoon had reminded him of his brother’s clumsily dropping ornaments, their mother telling them to be careful from her own spot on the couch, and how his father always let him place the star on top. He didn’t realize how much he’d missed moments like those until Bobby mentioned giving Lori a full Christmas. He wondered what traditions her and her mother had during the holidays, he could just imagine little Lori with missing teeth and those wide eyes of hers playing in the snow.
Nudging the edge of her chair with his foot he held out a hand when her eyes finally met his. “Come on, we’ve got plannin’ to do,” he said when her eyebrows rose in a what’s up expression.
“Planning for what?” she asked as she let him lead her up the stairs.
They reached the top of the steps and he pulled her into his room, “for tomorrow of course.” Their last outing hadn’t gone so well, and now that she was starting to seem like her old self again, he wanted to do something with her that didn’t result in her crying and gloomy for days.
“Andddd what's tomorrow?” Did he pretend that the smirk she had didn’t make his chest tighter? Yep. He watched as she plopped into the chair behind Bobby’s desk and folded her hands under her chin, head tilted slightly as she waited for his response.
Right, my response. “Tomorrow we’re goin’ shopping,” popping his eyebrows up excitedly, “we’re getting our Christmas shopping out of the way. Trust me,” he waved his hand in front of him dramatically, “you’ll thank me later when you’re not stuck shopping in three feet of snow the day before and all the good stuff is gone.”
Not too sure what to do with that, she simply shrugged and agreed. “So what are we planning for if we’re just going to browse for things in the morning?”
He stared at her blankly before blinking twice, wow you really are new, “you kinda have to figure out what you wanna get the person before you actually go to the stores, Raine.” Pretending too busy himself with straightening the sheets on his cot to hide his face, he turned his back to her, not really sure where Raine had come from.
“Alright,” she said after a moment that felt like hours, “so what were you thinking of getting Robert?”
Clearing his throat, and his foggy mind, he stated “that's why I need you.”
⟴
The next morning found the pair searching for Robert’s gift as the sun rose steadily behind them. Davina knew Robert didn’t want them spending any money on them, so they came up with a gift that was not only fairly priced, but would be beneficial in his daily life. As they poked into various shops and asked around for what they had in mind, she couldn’t help but replay their conversation from last night. Not only had he sat in a room with her for an hour and planned gift ideas, but he had called her Raine. She liked the sound of it. The only other person who had given her a nickname before was Sister Zinnia. Raine. She was so used to being called Lori that the name felt completely separate from Lorraine. The back of her brain knew it wasn’t, and whispered that this boy didn’t even know her true name, but that voice was easy to ignore when she was running in and out of shops with him laughing about the gaudy decorations some of the shops displayed. It was easy to ignore a lot of things when she felt like a normal person.
It took six shops until they found the right gift, but it turned out that lugging it back to the house and hiding it would be the hard part. They each grabbed a corner of the gift and awkwardly lugged it out the shop’s strangely small door, with Finn walking backwards as Davina “expertly” led him down the busy street. He stopped finding the idea of her “accidently” leading him into people, lampposts, doors, and benches, after the first two blocks. Nine blocks later, her sides cramped from laughter, and arms twitchy from the weight of their haul, she saw the welcoming white and blue of 1229 Bell st in her sights.
Their plan was for Davina to go inside and distract Robert while Finn lugged the present upstairs and into her room. Since his room was still technically Robert’s office and he went in there on a daily basis, they both agreed that it would be safer to hide it in her room since he rarely went in there. She wasn’t sure how Finn would carry it up the stairs by himself but he seemed pretty confident that he could, so she skipped up the cracked front steps and called for Robert to help her with getting lunch ready.
Finn entered the kitchen ten minutes later, as they finished slapping the last of the bread onto their sandwiches, without a hair out of place. With his mouth full of food he sent her a smile and a thumbs up when Robert’s back was turned. She hadn’t even heard the front door open! How he could have possibly opened the creaky door, carried the gift up the stairs, and not made a sound was beyond her. He had to show her how he moved so silently one day.
With their joint gift for Robert out of the way, now Davina had to think of what she could possibly get for Finn and Robert, and when she could possibly get the gifts. Robert always wanted Finn to accompany her if she went into town, and he was definitely too nosey not to ask what she was getting, or try to peek into the bags. She’d have to do it secretly. She almost smiled as she mentally blew the dust of her rule breaking ways.
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