Page 3 of Enkindling

The policeman was watching me with renewed interest now, his expression changing from an initial sheepishness to genuine suspicion and concern. He eyed the man and me intensely. For me, however, everything and everyone else had ceased to matter. There were only two people in the whole world at this point. My ragged breaths were not nearly enough to supply my poor brain with the oxygen it needed. My head was spinning.

“W-Will?”I finally managed limply. It was scarcely more than a hoarse whisper. “William Carter?”

“In the flesh,” he admitted rather heavily as he finally turned his gaze upon me. “Hello, Kathleen.”

I felt the strength leave my body immediately as I fell to the ground.

Chapter 2

Specter Reborn

Kathy

I remembered it all as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.

How could I not? It had been the most radical period of my life. Days filled with intoxicating dreams; nights filled with exhilarating adventure… I had been so young then, my zest for life outdone only by my sheer willfulness and naiveté. Flooded with the opium of raw, boundless potential and the allure of new awareness born of adolescence made night perfect; I had embarked upon my Age of Exploration. It was heady. It was glorious. It was magnificent. Youth sang me its siren song, and I followed the music headlong – a girl possessed and driven by forces too potent to resist, too beautiful to reject, too vital to deny. That was how it had been in the beginning. He had been the eye of that storm. And I loved it.

And then it had ended. Suddenly, I had awakened one vile day, utterly shipwrecked by the same siren song that had promised me such wonder. Tears had been useless, though plentiful – they merely added to the same waters in which I would later drown. Nor had the blow been single. In the wake of the first, another was to pierce my poor heart, though I would not know it for a while. But come it had, indeed. The pain of it all was something I would never forget.

***

I woke with a start.

My ears were quicker to respond than my eyes. The clatter of hooves somewhere nearby greeted me before anything else, the sole stimulus for about a fraction of a second. My thoughts struggled to make any sense of it, and there was a sharp spike of panic as I fought to grasp consciousness.

But the rest of my senses caught up quickly. I was lying on my side, and the steady rocking and swaying I could now feel told me I was being driven somewhere. The panic swelled slightly. The next second, the dark fog finally began to retreat, and my eyes were functional again. I turned my head about rapidly for a glimpse of my surroundings and was made to instantly regret the sudden movement courtesy of a dull throb and a wave of dizziness. But images were indeed beginning to swim into focus. I could make out the inside of the carriage. I started to sit up slowly.

My thoughts had far outstripped my senses by now, and with the thought came memory.

Will!

My heart, which had only just begun to slow its beating, started up its hurried palpitations all over again. Had it been real? Surely it must have been. After all, I’d collapsed. I was being driven somewhere, perhaps to the physician.Somethinghad happened, and it had something to do with Will. But how? William Carter was dead.

It was at this point that I finally realized that I wasn’t alone in the carriage. Someone was sitting across from me, as stiff as a board but for the constant motion of the coach, watching me in silence. Sitting up fully now, I turned to see who it was slowly. Partly this was because I’d learned my lesson earlier, partly it was because my heart was in my mouth.Oh, God… It couldn’t be – oh God!

I couldn’t tell whether it was a relief or bitter disappointment when I saw the uniformed officer staring back at me. He wore an easy smile which broadened as our eyes met. He inclined his head respectfully. “Good to see you awake, professor. You had us worried for a bit. I’m Officer Reynolds.”

I returned his smile and his gesture of respect. “My most sincere thanks, sir.”Oh, good; my voice works, at least. I looked around. “Where—?”

“We are taking you home,” he responded instantly. “You have a few friends back in town who were kind enough to give us your address.”

He was right, I saw. The scenery outside the window told me I was mere minutes from home.

“How are you feeling, ma’am?”

Still looking out through the window, I blinked absently before the question registered, then turned to face him again. “A bit light-headed, to be honest. But more lost in thought than anything else. I think I’ll be fine, physically. Thank you for asking.”

“Those seem to be formidable thoughts,” he offered as he studied me closely, his smile fading. “We’re having the physician come by presently, nonetheless. Just to be safe, you understand.”

I nodded.

“Professor, I don’t mean to upset you, but there was a gentleman…” Officer Reynolds said slowly, looking at me right in the eyes. The smile had completely vanished.

There it was. The world stopped again, and my breath caught. So, this was real after all? Those words confirmed it. My hands tightened around the edges of the bench.

“I understand you know him?” he continued. “William Carter, if my memory serves.”

For several seconds I could offer no response. All I could do was sit there staring right back at the officer. And yet, my eyes did not see him. I was looking past him – through him – and the vision that greeted me instead was my seventeen-year-old self. There I was, radiant, and Will Carter was holding me in his armsand looking down at my beaming face with a fierce possessiveness. Then I wasn’t seventeen anymore, and he was gone forever. Then I was back in town, staring in shock at a face I had presumed long dead and being utterly unable to handle it.

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