20: Zigana's Cure

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#CC9900" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="047005a0dwnjzk.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cassies Writing"><U><B>home</B></U></A><B>     | </B><B> </B><B> </B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Cassie's Writing</B></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id109.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1: Stolen Memories"><U><B>1:  Stolen Memories</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2: A Complex Puzzle"><U><B>2:  A Complex Puzzle</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id111.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="3: Peeling the Onion"><U><B>3:  Peeling the Onion</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="4: Secrets Revealed"><U><B>4:  Secrets Revealed</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id113.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="5: Going Home Again"><U><B>5:  Going Home Again</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="6: ThingintheBox"><U><B>6:  Thing-in-the-Box</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="7: Challenging the Leviathan"><U><B>7:  Challenging the Leviathan</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="8: Circling the Wagons"><U><B>8:  Circling the Wagons</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id118.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="9: Jebs Curse"><U><B>9:  Jeb's Curse</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id119.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="10: Spell of Jealousy"><U><B>10:  Spell of Jealousy</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id120.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="11: Carrying the Weight"><U><B>11:  Carrying the Weight</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id121.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="12: A Fiendish New Year"><U><B>12:  A Fiendish New Year</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id122.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="13: Barnabas Crisis"><U><B>13:  Barnabas' Crisis</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id123.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="14: Barnabas in Parallel Time"><U><B>14:  Barnabas in Parallel Time</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id124.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="15: Clues to Disaster"><U><B>15:  Clues to Disaster</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="16: Demons Possession"><U><B>16:  Demon's Possession</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id126.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="17: Breach of Trust"><U><B>17:  Breach of Trust</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id127.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="18: Labyrinth of Emotions"><U><B>18:  Labyrinth of Emotions</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id128.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="19: The Amanda Dilemma"><U><B>19:  The Amanda Dilemma</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><B>20:  Zigana's Cure</B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id130.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="21: The Approaching Storm"><U><B>21:  The Approaching Storm</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id131.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="22: Enigma at Collinwood"><U><B>22:  Enigma at Collinwood</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id132.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="23: Reunion in Hell"><U><B>23:  Reunion in Hell</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id133.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="24: Scattered Through Time"><U><B>24:  Scattered Through Time</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>20:  Zigana's Cure</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id107.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Alternate Destiny"><U><B>Alternate Destiny</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>      The trip to Mount Tremper was a waste of time, Quentin thought irritably.  Katie and Rolf were at Joe and Edle's when he arrived back.  Relieved, Quentin went hunting for a guest book.  He'd been searching intently for several minutes when he became aware that he was being watched.  He turned around and found Kat watching him, the familiar teenage scowl on her pretty face.  He'd seen a similar expression on Amy's face more often than he cared to remember.  "Kat, you scared me," he scolded.</div> <div>      "Yeah?  Well, what are you doing, Quentin?" Kat asked.</div> <div>      Quentin straightened up and looked at her with disbelief.  "What do you mean, what was I doing?"</div> <div>      "Why are you rooting around in my parents' stuff?"</div> <div>      "You don't think I was going to steal from them, do you?"  Quentin was insulted.  "Hey, look, help me out here-where's the guest book?"</div> <div>      "What for?"</div> <div>      Quentin wasn't used to being interrogated by children.  He was about to ask Kat just who she thought she was but realized that she was just being protective of her parents' things.  "It's nothing sinister, Kat, don't you trust me?"</div> <div>      Kat relented suddenly.  "Sorry," she mumbled, pulling open a drawer and pulling out a book.  She put in on the counter in front of him.  "There you go!"</div> <div>      He was tempted to ask her to keep this a secret from her parents.  <I>Bad idea,</I> he decided and just hoped she would.  <I>It doesn't matter.  I'll tell them the truth-that I just wanted to find out where Amanda was staying.</I>  He opened the book to yesterday's entry.  His name wasn't there.  Relieved, he realized that Katie and Rolf considered him family, not a guest.  Olivia Corey, however, had signed in after midnight and was still a guest in the reconverted mill.  He closed the book carefully and slipped it back into the drawer.  He looked at Kat, who was still watching him steadily.  "See?  No biggie.  I'll see you later, okay?"          </div> <div> The May Day festival started at eleven and would continue until eleven that evening.  The big oompah band was already playing by the time the Baumgartners and Quentin got there at noon.  There was a big tent, large enough to accommodate a dance floor and a hundred tables and chairs.  For those who weren't lucky enough to get a table under the tent, hundreds more tables had been set out in the sunshine.  In addition to the band, there were rows and rows of vendors selling German wursts, beer, soda, good old American hamburgers, desserts, and souvenirs.  Another two tents had been set up on either side of the bandstand; these held the craft tables.</div> <div>      Quentin was surprised to see how crowded it was already, only an hour into the festival.  They'd just managed to find a table under the tent, and the girls were already ravenous.  Quentin, though, was in the mood to dance.  He liked dancing.  Since Rolf immediately joined the long beer line, that left Katie free, so Quentin led her to the dance floor.  Dancing with Katie reminded him of waltzing with Beth in Vienna.  The memory didn't hurt as much today; perhaps because the setting was so different.  Polkas and waltzes were both three step dances, but that's where the resemblance ended.  After the second dance, Katie was out of breath and begged off.</div> <div>      "Okay, why don't I get something to eat for us, then?"  Quentin noted that Rolf and the younger girls had returned with something to eat and drink, and that Joe had brought lunch back for his wife and himself, too.  "What can I get you, Katie?  Bratwurst?  Knockwurst?"</div> <div>      "Ach, I'm sick of the German food now!  How about a hamburger, Dad?  That's what I'd really like!"</div> <div>      He laughed.  "Traitor!  Okay, hamburgers, then."  He started off for the hamburger line and noticed Lisa strolling along.  He thought at first that she might be checking out the different booths but then realized she wasn't looking at anything.  He veered over to her and took her by the elbow.  "Liese?"  He asked, concerned.</div> <div>      She gave him a glassy-eyed look.  "Oh, there you are.  I see you managed to tear yourself out of Mutti's arms for a few seconds.  Playing fetch, are you?"</div> <div>      He realized with dismay that she was stoned.  "Liese, let's get something to eat.  If you'd wanted to dance with me, why did you disappear so fast?"  She had no answer.  He didn't need one, of course--she'd preferred the joint to the dance.  She stopped short when she saw which line they were going to.</div> <div>      "I don't want that," she said rebelliously.  "I want funnel cake."</div> <div>      "Fine," he said to mollify her.  "I want a hamburger.  Wait with me here, and then I'll go get a funnel cake for you--okay?  And hang out with me, and then I'll dance the next polka with you.  Come on, Lisa, please?"  He hated pleading and cajoling her.  He was beginning to believe the only answer for Lisa was a drug rehab program.</div> <div>      "Christ, all right," she said irritably.  She fished a pair of sunglasses out of her purse and let him lead her to the hamburger line.</div> <div>      "Besides, you can give me a hand carrying everything," he went on.</div> <div>      She grimaced at him.  "I don't think so.  I think you're going to be a real sweetheart and buy me the largest funnel cake they've got."</div> <div>      "Sure," he agreed.  "How much did you smoke?"</div> <div>      "What are you, a cop?  I don't have to tell you anything."</div> <div>      "No, but we had an agreement."</div> <div>      "It didn't include smoking, Quentin.  You're not going to be too square about that, are you?"</div> <div>      "No, don't get mad."  He didn't want a scene in public.  "I smoke, too, you know.  Why didn't you share?"</div> <div>      "You were BUSY at the time."</div> <div>      "Sorry.  Look--you get the next dance, all right?  And I get the next smoke? That's okay?"</div> <div>      She smiled and moved closer to him.  "The next kiss?"</div> <div>      "Lisa, come on!"</div> <div>      She gave him a very seductive smile.  "Hey, you wanted me to stay away from your cokehead girlfriend, didn't you?  And you're right-she is a real hophead, Quentin.  What do you see in her?"  Quentin didn't say anything-what could he say? "Behind the tent--with the next smoke. And that's after the next dance."  She looked sunny again, and he was relieved.  He wasn't concerned about the kiss; he'd evaded Pansy Faye and Charity Trask and they were much more formidable than Lisa ever could hope to be. She had no chance-he wasn't kissing his granddaughter, at least not the way she wanted to be kissed.  He got hamburgers and Cokes for himself and Katie and a huge funnel cake for Lisa.  When they returned to the table, Katie gave Lisa a concerned look and asked, "Is that all you're going to eat?"</div> <div>      Lisa rolled her eyes.  "For God's sake, don't be a bug up my ass, motherrrrrrrr!  I have all day to eat."</div> <div>      Quentin didn't say anything, but he thought he'd like to smack the back of her head--just the way Edward had smacked him for some smart retort at the table.  He laughed at himself.</div> <div>      Katie, who was already feeling exasperated and put upon, asked in an aggravated tone, "WHAT is so funny?"</div> <div>      "Anneliese," Quentin replied, recovering quickly.  He imitated her voice: "Motherrrrrr!"  He continued in a similar whiny tone, "It just sounds soooooo childish!" Lisa kicked him under the table, and he kicked her back. Katie smiled briefly in appreciation.</div> <div>      " Hier habe ich geholt uns einen Krug Bier, ja? Gestatten Sie?" Rolf asked, asking to pour a large cup of beer for Quentin.  Lisa rolled her eyes angrily. Rolf's face was already bright red with exertion and drink.  The pitcher he carried sloshed over a little.</div> <div>      "Vielen dank," Quentin replied.</div> <div>      "Bitte sehr," Rolf replied.  "Keine Ursache."  You're welcome, don't mention it.</div> <div>      "Good, then I can have your soda."  Lisa grabbed Quentin's coke and drank half of it in one gulp.  Then she tore into the funnel cake, licking the sugar off her fingers with deep pleasure.  As they finished eating, the band began to play "The Beer Barrel Polka", which always aggravated Rolf because it was a Polish polka and not German.  In spite of his disillusionment with the Nazis, he still had an ingrained dislike for Poles.</div> <div>      "Wollen wir tanzen?"  Quentin asked Lisa, indicating the dance floor.</div> <div>      Lisa stood up.  "Only if you speak to me in English, Quentin.  I'm NOT Deutsche, dig?  I'm American.  Talk to me in American, not Nazi!"   She answered in a very nasty tone.  Katie's mouth dropped open, and Rolf went an even deeper shade of red.</div> <div>      Quentin got up abruptly.  "Entschuldigung," he said politely to Rolf and Katie, which simply meant, "Excuse me."  He grabbed Lisa by the elbow and pulled her with him before either of her parents could recover their powers of speech.  As he pulled her toward the dance floor, he asked her angrily, "What the hell is the matter with you, Anneliese?  That was really rude!"</div> <div>      "Oh, give me a break!" Lisa snapped back.  "Why do you always take their part?"</div> <div>      People sitting at the tables heard them arguing, and heads turned.  They were almost to the dance floor now, and he had her firmly by the elbow.  "Do you want to dance, you little bitch? Or do we talk about this and straighten it out?"</div> <div>      "Talk!"</div> <div>      "Let's go," he snapped, leading her around the periphery of the dancers.  They went out the other side of the tent, and he hoped that Rolf and Katie were distracted enough not to notice that they were leaving the dance area and heading for the crafts tent.  He took her beyond the tent.  There was a public restroom, and beyond that, trees.  He walked her all the way to the trees, far and apart from everyone.  He let go of her then`.  "Lisa, you make me so damn mad--" he began.</div> <div>      "And you piss me off too, Quentin!  What is this thing you have for my <I>mother?</I>   You're always sticking up for her and Vati!  So-do you have a thing for my mother or something?"</div> <div>      "Maybe I do!" Quentin answered heatedly.  It was true, and it stopped Lisa cold.  "Look, don't you know anything about your parents at all?  I can't believe you'd know about what happened to them and then call them Nazis!"</div> <div>      "They haven't told me a damn thing.  So why don't you, since you know so much about it?" Lisa demanded.</div> <div>      "Fine!"  Quentin snapped, and then took a deep breath.  "What do you know about your grandparents?"</div> <div>      "Nothing--other than they're dead."</div> <div>      "Okay, let me tell you what happened to them, first.  Your dad's parents--they were rounded up by Nazis--what you just call your parents.  They were accused of being dissidents.  They're gone-most likely murdered.  They were labeled dissidents because of what your father did.  He--he helped an informant escape from the Nazis."  Quentin had begun pacing, heatedly, while Lisa listened, open-mouthed with astonishment.  Quentin took a deep breath.  He wanted to tell her, but not as if he knew if first-hand.  He put the memories of Rolf and Sean Culhane and the prison out of his mind.  He refused to think about Joachim and Hans and the torture they inflicted on him, as well.  "Your father was fortunate enough to be smuggled out of the country," he went on softly.  "By a member of the underground."  The next part was more difficult--it was about Beth.</div> <div>      "Your grandmother," he began and stopped, his voice wavering.  Then he began again.  "Your grandmother was an American citizen, but she was arrested for espionage..." His voice trailed off.  He couldn't help himself.</div> <div>      "What happened to her?" Lisa asked quietly.</div> <div>      He cleared his throat, fighting to hold back his tears.  "She was a--a nurse and she volunteered to help out.  Well, what she did was, she was smuggling Jews out by giving them the papers of the Christian patients that died."</div> <div>      "She DID?  Cool!"  Lisa was very impressed.  "Did my mother know this?"</div> <div>      Quentin thought about it.  "Yes, but not until years later," he said finally.  He didn't want Lisa pestering Katie with painful questions.  "Your mother left Austria after Hitler came in and took over.  A lot of your grandmother's covert activities happened after that."</div> <div>      "Oh, wow, you mean Mom was evacuated?  How old was she?"</div> <div>      "Almost sixteen," Quentin replied softly.  He remembered the painful parting.  Katie didn't want to go.  None of them did, really. In spite of what happened to Nora and Peter, it was the right thing to do.  Getting them out hadn't saved Nora or Peter, but it had spared Mrs. Cleary, Mary Jane, and Katie.  They never would've survived after he and Beth had been arrested.</div> <div>      "God!  Where'd she go?  What happened to my grandfather?"</div> <div>      "She went to London and then to Washington D.C. with Mrs. Cleary, the family caretaker.  After that, she went to some relatives in Minnesota.  Eventually she met your father."</div> <div>      "So what happened to her mother?  After she was arrested?"</div> <div>      "She was taken to East Berlin.  She kind of got lost in the shuffle when the Russians came in at the end of the war.  We don't know where she is now."  Quentin felt himself becoming emotional again.  "Your real grandfather was a hero cop in Chicago.  He was killed before your mother was born.  But your grandmother remarried--Joe Fisher.  And he was arrested, too, for espionage.  And he's gone, too."</div> <div>      "Far fucking out," Lisa whispered. "I didn't know.  They never told me."</div> <div>      "It probably hurts too much."</div> <div>      "It hurts you now.  Why?"</div> <div>      "Did you ever see a picture of your grandmother, Anneliese?  Your mother looks like her, and you look like your mother."</div> <div>      "Really?  You think I look like my mother?"  Lisa didn't seem to have heard the comparison to Beth.  "What's that got to do with you?  Where do you fit in all this?  You are related to Aunt Mary, aren't you?"</div> <div>      "Yes," he answered truthfully.  "I guess I'm just a sensitive guy."  He didn't know how else to explain it.  He was beginning to remember those days now--how cold and damp it was in the prison cell; he didn't know what had happened to Beth after they moved her a second time and Rolf-who was one of his guards-was no longer able to smuggle messages back and forth between them.  He remembered that he lay on the floor and cried, wishing he could die, on the days when they beat him until the blood ran.  And there was always Joachim, grinning, watching and waiting to see how long it would take for the blood to stop and the stripes to heal--taunting him, promising him more to come.  He wondered what they'd done to Beth.  Sean and Rolf had saved him--but they were unable to save Beth.  </div> <div>      Lisa's arms went around him gently.  "I guess you are a sensitive guy, Quentin.  You didn't know any of them, did you?  My grandparents?"</div> <div>      "Yes, I did," he answered without thinking.</div> <div>      Lisa stiffened.  "How--?"</div> <div>      He felt very dizzy all of a sudden.  His heart was pounding and he thought he might faint.  He recognized it--he was panicking.  It was the way he felt before they'd drag him out of his cell.  "When I was a little boy," he said softly, barely audible.  He pulled up the vague memories of his mother to help him lie his way through this one.  "I met your grandmother.  She held me."  He described very shadowy memories of a loving moment between mother and son--he changed the identity of the woman to fit Beth.</div> <div>      "I didn't know you were ever in Germany back then," Lisa marveled.</div> <div>      "I really don't remember it," Quentin replied, feeling the panic receding.  Lisa held his face in her hands and kissed him.  Then she put her head on his shoulder and held him.  It was a very gentle kiss, non-demanding, given in an attempt to comfort him, and he appreciated it.  He hugged her back, tightly.</div> <div>      The band had stopped playing.  Quentin shuddered as they played "Ein Prosit", a traditional drinking song.  He'd heard it so often during the war...it had stopped bothering him over the years, but now with the memories washing over him, the song took on a sinister tone to him.  Lisa felt him shudder and stepped back.  "You're so pale, Quentin.  This really gets next to you, doesn't it?"</div> <div>      "Yeah, I guess it does," he answered softly.  The song was only a few lines long and ended.  The band had started up again, this time playing a German polka.  Quentin took a deep breath.  "So-do you want to dance?"</div> <div>      She nodded.  Holding hands, they walked back to the tent and joined the other dancers whirling around.  The next song the band played after that was a waltz.  Quentin hesitated but then went ahead and danced it with Lisa, trying to block thoughts of Beth from his mind.  He was relieved, though, when it ended and the band took up "The Chicken Dance".</div> <div>      "No, not for me," Lisa laughed, shaking her head and turning away.  It was a silly, childish dance, but it was a lot of fun so Quentin willingly let himself be grabbed by the hand and dragged back to the dance floor by Kat.  The band took a break after that, and Quentin thought about getting something to drink.  He was thirsty now.  </div> <div>      "Come on, Kat, I'll get you a coke," he offered.</div> <div>      "Can I show you something else, please?  It is soooooooooo gorgeous!" Kat wheedled.  She was in a sunny mood today.</div> <div>      He looked at her and sighed.  Little girls always got the best of him.  "Cokes first, then show me this gorgeous whatever it is."  Kat jumped up and down with delight.  After he'd bought them cokes, she took him inside one of the craft tents.  It was hot and crowded under the vent.  Dozens and dozens of vendors had tables set up underneath, selling souvenir flags, tee shirts, banners, mugs and steins.  The deeper they walked into the tent, the more impressive the wares became--handmade tapestries, jewelry, lederhosen, dirndyls, clay pipes, and dolls, among other things.  Quentin was hot, though, and he'd never cared for this kind of shopping anyway.  "Where is this thing?"  he asked Kat, after she'd stopped and fingered the fifth object at the fifth table in a row.</div> <div>      Pouting a little, Kat moved on ahead.  She led him to a table with jewelry, some of which had been made from blown glass.  Apparently what she'd been taken with was a blown-glass swan, about six inches tall, very delicately beautiful and very fragile.  It was also very expensive.  As Quentin considered the purchase, he was glad that the vendor was busy demonstrating how to make a blown glass animal.  She was an old woman, very thin, with long white hair.  "It's beautiful, Kat, but these things break if you look at them cross-eyed," Quentin said.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the old woman turn toward him, attracted by his voice.  He expected she'd move in and start to protest what he said.</div> <div>      "I'm not a child.  I wouldn't play with it, Quentin!"  Kat tugged on his sleeve, nearly jumping up and down.  She was restraining herself probably only because it would make her seem childish.  "Please?  I'd put it on my dresser and leave it there and just look at it everyday!"</div> <div>      The old woman was looking at him directly now.  He didn't think Katie would be that angry with him, having pulled the same tricks herself.  "Oh, all right," he gave in, reaching into his pocket.  He could feel the old woman's eyes on him, and they were beginning to unnerve him.  He pulled out his wallet and opened it, looking for the first time into the old woman's face.  He intended to ask why she was staring at him.  Instead, he found himself speechless.  He knew this woman--something about the eyes.  He had a flash of memory, flashing, dark eyes, and long dark hair, which hung in ringlets about her shoulders...</div> <div>      "My pretty one has returned," the old woman said in a voice roughened by drink, by smoke, and by age.  Her eyes twinkled with humor.</div> <div>      "CaraLinda!"  He'd last seen her in Chicago, in 1925, during the ceremony in which Petofi's hand was to be reclaimed by the gypsies.  He'd often wondered what had happened to her.  It was she he'd expected to find in Hunter, but certainly not at a German May day festival.</div> <div>      "You know each other?"  Kat was clearly surprised.</div> <div>      "My name is Zigana, not this other name you call me," the woman said, smiling broadly and winking.  "You buy the pretty swan for your little girl, yes?"</div> <div>      "Yes," Quentin replied.  There was so much he wanted to ask, but he knew CaraLinda.  He'd see her again very soon.  Zigana completed the purchase.  She put a card into Quentin's hand.  "You come see my shop.  Maybe you like to buy more pretty things for the little girl, no?"</div> <div>      "Yes," Quentin said again. Zigana carefully placed the swan into a box and then put it into a bag, handing it over to Quentin.  Their hands touched briefly.  She winked at him again. "Come on, Kat, let's go back to the table," he said, putting his arm around the girl and giving her the bag.</div> <div>      "Who was that, Quentin?" Kat asked.</div> <div>      "Oh, I was mistaken.  I thought her name was CaraLinda," he lied.  "You heard her--her name is Zigana."</div> <div>      She immediately forgot about it, and skipped ahead, eager to show everyone her swan.</div> <div>      Toward dinnertime, Katie said to Quentin, "We really should go back.  Some of the guests will want to eat at the restaurant.  Our first seating is at six."</div> <div>      This was a new experience, too.  He was enjoying himself, finally, and didn't really want to go.  He also didn't want to create any difficulties, so he tried to ask diplomatically, "Do you need me to come back, too?"</div> <div>      Immediately Kat and Kristin said, "If Quentin stays, can we stay too?"  He realized then that he'd created a problem, especially because of the look of irritation on Katie's face.  Rolf wouldn't be much good at anything; he'd drunk a lot of beer.  That left just Joe and Katie to run the restaurant.  There was also a logistical problem--how would he get everyone back to the inn?</div> <div>      "I think I should go back too," he said immediately.  When the girls began to protest, he added, "Hey, come on, we can come back tomorrow, right?"  Katie smiled at him gratefully, which made up for the loss of an enjoyable evening out.</div> <div>      Lisa decided to get on the bike with him, which made her two younger sisters complain about life being unfair.  They had to be getting tired to be whining like that--they'd be lots of fun helping out in the restaurant tonight.  Helping out--that wasn't a completely new concept to Quentin.  He'd grown up with servants tending to his needs but once he'd left Collinwood, he'd learned to shift for himself, cooking, cleaning, and even sewing.  He could make meals for a small number of people--but a restaurant!</div> <div>      "Now you're gonna get put to work," Lisa said teasingly, putting his arms around his waist.  "You're not going to get to do the easy stuff like Joe.  He doesn't like to get his hands dirty so he'll get to bartend.  Not you--you're too good a sport."</div> <div>      "Oh, yeah?  What am I doing?  Washing the dishes?"  Quentin asked, starting the bike up. Lisa laughed in his ear and didn't reply. Oh, jeez, he thought.  Sure enough, Katie put Kat and Quentin to work bussing the tables and washing the dishes.  Rolf was too far gone to do much beyond sit at the bar, propped up on his elbows with a silly smile on his face, greeting the guests who came in.  Katie served as the hostess, and the two older sisters acted as the waitresses.  As for Edle, even she was in the kitchen working--she did all the cooking.  Quentin had quickly made a deal with Kat--she could bring all the dirty dishes in to him, he'd wash them and throw in another blown glass animal for her.  The water was really hot, though. "Shit!" he complained.</div> <div>      "It has to be that hot--Board of Health," Edle explained.  "Put gloves on."  He looked at the gloves she indicated with distaste.  "Don't worry, Quentin, when you get the hang of this, Katie'll have you seat the guests.   A face like yours doesn't belong back here."     He looked at her, startled, and realized she was looking at him very closely.  He blushed, and she laughed.  "But you know that already, don't you?" she asked, in a knowing manner.  </div> <div>      He had a feeling she was coming on to him a little bit.  It was flattering; she was pretty--but he already had enough of a mess on his hands without throwing in another member of the family--who happened to be married to Beth's grandson.  No, that would be too much, so he let the remark slide.</div> <div>      The Hideaway Chalet had two seatings for dinner, at six and at seven.  The guests were all gone by 8:15 and with everyone working together, the place was cleaned up and closed by nine.  Katie looked worn out, and Rolf barely had his eyes open.  It had gotten dark outside, so when Quentin wandered down the path toward Lisa's cottage, he knew no one would see him. One sister was on the phone for the night; the other was sitting in front of the TV.  No one even noticed him leave the restaurant.</div> <div>      Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, and the restaurant was even busier than it had been the day before.  They were all exhausted by the time they closed for the evening.  On Monday, he was eager to be off to find Zigana's shop in town. </div> <div>      Zigana's gift shop was tiny; he'd overlooked it the first time he'd passed through Hunter.  It was closed when he arrived; the hours posted on the door said ten, and it was past that now.  He waited patiently, knowing that gypsy time was different from regular clock time.  About a half-hour later, just as he was getting tired of just sitting there, he saw her coming slowly up Main Street.  She saw him, too, and her step visibly quickened.</div> <div> He got off the bike and went to meet her.  "Ah, the pretty one has returned at last!" she said, taking him by the arms to look at him.  "You look no different than the last time I saw you, while I--I have changed much over the years."</div> <div>      "But you've aged well, CaraLinda."</div> <div>      "Pah!  Always with the sweet talk, words like honey.  It's all right; it's good for an old woman once beautiful to hear that she has 'aged well.' Come, we talk inside.  I'm not so busy on Mondays.  You come on a good day."  She opened the door to the shop and let them in. She had blown glass ornaments and animals and larger figures on display, as well as jewelry made of copper and silver.  She even had a few tapestries hanging up.  </div> <div>      Quentin looked around appreciatively. She had a working area in the back, with the equipment she needed to fire the glass until it melted and then remold it into the wondrous shapes that had taken form.  "You made all of these?"</div> <div>      "Most, yes.  Learned glass-making from a man--a good man, Sergev.  He's gone, now."</div> <div>      "You know about Dave?" He wasn't sure why he asked that; it had been so long ago.</div> <div>      "Yes, I read about him in the newspaper.  I was sorry. He was a good man."</div> <div>      Quentin nodded.  "You know, I looked for you after--after all that happened in Chicago.  Beth and I tried to find you, but you had already gone."</div> <div>      "I knew in the barn that I was in danger.  I could not wait to warn you.  He--he did not find you again?"  CaraLinda sounded both guilty and concerned; her dark eyes filled with painful memories.</div> <div>      "I saw Gustav," Quentin began, and CaraLinda crossed herself.  She knew, then. "How did it happen?"</div> <div>      "I don't know.  It was at the end, before Petofi's life left his body.  I could tell there was something different about Gustav, but I wasn't sure what...I thought it was the strain of the ceremony.  Suddenly, he looked at me with such an evil expression that I just KNEW in my heart what had happened.  And so I fled.  My sister--Lucia--she went mad.  Did you know this?"</div> <div>      "No, we got the hell out of Chicago after I talked to Gustav.  He has the hand?"</div> <div>      CaraLinda smiled faintly.  "Had he the hand, you would have heard from him again by now.  Have you?"</div> <div>      "Well," Quentin shifted his feet uncomfortably.  "I can't be sure.  There was a Nazi guard--I just don't know, CaraLinda."</div> <div>      "And your beloved, Beth--what of her?"  Now he felt the crushing sadness again, remembering how it was CaraLinda who'd helped Beth remember who she'd been in her previous life.  CaraLinda had served as a witness to their marriage at Al Capone's club before all the trouble really began.  "What has happened to her?"</div> <div>      He began to tell her, right from the time they left Chicago and fled to Cuddeback.  He told her about the two years they spent in Washington before being sent to Vienna; he as a special agent posing as a newsman and she as a nurse willing to work in the Viennese hospital.  They'd brought Nora, too, and gotten her in to see a specialist who helped ease her depression.  He wanted Zigana to hear that there had been many good years and many happy times--parties, dancing, walking along the Danube, picnicking, playing with the children.  The good years had been followed by the dark ones--the ever-growing Nazi threat, the Anschluss, evacuating the family from Vienna, Nora's death, Peter killed in the skies over London, the oppression of the occupation, the arrests, and the torture.  He told her about being rescued by Rolf and smuggled out by Sean Culhane, insisting that Rolf come along.  Beth had been left behind--that was the hardest part to talk about.  </div> <div>      Zigana had listened to it all silently, patting him from time to time to comfort him.  When he told her about Joachim, her alert eyes brightened, and she looked at him sharply.  "You feel this may have been Petofi?"</div> <div>      "I thought so--although he never admitted it.  I never saw him before--not until they figured out there was something unusual about the way I'd recover so fast...I wonder if they did those things to Beth, too?  I never got a chance to ask her."</div> <div>      "Is better not to know sometimes," CaraLinda answered swiftly.  "You have suffered much, my friend.  You come to me for help again, is that not so?"</div> <div>      He told her about the dreams--Jenny's visits, especially the most recent one.  He was sure that Jenny was talking about CaraLinda.  The clues all fit.  She'd once been young and was old now; she was going by another name.  He desperately wanted to help Chris and Amy, not only because they were family but so that Beth could be found again.  He was worried that CaraLinda would tell him that it was impossible; that she didn't have the ability to cure the curse.</div> <div>      She took him by the hands.  He was surprised when she gently brought each hand to her mouth and kissed it.  "You do not ask for yourself; you ask for your family.  It is good. You have done much to help us.  I will do this for you--it is the least I can do.  Bring the two who suffer to me here, and I will help you."</div> <div>      Overwhelmed, he hugged her.  "CaraLinda, I would be grateful, so grateful--" he said huskily.</div> <div>      "It is the least we can do for you, my friend," she whispered.  "Do not delay, my pretty one. I have felt a gathering darkness; I have felt it approaching from a distance.  It draws nearer to me.  Go to your home and bring the young man and the little girl back to me--this week, if you can.  Hurry!"</div> <div>      He thought she was referring to her own impending death.  Frightened, he sensed her urgency and promised to leave right away and bring Chris and Amy back with him.  Zigana gave him a hug and kissed him on both cheeks.  "God protect you," she said softly, as if blessing him.</div> <div>      He left and went straight back to the Hideaway.  Parking his bike, he ran up to his room and began packing enough things for an overnight trip to Cuddeback.  The door opened, and Lisa poked her head in.  "Where've you been?" she asked, in a complaining tone.  She saw what he was doing.  "Where ya goin?"</div> <div>      "I need to take care of something in Cuddeback. It's too complicated to explain, Liese.  I'll only be gone overnight--I need to get help for--for some cousins of mine."</div> <div>      "Wha-at?  When did this all happen?"</div> <div>      "Sort of suddenly.  Is your mom in the restaurant?"</div> <div>      "No, she went shopping.  Papa dear is there, though," Lisa replied sullenly.</div> <div>      Quentin was dismayed about the delay in leaving, but he didn't want to go without explaining to Rolf and Katie.  They knew most of the story--not all the details, but the most important ones.  They knew there was a curse on his family but not the specifics. Lisa, though, knew none of it, and he didn't want her to find out.  She was too unstable to begin with, and Quentin didn't trust her because of her connection to Amanda.</div> <div>      Rolf was dusting off the bar glasses.  They didn't really need to be, but it seemed to give him something to do.  He had poured himself a draft beer.  "Guten tag, Quentin," he said.  He added that Quentin had missed lunch.  Did he want a beer?</div> <div>      "Danke sehr," Quentin answered, accepting the glass.  He knew Rolf preferred to converse in his native language whenever he could, so he asked in German when Katie might be back.</div> <div>      " Nicht zu lang. Sie verließ gerade, um einige Sachen zu erhalten. Obgleich mit Frauen -- wer weiß?"  He rolled his eyes and laughed.  Quentin laughed to, remembering the short shopping trips that Amanda would take that turned into all take jaunts.</div> <div>      " Ich muß zurück zu Pennsylvania gehen und Chris und Amy erhalten. Ich muß sie hier holen," Quentin explained urgently. "Denken Sie Sie würden haben Raum für sie, Rolf?"  He was pretty sure that Rolf would be willing to put his family up here.</div> <div>      " Sicher, überprüften die meisten unseren Gästen heraus bereits. Wir können sie über die Halle, in die anderen anschließenden Räume oben setzen."  Rolf answered genially.  Quentin sighed.  It would be good to have Chris, Sabrina and Amy right across the hall from him.  Rolf blew on a glass and then rubbed it industriously.   He asked curiously, " Was ist oben? Es gibt nichts, das geschieht um hier."</div> <div> It was true, there was nothing special going on now that the festival was over.  " Ich traf jemand, das helfen kann, den Fluch auf meiner Familie loszuwerden, und Chris und Amy sind meine direkten Folgeprozeße," Quentin replied, explaining as much as he could about Chris, Amy, and someone he felt could help them.  He didn't mention Zigana by name.</div> <div> "So?" Rolf's eyebrows shot up, surprised.  " Und wer ist dieser Wunderarbeiter?"  He asked who the miracle worker was.</div> <div>      At that moment, Katie came in two bags of groceries.  Gallantly, Quentin went to help the bags into the kitchen.  " Katie, Vermutung was? Quentin hat eine Überraschung !" Rolf followed them into the kitchen announcing that Quentin had a surprise.</div> <div> "Was ist es?"  Katie asked, brushing hair off her face.  Quentin explained about Zigana and how she might be able to take the curse off Chris and Amy.  "Oh, wenn sie könnte das nur tun !"  she exclaimed, wishing it was so.  She indicated the window, where fat raindrops were already beginning to splatter against the glass. "Es soll heute nachmittag schwer regnen. Würde nicht es besser sein, unti zu warten, das es stoppt? "</div> <div> Quentin rolled his eyes.  It had been cloudy all morning, and he'd hoped that he'd be able to get off before the rain started.  Katie was right though-it would be better to wait until the rain stopped.  " Warum nicht setzen wir das Motorrad unter den Autokanal mit Auto? Halten Sie es trocken ," Rolf urged.</div> <div>      "Okay, danke," Quentin answered, and they went outside.  It had just begun to rain lightly, but it looked like it was going to pick up.  Well, he'd just be delayed until evening, or maybe until tomorrow.  He brought the bike across the street and when Rolf moved Katie's old station wagon over under the carport, he wheeled it under and parked it.  At least it would stay dry.  Rolf went to the basement for some beer.  Quentin went into the kitchen to see what he could round up for lunch, and found Katie rummaging around, too.  "You missed lunch, too?"</div> <div>      "Well, it was busy this morning.  When everyone left, I just wanted to hurry up and get what we needed before the rain started.  I haven't had breakfast.  Sit down--we'll share."</div> <div>      Rolf brought in more beer for all of them.  His nose was quite red; Quentin hadn't noticed that before.  Rolf was beginning to look a little like Santa Claus, Quentin thought.  With his belly and red nose, all he needed was the flowing white beard. He looked nothing like the scared young soldier-turned-traitor that'd helped Sean get him out of the cell.  They talked a little more, and then Quentin crossed the street and went up to his room.  It was raining hard now.  He put the TV on, but between the beer he'd had and the sound of the rain on the roof, he fell asleep.</div> <div>      It was still raining when he woke up so he decided to just spend the rest of the evening with the family and then leave in the morning.  He was surprised not to see Lisa at the dinner table.  She didn't appear all that evening.  He worried about her a little, wondering where she might be.  Katie wondered, too, and went out in the rain to check on her while everyone sat and watched television.  She returned, looking a little grim.  Everyone looked up at her, questioningly, and she explained tersely, "She says she's not feeling well--she's sick to her stomach or something."</div> <div>      A little warning bell went off in Quentin's head.  He thought he'd go check on her and make sure she was all right, but he didn't want it to be too obvious.  He waited about an hour and then said he was going to turn in so that he could get an early start in the morning.  He walked through the heavy downpour down the path to the cottage and knocked at the door.  There was no answer, and the lights were all out.  He pounded at the door, harder.  "Lisa!  Are you okay?"  When there was still no answer, he tried the door.  It opened, and he fumbled around for the light switch, hoping she had something other than the black light.  Fortunately, she did.</div> <div>      She wasn't there, though, but she had been.  He could smell marijuana in the air.  He found an ashtray with several roaches crushed out in it.  There was also a little powder on the table.  Her dresser drawers were pulled open-they were empty.  Now he was really worried-obviously she'd taken off.  Where had she gone though-and with whom? <I>Not Amanda-she promised! </I>He went back outside, shutting the door behind him.  He had no idea where she might have gone; she didn't have a car.  Disturbed, he returned to his room.  He used his key to unlock the door and opened it.  It was dark but there was a form on his bed.  He turned the light on--and Amanda sat up, blinking, stark naked, and obviously very high. </div> <div>      "Amanda!  How'd you get in here?"  He was too shocked by her appearance to feel angry that she was here.</div> <div>      "Lisa gave me the skeleton key," she mumbled, slurring her words a little.  "Where were you, baby?"</div> <div>      "Never mind that!  Where is Lisa now?"</div> <div>      "Leavin on a jet plane," Amanda crooned.  </div> <div>      "What?" Quentin had gotten over his shock and was furious now.  He got on the bed beside Amanda and grabbed her arms.  She tried to kiss him but he avoided her lips.  "Amanda!  Talk to me!  How did Lisa get away?"  Amanda began to giggle, and he shook her. "What are you on?" he demanded.</div> <div>      "Get by with a little help from my friends!  Don't worry about it, baby.  Come on over here."</div> <div>      "No, I don't want to.  You're high as a kite, Amanda!"  Disgusted, he realized he wouldn't be able to get anything intelligible out of her.  <I>Damn Lisa!  Why this?  Why now?</I>  He looked around wildly, wondering what he was going to do now.</div> <div>      "Ah, don't be such a square.  You don't know what you're missing.  You really need to try some of this.  The colors are so intense..." She held her hand out in front of her eyes, staring intently at it.</div> <div>      "What colors?  What are you babbling about?"  Quentin was angry now, itching to hit her.  "Amanda, <I>where</I> is Lisa?  Does all this have to do with the pact you made?  Tell me!"</div> <div>      "I can see the blood moving in my veins, man.  It's red going one way, and blue the other, did you know that?  And the cells all around are gold..." Her voice trailed off again.  "I can see into my mind, man.  I can see the letters forming as they make the words I'm about to say to you."</div> <div>      Quentin felt like he'd been drenched with cold water without warning.  His fear further fueled his anger.  Now he did grab Amanda and shook her.  "You dropped acid?"  </div> <div>      "Acid?  Not this time, baby--had a little coke and some weed.  No acid.  Oh, wow!"  Her eyes became huge as she looked at something on his wall he couldn't see.  "We have to do it now, Quentin--it's holy, THE act--you know? He is watching."</div> <div>      "Oh, give me a break!" If she really hadn't dropped any acid now, then she must be having one of those flashbacks.  Cocaine and pot didn't cause hallucinations.  He grabbed her by the elbow.  "Who is `he', Amanda?  It's not Mr. Best!"</div> <div>      "I'm not telling you!" Amanda shouted angrily, and then reached for him again.</div> <div>      He backed away.  "No!  Not until you answer some questions first!  Where's your clothes, Amanda?"</div> <div>      She pulled away.  "Why?  I don't need them.  We have to do it."</div> <div>      "I'm not doing it with you, you understand me?  Especially not now!" He made his voice louder and angrier to try and penetrate her senses.  She looked at him blankly.  He looked around and found her clothes scattered around the floor.  "Come on, let me help you get dressed."  He found her blouse and picked it up, looking from it to her doubtfully.  There was no way she could get dressed by herself in the state she was in, never mind answer his questions intelligently.  He could see that clearly now.</div> <div>      "No, not until we do it."  Stubbornly, she pushed him, and he dropped the garment.  <I>Okay, that's not going to work.</I>  It would be easier to put one of his tee shirts over her, and he pulled one from his drawer.  She began struggling with him as soon as he approached her, but he managed to get her arms through the sleeves.  Once her hands were free, she slapped him.  "I told you, I have to be unclothed to be holy!" she screamed.</div> <div>      "Amanda, we have to get you some help!" Quentin grabbed her arms, trying to restrain her as she kicked and tried to pull away.  Fortunately, the shirt was long enough to cover her enough to get her across the street.  She was out of control, and he didn't know what else to do.  He began to pull on her arms to get her out the door.  Suddenly, she raked his face with her fingers.  "Ow!" he yelled.  One of her fingers caught the corner of his eye.  Instinctively, he let go of her and put his hands to his face.</div> <div>      She turned and ran from him, through the bathroom and into the connecting bedroom.  He heard the window opening.  "Amanda, no!" he yelled, chasing her.  She was already out the window, balancing herself precariously.  By the time he climbed out the window after her, she had gotten into the tree and climbed up on a higher branch.  He wasn't sure the branch would hold his weight; it was a huge tree, and he inched his way along the branch, hanging onto the one above his head.  The branch, thick as it was, moved under the weight of his body.  Oh, jeez, he thought, looking above.  "Amanda, come down!" he yelled.</div> <div>      "I'm going up the staircase to heaven," she announced.  She launched herself off the branch and out into space, moving her legs as if she were stepping up a flight of stairs.</div> <div>      "NO!" he screamed, but it was already too late.  She wheeled her arms around, reaching out, but she was already falling past him.  Even though he grabbed for her, he only managed to brush her fingertips momentarily.  Terrified, he went down the tree as quickly as he could.  Too many women falling out of trees or off cliffs, he thought for an insane second, thinking about Beth and Elizabeth and Mary Jane and Katie, and now Amanda.</div> <div> He dropped down the last eight feet and landed hard, scrambling to get to where Amanda was lying, moaning.  "Oh, God," he cried, as he reached her. "Amanda?"  She didn't answer.  He wanted to pick her up and carry her across the street, but he remembered something Julia had said about neck injuries.  If she'd broken her neck and he moved her, he might hurt her more seriously than she already was.  "Amanda, don't move!  I'm going to call for help!  Don't move!"  </div> <div>      Quentin ran across the street to the house.  The door wasn't locked, fortunately, and he ran inside, calling for Katie and Rolf.  The phone was at the bar, and he immediately picked it up to call for an ambulance.  He heard Katie run down the stairs, dressed in a light robe and looking rumpled with sleep.  He knew he presented quite a site, drenched and dripping water everywhere.  "What's wrong?" she cried out, knowing immediately it was bad.  Rolf had begun stumbling down the stairs, grumbling and complaining.</div> <div>      "Amanda fell out of a tree! She's hurt--I don't know how bad!"  Quentin explained, his words tumbling out over themselves.  He'd just given the operator their location and hung up.  He almost ran into Katie on his way back out the door.  </div> <div>      "Who?  What tree?"  Katie had him by the arms, her face bleary with sleep and confusion.</div> <div>      "By the barn--the motel--whatever!  Come on, I'll show you!"</div> <div>      "Was is los?" Rolf wondered, beginning to awaken to the fact that something serious was going on.  The two girls appeared at the top of the stairs as Quentin led their parents back into the rain and to the tree where Amanda lay sprawled on the ground.</div> <div>      "My God!"  Katie cried out, running to her.  "Miss Corey?"</div> <div>      "Quentin?" Amanda mumbled in a weak voice.</div> <div>      "Don't move her!" Quentin cautioned Katie.  She'd instinctively moved to raise Amanda's head, but she stopped immediately.</div> <div>      "How on earth did she get in the tree?"  Katie asked, shocked.</div> <div>      Quentin saw Rolf look at the tree, following its trunk up to the branches; saw him follow the branch over to the window.  Rolf turned and looked at him, his eyes filling with first confusion and then suspicion. "She vas in YOUR room," he said accusingly, in broken English. "You call her somezing--Ihr Name -- was war es? Nicht Fräulein Corey--Amanda?"</div> <div>      Katie looked up into Quentin's eyes, stunned.  Before he could say anything, the ambulance had pulled up.  Paramedics jumped out of the back and rolled a stretcher over.  Katie moved out of the way to let them work on Amanda.  The rest of the family had come out of their houses, watching.  The medics got Amanda loaded into the ambulance.</div> <div>      "Do you have someone to notify in case of emergency?" Quentin asked numbly.</div> <div>      Katie gave him a wild look.  "Emergency?  We never thought-why, no!"</div> <div>      "Bist du jemand, um zu benennen?" Rolf asked.  The expression on his face showed clearly that Quentin should know whom to call.</div> <div>      "Nein!" Quentin snapped angrily and defensively.  "Ich kenne sie nicht gut an allen!"  He wasn't lying either.  <I>It's more and more obvious I don't know her well at all,</I> he thought.</div> <div>      "Well, we can't just let her be taken off alone!  Someone's got to go!" Katie cut in, looking furious.  She turned to her husband and repeated what she'd said in German.  Rolf nodded and looked at Quentin.</div> <div>      <I>I don't want to,</I> Quentin thought, both furious and dismayed.  He wanted to tell Katie she had other things to worry about; that Lisa was gone.  He opened his mouth to speak and the words died before he could speak.  Instead, he looked away and muttered, "I know who her agent is.  I can call him from here."</div> <div>      "I'll go," Katie declared, moving with a determined step to the ambulance.</div> <div>      "Katie!" Quentin protested.</div> <div>      Rolf gave him a reproachful look before telling him to go ahead and make his call to the agent; he was following Katie in the car and would bring her home.  Quentin felt himself beginning to shiver as Rolf moved away from him, too, calling out to the children and telling them to go back inside.  As the ambulance pulled away, Quentin slammed his hand against the wall of the reconverted barn.  "DAMN!" he exclaimed.  It hurt; he shook his hand and blew on his knuckles, feeling foolish.  Looking up, he saw Kristin and Kat standing in the doorway staring at him, wide-eyed.  Resigned, he crossed the street. </div> <div> He could make his call to Dan from here and keep an eye on the girls, who were both obviously frightened.  They'd never know that Dan wasn't Amanda's agent.  He wanted Dan to do two things for him: locate Liese and help him get Amanda into a rehab program.  He wanted Liese located before he got back from Cuddeback with Chris, Sabrina, and Amy.  After he hung up, he went looking for Kristin and Kat.  He found them at Joe and Edle's house.  He was relieved.  They'd be all right there until Katie and Rolf got back.</div> <div> "You're leaving tonight?" Joe asked confused, walking with Quentin to his motorcycle.   Quentin wanted to tell him about Lisa but didn't want the girls to overhear.  "Aren't you worried about that lady-that Miss Corey?"</div> <div> "Not any more than I would be for any stranger," Quentin lied, gritting his teeth.  "Look, she'll be all right, Joe.  I contacted her agent and he's going to have her put in a rehab program in Albany.  I'm doing her a favor-I'm not going to report this."</div> <div> Joe laughed shortly.</div> <div> "Look, what do you know about what Lisa's been up to?" Quentin asked abruptly.</div> <div> "What do you mean?" Joe asked cautiously.</div> <div> "I don't have time to play games, Joe.  C'mon-give!"</div> <div> "I don't know for sure-I know she's using, but I don't know what," Joe replied.  "I know she's been thrown out of school for it.   You know that, though, don't you?  Didn't Ma tell you?"</div> <div> "Yes," Quentin moved astride the bike.  He guessed he'd better not tell Joe everything after all.  "I think Lisa's run off-it's got something to do with what Miss Corey told me.  If Lisa does turn up missing you tell your parents I said not to worry.  Tell them I'm working on it, all right?"</div> <div> "What?" Joe exclaimed, sounding shocked.  "Run off? Wait a minute-"</div> <div> "No, I can't, Joe, just do what I tell you," Quentin snapped, eager to be away.  He started the cycle up.  He didn't think he'd run out on family again, but he was actually running from one to the next-and he'd be back.</div> <bR> <div>      Quentin imagined he'd come into Cuddeback and immediately return with Chris, Amy, and Sabrina in tow.  He was surprised and irritated by Chris' reluctance to just pack up and go.  "Look, in the first place, Amy's still in school," Chris began, putting his drafting pencil down.  "Sabrina's in town shopping."</div> <div>      "Can't you pack a bag?  So we can just go when they get back?"</div> <div>      "I don't know, Quentin."  Chris looked at Quentin, whose brows rushed together in frustration.  "Look, do you blame me?  We've tried time after time and everything has failed up to now."     </div> <div>      Quentin sighed.  "I know Chris, but this time I know it's right.  I knew her a long time ago."  He told Chris quickly what happened, leaving out a great deal of the details-the important thing was that CaraLinda Romano was a descendant of the family who could remove the curse.  "Zigana wants me to bring you up to Hunter.  I know she can cure you. Hunter's not that far, Chris, come on!"</div> <div>      Chris listened, looking intrigued but defensive.  "All right," he agreed reluctantly.  "Amy's been having weird dreams.  She's been dreaming of gypsies."</div> <div>      "She has?" Quentin was surprised, thinking <I>why didn't you say something?</I>     "You know, once we see Zigana in Hunter, we could go back to Collinsport for a little while.  Have Eliot Stokes talk to Amy and see what he can do to help her."</div> <div>      "Stokes?"  Chris asked.</div> <div>      "He's a very knowledgeable and able expert in occult subjects--like this.  I'll bet he could teach Amy to harness those talents she's got."  Chris nodded but didn't say anything, so Quentin continued, "He's been a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, Chris, but he's helped the family more ways than you know.  It's just a long story."</div> <div>      "Is it one you can tell on the way up to Hunter?"</div> <div> "No, not in front of Amy," Quentin said emphatically.  It would give the kid nightmares.  </div> <div> Chris nodded.  "You ever meet up with Amanda?" </div> <div> Another long story.  When Sabrina and Amy arrived home, Chris was full of news to tell them-most important of all was that they were leaving for Hunter Mountain in the morning.  Quentin called Dan to find out what arrangements had been made for Amanda.  He was relieved to hear she was being admitted to a drug rehabilitation program in Albany.  He supposed if he was a nice guy, he'd make the trip up to see her.  <I>I'm not no nice guy,</I> he thought, moving on to ask about Liese.  She wasn't going to be as easy to find, it seemed.  Quentin hoped that the police would have picked her up on the West Coast already but Dan pointed out that she could have flown in almost anywhere.  <I>Shit!</I> Quentin thought furiously, barely listening as Dan assured him that it would be just a matter of time before a spoiled brat like her got into trouble and surfaced.</div> <div> Quentin bit back a furious retort-Dan didn't know who Lisa was, after all, and hung up, frustrated and angry.  Maybe he'd have to go and see Amanda after all…she'd know where Lisa had gone.</div> <bR> <div>      Amy was excited about the trip; she always liked going to new places.  On the way up, Quentin spoke in general terms about the Baumgartners--they were distant relatives of his.  He told that story for Sabrina and Amy's benefit, although he couldn't be sure if Amy "knew" the truth or not.  This time, they all went together in the van.  Quentin didn't expect to stay in Hunter any longer than it would take to see Zigana and do whatever she needed to do to help Chris and Amy.</div> <div> They got to the Hideaway Chalet at about noon and were just in time for lunch.  Quentin introduced everyone around.  The whole family was there except for Lisa.  Quentin didn't ask about her, and her name didn't come up.  After lunch, Rolf told Quentin that he'd left keys on the dresser of the room he'd been staying in.  He'd also held the suite of rooms across the hall for the Jennings family-not such a difficult feat because it was still off season.  Rolf and Katie assumed that Quentin would want to take his guests to "see the sights".  Rolf gave him a meaningful look, and Quentin nodded.</div> <div> "Have you heard from Lisa?" he asked finally, almost reluctantly.</div> <div> Katie's eyes shone as her eyes filled up.  "No-nothing.  Joe said that you might know something."</div> <div> Quentin sighed unhappily.  "I know she's gone west-that was Miss Corey's doing.  I just don't know where yet.  I was hoping I'd know something before I returned."</div> <div> For the first time, Rolf wasn't smiling, and Katie looked away.  "Ve talk later, ja?" he asked in broken English.</div> <div>      "Sure," Quentin agreed unhappily.  He didn't know what he could tell them, though. He and Chris went to the van and unpacked it.  After they were settled, they got back into the van to go to Zigana's shop.  </div> <div>      She was alone when they entered, and she looked up.  When she saw Quentin, smiled and looked as beautiful then as she had as a young woman almost fifty years ago.  "Ah, you are back, my pretty one, and you have brought your family, yes?"</div> <div>      "Yes," Quentin said, stepping aside to let everyone else to enter.  "Zigana, I want you to meet Chris and Amy Jennings, and Sabrina Stuart."</div> <div>      Zigana shook hands with them all.  Amy looked at her and said flat out, "You used to sing.  Do you still sing?"</div> <div>      "Ah, she has the gift, this one," Zigana whispered in awe.  "This is her gypsy heritage." Then, to Amy:  "Yes, my little angel, I still sing--alone, in the shower."</div> <div>      "You're going to help us," Amy replied.  "But you have to be careful.  It's not safe."</div> <div>      Zigana looked startled.  "What do you see, little angel?"</div> <div>      "The bad man is still looking.  He can feel things.  After you help us, you have to leave here.  And so do we." Amy seemed to be in a trance.     </div> <div>      The others looked at each other in consternation.  "My God, Petofi!" Zigana whispered, her eyes growing wide with terror.  Quentin felt her terror; he felt it, too.  His heart began pumping faster as he felt the adrenaline surging in his body.  He began to feel a little light-headed.  At that point the door opened behind them, and he literally jumped.</div> <div>      "Excuse me," the middle-aged customer said, startled.  She was with another woman of the same age--obviously out for a morning of browsing and shopping in town.</div> <div>      "You come here this evening--nine o'clock," Zigana said to Quentin.  He nodded.</div> <div>      "Can you buy this for me, Chris?"  Amy asked.  When the women had come in, Amy had turned and followed them down one of the narrow aisles.  She held a blown glass swan cupped in her hands.  "It's so pretty, please?"  It was very similar to the one he had bought for Kat, Quentin thought.</div> <div>      "Let me treat," he said impulsively.</div> <div>      "Oh, thank you, Quentin!"  Amy exclaimed, smiling.  It was as if nothing had happened two minutes ago.  She didn't notice the looks passed between Quentin, Chris and Sabrina.</div> <div>      After they left the shop, they stopped at a park that had a playground and tables.  Amy seemed a little unsure of herself and a little insulted that they would take her here, but there were kids her age on the manual merry-go-round.  Normally a shy child, she approached them cautiously and offered to help run and spin the go-round.  Within minutes, she'd made temporary allies to play with.</div> <div>      Quentin brought up the idea of seeing Professor Stokes again.  "Oh, Chris," Sabrina exclaimed.  "That's a wonderful idea!  He's the man that helped me--remember?"</div> <div>      "Oh!  THAT Professor Stokes!"  Chris exclaimed.  "I was under so much stress at the time--okay, Quentin, I'm convinced."</div> <div>      "Good. I'll call Professor Stokes and see about setting something up.  I'll take care of calling Elizabeth, too, and seeing if the cottage is still available."  Quentin stopped, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.  But why?  Barnabas and Julia weren't there now.</div> <div>      "What's wrong?" Chris asked.</div> <div>      Quentin remembered Barnabas beating him and shut his eyes.  He didn't want to think about it.  "Nothing-it's all right."</div> <div>      Sabrina got up to call Amy.  It was late afternoon now, and she wanted to return to the Chalet.   When they got back, Rolf and Katie were busy so Quentin took Chris, Sabrina and Amy up the road and down the dirt path to the swimming hole.  Amy squealed with delight.  The creek spilling into it was barely a trickle right now, and Amy kicked her shoes off to splash in it.  "Come on, you guys!" she urged.  Sabrina laughed, kicked her shoes off, and joined her.  Chris had started to remove his shoes and noticed that Quentin was watching abstractedly.  </div> <div>      "Where are you?"  Chris asked.</div> <div>      "I'm sorry," Quentin said, coming back to the present.  He'd been remembering all kinds of things--Katie as a child, Beth, Lisa.  There was no word on Lisa yet.  He saw what was going on and pulled his shoes off, too.  Amy scooped up water and threw it on him.  The water was cold, but not terribly so.  The air hadn't taken on a chill yet, so he scooped Amy up and threw her into the water hole.  She came up sputtering and shrieking with anger and delight.</div> <div>      Chris gave Quentin a hard shove and he went into the water, too.  The water was freezing, so he came up gasping.  Sabrina had prudently gotten back onto the back out of harm's way.  Quentin and Amy moved together, as if having the same thought, pulling Chris' legs out from under him so that he tumbled into the pool too.  Chris jumped to his feet, gasping.</div> <div>      "It's a lot nicer in the summer, trust me," Quentin said.  "It's really pretty nice.  You can float around on inner tubes in here.  Sometimes, when the creek is running strong, you can sit up there and let the current dump you into the pool."</div> <div>      "I believe you, but right now it's cold," Chris said.  "Let's get out of here, huh?"</div> <div>      Quentin picked Amy up and placed her back on the creek bad, climbed out, then turned to give Chris a hand.  Chris took it and Quentin began to pull him up, then playfully let go and shoved him back.  "Oh, you better run," Amy giggled.  Chris came up, spitting water, and Quentin decided to take Amy's advice.  "Run, Quentin!" Amy urged.  He did, but he could hear Chris coming close behind him.  He ran faster, beginning to laugh.</div> <div>      He ran down the path and back down the road, passing the Chalet.  He could still hear Chris closing on him.  They'd attracted the attention of the Baumgartners, who came out to watch.  Kat and Kristin began screaming for Quentin to run faster, and he turned toward the playing field.  He didn't hear Chris anymore but was suddenly hit from behind and was slammed into the ground.  All the air went out of his body and he was momentarily stunned, long enough for Chris to flip him over onto his back and climb onto his stomach, pinning him down.  Chris was laughing as hard as Quentin was.  He grabbed a handful of grass and rubbed it into Quentin's face.</div> <div>      Quentin got his wind back and flipped Chris over.  They wrestled playfully a few more minutes but then had to stop because they were laughing so hard.  They got up and Quentin slapped Chris on the back.  "I'm freezing.  Let's go change," he suggested.  </div> <div>      "You men act like such little boys sometimes," Sabrina teased, sounding delighted.  Katie and Rolf had disappeared, but the Kristin, Kat and Amy were still out, admiring them. "I think you do it just to show off," Sabrina added, slipping her arm through Chris'.  "Oh, my!  You are sooo cold, Chris!"</div> <div>      They went inside to change their clothes.  It was almost time to go to Zigana's.</div> <bR> <div> At nine, they gathered at Zigana's shop.  It was closing time, and she was closing up.  Locking the door, she told them, "We go down the street a few blocks to my home."  She led them to a small cottage off Main Street.  "Here I have lived for the last twenty years," she explained.</div> <div>      "What brought you here?"  Quentin asked.</div> <div>      "I'll tell you a true story.  I have moved around--to many different places.  In one town, I met a woman from the East--from Yugoslavia."  Stunned, Quentin's mouth popped open.  "You can guess what I tell you, pretty one?  She was of the Romana tribe, like me.  From Sarajevo.  And yes, she knew your Beth.  The <I>kumpania</I> was hiding her--this you know for you have recently returned from there.  This woman told me of a woman who looked like your Beth--here, in Hunter.  So I come to see for myself, for I knew that sooner or later I would see you again, my friend."  Everyone gaped at each other in stunned surprise.  "Quentin, you did a brave and wonderful thing for my <I>familya</I> and for my people all those years ago.  Now it is time to repay the favor.  We go in, and I will prepare for the ceremony."</div> <div> Zigana led them into her living room and invited them to sit down while she "prepared" herself.  Amy looked around in wide-eyed wonder; Sabrina squeezed Chris' hand in eager anticipation.  Chris' expression was a mixture of hope and fear.  Quentin only felt impatient.  Zigana soon returned, dressed resplendently in a white fur robe.  She was carrying a jeweled box, and Quentin jumped.  He'd know that box anywhere.  "You've got the hand!" he exclaimed, in dismay.</div> <div> Zigana glared at him.  "Quiet!  You spoil my concentration!  Of course I have got it.  Now you hush your mouth!"</div> <div> Quentin sat back, chastened and intimidated by the change in Zigana.  "Sorry," he mumbled.</div> <div> Zigana placed the jeweled box reverently on a table in the room.  She went about the room, lighting candles.  "You will all keep silent as I conduct the ceremony.  You will not understand what I say, but it is important that you do not interrupt me.  You understand?"  Everyone nodded.  "I will cure the young man Chris and the child Amy.  The family will be free of the curse."</div> <div> The candlelight flickered eerily on Zigana's face as she picked up the box and held it up, beginning to speak in the same foreign language Gustav had spoken at Petofi's ceremony.  Slowly she approached Chris.  Quentin sat mesmerized, fascinated and frightened.  He heard the names <I>Magda</I> and <I>Julianka.</I>  Zigana lowered the box as she stopped in front of Chris.  His face looked chalky white even in the dim glow of the candlelight.  Slowly she opened the box.  Chris leaned back as far as he could in the chair, obviously terrified by the sight of the hand within.</div> <div> As she continued to chant, Zigana opened one hand and a powdery substance like baby powder sifted downward over Chris.  She took the hand out of the box with both hands, chanting other words--perhaps blessing it, or commanding it, Quentin thought.  Slowly, she brought the hand down and put it on Chris' left breast, over his heart.  She continued to chant, and Chris shut his eyes tight.  Was he in pain?  Quentin didn't know.  Chris began to move and moan.  Sabrina sat forward, and Quentin quickly put his hand on her arm.  After a few moments, Chris stopped moving and seemed to faint.</div> <div> Zigana lifted the hand off Chris, held it up in the air again, and then placed it gently back in the box.  She looked at Amy, who sat wide-eyed and transfixed.  "Young angel, you would like to sit on your Cousin Quentin's lap, perhaps?" she asked gently.</div> <div>      Amy swallowed hard.  "It won't work that way," she replied in a voice unlike her own.  "I'm not afraid."</div> <div> "Ah, brave little angel," Zigana whispered, with strong approval.  She began to chant again.  Sabrina made a tentative move toward Chris, but Quentin tightened his grip on her and held her back.  Zigana went through the same ceremonial chanting with Amy.  She sprinkled Amy as well, just before placing the hand over her heart.  Like Chris, Amy began to moan and then passed out.  Once again, Zigana lifted the hand into the air, chanting, and placed it into the box.  She lifted the box up in the air again, chanting, and slowly left the room.</div> <div>      "What should we do?" Sabrina asked, wide-eyed.</div> <div>      "Wait," Quentin answered.  After what seemed to be an interminable length of time, Zigana came back into the room.  As she blew out a candle, she turned on a lamp until the small room was normally lit.</div> <div>      "Are they all right?"  Sabrina asked, concerned.</div> <div>      "Yes, yes, they sleep a little while.  Do not worry.  I get you something to drink, yes?  Wine?"  Zigana asked.</div> <div>      "Brandy?"  Quentin asked hopefully.</div> <div>      "Ah, for you, my pretty one, I have always saved one bottle.  I get it.  We celebrate," Zigana said, smiling again her beautiful smile.  By the time Zigana came back with a bottle and several glasses, Chris and Amy had begun to rouse.  Zigana gave a glass to all of them, including Amy.  "The brave little angel deserves a taste," she said decisively.  She poured a generous amount for all of them and held up her glass.  "I give a toast.  This night, we celebrate the end of a curse that has gone on too long."</div> <div>      They all took a drink, Chris and Amy still seeming to be in a dazed state.  Zigana walked over to Quentin and gently stroked his face.  "I did not offer to remove the curse from you by Magda or the blessing put on you by Petofi because I know you will find your Beth again."  His eyes filled with tears at the mention of Beth's name.  "Patience.  You have waited long, but the time is almost over.  Make a home ready for you and your Beth, my friend."  She leaned down and kissed the tears on his cheeks.</div> <div>      "I--I don't feel any different," Chris finally said.</div> <div>      "Why would you, young one?  You will notice the difference next time the moon becomes full.  Maybe you doubt me--that is all right, I don't feel insulted.  No, you will see for yourself, young one.  Then you and the beautiful lady will marry and you will have babies, and they will be fine.  You will see.  And if Zigana lives, perhaps you will bring your babies to see me, eh?"</div> <div>      Sabrina had begun to weep now, and Chris put his arm around her.  Amy got up from the chair she'd been sitting in and sat on Quentin's lap, to his great surprise.  She'd always been reserved with him, seeming to be afraid of him.  "Can we get ice cream?"  she asked.</div> <div>      He burst out laughing.  Zigana laughed, too.  He looked up at her, still teary-eyed.  "So--is there a Baskin Robbins or a Friendly's around here?"</div> <div> Zigana laughed.  "Nothing so fancy.  Dairy Queen.  Will that do?"</div> <div>      "You'll come too, won't you?" Amy asked.</div> <div>      "Yes, of course, my brave angel.  Ice cream is a good way to celebrate.  Wait--I get my bag."</div> <bR> <div>      On the way back to the inn, Chris kept saying over and over, "I just don't feel any different.  It's so hard to believe."</div> <div>      "Look, I don't blame you for feeling the way you do," Quentin said.  "Why don't we stay at Cuddeback another month?  We'll go to Collinwood after that--how's that?"</div> <div>      "I'd feel a lot better," Chris said, relieved.</div> <div>      They arrived back at the inn around eleven.  Everyone was tired and went straight to their rooms.  Quentin dreamed again, this time of Zigana and Jenny.  "Your Beth is safe.  You don't have long to wait," Zigana was saying.  "Be patient."  </div> <div>      <I>Jenny sat down beside him and kissed him gently.  "Now I don't have to worry about the babies anymore," she said, relieved. </I></div> <div> <I>     "What about Beth?" he asked, knowing it sounded selfish.  Yet he, too, was relieved that he was able to do something to help Chris and Amy.</I></div> <div> <I>     "You may think that Barnabas is angry with you, but he is not.  He will help you find Beth."</I></div> <div> <I>     "When?"</I></div> <div>      "When Julia cures him.  They are already on their way, Quentin.  You won't hear for a while, but don't lose hope.  Remember that.  I won't see you again, my darling.  I am free to join my family and our children now.  Goodbye."  Again, she kissed him very gently, and then she was gone.</div> <div>      He woke up earlier than usual, feeling grouchy.  When he remembered the dream, he realized what it was that was irritating him.  Barnabas, and "you won't hear for a while."  He'd been waiting and searching a lifetime, often feeling very lonely--much as he had been before he'd reunited with Beth in Chicago.  Depressed, he went across the street hoping to find Katie.  </div> <div> She was up and in the kitchen with Rolf.  Rolf muttered, "Guten Morgen", sounding as grouchy as Quentin felt.</div> <div>      "Why, good morning, Daddy!  You're up early this morning!"  Katie exclaimed, genuinely surprised.</div> <div>      "I wanted to see you both, honey, before everyone else got up," he said, kissing her on the cheek.  "What is for breakfast?"</div> <div>      "Whatever you want.  I'm not busy--I'll make something for us."</div> <div>      For Rolf's benefit, they continued their conversation in German.  "Why didn't you tell us that Lisa was involved with this woman of yours?" Rolf demanded angrily, pushing Katie's restraining arm off.</div> <div>      "She's not my woman, Rolf," Quentin answered, his resentment toward Amanda rising again. </div> <div>      "So? What was she doing naked in your room, then?"</div> <div>      "She was freaked out-that means she was so high on drugs she didn't know where she was or what she was doing.  She fell out of the tree because she could fly for chrissakes!"</div> <div>      "Ja, this woman where did she send our Lisa?"</div> <div>      "It's not his fault," Katie cut in, her eyes filling with tears.  "She wanted to stay here, Rolf.  We let her."</div> <div>      "Because she knew <I>him</I>!" Rolf nodded toward Quentin.</div> <div>      Quentin became furious.  "Your daughter is no angel, Rolf," he snapped.  "Olivia didn't turn Lisa on, it was the other way around-Olivia was flying on junk that Lisa got for her."     Rolf jumped up, grabbing Quentin by his shirt and hauling him to his feet, his face working in rage.  "What are you doing, Rolf?  Are you going to hit me?  Go ahead-it doesn't change the truth!"</div> <div>      To his surprise, Rolf let him go, his darkened features screwing up tight, and then he began to cry in great hitching sobs.  He pushed Quentin back down into his chair and stumbled out the back door.  "Rolf!" Quentin called, shocked and sorry.  He got up and realized that Katie was sobbing, too.  He turned to her and put his arms around her, holding her tightly.  "Oh, baby, I'm so sorry."  He patted her shoulder, trying to comfort her. "It's all right, Katie," he assured her with a confidence he didn't completely feel.  "I know where she was headed.  They'll find her."</div> <div>      "One hippie child among so many out there?" Katie asked despairingly.</div> <div>      "A hippie child with ambition," Quentin reminded her.  "She'll try to contact someone Olivia Corey knows.  We'll find her."</div> <div>      Katie bit her lip.  "That program in Albany seemed to be a good one."  She looked at Quentin.  "When we find her, do you think she could go there?"</div> <div>      "It might be better not to have her in the same place as Miss Corey," Quentin objected quietly.  "There's other good programs, too, Katie."</div> <div>      "I just don't know where we went wrong." Her voice sounded pained.  </div> <div>      "I don't think you did anything wrong.  Lots of kids are experimenting with drugs these days.  It's like alcohol.  Some of them get hooked on it, and some don't.  Look at your other kids, honey.  It's not you."  Quentin hoped she believed him; she just sighed.  He remembered how it felt to worry about problems the children were having.     </div> <div>      Katie wiped her eyes.  "The eggs are going to burn," she exclaimed, turning back toward the stove.  She made a valiant effort to bring herself back under control.  "What happened with the gypsy woman?  Did it all work out?"</div> <div>      "I think she was able to help Chris and Amy.  Would you do me a favor and kind of watch out for her, Katie?  She's old now.  Her name is Zigana, and she has a shop on Main Street--here, I've got her card.  She made that blown glass swan I bought for Kat."</div> <div>      "All right, I'd be glad to," Katie agreed, looking mildly puzzled.</div> <div>      "She's just gotten old, and if ever think she needs anything I want you to call and let me know.  Would you do that for me?"  Katie nodded, and he went on:  "I had a dream last night.  It was about your mother again--that she'll be back."</div> <div>      "It's just that it's been so long now--do you think she'll remember us?"  Katie asked.  "Sometimes I can't remember what she looks like."</div> <div>      "Like you, honey."</div> <div>      "Once, but not now."</div> <div>      "Well, like Lisa then--a little bit, anyway."</div> <div>      "Do you ever wonder if she has a life of her own now over there?"</div> <div>      Yes, he'd wondered.  He hadn't been able to be totally alone all these years, and at least he had the comfort of family members.  "I try not to think about that," he said.  "I know it's been a long time."</div> <div>      "I just wonder how different she'll be."  Katie sighed sadly.  "I hope I do get to see her again, even just to say 'I love you.'"  She put a plate down in front of him and sat down across from him with her own plate.  "And now I wonder the same thing about my own child."  Her eyes filled with tears again, and Quentin couldn't think of anything to say to take the pain away.</div> <div>      </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>      <A HREF="id128.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="19: The Amanda Dilemma"><U>19:  The Amanda Dilemma</U></A>    <A HREF="id130.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="21: The Approaching Storm"><U>21:  The Approaching Storm</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cassies Writing"><U>Cassie's Writing</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>