Through the Rose Gate...Chapters One and Two Read online

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  Chapter Two

  Surprise!

  Like the rest of her family, Diane had a positive attitude, and looked for the best attributes in each person she met. However, she was by no means naïve, for even at fourteen she had seen much of the world. Despite her seeming isolation, she had always made friends easily and continued to correspond with her closest friends—usually by email. Some were children of other team members and others were children who had been helped by the team and by her. Diane was looking forward to meeting new people in Rosemont and to finding out what she could do to help people here.

  Diane had been invited to the costume party tonight by Susan Getts, a girl who was visiting an aunt at The Elms just a few days before. She had been happy to accept the invitation, since it meant she would meet more young people and make new friends before school started. Susan seemed like a nice girl—she even gave Diane a long white robe to wear to the party.

  Since nobody would know what she had on under the robe, Diane decided to wear jeans and running shoes—her favorite clothing during cool weather. Philip had driven Diane to the party, which was on the other side of town.

  “I’ll be back to pick you up at eleven sharp. If you decide to come home earlier, just give me a call and I’ll be here in a flash,” promised Philip. “Have a good time.”

  Diane gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek before going in the house.

  She had been introduced to the group en masse as the new girl in town. Diane soon noticed that everyone except her was wearing black. She thought it rather odd, but assumed that the white robe was all Susan had to loan her to wear tonight.

  Everything was fine for awhile—Diane met a lot of new people—and the music and dancing were fun. A handsome older boy named Breck Vogel even asked her to dance. He was about six feet tall, lean but muscular, and had dark spiked hair, green eyes, and was dressed in black leather. He wore a large silver chain around his neck which ended in a large medallion with a red stone in the center.

  He danced over to Susan and Diane, gave Susan a wink, and said, “Who is this gorgeous babe?” When Breck looked at her, Diane felt as though he was trying to see inside her mind. It gave her an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach—as though bees and butterflies were flittering around inside—stinging and tickling at the same time. This was an entirely new sensation for her and she could not decide if she liked it or not. It was like being happy and sick at the same time.

  “Breck, this is Diane Eldreth. She’s the new girl I told you about. She’s staying with her grandparents, Cybele and Philip Sidney. Do try to be nice to her, won’t you?”

  “Why Susan, whatever do you mean? I’m always nice.”

  Susan gave him a snarl and said, “Right! And I’m the Queen of England.”

  Turning to Diane he chortled, “Welcome to my world, beautiful. How about a dance?” His body was still moving to the music as he held out his hand. Diane nodded in acceptance and the two danced away to another part of the room. There were a few other couples dancing as well, but Diane noticed several other couples, one couple at a time, heading toward a room she had not been in yet. After a few minutes she also saw Susan go into the room. Curious, she danced in that direction and tried to see what was happening inside. Although the light was dim, Diane was surprised to see a circle forming and people dressed in dark hooded cloaks holding candles. Inside the circle was a large empty table. What was going on and why had nobody said anything to her about this gathering? She could see someone at the end of the table holding an upside-down cross. What did it all mean?

  Suddenly everything felt wrong and Diane knew she had better get out fast. She could not always foresee the future, but this time there was no question about it—she was in grave danger. She had to come up with an escape plan—fast.

  She fished around in her pockets for her cell phone but it wasn’t there. She tried her best to act casual and not panic. She couldn’t call her grandparents. And she didn’t know where the land line was. She had to come up with a new plan—something they would not suspect right away—stall for time.

  So she put one hand over her mouth and her other hand on her stomach, pretending that she had to vomit, which wasn’t too far different from the way she actually felt at the moment. Then she ran into the bathroom that she remembered had an outside window.

  She listened at the door for a few seconds and quickly moved to the other side of the bathroom. She made some vomiting noises to make her sickness sound as realistic as possible to anyone who might be listening. She flushed the toilet, moved to the sink, and turned the water on full blast.

  While she did all this she tried to figure out how to get out of the window. It was too high for her to reach unassisted, but the hamper was just tall enough to make the window accessible. She climbed up, teetering for a moment, and squeezed herself through the window as quickly as she could—then dropped to the ground with a thud. Diane was glad there were no bushes, especially thorny ones, below the window.

  She pulled herself up off the ground, brushed herself off, and looked around. It was dark on this side of the house but Diane could see the streetlight on the sidewalk in front. She did not know how long it would take them to realize she was gone, but was sure every minute counted. Though she knew it would hinder her as she ran, she had not taken the time to remove the robe before making her escape. It took only seconds for Diane to make her way to the sidewalk at the front of the house. She immediately started running toward downtown Rosemont.

  Even before she got to the second block, Diane heard them following her. Knowing they were actually chasing her, and that they were so close, made her run faster.

  Diane had never run so fast in her life—but she had never been so afraid in her life. It was dark outside, except for the old streetlights, which did not produce much light. All the businesses downtown were closed—there were no cars moving on the street. The sweat that was beginning to run down her forehead, mixed with the tears in her eyes, made it even more difficult to see.

  She was hoping to find some adults who could help her. But there was nobody around. She was completely alone…..except for them….

  They chased her all the way down Main Street—past Digby’s Furniture Store, Rosemont Bank, and the town square with its six hundred-year-old Southern Live Oak—past Southland Drug Store, Pizza Heaven, and Mr. Simpson’s Grocery. Diane knew The Oaks was just past the grocery store, and she thought if she could just keep running long enough and fast enough, she could make it safely home to Cybele and Philip.

  Even though there were streetlights in The Oaks, there were large shadows created by the trees, making it difficult to see the sidewalk part of the time. The only other light came from an occasional porch light. All the windows in the houses were dark except the old Murphy place.

  Susan had warned Diane, “That place over there is called The Rose Gate. But, I think it should be called The Witch Gate. Old Mrs. Murphy lives there. Anyway, stay away from there unless you want to be turned into a toad—or worse. She taught Biology at the high school ages ago and knows all kinds of weird stuff. Now she mostly stays to herself—in her house or behind her tall fence. No one knows for sure what she does. I saw her at the grocery store once a long time ago, but she had on a big hat and a veil, so I couldn’t see her face. My dad says she taught his parents and must look like an old hag by now. And, she has a big black dog that would tear off your leg if you even tried to get near that fence.”

  But Diane was getting more desperate by the minute. Heaven only knew what would happen if they caught her. Diane was fast but they were bigger—and older. And they were boys—four of them.

  If that were not enough of a handicap, it was a constant struggle to keep her balance—holding up the robe and trying not to trip over things in the dark. The running shoes she was wearing were a definite plus. If she had been wearing dress shoes, she would have been a goner for sure.

  Diane loved to run and had, in
fact, won many races when she competed against others her age. But those other races had been for the pure joy of running. This was entirely different. Now she felt as though her life depended on how fast she could run.

  She had to take the chance of running past Mrs. Murphy’s house or get caught by them. There were no side streets—and besides—she wanted to get home as fast as she could.

  They got louder and louder. “Come back here! Stop!” They yelled and screamed at her as they moved closer and closer.

  Diane turned momentarily to look behind her, stumbled and nearly fell over some roots that stuck up out of the sidewalk. Breck was right behind her now. She was gasping for breath and trying to scream, but no sound was coming out of her mouth. Her legs seemed to be moving in slow motion and she felt like she was in a nightmare.

  Breck was so close that she could hear his feet hitting the pavement and his shouting growing louder. He was bigger and faster than the others—and seemed to be their leader.

  She tried to run faster but couldn’t. Then Breck tripped over the roots and cursed loudly as he pulled himself up off the ground. “Diane, will you just stop! You’re being ridiculous! Where are you going? Wait!”

  His anger seemed to make him run even faster. Now he was almost within reach. Diane could hear him