CHAPTER 4
A few more days passed with nothing out of the ordinary happening. Till one evening when she saw that everyone in Jeff's gang was rather nervous. They were clearly planning something, a hit. She didn’t know what it was, but she was sure it was going to happen soon. She tried to find out from Jeff but as he wouldn’t tell her, she tried a different approach. She tried to use her charms on Bob to find out but that also failed grossly. She had no idea how to seduce someone as she had never tried it before. All she managed to do was to be ashamed of herself. And mad at the same time as she hadn’t even been good at that! This sucked but Sam didn’t give up. She needed to get close to the oak and if Jeff and his gang were going anywhere close, she needed to follow them. It was her chance to get home. So if nobody was going to tell her what was going on, she would have to follow Jeff and the gang, that was all. Simple, right?
So Sam decided to pretend that she didn’t care anymore so they wouldn’t suspect anything and she could follow them from a safe distance. She was going to be their shadow until she got close to where she wanted and then she would be on her way and hopefully not bump into Father Josh while at it.
So later that night she pretended to go to sleep early saying that she had a headache. She went up the stairs, locked her room from the outside and stood before the door, the key in her pocket. Everyone would think she was in the room, sleeping. She slowly descended the stairs and kept close to the walls. Nobody was paying attention to the stairs anymore as they were all in the large room, planning and arming themselves to the teeth. She hoped they wouldn’t have to use their weapons. They were scary enough just holding them, they didn’t need to use them to give someone a fright. Only the men were there, all the women had gone to sleep too. That night their dancing and singing had been short as the men had to be sober for the heist. She was glad as there were less eyes that could spot her. She crawled under the tables until she got to a further part of the room from where she could see everything and everyone. They were too preoccupied with their planning to notice her.
One hour later things were finally set into motion. All the men got up from the table and exited the building with Sam on their tail. Ariana had entered out of nowhere to close the iron door from the entrance behind the men. She managed to hide just in time. Sam then waited for Ariana to leave and then she hurried from under the table past the other tables and chairs and opened the iron door which of course she left unlocked behind her. Luckily for her, the gang wasn’t far ahead and she could follow them from a safe distance. It was the first time she got out of the building since she had come. The fresh air outside did her good. It revigorated her.
The men with Jeff in front of them were clearly going towards the village. She could almost jump with joy. All she had to do was follow them to the village and then go to the old oak and touch its bark and pray to take her home.
A few miles later the gang met the priest on his way to Clover Town. They met half way. The priest was accompanied by two guards whom he most probably asked to accompany him to search for her. She was glad he wouldn’t find her. She saw Jeff and his gang stopping to chat with the priest. She had to get closer to hear what was said. She was afraid Jeff was going to betray her and inform the priest of her whereabouts. She had to hear for herself what was being said so she risked everything by approaching them as quietly as she could. She took advantage of the darkness surrounding them and she hid behind a nearby tree. They were all just a few feet away so she could now easily understand what they were saying.
“Jeff…..” she heard the priest addressing Jeff with a sort of sorrow in his voice.
“What are you doing here this late going to the village? My boy, I hope you won’t do anything foolish to embarrass your father again… and you should know that the village is well guarded since your last…visit!”
Father? So Father Josh was in fact Jeff's father. This might complicate things. Or maybe not as it was clear that the two of them were estranged. Jeff had another calling, one quite opposite to his father's. So maybe he wasn’t going to tell Father Josh anything about her. She felt an immediate relief as she heard Jeff answering in a low and confident tone:
“What I do is none of your business. I might ask you the same thing, though. What are you doing at this late hour going towards Clover Town?”
After a short pause the priest decided that it couldn’t do any harm if he told Jeff what his business was.
“We are looking for a witch. A young and weird one. Have you seen anyone suspicious lately? She said she was from Clover Town so I took these two guards and we are going there to try to find her. I informed the mayor about her and he is offering a nice ransom for any information that could lead us to her” said the priest waiting for an answer as he knew that Jeff was always looking for an easy way to make money, and this was as easy as it could get.
Sam was worried again by now. She stepped on a fallen stick which made a faint noise under her weight. She hoped nobody besides her had heard it.
She strained her ears to hear Jeff's response. His answer would show her once and for all what type of a person he really was. Would he sell her for a hand of coins?
After a short while that seemed an eternity to her and during which Jeff seemed to ponder his answer, she finally heard him:
“Ugh…I might have seen such a girl…a weird one indeed.” Sam almost fainted at his words but she had to hear the rest of the conversation.
“She said her name was Sam I think….” Jeff went on as if barely remembering her at all.
“Yes!” cried the priest full of hope. “That’s her! Do you know where she went? As I was saying, Jeff, if you help the mayor and so the village with this vital information, I'll personally see that you are handsomely rewarded for your cooperation. So…?”
“Well, if you put it that way…and if you insist…”Jeff went on, “ I helped her out of a jam and I remember she said she was going to Dustville. She said she had some friends there who could help her. But if you want to catch up with her, you'd better hurry and also you could use a horse. So go to Clover Town as you are half way there, stay at the inn for the night and take some horses in the morning for you and your two guards and hurry to Dustville. She didn’t have a horse so even if you have a night's rest, you should catch her tomorrow by noon. And when you do I expect you won’t forget our arrangement” Jeff added to convince the priest that he was speaking in earnest.
“Thank you Jeff! Rest assured, the church won't forget your help and neither will I or the mayor. Have a pleasant night, my boy!” the priest was saying as he departed with his two guards. When he was far enough, Sam heard Jeff:
“You can come out now, Sam!”
“How did you know I was here!?” Sam asked puzzled.
“That twig gave you away. But I could also smell the sweet scent of your perfume. I knew you were following us. I've known it for the last 30 minutes or so. But it was kind of funny so I decided to let you play hide and seek”, he said laughing.
“You must be kidding!” she said while she smelled her blouse. Yep, it still smelled of the sweet perfume she had used before leaving the 21st century. No wonder Jeff sensed it as there was no such thing during his time so it must have stayed on his mind.
“Thank you for not turning me in” she said really grateful. “I would have been doomed if it wasn’t for you.” And Sam kissed Jeff's cheek. A few of the men started applauding but he gave them an icy look which was enough for them to stop and be quiet.
“So will you please help me get home?”
“I don’t understand many of the things you do or say, but what I know for sure” said Jeff, “is that you are not a witch. There are no such things as witches. Father Josh is an old fool. But even so, I am sure in his own way he means well. So how can I help? Because we have our own thing later tonight… so unless it prevents us from our plans, sure, we can help.”
His words weren't to everyone’s liking but nobody dared say a word. They didn’t like what Steph got as a response so nobody wanted the same treatment.
“I just need to get the old oak in the village without drawing the guards' attention. That is all.”
“Oh, then I guess we have time for that. Just mix among my men, put this hood on your head to cover your hair and you should be just fine” said Jeff and he started whistling an old tune which sounded familiar.
They entered the village at midnight with no problems from any guards anywhere. Heavy clouds were gathering on the sky as they approached the old mystic tree. Sam could feel it in her bones that it was finally time for her to leave everything behind and go home.
Jeff could also feel that there was something in the air. He was starting to think that maybe there was some truth behind his father's warning but he just couldn’t bring himself to believe in witches and such nonsense. He wasn’t a fool. He was rational. And witchcraft and spells and so on didn’t make any sense to him so he chose to ignore such subjects, trusting they were all fabrications of weak minds. He ordered his men to stand about 100 feet away from the tree as he didn’t know what Sam meant. He thought that she meant to help her get to the tree and that from there she could go on her own. It hadn't crossed his mind that the tree was her destination all along and only the tree. At least there and then. She approached the oak carefully, wishing to get home. She got close to it while the sky was already rumbling above. It started raining meanwhile and lightning could be seen in the distance. This was it, she thought. Time to go home!
She looked at the tree and turned to have one more look at her savior, this mysterious man of the 15th century. As she touched the oak with her left hand and tingling went through her body, she felt someone grabbing her by her right hand. There was no time to look more as complete darkness surrounded her. But she could still feel somebody holding her hand. Then nothing, she lost consciousness.