Stone Cold

Chapter 4 of The Inheritance, a serial fiction novel on FITK

Wednesday afternoon, July 8, 2020, Decorah, Iowa

In the Ice Cave Mareka and her parents, Sean and Mary, were standing in the dark after Mareka’s flashlight had gone out when it fell to the floor. As their eyes adjusted to the blackness, Sean and Mary could see that Mareka was glowing, with wisps of light emanating from her finger tips and her head.

“Mareka, are you all right?” said Mary, touching the child on her arm.

“The stones, Mom-mah,” Mareka said with a shudder, “I can hear the stones.”

“What do they say?” said Mary, gently.

“They are singing, they are singing,” said the child, who was shaking.

“What do they say?” said Sean.

“Inanna, Inanna,” said the girl.

“Mareka, I am going to turn on my phone, so we can have some light to see by,” said Sean, “Then we can walk out of the cave, is that O.K. honey?”

“It’s so beautiful, so beautiful,” she said through chattering teeth, “I’m so cold.”

Sean turned on his phone and aimed the screen at the ground. Its diffuse glow overwhelmed Mareka’s aura and was reflected in the stones on the path.

Mary grasped Mareka’s hand and turned her toward the exit. Mareka’s body started to relax as they took the first tentative steps toward the cave entrance. Once they could see daylight they picked up the pace and were soon standing outside in the warm sunshine.

---

Outside the the ice cream shop in Vesturbæjar, Villí and his Uncle Hilmar looked down at the remains of Villí’s cone that was quickly reverting from a semi-solid back into a milky liquid. Villí was obviously upset, and not just about the ice cream.

“What happened, Villí?” said Hilmar.

“The stones. The stones are cold,” Villí replied.

“What stones are these?” said Hilmar.

“Mareka, Mareka is in trouble.”

“I see,” said Hilmar, ”When we get back home I will text her mother and we’ll see what’s up.”

Hilmar saw that Villí was still upset.

“I’ll get you another cone Willí, it will be alright… ”

---

At the hotel, Mary and Sean had put Mareka to bed—one of the few times she didn’t object to taking a nap. They closed the door of the en suite bedroom and then sat down at the table.

“Well, that was a mistake,” said Sean, “I should have known better.”

“Maybe not,” said Mary, “She’s going to have to come to grip with her ‘talents’ sooner or later, it might be for the best if she experiences some of this while she is still young. I’m not looking forward to her adolescence.”

“Still, a creepy cave isn’t the best environment for an impressionable girl, I remember your first time in the Ice Cave,” said Sean, “By the way, did you feel anything when you were in there today?”

“Only a mother’s concern for her child,” Mary said, “And I didn’t feel anything special at the graveyard either, that was another of Emily’s ‘power spots.’ I think that they only work once. If Mareka is feeling better after her nap I would like to take her to another one, to the Porter House. That wall of minerals that surrounds it would be a good test. I remember it as being very pleasurable, and not at at all scary.”

“In the long term, how are we going to handle this situation?” said Sean, “My great-grandmother had some of the same powers and she ended up in an insane asylum.”

“I would definitely want her to have a pretty complete knowledge, even if it was not a full understanding, of her powers by the time she was ten or eleven.”

Sean pondered this for a moment. “I really don’t know anything about the lives of girls.”

“You’ll find out soon enough… ” said Mary, “You’ll find out, all right.”

Mary’s phone chimed.

“It’s Hilmar, I wonder what he wants?” she said, picking up the phone.

                  PLS CALL ITS ABOUT VILLI AND MAREKA

Mary entered her phone app and scrolled to Hilmar’s number on the contact list.

“Já já, hæ, hæ, Mary” said Hilmar, “Thanks for returning my call.”

“What is it, Hilmar, is Villí O.K.?”

“I think so, but we had a fright, “He screamed and started talking, something about ‘Mareka and the stones.’ He said she was in trouble. He was pretty upset, but an ice cream helped to settle him down.”

“The ice cream store is still open?” said Mary, “When was this?”

“Já, it’s not a sit-down restaurant. It happened tonight, around six o’ clock.”

“Hmm,” said Mary, “That would be one p.m. here, about exactly the time Mareka screamed too. She had an incident with the ‘powers’, the powers I learned from Emily.”

“Does this mean what I’m thinking?” said Hilmar, “It’s really starting now, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” said Mary, “I’m afraid it is. Let me have some time to think about what we should do. Are you sure Villí is all right?”

“Já, he’s a tough one, he is.”

“Thanks for calling, I will call you when we get back to Seattle in a couple of days. Bye-bye.”

“Goodbye, Mary, talk to you soon.”

Neither Sean nor Mary saw that Mareka had entered the room.

“Mother, why are you afraid?” said Mareka. “Who were you talking to? What did Emily teach you? How could she have? Didn’t she disappear many years ago? And what are these ‘powers’?”



Next chapter: The Wall