51. Parting

Maria couldn’t sleep much that night. She kept tossing and turning, worried about what may happen when she went to see Pauline tomorrow.

Her mother had told her when she was younger that her job was hard to do sometimes, though it was also a necessary one. And when Maria had accepted the job of Hunter, she had wanted to help her mother. But her mother had warned her after her first time out, that it would not always be an easy job.

Maria had expected that some would not go peacefully, and she had been right. Some would curse her, but still many others, like William, would understand and would accept who she was. But now she was scared because she thought that this time there may be something more to it then just a simple hunt. That even she was going to start to doubt whether she should have taken this job.

She could only hope that this would be a very straightforward job. Or even William may not be able to look her in the eye.

The night passed slowly and finally the sun broke the horizon.

Maria rose and dressed. She took the special dagger the Unnameable had given her for homecoming. It had special powers and Maria figured it would come in handy this time around.

She walked over to Williams house. Outside she saw that Julie was also there waiting.

"I figured, I had to fight those things, I want to be sure where they came from," she said to Maria’s unasked question.

William emerged from his home, and gesturing that they should follow, he started to walk back into the main village. He was carrying his medicine bag.

They walked through the village, being greeted by passersby. They returned the greetings as if it were a normal day, but Maria’s stomach was all in knots, and getting worse as they neared their destination.

Soon the came to the hut that was Pauline’s home. William went in first while the two ladies waited. After a short while his head emerged and he said,

"Ok, it’s alright. She is awake."

Julie walked in first and Maria, taking a deep steadying breath, followed close behind.

She was disoriented the minute she entered the hut. She felt as if she were in a bubble of some sort. She shook her head to clear it, and looked around. Her eyes adjusted to the gloom, as the windows were all covered. She still felt the bubble but now could see better.

In the far corner were Pauline and her new born child lying on her bed, with both William and Julie standing near her. Maria moved slowly to the group.

"This is Maria, the new girl who washed up on our shores," said William.

"Pleased to meet you," said Pauline, holding out her hand. "William has told me of you but I have not been out recently."

"That is understandable," said Maria, taking the woman’s hand.

Some relief washed over Maria. It was the woman she was looking for. It was not the child as she had feared. Somehow she had survived the childbirth, when she should not have. At least Maria would not have to take a baby away from it’s mother, but the other way around. Which was still sad. Maria herself had lost her own parents when she was a year old and had been taken in by Death. So she knew that such tragedies were always happening.

Relieved she turned to the child.

"This is Barnaby," said Pauline.

Maria reached out and touch the child’s head.

Something was wrong. Maria did not know why, but somehow the child was also the one she was looking for.

"Is something wrong?" asked Pauline, seeing Maria’s face change.

"No," said Maria quickly. "Nothing."

But William was giving her a questioning look, and so was Julie.

Maria took her hand away from the baby but held it near. The bubble feeling was strongest here. She walked around the two people in the bed holding her hand close by. The others were giving her strange looks, but she ignored them for now. She was getting an idea.

After going full circle around the bed, she asked,

"May I hold Barnard for a second?"

Pauline looked reluctant and looked to William. William nodded and she held out the child to Maria.

Maria took the baby, and stepped back just a little. There was resistance, as if she was pulling taffy. Maria turned her head and looked using her peripheral vision.

There it was.

She could barely see it but there was an thread going from the child to the mother’s womb. Almost a ghostly Umbilical cord. The child and the mother were linked by this and it caused a protective bubble to form around them both.

"What were you thinking at the time that you realised that something was wrong?" she asked.

Pauline looked taken aback but the abrupt and private question.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because it may answer another question I have."

Pauline was silent for a while, turning again to William for guidance. He again nodded.

"I remember not wanting to loose my baby and praying for help."

"Did you feel an answer?"

"I think I did, but it was all a blur," said Pauline.

"And what did you think at the time, little one?" Maria asked the boy.

"Babies can’t think," said Julie.

"No," said Maria. "But they can feel."

"You felt your mother calling out, not wanting to loose you, didn’t you," she said to the child. "And you didn’t want to loose her either. So you both reached out to each other, trying to protect the other from Death."

William’s jaw dropped.

"What?" was all he could muster.

"What is she talking about William?" asked Pauline, starting to sound worried. She reached out for her child and Maria gave him back.

"Are you trying to say..." began William.

"That they have been hiding each other. I have been looking for both of them." said Maria.

"What do you mean looking for them?" asked Julie.

"I am the one the tales speak of," said Maria. "I am the one called Hunter."

"I thought they were just tales," said a surprised looking Julie.

Pauline cried out and pulled her child closer to her chest.

"You can’t have him," she cried. "I shan't let you take my child."

"But how can you be looking for both?" asked William.

"Because, during the birth neither were supposed to survive," she said.

This elicited gasps from everyone.

"But when the two reached out for each other, fearing the loss of the other, they formed a sort of link that created a psychic blanket, if you will, that covered them and took them out Death’s sight. So they both lived past their time."

"And the psychic protection," mused William, now beginning to understand, "felt a threat in you and sent the creatures."

"Then she really created those things?" asked Julie.

No," said Maria. "They created them together. Subconsciously, of course."

"But the problem still remains that as long as they are both alive, the lives of others are shortened."

Pauline was crying.

"I just didn’t want my child taken away from me," she sobbed.

"But he won’t be," said Maria.

Pauline looked at her.

"He won’t?"

"No," said Maria. "You and he were meant to go to the other side together that day, but you were both so afraid, that you tried to stay here. You will be together on the other side, for always. But you cannot stay here, for you are causing harm to others, including those in this hut."

Pauline looked at both William and Julie, as if asking them if they believed Maria. They both nodded.

"Will it hurt?" she asked.

"No," said Maria.

She held out her hands.

"May I?" she asked. "I promise I will not hurt him."

Pauline hesitated a moment and finally handed the boy to Maria. She took him in her arm and reached for the dagger.

It had transformed this time into a small scythe. Probably the Unnameable’s little joke. The others began to fidget and make noise, but she held out her hand for silence.

"I promised," she said.

She knew what to do.

Holding the baby in her left arm she swung the small scythe and cut the thread that linked the two. As soon as the thread was cut, Maria felt the bubble sensation lift and she felt as if she was stepping out into fresh air. Julie did not seem to notice, but William reacted.

Then Maria felt the sensation she got when her mother was near. A portal opened and her mother stepped through.

Julie stepped back and Pauline cried out upon seeing Death enter her house. William did not move.

Death walked over to her daughter.

"Hello mother," said Maria.

"Hello Sweetheart," her mother answered. "There are two here. I was not expecting two."

"It was an unusual circumstance." said Maria.

She quickly explained it.

Death nodded her head and walked over to Pauline.

"Do not worry," she said. "You will see each other again very soon, But it is time to go now."

Pauline looked over at her baby and then at Death. She nodded her head and death reached out, touching her forehead. Pauline’s eye’s closed and she breathed no more.

The child cried out the moment his mother died. Death moved to the child and made soothing noises, calming him.

"Do not worry," she said to him. "You will see her soon." and she touched his forehead and he too was still.

Maria put the child back into his mother’s arms and covered them both with a blanket.

"I must go," said Death.

She kissed her daughter and left the same way she entered.

"I don’t envy you your job," said Julie, breaking the silence that followed.

"It is a hard one, but necessary," said Maria.

"What will you do now?" asked William.

"I will stay a little while longer, if you will let me," she said.

The others nodded.

"Why wouldn’t we?" asked Julie.

"Because not everyone understands the need for my job. They only see death as a evil thing and see me as evil along with it."

"I am not just anyone," said Julie.

"That’s for sure," mumbled William.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" asked Julie menacingly.

"Why stay?" asked William, quickly avoiding the question.

"So that I can leave properly," said Maria. "I will suddenly recover my memory and remember where I am from and then, perhaps, Julie can take me home. That way there is no suspicious disappearances causing more talk."

"Males sense," said Julie. "I can take you were you need to go, when you are ready."

"Thank you." said Maria.

"I suppose I will have to say they both had a relapse," said William, looking down at the two in the bed. "They were sickly and so it won’t cause to much talk."

"We will leave you to that," said Maria. And she and Julie left the hut.

In a few days Maria would be back home.