Part 13

     I feel cold. I sit up, looking around, and it's much darker than usual at night. There are no lights on anywhere – did the power go out?
     I'm not sitting on my bed. I'm not in my apartment. Where the hell am I? I was in bed... I was going to sleep... my headphones are still in my ears, I'm still in my pajamas. But I'm outside, in the middle of the woods.
     I feel very, very cold, and it's more than the chill of the night air around me. Where am I? Did I sleepwalk my way out here? ...I've never walked in my sleep before, though I've woken myself up once or twice by talking in my sleep. My bare feet shift uncomfortably on the twigs covering the ground, and I wrap my arms around myself, looking around anxiously. I don't recognize this spot, I don't think it's along the path I've made from my place to the Masons'. I don't see anything I recognize – not that I can see much at all. There are no lights. Peering up through the trees, I can make out a few stars, and now that my eyes are adjusting a bit, I can tell that there's moonlight as well, though it's definitely not a full moon. Still, it's enough that I can walk without running headfirst into trees. But... where should I be walking to? I have absolutely no idea where---
     No. I bet I haven't moved at all, in terms of location, but I've moved in time again. I peer around, and try to picture how the ground would look without any trees on it. There's a bit of a hill off to the right... it's not much to go on, but it looks about right. I take a few steps forward, then stop. I'm still terrified of walking off into some random distance in the woods in the middle of the night. But what can I do? Even if it was daylight, I wouldn't have any way of knowing where I was. If I stick with the assumption that I'm standing where my room will be, a hundred or so years from now... well, I should be able to find my way to the Mason place, at least. That will get me out of the trees, whatever time I'm in.
     So, I take a deep breath, and start walking toward where the creek should be. It isn't long before I hear, and then see, the small stream. It's definitely smaller than I'm used to seeing it, narrower, and with fewer pools. I start to follow along it, like I've done so many times before. It seems lighter here, and I realize the moon is reflecting in the water – I stop a moment to look up at it.
     And my stomach flops. The moon is waxing, just shy of half-full.
     Last night, when I took the garbage out, the moon was waning, just past full.
     I may have sorted out where I am, but clearly... it's not my own time. I can only assume the Mason place will be intact when I get closer to it, it's been there every other time. But, really, what guarantee do I have? I have no idea what rules there are to any of these, what the driving force is, why it happens at all. I just time-traveled while I was asleep. Guess my consciousness doesn't have much to do with it, at least...
     I've just caught my first glimpse of the iron fence that circles the garden, and I realize it's a little lighter off to the right. It doesn't look like dawn though – granted, it's been years since I saw a sunrise, but dawn light is so thin and pale and almost white rather than yellow. This looks more like a sunset, very orange. I'm pretty hazy on my directions without a compass, but it doesn't seem like that's quite where the sun would rise anyway, it's in the---
     It's in the direction of the Mason house. And that's not the color of the sunlight, that's the color of a fire.
     I'm here on the night of the fire!
     No, it could just be a bonfire, it could be a hundred things... but I don't believe that, my gut won't believe it's anything but the fire that will destroy the house. The fire that may, or may not, take Mr. Mason's life.
     If the Mason house is here, then my little gap in the fence won't be here anyway – maybe I can find a gate tonight, the fence won't be so overgrown. In any case, I'll be able to see through it, but I'm sure there will be an opening near the house, there has to be!
     I turn away from the creek bed, and move as quickly as I can in the direction of the house, gradually nearing and then following along the fence. My feet have landed on all kinds of painful things, but I do the best I can to ignore the bursts of sharp pain and dull throb – what choice do I have? No way am I just going to sit still and wait to go back to my own time, on the night of the fire.
     When the wind shifts, I can smell the smoke – it's so thick and heavy, I'm terrified to think how bad it will be close to the house, let alone inside. Thank God I already know the family gets out alright. Still, I can't help but be scared for Evelyn – I know she's a teenager now, a remarkably poised young lady, but she still must be terrified. The flames could still catch on her skirts, on a curl of her hair...
     I stumble on a large fallen branch, and cry out as I fall forward, grabbing desperately at the fence. I manage to keep myself from completely falling, though I scrape my knee against something in the process, and I'm sure it's bleeding through my pajama pants. I don't care. The house can't be too much farther...
     And then I see it: the main gate. I'd never been standing in a place I could see it from before, it's directly in front of the house, though it looks like the driveway (loose stone – so no trace of it in my day) loops around to one side, probably off toward a carriage house. The gate itself is even more intricate than the rest of the fence, though it continues the same motif of swirls and abstract floral patterning. But pretty as it is, I don't give it more than a moment's glance – I can see the flames lapping at the windows of the house. And that sight... just freezes me cold for a long moment. It's so terrifying, to see something so wild and uncontrollable wrecking destruction on something as solid as a home.
     But I force myself to snap out of it, and focus on what I'm actually seeing. The fire seems to be concentrated around the tower – that must be where it started, then? But the eerie orange glow has already infected some of the windows of the main house. I have no idea where anyone's room is, I don't know where to look for any of the family...
     But there! Someone's in the front doorway, standing in that lovely yellow entryway I once saw – though now the light comes from within, and it repaints the walls in a darker shade of gold. A woman in a heavy dress, one hand clutching a bag (a carpet bag, maybe?), the other arm cradling something to her chest. I hear a wail, and she ducks her head to the bundle in her arm for just a moment before looking frantically around. She steps out of the doorway, and I think... it's Cora, it has to be. And that wail, it's a baby in her arms. The third child!
     Cora steps out farther into the yard, looking around in all directions. There's some kind of tree not far from me, and I think I should be pretty well hidden behind it. Is she looking for the rest of her family? Or to see if there's anyone near to help? Or maybe to see if there's any clue as to the start of the fire?
     “Eee-ve-lyyyyn! Aaaa-ve-ryyyy! Are you out here? Evelyn!” Her voice is high and shrill, and she paces anxiously near the windows on the opposite side of the house from the tower. That must be where their bedrooms are. (I notice she never looks toward the tower, where the library is.) But how is she out here – and not only out here, but has a bag packed, when her kids are still inside? I understand getting the baby outside, but, that bag... did she know the fire was going to happen?
     Was she the one that started it?
     “Momma!!!” I hear a shrill shriek from the doorway, and Evelyn comes bursting out of it, sobbing loudly and running over to her mother. They embrace frantically, crying, their words lost in the sobs and in the noise of the fire. And I realize someone else has left the doorway – a man, not Mr. Mason, younger – it must be Avery. He's carrying a bundle as well, though his is very haphazard, probably just a sheet that he threw some valuables into. He pauses once outside the doorway, and looks for a long moment at the tower. I follow his gaze, and see the windows there are completely consumed by flames. Though it's dark, the glare of the fire provides enough light to see how much damage has already been done to the structure in that section. The bricks are black from smoke, glass from the windows bursting lies in shards on the ground below. There are a few gaps in the brick walls, where something large inside must have collapsed and fallen into them. I shudder, terrified of seeing the silhouette of a person in one of those windows... but I see no-one. I suppose if he could have made it to a window, he would have just jumped and made it out. Maybe he did, on the other side of the house, where the family couldn't see?