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WITH THE SUN RISING and a brilliant day on the horizon, Pete returned to the fort to report on the night&039;s events Neither Finn nor Tara went back with him
The Hawkins family had made a bed of coats and blankets, so they were able to catch a few hours of sleep During the day, the people returned to their hoht they would spend in the church
Tara had known it was inevitable that she&039;d drea in the center of theas s for the Smithsonian While she stood there she saw the scurry of people in the capital-wounded soldiers li a past in their buggies or carriages Schoolchildren ran across the grass, waving their bound books at their sides
She saw a poster on a tree advertising aa play A young boy in the street was hawking newspapers Life went on, in spite of war; only the canvas it was played upon seemed different To the one end of the -at the other end, the White House Scaffolding rose around the Washington Monument
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned President Lincoln was there "Beautiful day, my dear Beautiful day"
"It&039;s cold"
"Yes, it&039;s cold Cold as the grave"
"Where is your escort, sir?"
"Oh, I&039;at his side
"Mary had another seance last night She said that Willie came and spoke to her I fear that sheher to become unbalanced I&039;m afraid for my poor Mary"
"What about you, sir? Have you attended the seances?"
He nodded "Not as many as Marybut I have listened to the mediums, and the soothsayers, and mostly, I have listened to my own heart, andher shoulders "None of us can bear the weight of losing a loved one We all want our loved ones back But what God has taken belongs to God, and none of usof the corpses that had risen in the ce Sos do come back
She couldn&039;t say that to the president Not to ahis terht of nearly six hundred thousand deaths upon his shoulders
"Oh, sir! I knohat you are up against I know the eneht Your child Willie certainly belongs to God now, and I believe that there is a very different day, and different place, where ill see our loved ones as God intended we should all ain"
He looked at her "Don&039;t let o and be with hi time," she told him
"I knohat I saw inon the "castle," the first building to house the S around it now "This is a museum for the American people All the A that can never die It&039;s soreat ued, debated, befriended and loathed one another Even as they wrote the Declaration of Independence, individual men had a say, and they were not all popular, or beloved Washington spent a winter at Valley Forge, and all hope seeainst us We are destined to grow, and continually be apot, and one day, equality will mean all men, not men of a certain color or nationality That will live Rest assured, that will live"
His voice seeone, and there seeed shadon the mall
"Tara!"
She woke to the soft-spoken whisper of her naain"
"I ith hi on the rabbed his arer"
"I know that he is in danger," Finn said "He is always in danger"
"He said that he-he doesn&039;t want to come back He wants to see Willie in heaven"
"In time, let&039;s pray that we all meet in heaven-indeed, that there is a heaven"
She sat up and looked around The church was e over water, with a young acolyte by his side
There was no one to pay them any heed
"Finn, how did you come to bewhat you are?"
"I was born this way, the same as you," he told her
"But what about others? You said that I have a sister and a brother," she said
He nodded "I told you, I know of them I don&039;t know them"
"And you believe thatthey&039;re not evil"
He smiled and assured her, "Not evil at all"
"But our fatherwhat do they know about hiive their hearts to men who play them falsely But you didn&039;t know my mother She would have never loved someone evil"
He hesitated "There are cases where someone is turned-completely turned-and yet, they have still been saved"
"Wewe dispatched children last night, Finn"
"Because, at the point we met them, there was no hope"
"So you can believe that ainst her face "My father was not evil," he told her "But when he changed, he ith his father, and they&039;d been on a hunting expedition into the Dakotas They ith an elderly Sioux man, Jim Whitefeather When the attack came, Jim tried to protect and warn them-he had vampire blood in hinized one of the turned as a farmer who&039;d owned the property near his father&039;s, and they weren&039;t under attack because the hbor wanted randfather was ripped to shreds My father was killed, or nearly killed-I&039;ll never know the total truth of that now-but Jiuide him If there&039;s soht back with the blood of another vao on as it did before When death couide-stand a chance of retaining their sense of huh, when seeing his own child But unless someone has learned to control the desperate need for blood, that soo after sister, brother, wife, lover-child"
Tara put out a hand and touched his face "You&039;ve seen soit against his cheek, and he sed, obviously I&039;ve seen the horrible-we&039;ve all seen the horrible But what you always have to remember is that this disease, as we call it, is no respecter of children, the good or the innocent, once they ith no one and feel the hunger It&039;s as if you come out of a deep sleep, and for a few minutes, you re inside, and it blocks out all humanity When my father came out of the sleep, Jim was there He had shot a buck, and he was able to feed er took full hold He talked his before, and he knehat to do"
"But laterhe couldn&039;t save your parents?"
"Jim was very old," he told her "He reckoned that he was about fifty when he had been changed He could relishman-any white man When his last wife died, he went to the hills alone He told us all goodbye, and to pray for his soul, because he believed that he had one, and that the Buffalo Woman had walked with him all of his life, and he&039;d meet the Great Father He felt he&039;d spent his time on earth, and he went out and willed hi when I accompanied my father into the hills and found Jim My father saw that all his tribal rites were carried out, and I believe that he did find peace And I learned from my father, as able to lead me from the time I was born"
"My father could still be out there-and be decent, wherever he is?" she asked
Finn looked away for a moment "I know of your brother and sister, because we have ood friends who know about us, and who know that they need us to combat the outbreaks when they occur"
He stood suddenly; she, too, heard the sound of hoof-beats
Father Ti at Finn Finn waved to him and headed to the main door of the church
Tara followed Finn
Captain Tremblay had ridden back with Pete When they stepped outside, Tara saw that the day was truly striking; the sun rose high, the sky was crystal blue, the air was cool and the breeze that blew in from the ocean eet It had rained sometime before, and it seemed that the world was fresh-bathed, almost as if the sky had known that the land needed to be cleansed froht before
Captain Trereeting as Finn walked out to hi, with some of the other town councilmen," Tremblay said
Finn nodded "Was there any ht at the fort?"
"It was quiet, but all are now on guard And that, of course, is e must discuss with the mayor" Tremblay looked at Tara and hesitated "Most of the Union forces have gone northard The Cow Cavalry is expected to make advances on Union troops near Fort Myers and in the Tampa Bay area There will be no reinforcements at the fort now Every man and woman here-Union and Confederate, ether Especially because, if I&039;ve understood you correctly, you are still eager to reach the North with all haste"
Finn nodded "Yes And I believe that while there one, they will be ence behind these attacks, I feel, will follow us"
"Is there intelligence behind such attacks?" Tremblay asked
Tara couldn&039;t help but speak up "Is there intelligence behind any war?" she asked
Treht for the Union, young lady Your side fought for an intangible cause, and in this, I honestly believe that God was on our side"
"States&039; rights," she said
"But no one has a right to own another hu," Tre thees-"
Finn lifted a hand "We have no control over either for the moment, Tara, Captain We need to leave these people safe Let&039;s go in"
Inside the church, Father Ti for thee stack of stakes now piled up near the baptisathered old medicinal and alcohol bottles, and they, too, were amassed in rows near the pile of stakes Many people had left jackets, coats and blankets; they would be returning by nightfall
"I have prepared as best I can," Father Timothy told the," Captain Treain The ent of councilmen He paused in front of Captain Tremblay
Captain Tremblay offered him his hand
The o into the records God knoe ht both be written down as traitors"
"This is just a battle of reed "Those people who are not here ht wellover the ht We&039;ll watch well, tamp down any last offenders Then, tomorrow, I must set sail We&039;ll pray that both Union troops and Key West&039;s citizens will join together, and co that we are actually brothers, though we may be brothers at odds"
The ain He stepped back, saluting hiuard here at the church, while you ht, as well," Finn assured thehis hand, as well
The ratitude," he said He sive those of us in this toere rude to yourbut our finest citizen Pete, our gratitude"
Tara nodded She&039;d never seen anyone treat her mother with disrespect, but she kneell that many citizens had whispered about her behind her back, and that she had always been looked upon as an oddity
Tara smiled at the mayor "I&039;ll be back," she told him "This isat Pete "And when you return, we&039;ll all rebuild together"
He left, followed by the councilmen, who all noted how the church was prepared as they departed
The"Father Tirateful," the mayor said and left
Father Timothy looked after him
"How odd," he said