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Locksley Manor, Autumn’s cave

Titus Hitch Wilderness

Tuesday morning

Autumn handed Tash half of her croissant, a bit flattened by the two apples in the bag, but who cared?

“You saw how pretty she is. She can make her voice all sweet, and she was always patting me, like she really liked me, but I knew she didn’t mean it. When she and Dad got married, she treated me, you know, like I was a stray living with them. She gave my dad all her attention.”

Tash said, “Look out the open windows, Autumn. See the backyard?”

“Yes, okay. Lots of flowers, roses mainly, and look, orange trees. I can almost smell the oranges.”

“I can hear him, but I don’t understand. He’s not speaking English.”

Tash said, “See the little kid on a bicycle? Wait, Autumn, there’s my dad! He’s walking toward the house. See? See?”

“Tash, let’s try something. Let’s both really concentrate, see if we can actually connect to him.”

“What? Do you really think we can actually talk to him? Not just see him? But how, Autumn?”

Dad? It’s me, Tash.

They watched Archer Navarro walk into the house, unaware of them.

“Keep trying, Tash. Squeeze my hand.”

He tried again, but Archer Navarro didn’t hear him. He took a deep breath in, seemed to be smelling the oranges, and walked over toward Sasha.

“It’s no good, Autumn. We can see him, but—” He looked like he wanted to burst into tears.

Autumn pulled him to her side. “It’s okay, Tash. We saw him and he looks fine. I’ll call Dillon.”