Baby

presence was needed at the carriage house. To make matters worse for Robert, the chief of police accompanied them, a little matter of his cut. Clearly, it would take Robert’s intervention to make them go away so he prepared to step into the foyer.
    Hissing venomously to Netty as he left he said, “ Don’t you dare move. ”
    Netty sprang to her feet. She heard Robert’s plan for her. She knew she must run now, even as she seethed with anger and shock over the night’s revelations. Glancing toward the fireplace, her eyes caught the reflected glow of Robert’s prized gold coins. Without thinking, she grabbed one, thrusting it into her undergarments and dashed out the French door to the terrace. From there she began her long journey back to Sussex County, on foot. Hiding in barns at night and staying to the wooded edge of the roads by day, she resolutely limped her way, stumbling over rocks and ruts, ignoring the protests of her tender bleeding feet.
    Netty’s thoughts were suddenly yanked back to the present again. Did I doze off? She realized she just dawdled away hours of valuable time with her reminiscing. The late afternoon air was cooling and she knew it was time to get back to the cabin to light the evening’s fire.
    The small object hidden under her bodice dug into her chest. She reached in to adjust it, first drawing it out to admire, the coin even glinting in the late afternoon light. Yes, it was the coin she had purloined from her husband’s collection.
    She hesitated to use it for the cabin repairs, as it would draw too much attention. She suspected her husband might not come after her. After all, she legally owned the cabin now. But she had no intention of giving him another excuse. She did not want to be accused of robbery. Stealing was given a dim view in these parts. It was a serious crime.
    Netty realized Robert only married her for the land. And it was now clear to her that her real father must have been Mr. Woods. It explained so much. She loved her papa dearly but she also loved Mr. Woods. She felt lucky having two good men in her life. Pulling up her bodice to replace the coin, it inexplicably slipped from her stiff chilling fingers. Lord. She watched it as it bounced off the rock and over the edge. She scrambled up to hear it ping on the rocks below. Leaning over, she saw that it bounced all the way over toward the cairn of stones she noticed on her assent up the path. It glinted in the sun, mocking her. Oh well, there remained no choice but to climb down and retrieve it. Rolling up the legs on her torn and faded trousers, she slipped down from the granite rock.
    As Netty approached the cairn, she saw it was much larger than first thought. She reached to pick up the coin, her fingers dislodging a stone, sending the coin deeper into the mound. Ugh, the prospect of digging the coin out lacked appeal. She wanted to go home to the cabin. Grumbling, she lowered herself to the ground, pushing the stones out of her way. Progress was slow, her feet hurt and she quickly tired. The light dimmed as her digging created quite a hole in the side of the hill. Where was the darn coin? Netty decided she would come back tomorrow when she would be stronger. This was a bigger job than she counted on. Rising to her feet, she brushed off her apron. In the periphery of her vision she saw a flash of colored light. An aura. Again? Not knowing what to make of it she shrugged to herself and got ready for the trek back to the cabin.

Chapter 2
    The Oolahan tried to shake off its sleepy weariness. Its tiny limbs, withered and leather-like coiled protectively around its cooling body. It’s small round head, perched upon its swiveled neck, devoid of the fur that normally protected its face. It’s perfectly round eyes with their abundant lashes missing, were shut. It could still feel that the fluid in its body was low, making its eyes dry and cracked, its vision useless. Its long dense tail thumped weakly, unable to expel, its healing light waves useless to project onto itself, anyway. Scattered around the great cavern, were the large black fragments of its transport. It had no idea how long it had been in the cavern. It felt an urgency to begin the implementation of its mission, but, unfortunately the details of the purpose eluded it. The creature thought perhaps the Womb could help, sensing its presence. Why had it not given him instructions? It needed help to remember the mission.
    Taking matters into its own hand,