Wilhelmina A Novella by Ronnell D. Porter Read Free Book Online Page A

My aunt Abby told us to bring you with us if we ever made a run for it.’
    ‘Abby is your aunt?’ I asked.
    ‘Me and my husband Minus can’t stay here no longer, not with that witch up there in her tower. She’s a woman of the devil, I seen it myself!’ Thea said. ‘Please, come with us. We can be there by morning if we keep moving.’
    ‘I want to go! Take me with you!’ I said, gripping her hand. She brushed my hair and smiled, holding my hand as she pulled me out of bed. My legs were stronger now, almost strong enough to run, but I didn’t need to as Minus swept me up in his muscular arms again, and carried me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on as Thea led us out of the mansion.
    The path was easy enough without being noticed. We cut through the kitchen and went down into the wine cellar and out the back. We cut across the open field behind the estate and into the forest.
    We were free, and I would never have to see that vile succubus again in my life. Most of all, I could keep my long hair, Charles' long hair that he loved so much. Thea and Minus ran and ran, and both of them were laughing, actually laughing . I had never heard Minus' laugh before, but I enjoyed its deep baritone bass as we all took in the fact that we were free.
    After an hour of walking southeast on Thea’s map, and following the trees with white linen tied around the trunk to ensure that we were on the right path, we came to a clearing and sat down for a moment to rest. It was a meadow, a beautiful flower-filled opening to the sky that was flourishing and ripe with fauna.
    My body ached, and my legs were sore, but as Minus sat me down, I couldn’t help but run and skip through the meadow. The moon was high, and the air was fresh. I ran in circles, in squares, and even in shaped that didn’t exist. Wherever I could run, I would. My hair flew freely.
    ‘Abby was right about you,’ Thea said with a smile as Minus tried to start a fire. Thea helped him gather odd pieces of bark and branches as Minus pulled out his matches. ‘You are a wild thing. She said you were free like the wind; you don’t care where you blow, as long as you ruffle some feathers along the way. I’ve never seen Elizabeth Bathory stood up to the way you did, Wilhelmina.’
    ‘Where is Abby? Is she okay?’ I asked.
    ‘Your step-mother sold her to Ol’ Lou Girthwright’s farm before she skipped town. But Lou’s been helping the railroad for a few months now, and he sent her along her way, telling her how to get to the cottage in Gretna,’ Thea said as she watched the fire grow. ‘She’s waiting for us there, you’ll see.’
    I ran back to them as Thea pulled out a few sausages. She skewered them and held them over the fire, and they looked so mouth watering that I didn’t care whether they were warm or not. Minus handed me a leather canteen filled with water, and I drank eagerly.
    ‘You go ahead and drink up, Wilhelmina, we got more where that came from,’ Thea said. She handed me a biscuit and I thanked her as I began to work my way through the flaky sinews of bread and butter.
    We sat there in the meadow, laughing while Thea talked about all of the plans she had when she made it to the North. Before she was sold to Elizabeth Bathory, she worked for a veterinarian, and she used to watch him work on horses and hunting dogs, sometimes wounded birds. Thea said that she wanted to learn how to help, how to heal.
    Minus said that he didn’t care too much what sort of work he landed in, so long as Thea was there when he got home. He wanted children, and he hoped that they would have her smile. I agreed. Thea was so pretty whenever she smiled and her eyes were a light mahogany brown, lighter than her skin, and they glowed with absolute beauty in the firelight.
    Our sanctuary was disrupted when he heard noises beyond the trees, all around us. Minus quickly put out the fire and Thea hurriedly shoved their belongings back into her satchel. I looked