Joy in the Fire

The Vision

Elizabeth did have the tendency to faint occasionally, but October 27th was different. First of all, Edward seemed very reclusive, down-hearted, but every time he noticed someone looking at him, he'd grin and seem cheerful again for a bit. Once Elizabeth overheard a bit of a conversation between he and Rev. Rowe

"I've gone every year." Edward was saying in a distressed tone. "This will be the first time in ten years I haven't gone to visit them." Elizabeth didn't think she had ever heard him sound quite so disheartened. She heard his uncle reply, "You can't go, if you were going to ask me. It's too risky."

"I know, but it just feels unloyal; not going." Just then Edward spotted Elizabeth, who looked away quickly and pretended to be walking by. He smiled slightly at her.

But the most dramatic event of that day did not centre on Edward West. That evening after the service when people were conversing, Elizabeth suddenly gasped, clapped her hand to her forehead and stumbled backwards. Her father, Adrian, and Edward were soon gathered around her peppering her with questions.

"No, no, it's nothing," she insisted. "Just another of my headaches—augh!" she yelled suddenly, causing several more heads to turn.

"Sit down," Edward ordered, and when she didn't respond, he commanded Mr Peterson and Adrian, "Have her sit down against the wall."

Leaning against the rough, natural wall of the cavern, Elizabeth lifted her eyes, which seemed to have a light to them that didn't belong in them. "Ed," she addressed Edward in a voice that was not her own, "Where did you get that ring?"

Edward creased his forehead. "What ring?" He whispered.

"You're wearing a ring," she replied.

"Am I?" Edward asked, though of course he knew himself that he wasn't. Elizabeth nodded and, looking curiously at Edward's ringless hand, said,

"It doth be encased in flames,

Yet burneth it does not.

It hath been cut, nay, notched,

Yet severed be it not."

Mr. Peterson and Adrian glanced from Elizabeth to Edward, who was watching her keenly and taking in all she said. Elizabeth suddenly turned to Adrian. "You." She said, and he started. "Wh-what?" he asked, taken off guard. She pursed her lips and then answered,

"A great many trophies

Thou, Adrian dost own.

But on a crowded shelf

I should rather not dwell.

A mere display,

This one today.

Fly Satan, back to Hell."

Adrian's face was a mixture of confusion and fury. Mr Peterson frowned at his daughter, while Edward raised his eyebrows and remarked, "That's a bit harsh." At the sound of his voice, Elizabeth turned to Edward with the innocent face of a sad child. "Where's Da?" She asked in a voice of the same sort as her face.

"I'm right, here, darling," Mr Peterson said gently with a fatherly smile, but Elizabeth might have been deaf. "Ed, where's Da?" She repeated, a little more anxiously this time.

"He's just right here," Edward replied, gesturing towards the man. Edward blinked at the spot he had indicated. As she stared through Mr Peterson, her eyes welled with tears. "I don't see him, Ed. He's gone. Da's gone, Ed!" Elizabeth screamed again, and Edward grasped her shoulders. He narrowed his deep blue eyes and stared into her screaming brown ones. "Ah!" he exclaimed suddenly, starting back, and as a searing pain pounded through his head Elizabeth slowly relaxed into a peaceful sleep.

As Adrian carried Elizabeth to the sickroom, he questioned Edward, who seemed to have suffered no little shock himself.

"What is it? What's wrong with her? What was that; what was she saying?"

"I think she was seeing the future." Edward responded quietly.

"What—what was that thing you did to her? It looked like you were reading her mind or something."

"I was."

"What—you can read minds?" Adrian asked laughingly.

"Rather," Edward replied between clenched teeth. "That's not quite the right way to put it. It's more like—interpreting. I can't do it with everyone, just the people I know well and understand."

This time it was Adrian who responded between clenched teeth. "And how well do you know Elizabeth West, may I ask?"

For a moment Edward looked like someone had thrown a boulder at his chest, and then he shrugged and said, "Better than you, it would seem. Her last name's Peterson, West is mine."

Adrian was silent with indignation for a moment, then he asked furiously, "and why did she call you 'Ed'?"

Edward threw his hands in the air. "Search me!"

"She's never called you that before?"

Edward shook his head. "Don't see why she should. Usually a bit callous towards me, to be quite frank with you."

Adrian seemed to relax a bit at these words. Edward sighed.