CHAPTER 3
Sam needed their help if she wanted to get back to the village and to the old oak tree. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to wait for another storm for the oak to take her to another time, hopefully her time this time. But she supposed she had better wait for the right conditions to increase her success chances. Till then she was stuck with Jeff and his gang.
She couldn’t say she liked the atmosphere in Jeff's hideout. The men were constantly looking with lust at her. Even though that was all they did, it was still annoying. And the women, that was another story. They seemed to hate her for the attention she got from Jeff and for the passion she seemed to wake in the men of the gang, their men. But Ariana seemed to loathe her presence the most. It was almost unbearable. So Sam tried to stay as far away from her as possible and from the men. It looked like she was stuck with Jeff for the time being…
Later after they were all tired with the eating and drinking, Sam asked Jeff where she could sleep for the night. So he led her to a tiny room upstairs and even gave her a tiny key to lock herself in. He hoped his men wouldn’t go over his word but he wasn’t very sure about Steph. He suspected that the snake was trying to take over leadership from him, to take over his gang. He didn’t have proof, but he knew it in his guts that he was right. It was the way he looked at him sometimes when he gave them orders for a job or another, the envy in his eyes that he was trying to hide…. Anyway, he would sleep in the room next to Sam's and if Steph tried anything funny, then it would mean he disobeyed a direct order and he could punish him as he saw fit. It also meant that he was right about him, too. Either way, it was better to get rid of the threat while he could still do something about it, before Steph would lure more from the gang to follow him.
Sam had no idea of the silent rivalry between the two men. As soon as she saw herself alone in the room she took the key and locked herself in. She left the key in the door so if anyone tried to enter she would hear it. Then she looked around. It was a nice simple room with a bed on the left next to the wall and a tiny wardrobe opposite it. She opened it to inspect it. It was empty which was rather curious. Not even a piece of clothing inside, not even a rag. Such a waste, she thought, such a large wardrobe and it was empty. There were no chairs or tables in the room. Only the bed and the wardrobe. But it was enough for her. At least she could sleep in a bed and not out in the forest, trying to hide from the priest.
She was so tired that she soon fell asleep. Then although she was sleeping she was startled by a faint noise. It was enough to wake her up. She got up next to the bed and listened carefully. Just when she was about to go back to sleep thinking that maybe it had been a dream, there it was again. There was someone behind her door. She was really scared by now thinking that Jeff was behind the door. She cursed him in her head and not knowing what else to do, she opened the window and then hid in the wardrobe. She was hoping to make him think that she had escaped through the window. Then after he would leave the room she intended to really escape by the window. But there was not enough time for that now as the person trying to get in would soon manage to enter. So she just hoped this would work. She got inside the empty closet holding her breath in fear and expectation. She was grateful that it hadn’t creaked while she got in. She would have been exposed then. She started praying that he wouldn’t look inside. She rested her back against the back of the wardrobe. She heard a noise inside and clearly there was somebody at the window as she heard the windows shut. Then the steps got closer to her hiding place. They stopped a moment probably just in front of her. The next moment she felt a hand around her mouth, but from behind her!!! She couldn’t scream as her mouth was covered. Then someone pulled her through the wall as clearly the wardrobe was a decoy for a secret passage. It was Jeff! He signaled to her to be quiet and stand still. So he hadn’t been the one trying to enter her room, he….had just saved her!! He showed her to sit a bit further away while he took her place in the closet and locked the secret entrance. And not a minute too soon as the next moment Steph opened the closet and found ….Jeff instead of Sam.
“What the devil!?” Steph exclaimed with a funny grimace on his face.
“I could ask you the same thing!” Jeff said and he punched him right in his smug face. Steph fell with a loud thud, hitting his head against the end of the bed. A trail of blood started oozing from an open wound that would surely leave a scar. Although Steph must have been pretty dizzy with the fall and bump on his head, he somehow managed to get up and even tried to hit Jeff back. He looked a lot stronger and better built than Jeff but somehow Jeff seemed to have the upper hand. With another swift move Jeff sent him back to the floor. He landed on his ass this time and he was trying to get up again when Jeff said in a powerful commanding voice: “Stay down if you know what's good for you!”
For a split second Steph seemed to lead an inner battle, not sure if to stay down or get up and fight. But he decided to stay down, bowing his head and his eyes, acknowledging defeat.
Meanwhile Sam had entered the room through the secret passage and was looking from behind at what was going on. If she had any doubts by then concerning her safety there and Jeff's intentions, she was pretty convinced now that he meant her no harm.
Jeff helped Steph get up and pushed him through the door of the room. As they were exiting, Jeff turned to Sam.
“You can sleep now, miss, but lock your door again just in case. Although I don’t think anyone will be bothering you anymore now that this scoundrel has been dealt with.” And he winked at her while leaving the room.
Confused, she went back to sleep. Nothing out of the ordinary happened that night anymore. But the next day Steph wasn’t among the gang members anymore. She was afraid to ask Jeff what he had done with him so she preferred not to think about it anymore. But she remembered Jeff saying that they weren't murderers so he probably just expelled him from his gang. Which could also turn out dangerous as Steph might seek revenge sooner or later. But that had nothing to do with her.
Anyways, now more than ever she missed her old quiet life when the worst thing that could happen was a brawl in the inn where she used to live with her mother. Oh, how she missed her and everything that she had meant to her. Her sweet and young mother who had died such a violent death killed by the fire at the inn. If only she hadn't fallen asleep in the woods while gathering sticks, if only she had been back earlier, maybe things would have been different, maybe she could have prevented everything and saved her. But it was too late for sorrow now and all she could do was go forward.
A thing was certain: this place and time was just as dangerous as the 21st century and she had to try going back to her own time and maybe to the peaceful life she had in Kevin's house. Maybe she could be more than just his servant…. Now if she thought about him, life with him was better than among thieves or among the cars and guns in Nat's time. She had to find a way back sooner rather than later, that was for sure.