Once when she was a child out adventuring through the forests of Cairnbridge, Susanna had stumbled upon a cave.  The entrance was not easily seen, as it was only a narrow opening in the wall of a rocky ravine.  She had ran by it many times before noticing it on that day.  It immediately stoked the fire of curious adventure within her and she was compelled to explore what lay within.

While her mother would certainly not approve of Susanna’s spelunking, it was her mother, after all, that had filled her imagination with stories of adventure and fantasy.  Many evenings were spent reading to her daughters before bed.  They would always protest when she came to the end of a chapter, longing to hear what would happen next.  It was sometimes difficult to ignore their pleadings, especially when she knew that she was leaving them on a cliffhanger, but the girls would undoubtedly continue the story in the imaginings of their dreams.

The air of the cave was cool, as were its craggy walls.  Young Susanna entered cautiously.  Her hands touched both sides of the passage, her fingertips guiding her along the way.  She had to bend her knees as she walked in order to avoid rubbing her head against the roof and dirtying her auburn pigtails.  Though the darkness invited fear, her sense of wonder prevailed.  Her inquisitive mind simply had to know where this led and what secrets it held.  Was there treasure?  Was there an underground kingdom?  Would she finds bears or trolls?  Or would she perhaps have the greatest of fortunes...and find fairies?

That would have delighted the young girl to no end!  But sadly, she did not find a fairy that day.  There were no castles in the cavern.  She didn’t even find a ferocious beast guarding the way forward.  Instead, the cave simply stopped.  Though she had managed to squeeze her little body quite far into the rock, it was for nothing.  She had to turn around, disappointed.

Later, Susanna’s mother would chastise her for soiling her clothes.  They were covered in dirt!  (This was a common recurrence whenever their family visited Cairnbridge.)  Little Rebecca, who was too young to leave the house, was sorely jealous.  She pouted when their mother made Susanna change into one of Rebecca’s dresses.  Despite being a tad small on her, the extended family was having dinner that night.  Susanna remembered the embarrassment of having to constantly pull the dress down over her knees, much to their cousin Veronica’s snide amusement.  

Susanna would revisit that little grotto many times over the course of her childhood.  She would revisit it in many more times in her dreams, where all of the wonders of her imagination would come true...especially the fairies. 

~+~+~

Many years had passed since Susanna had last thought of the forest cave, but it was immediately brought to her mind as she squeezed into the narrow passageway behind the grandfather clock.  The air, the cold walls, and the darkness of the corridor all evoked those childhood memories.  This time, though, there were no dead ends.  And this time, she had a fairy!  (Well, close enough…)

“It’s not much further,” said Vincent, who led the way with a large flame.

“Good!” said Rebecca, who was reluctantly bringing up the rear.  “This isn’t as easy for us as it is for you!” 

“You want to see the secret room, don’t you?  Then you’re going to have to keep going.  The stairs are right over there.” 

Vincent had revealed to the sisters everything he had discovered, despite his desire to keep quiet for it for a bit longer.  Apparently, he had aroused suspicion.  Even though he was so little, Susanna was astute enough to read Vincent’s body language.  She knew him well enough to know when he was trying to keep a secret.  It didn’t take much questioning for him to tell them about the globe and the button and the grandfather clock.  With a combined effort, they were able to slide the clock to the side and see for themselves.

“This had better be worth it!  I’m feeling claustrophobic!”

“Hush, Rebecca!  Just keep walking,” Susanna said.

The trio made their way down the tight spiral staircase.  The sisters were quite relieved when it opened up into the much greater room, which offered them much more space to move around.  Though the basement room was not huge, they could at least stand up straight.  

“This is incredible!” Rebecca said with fascination.  

Susanna echoed that sentiment.  “This is quite the discovery, Vincent!  Who knows how long this has been hiding below Cairnbridge’s floors?”

“What is this place, anyway?”

“I was hoping you could tell me,” Vincent replied as he lit the candelabra.

“Well, obviously I doubt that this was a bedroom.  Maybe it was a private study?  It’s below the library, after all.  But whose?”

Susanna browsed the shelves, examining the odds and ends resting upon them.  Vincent sat upon her shoulder and observed curiously from there.  There were many empty glass flasks and bottles of differing sizes, a few wooden bowls, as well as a mortar and pestle.  Susanna opened up a little leather pouch and found an assortment of interesting rocks and stones; they looked familiar and she judged that they were gathered from the surrounding hills.  Apart from that, there were a couple of pieces of old equipment whose intended uses were unknown to her, but were fairly uninteresting.  

Meanwhile, Rebecca found herself drawn to the portrait of the young woman hanging on the back wall.  “She’s lovely,” she said when Susanna and Rebecca joined her.

“That she is.  She looks young, too...not much older than you and I.”

“Do you know her?” Vincent inquired.

“I don’t think so.  I mean, we’re probably related to her in some way, knowing Cairnbridge, but we could either be direct descendants or fifth cousins four times removed.”

“I can see the resemblance.  You both have lips...and a nose...and long hair.”

“...right.  Good eye there, Vincent.  She might as well be our mother!”

“Okay fine!  I haven’t seen very many young women.  You all look the same to me,” huffed Vincent.  “But anyway, maybe that book on the desk has some answers.  I tried reading it earlier, but I found myself inhibited by, you know, my inability to read...”

“I’m going to teach you!  I will!  We haven’t exactly had time for lessons, but if you’re so eager, we can get you started on the A-B-C’s tonight.”

Susanna flipped open to the first page of the book.  It exuded the musty, aged smell that many old books do.  Some found it to be an unpleasant odor, but Susanna didn’t mind it at all.  To her, it was the scent of memories.  The pages of the book were worn and she flipped through them with delicate care.  The handwritten language was of an older dialect, but the language was still comprehensible to her modern eyes. 

“What does it say?” asked Vincent after eagerly watching Susanna read silently for a few minutes.

“It’s someone’s notes.  I’m guessing it belonged to the person who used this room.  The ink is a little faded, but I can read most of it.  It’s written like a diary, but I can’t tell if this is supposed to be fictional or truth.”

“What do you mean?”

Susannna read from one of the pages: “There was a great celebration on top of the mountain.  Many guests were there.  But I did not see her.  Everyone watched as I fell…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Rebecca.

“I think this is a dream journal.  Yes, that would make more sense.  Every entry is different.  None are very long.  Most are short sentences describing what the author dreamed about the previous night.”

“Anything else?” Vincent asked.  

Susanna kept reading.  “More scribbles.  He keeps talking referring to ‘her.’  I’m assuming she’s the woman in the painting?  Whoever she is, she was apparently elusive.  She doesn’t show up in any of these dreams and it sounds like he’s getting increasingly frustrated.”  

Susanna kept glancing through the pages.  It was more of the same.  More dreams.  More vague notes.  Finally, when she came near the end of the book, she found an entry that was much more substantial, taking up several pages.  She read it aloud:

“I saw her last night!  She was there!  I am weeping even as I write this.  I feared I would never see her again, even in my dreams.  My beautiful Caterina!  She was just as fair and beautiful as I remembered.

I found her in the forest.  I wandered through the trees.  It was dark, but I saw a light in the distance.  I kept walking towards it.  It was her.  She was standing in a clearing among the trees.  She was dancing and laughing.  The sound of her laughter enraptured my heart.  I ran to join her.  When she saw me, she stopped dancing and smiled.  I feared that she would vanish like a mist, that this was just a cruel trick.  But she didn’t.  We embraced.  I felt her arms around me and they were warm.

We danced together.  We danced for an eternity and never grew tired.  Time did not flow quickly in that place.  We were not subject to its will.  This moment belonged to us.  It was ours, to replace the far too many moments that were stolen from us.  We deserved this.  I longed for this.  It was for this moment that I have traveled so many miles and learned so much and waited for patiently, often in vain and heartbreak.

We were alone, with the trees surrounding us the only witnesses to our sacred union.  After, we lay together in the soft grass.  I did not want to let her go, for fear of losing her again, and so I hugged her close.  We spoke very few words that night.  We didn’t need to.  She was my Caterina.  With her, I was no longer an old man.  I was young again, just as I was when we were together many years ago.  

I wanted to stay.  I wanted her to stay with me.  No greater desire have I ever yearned!  We could have lived there for the rest of time.  We were not in want of anything.  I felt no hunger or thirst.  But such was not our fate.  We both understood this.  The sun was rising.  The dream was ending.  

The last that I remember was the touch of her lips as they kissed my cheek.  Our tears mingled as they trickled down to where our faces met.  As our surroundings faded into an unwelcome light, she whispered gently into my ear:

‘I will love you always, my sweet Vincenzo...’

I awoke alone.  Though my heart still aches, it is finally content.  

This will be the last entry in this book.  I will no longer seek mastery over my dreams.  I will put away my potions and powders.  I will seal this place away.  Too great would be the temptation to try returning to that place.  I know that I cannot.  I must continue on this terrestrial plane for just a while longer, for the sake of my sons.  I will see my Caterina again in the age that is to come.  

Until then, I will dream no more.”

~+~+~

There was a silence in the room following the soft thud of the book being closed.  Susanna, Vincent, and Rebecca quietly took in the words that had just been read.

“Wow.”

“Great forest…”

“Is there nothing more?”

Susanna shook her head.  “But I think Sir Vincent said enough.”

Vincent eyebrows raised.  “He said his name was Vincenzo?”

“Yes.  Our ancestor: Sir Vincent of Cairnbridge.  He was born Vincenzo.  He’s the one I named you after.  He brought our family to his land many centuries ago and settled it,” Susanna answered.  “I can’t believe we actually found his journal!  This is incredible!”

“Fascinating!  And Caterina?”

“His wife,” answered Susanna.  “If I remember right, Caterina died in childbirth after their third son was born.  There’s a book upstairs in the library on our family’s history, but not much more is said about her.”

“You know so much about this place, sister,” Rebecca said thoughtfully.  “I must admit that I’ve taken it a little for granted.  But I’m starting to understand why you love Cairnbridge so much: it’s part of our family.”

Susanna was truly delighted to hear Rebecca say that.  She smiled at her sister, then gave her a quick poke in the ribs.  “Aww, my baby sister is growing up!”

“Ouch!” went Rebecca, who then stuck out her tongue.  “I was being serious!”  

“Rebecca being serious?  Well then!  Maybe that’s worth putting in the journal?” said Vincent.

“Ha!  I would watch your tongue.  You’re still not fully in the clear, sir.”  

To prove her point, Rebecca snatched Vincent up in one hand and unceremoniously inserted him into the empty ink bottle on the table.  

“Hey!” the tiny voice echoed out from within the darkened glass.  After a little bit of struggling, Vincent was able to squeeze himself out, but he was covered in a fine dusting of dry ink residue.

“Look what you did, Rebecca,” Susanna tsked.  “You’re going to have to clean him up, not me.”

“Oh, fine!  Come here, Vincent.”

Rebecca reached down and picked the ink-smudged little man up again.  He was caught between her thumb and forefinger, exposed but unable to move.  Vincent wriggled around, but to no avail.  His resisting escalated when he watched Rebecca stick her other index finger in her mouth.  It emerged covered in saliva and was brought closer and closer to him.

“No!  No, I refuse!  This is undignified!”

Rebecca simply smiled and rubbed her wet finger all over Vincent’s body until the ink was mostly clear.  He was a little cleaner, but looked disheveled and very annoyed.  As soon as her grip loosened, he hastily flew away.  He landed on top of the bookshelf, far from Rebecca’s grasp.

Susanna giggled.  “Just be glad she just used her finger!  She could have just plopped you in her mouth to clean you off!”

“Yuck!” said Rebecca at the thought of it.  “No thanks.”

Vincent said nothing in response.  He was quite tired of saliva in general.  Turning around, he walked to the other side of the shelf to dry himself off and to regain his composure.  He took a few steps, then stopped.  A while passed without any word from him.  

“Vincent, are you okay?  Come on down so we can head back upstairs.  Rebecca apologizes.”

“It’s true.  I’m sorry.  I’m also a little cold, so if you could hurry up, that’d be great…”

There was no response.

“Vincent?”

The sisters looked at each other, both with a slight look of worry.  The bookshelf was too tall for them to see if Vincent was okay.  Even on their tiptoes, he was still out of sight.

Finally, after several concerned seconds, they heard a response: “I...I’m alright.  I found something!  It’s heavy.  I’m trying to move it.  Don’t worry!”

Rebecca placed her foot on the bottom shelf and attempted to climb the front of the bookcase like a ladder.  She was more agile than her sister, who helped by steadying her from below and pushing on the bookcase to keep it from toppling over.  Rebecca managed to grab onto the top ledge and pull herself up.  It was dark and dusty, but she was able to make out Vincent’s little form.  

Vincent was standing next to a large ceramic vessel that stood taller than him.  His body was bent at an angle as he pushed it along.  The trail in the dust showed that he had made it several inches already.  He grunted as he put his shoulder into it, but it was exhausting him and he was getting nowhere.

“Need some help?”

“I’ve got it!” said Vincent, a little surprised.  In his exertion and determination, he hadn’t noticed Rebecca’s head appear from below.  

Rebecca ignored him.  She carefully removed one hand from the ledge and reached for the clay bottle.  This left her balance a little off.  Down below, Susanna had to do her best to keep her sister from falling.  Vincent reluctantly moved to the side as Rebecca’s fingers clutched around the container.  She was able to get a good grip and pick it up, a task that was far easier for her than it was for Vincent.  

“Got it!”

“Rebecca, be careful!” Vincent shouted.

It was too late.  Rebecca lost her balance.  She swayed backwards away from the bookshelf, but with the jar in her hand, she was unable to grab a hold of the shelf.  Susanna looked up in terror, helpless now to keep her sister from falling.  Try as she might, Susanna couldn’t fully support the shifting weight.  Her knees buckled and both women went down.

“Rebecca!”

Though she hadn’t fallen more than five feet, Rebecca made full impact with the stone floor.  She landed on her back with a thud, then tumbled and rolled to the side.  Vincent dove from the ledge and joined Susanna, who was racing to check on her sister.  When they got to Rebecca, she was slowly writhing on the ground, unable to get up.

In Rebecca’s hand was the broken vessel.  It had shattered on impact and its contents were revealed.  A colorful, sand-like powder had spilled out all over the ground...and all over Rebecca.  Hundreds and hundreds of the tiny, dark blue grains covered her from her hair to her dress to her sandals.  

“Rebecca!  Are you okay?!”

“Uggghhh...I-I’m fine.  Damn, that hurt!”

“Can you stand?”

Rebecca nodded and reached out to grab Susanna’s hand.  She wobbled around for a bit, but was able to get back on her feet with help.

“I think I’m okay.  But I think I broke that bottle,” she said, looking around at the mess around her.  “Oh, and my dress!  I’m covered in sand!  And--and...oh, actually...I don’t feel well at all.  My head is pounding.  I feel faint…”

Rebecca dipped and swayed to the ground, but Susanna caught her.  She placed her little sister’s arm around her shoulders and started dragging her to the stairs.

“Quickly!” Susanna shouted to Vincent.  “We need to get her upstairs right away!”

+~+~+

By the time they got upstairs, Rebecca was barely conscious.  Susanna had done all that she could to carry her up the stairs and was physically exhausted from the effort.  They made it to Rebecca’s bedroom.  The younger sister collapsed on the bed upon arrival.  Her eyelids fluttered.  Her arms and legs were too weak to move.

“I feel...I feel so tired…”  Rebecca said in a near whisper.  “I’ll be okay.  Just let me rest…”

Susanna and Vincent worriedly looked on as Rebecca fell asleep.