* * * * * * * * * *
Anne and Tom stood speechless for at least two full minutes before she spoke. “What does that mean? How can you be Jacob Poole?”
“It’s complicated,” Joe replied.
For the first time – maybe in his entire life – Tom Timmerman became agitated. “Well, Joe, we got all night. So how ‘bout you start explainin’ what makes it so complicated.”
Joe picked up an old pipe and lit the tobacco stuffed inside. After taking a few puffs, he began. “The problem is that there have been so many stories told about this town over the years that no one knows what the hell is true anymore. A lie is told, so the other side counters with an even bigger lie. The lies just keep multiplying and neither side remembers what really happened. Hell, neither side even cares about the truth anymore. They just want to win.”
“Sides?” Anne asked. “What sides?”
Another puff of his pipe. “Can you both forget what you think you know about this town for a few minutes? Because if you can’t, there’s no point for me to go on.”
Tom and Anne exchanged a glance and nodded. “Sure, we can forget.”
“Bayberry Cove’s founders didn’t find an abandoned town when they arrived back in 1628.”
“We already know that, Joe,” said Tom. “Boreas was here.”
A smoky haze encircled Joe’s head as he spoke. “Not just Boreas. There was already a settlement of natives living here. Dozens of people just like Boreas – families, friends, lovers. All sharing a peaceful existence in this paradise.”
“What happened to them?” asked Anne.
* * * * * * * * * *
Jed and Caroline took a step to their right and studied the next painting. A giant ship was docked in Bayberry’s waters, crudely drawn men and women were carrying guns and knives, apparently killing everyone in their path. A red substance had been smeared over the drawing – perhaps dye, or maybe dried blood.
“They slaughtered everyone,” Caroline gasped.
“Who slaughtered everyone?” Jed asked.
“I think…we did.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Joe’s voice sounded thick with emotion. “The founders killed everyone. Took their homes, their livestock, and raided the bayberry fields. It was horrible.”
“But Boreas escaped?” Tom asked.
“Yes,” Joe answered, “but not just Boreas. There was another who escaped with him into the mountains.”
“Another? Who?”
* * * * * * * * * *
“Who are these two?” asked Jed. The teens had moved on to the next painting. It depicted two people escaping the slaughter and fleeing to Mt. Misery.
“I don’t know. One of them must be Boreas. But I never heard anything about someone leaving with him.”
Jed stared at the picture. “Do you think it could be the beast? Or the sea creature?”
Caroline giggled. “I’m going to pretend like you didn’t suggest a sea creature might have walked out of the water and hid in a cave.”
Jed wasn’t amused. “Ok, genius, who the heck is it then?”
Caroline took a closer look. Her face lit up. “It’s a woman!”
“How do you know that?”
“Look, she has long hair. You can barely see it because most of the color has faded, but look – that is definitely long, brown hair.”
“I thought little dresses represented women.”
“Idiot, these aren’t signs for the restroom, they are ancient hieroglyphics. Men were represented with no hair, women with long hair, and…oh my gosh!” Caroline shouted as her eyes moved to the next drawing.
“What do you see now?” Jed asked, trying to keep up.
“I think,” she squinted her eyes at the drawing, “they had a baby!”
* * * * * * * * * *
“A what!” shouted Anne.
“Boreas escaped to Mt. Misery with his wife, Oreithyia, and they had a son shortly after named Haemus.”
“Where did these people get their book of baby names?” joked Tom.
Joe kept a stern look on his face. “The baby was named after Boreas’ father, who was killed in the attacks.”
“Oh,” Tom replied out of embarrassment.
Anne interrupted. “Ok, Joe, so I get that your version of Bayberry Cove’s history is different from our version. But I still don’t get what all this has to do with you and Jacob Poole.”
“I’m getting there,” Joe said. “Just be patient.”
Anne sighed deeply. It had been a long day and her patience was wearing thin. “So what happened to their son? What happened to Haemus?”
* * * * * * * * * *
Jed and Caroline moved deeper into the cave. One picture after another, all showing the progression from Bayberry Cove’s earliest days to the present.
“Jed, I think their baby grew up and moved back into the town. Look at this drawing – it shows a man walking down from the mountainside and entering Bayberry Cove.”
“Wow, you’re right.”
“And look, he got married – to someone from town. That means Boreas’ bloodline mixed with our bloodline!”
“So, wait, you’re saying there are people in this town who are descendants of Boreas?”
“I mean, I don’t know, but I think that’s what the story is trying to tell us.”
“This is unreal,” Jed whispered.
Caroline pointed to a symbol carved into the stone. “Hey, look at this. What do you think it means?”
“It looks like a tiny set of wings.”
“That’s weird,” Caroline said with a confused look on her face.
“What’s weird?”
“Probably nothing…it just reminds me of my birthmark.”
Jed stood in stunned silence.
“What’s wrong with you? It looks like you’ve seen a ghost,” she laughed nervously.
“Caroline, I just remembered something. Where is your birthmark?”
“Why is that important?”
“It just is. Where is it?”
She hesitated. “You are freaking me out. It’s on the back of my neck, why?”
* * * * * * * * * *
Joe told Anne and Tom about Haemus’ descent into Bayberry Cove. About the claim his ship had sunk and how he washed up on shore, even mentioning a run-in with the hideous sea creature.
Of course, the whole account was fictional, but Haemus needed a believable back-story. He needed to infiltrate the town and find a wife. And they needed to have a baby. Boreas’ spirit needed to live on. He needed to plot his revenge on the people who destroyed his life, and only a bloodline of vengeful descendants could make that dream a reality.
“So, Joe, you’re telling us that people in this town are related to Boreas?” Anne asked.
“That is exactly what I am telling you.”
Tom lost control of his emotions. “So what does that mean? And how exactly do you know all of this? Explain how you are Jacob Poole!”
Joe’s pipe had run dry, so he opted for another mug of tepid coffee. “It’s not so much that I am Jacob Poole, it’s more about the spirit of Jacob Poole living within me.”
“That could not make any less sense to me,” Tom admitted.
Joe sighed. “You ever read the Bible?”
“Sure,” Tom answered unconvincingly.
“Well, the folks who wrote the Bible liked to trace genealogies. Most people just skip over those parts because they’re kinda boring. But I’m going to rattle off a genealogy right now and you both need to pay close attention, ya hear?”
“We hear,” Anne confirmed.
“Boreas beget Haemus who beget Jacob who beget Jeremiah who beget Joseph who beget Joe who beget Caroline. Now, there are some generational skips in there, because it’s always the grandparent passing the gift down to his grandchild. Once per generation, you see. And children are technically in the same generation as their parents, so that doesn’t work.”
“So you are…”
“Boreas is my great grandfather, going back many generations of course. I’ve lost track of how many greats should be in there.”
“And Caroline?”
“Is learning about her heritage as we speak. We all find that cave around her age. And when we learn about how this town has forsaken our family, well, that spirit of Boreas gets passed on. Just like it did to Jacob Poole three hundred years ago. And me seventy-five years ago. Just like is happening right now to young Caroline Flowers.”
“So there’s no beast? No sea creature? No wizard hiding up in the mountains? No curse?”
“You two are both adults. And supposedly intelligent ones at that. There are no monsters running around Bayberry Cove - only gullible people and their silly superstitions. Nothing more.”
“Unbelievable,” muttered Tom.
“Oh, and there’s one more thing about our family tree you might want to know,” said Joe.
“I’m not sure I can take anymore,” Anne mumbled to herself.
“There is a begetting you might find interesting. Caroline’s mom, Martha, isn’t my daughter, of course. Boreas’ genes were passed on through Caroline’s father.”
“But Caroline’s father has been dead for over a decade. He died before she was even born. What does he have to do with this?” asked Tom.
“Well, her adoptive father has nothing to do with it. But my son, her biological father, has a big role to play.”
Anne’s eyes grew wide. “Her biological father? Who the hell is her real dad?”
* * * * * * * * * *
“This is terrible,” sniffed Caroline through tear-filled eyes. “I can’t believe this town treated Boreas and his family so poorly.”
“If you believe all of it,” replied Jed. “They are just pictures on a wall – anyone could have painted them.”
“I can just feel it, Jed. I know it’s true.”
“Either way, what do you make of the birthmark on your neck? And why is it carved into the wall?”
Caroline kept moving down the long corridor until she came upon the last few drawings. He jaw dropped. “I think this might explain it.”
Jed stood by her side and read the names below the most recent children born into Boreas’ family. Joseph, followed by Hubert, then another Joseph, Maximilian, and then Caroline.
“Caroline? Is that you?”
“Jed, I think I’m a descendant of Boreas. And according to this, my dad’s name is Maximilian.”
“Who the heck is Maximilian? I thought your dad’s name was Jeffrey.”
In a flash, everything made sense. Her father didn’t die – he was still alive and well in Bayberry Cove. No wonder he lived across the street. No wonder her mother always took such an interest in one particular neighbor. No wonder that same neighbor had taken such an interest in a girl he barely knew.
“Jed, it’s Max Tucker. He’s my dad.”
