Dance with Death

1

One year later
December 23rd 1925

Arabella sat in the back of her caravan as Finn road the horse into town.
They looked much older, much wiser. Now at 19 the pair had been traveling for a year. Spending time with nothing but each other's company. It was a beautiful 12 months together as they explored and discovered, not only their surroundings, but themselves as well.

The caravan came to a stop and Arabella hopped off.
"Alright Finn, I'm heading into town now. Won't be long." Arabella said as she walked around the caravan to get a look at Finn.

"Tell everyone I said hello!" Finn smiled. Arabella began walking backwards when Finn gave a 'come here' sign. She smiled knowingly and ran to her love. Finn caught her in an embrace and kissed her.

"Be careful, love. I love you." Finn whispered as he held her face lovingly. She smiled softly.

"I love you too. See you soon, I won't be too long." Arabella waved as she walked away.

"See you soon!" Finn waved back.
The two would ideally go to town together. But one had to stay behind and watch the caravan.

Arabella walked into a mail facility. She walked up to her mailbox and unlocked it, taking out all the mail inside without looking at it. She locked the mailbox and set off for the nearest phone booth.

Finn and Arabella have certain towns that they visit every month to collect mail and to call the Shelbys. That way, the Shelbys had an address to write to.

Arabella got into a phone booth and shut the glass door and put the phone to her ear.

"Hey, Ada!"

"Ara look through your mail. Did you get any strange mail?" Ada asked in a panic. Arabella furrowed her eyebrows. She started shuffling through her mail, and her blood ran cold. She froze in her spot. In her hands she held a letter with a black hand.

"How the fuck did they find us?" Arabella voice trembled.

"Ara, listen to me. They know where we all live. And they're coming for us. We're all meeting back home." Ada said over the phone.

"In Birmingham?" Arabella said in disbelief. The Shelbys haven't stepped foot in the muddy old town in a while.

"Have you talked to John yet?" Ada worriedly asked.

"No, you're the first person I called."

"Fuck. He's not answering anyone's calls."

"Finn and I are heading that way anyways. We'll stop by and pick him up."

"Tommy already sent Michael. Hopefully the three of you could drag him and Esme out before any real trouble comes."

"It's a two day trip so we'll be there Christmas morning." Arabella said.

"Alright Ara, you and Finn be careful. They'll try and target us when we're separated, so stay close. Alright then, Merry Christmas, Ara."

"Merry Christmas." Arabella said back and hung up. She stared at the black hand before her. She looked around and checked the gun she kept strapped to her thigh. She then walked through town and back to the caravan carefully.

"What's wrong?" Finn immediately asked when he saw the look on Arabella's face.

"We got served the black hand." Arabella showed him the letter. Finn looked at it with furrowed eyebrows.

"What does it mean?" He asked

"It's a New York Sicilian death threat. It was sent to everyone." Arabella said.