Mayhem

by Artist Arthur

  “Charon wanted more power. He believes it is his destiny to rule a world blanketed in darkness. He has been trying to go against Styx’s curse forever.”

  “And he’ll keep on, just like the Devil keeps fighting against God and his angels,” Krystal adds.

  Of course she’d think along those lines, and while none of us add any credence to what she’s said, I can’t help but think about the similarities as well.

  “In every world there are chosen ones to thwart his efforts. As Jake said, in this world at this time, it is you, the Mystyx.”

  “But how do we fight him?” Sasha asks.

  “Keep him from gaining power. You’ve done that when you pushed the darkness from that teacher it possessed,” she says looking at Krystal. “When you stood up to his anger and saved Krystal from losing the portals of her soul in that forest.”

  I remembered both those times, at the school with Mr. Lyle and in the forest with…Franklin.

  “And just a while ago when the Vortex chose to stand with the light.”

  All eyes fell on me.

  “But he is not finished,” Fatima adds. “He will keep trying.”

  “Then whatever we do is for nothing. Why even keep trying?” Lindsey crosses her arms over her chest.

  “Because at the designated time, in the designated place, Styx will be there. She will lend her power to yours and Charon will be banished for all remaining times.”

  Okay, is it just me or did that just sound like a roundabout answer for she’s still not telling us what we have to do to get rid of this demon?

  And of course, Fatima picks that exact moment to have her body sucked into a tiny white light that floats back across the room and through the window that she’d first appeared in.

  “Crap!” I stand, yelling. “Still with the half answers. I thought we were finished with this secretive stuff.”

  “She answered us this time, Jake,” Krystal says softly. “We’re fighting an ancient battle, the one between good and evil. A battle that may never end, but still needs to be fought.”

  “And,” I say, moving my hand like I want her to continue. “How does that help us know what to do to fight it?”

  “Maybe we just figure it out as we go along,” Sasha adds.

  “Yeah,” Lindsey says nodding. “Maybe we’ll just know what to do when it’s time to do it.”

  I fall back into the chair not looking at any of them. “That idea sucks.”

  twenty-one

  Sasha’s driving way too fast. She’s taking corners like she’s behind the wheel of a police cruiser in hot pursuit instead of the sports car her father gave Mouse to chauffer her in.

  “Where’d you say Mouse was again?” Krystal asks, holding on to the door handle to keep from sliding across the backseat.

  I’m doing the same and shaking my head at the same time. I don’t know which instructor Sasha had during driver’s ed, but they should be fired.

  From the front seat Sasha waves her hand. “I don’t know where that big oaf is. He’s been disappearing a lot lately. I’m half tempted to follow him to see what secrets he’s hiding because I know he’s hiding something. But instead I figured now was our chance to go out without him hovering over us.”

  “So where are we going, and when did you say you got your license?” I ask.

  In the front passenger seat Lindsey sighs. “She didn’t get it. Jumped the curb then yelled at the testing agent. He told Mouse to take her home and leave her there.”

  “Thanks a lot, Miss 411,” Sasha says with a frown. “And for your information, I was doing just fine until I saw something that shouldn’t have been and got all distracted.”

  “What’d you see?” Krystal asks.

  Sasha shrugs. “Nothing important, I guess. I mean, since my power changed I’ve been seeing a lot of magicals down here walking around like they belong. But sometimes it still rattles me.”

  I’m praying my seat belt works as we keep moving at this high rate of speed. “So you saw a magical at the DMV?”

  “It was the testing agent. He had fangs the size of Dracula’s, so every time he said something to me I freaked. And the last time he touched my arm I wanted to jump right out of the car. Instead I turned the wheel too soon and jumped the curb.”

  “They fail you for that, you know,” Lindsey says, trying to hold back her grin.

  “Yeah, no kidding.” Sasha smirks.

  “So why are you driving without a license?”

  “Dang, Krystal, you’re so uptight. We’re not in some big city, who cares if I don’t have a license in Lincoln? There’s hardly ever anyone on the road to hit anyway.”

  And the moment she says that something darts out of the woods in front of the car. Sasha swerves to keep from hitting whatever it was. All the girls scream and shriek and I wish to any higher being that Twan had come with us instead of taking his aunt to the doctor. When the car finally comes to a stop I feel like I’ve got whiplash.

  “We’re here!” Sasha yells and jumps out of the car.

  Giving Krystal a weary look I unsnap both our seat belts and we get out.

  Lindsey’s already out of the car but she’s standing perfectly still. “Feels funny here.”

  “Funny like we almost hit a deer and got ourselves killed,” I say in a voice I know is drab and borderline angry, which I’m still trying to work on.

  “No,” Lindsey whispers and walks ahead of us. “Funny, like we probably shouldn’t be here.”

  Sasha’s already deeper into the woods and Lindsey’s following her. I start to walk behind them but notice that Krystal isn’t following. She’s still standing by the car looking as if she might actually cry. Going back, I stand in front of her and take both her hands in mine.

  “What’s the matter?”

  She takes a deep breath then sighs it out. “Memories” is all she manages to say.

  I nod. Remembering her in Franklin’s clutches deep in the forest that day doesn’t sit well with me either. But Sasha has a reason for being here. We owe it to her to find out what that reason is.

  “It’s okay. I’ll stay right by your side.”

  With quivering lips she smiles. “You will?”

  “I will. You’re mine, remember. I’m not about to let you go now.” Leaning forward, I brush my lips over hers and resist the persistent urge to press further. “Let’s go.”

  With her fingers entwined in mine we start into the woods to try and find Lindsey and Sasha. It’s not hard, since they’re both glowing like lightning bugs. That’s no exaggeration. Sasha’s pink light and Lindsey’s purple light from their birth-marks illuminate the area where they stand. Once Krystal and I make it into the clearing, our lights burn bright as well.

  “Where are we?” I ask, looking around. It looks like any ordinary forest area with a clearing full of brush and downed trees. Only it’s not quite the same as anywhere I’ve ever been.

  “This is where they found that bus,” Sasha says. “I read about it in the paper, the exact location, I mean. After those bodies were found we were all wondering about the connection to the Darkness. I figured it was past time to come and check it out.”

  I keep looking around, trying to see beyond the tall trees because it feels like something’s out there. “Yeah, the cops think I’m involved somehow so I guess it’ll help if I can give them some real information as to what happened.”

  “You?” Krystal asks from beside me. “Why do they think you’re involved?”

  I shrug. “I think Pace and Mateo may have put that thought in their heads. I don’t know. But one day they came by my house talking about it, wanting to ask me about it, but Dad said no.”

  “Oh, my God, Jake. Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Sasha asks.

  “Didn’t think it was important.”

  “If the cops are looking at you for a crime like this I’d say that’s important,” Sasha adds. She’s getting all fired up, her eyes glaring at me.

  “They don’t k
now how he’s connected, they were just fishing for information,” Lindsey says. “Right, Jake?”

  I nod because I still can’t stand that she can get inside my head. “Yeah.”

  “We absolutely cannot keep secrets from each other,” Sasha says with hands on her hips. “Whatever information we come across we have to share it when it happens. You never know what might be crucial.”

  “Okay, Sasha. Don’t get all wacked out about it. I didn’t tell you because I was going through some things at the time. You know, being seduced by evil, harassed by bullies, then losing my grandfather, that kind of takes a lot out of a person. You can see how easy it would be to forget small details like a visit from the police, right?”

  At my side Krystal rubs my arm. Lindsey looks apologetic and Sasha, in a way that was only befitting of her, comes stomping right up in front of me and punches me in the shoulder.

  “Don’t you dare make me feel stupid for yelling at you, Jake Kramer. I can be mad if I want to.” But her eyes are watering.

  “Cut it out. We’re cool. And you’re right, we shouldn’t have any more secrets.” If she cried I wasn’t going to be able to stand it. Me plus girls plus tears did not mix well at all.

  “Okay, no more secrets,” Lindsey says, putting an arm around Sasha. “Now show us what you wanted us to see.”

  After a few sniffles Sasha takes a deep breath. “I don’t really know. I just got this feeling last night that we should come out here and have a look around. I mean, that bus disappearing and those two bodies showing up with their eyes missing is no coincidence. The police don’t seem to have any clues, but then they’re not looking with supernatural eyes.”

  “And you think the bus disappearance was supernatural?” Krystal asks.

  “Yeah. Don’t you?” was Sasha’s reply.

  “I guess you’re right. But where’s the group leader and the rest of the kids from the bus? Shouldn’t they have been found by now?”

  Krystal raised a good question, one I’d been thinking myself. “Unless someone’s not ready for us to find them.”

  I move away from the center of the clearing, kicking leaves and branches out of the way as I go. Something’s here. I can feel it. There’s an energy in this area, like a pool of power. And it’s feeding something, or someone.

  Me, I hadn’t felt the power surges since that night in the cemetery. My biceps hadn’t twitched, but they hadn’t gone down either. I tried to do that running and jumping thing like I did out and back into the window before, but it didn’t work. I guess these powers were part of the evil growing within me and once I denounced the darkness, the extra power went with it. I can still move stuff with my mind and I bet if I punch Mateo I’d break his jaw as well as send him flying a few feet. But those extras, along with my red-eyed raven, are gone. And I can’t really say I miss them.

  But there’s power here and it’s doing something. My gaze falls on the trees again and this time I see inscriptions in the trunk. Moving closer, I lean forward to get a closer look. It’s symbols or something, just like the ones on that scroll I found in the yard that day. I’d put that scroll in my bottom drawer and hadn’t thought about it since then. Until now.

  “What is that?” Krystal asks from behind me.

  Lindsey’s suddenly at my other side. “It’s Greek letters,” she says.

  “Can you read it?” I ask, because I wouldn’t be surprised if she could.

  She shakes her head. “No. Not without my notebook, and that’s at home. I know this is Alpha and this is Omega,” she says, pointing to two different symbols. “The Beginning and the End.”

  “The Beginning and the End,” I say softly, remembering that I’d heard that before. “They were the Beginning and we are the End.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sasha asks.

  “Charon said it to me one time, that they, Styx and the gods and goddesses of her time, were the beginning. We, the Mystyx, are the end.”

  “The battle ends with us,” Krystal adds. “I don’t believe that. Good and evil have been fighting for a long time. To think we have the power to end that once and for all just doesn’t sound right. Besides, as long as there’s free will evil is bound to find its way back.”

  “She’s right,” Sasha says. “But maybe we can put an end to Charon’s threat. Maybe that’s our part and the rest is left for the next group of Mystyx, whomever they might be.”

  Lindsey’s about to say something, but Krystal’s cell phone rings. She answers and then hangs up. “There’s trouble coming. My mom says the mayor’s issued an evacuation of all homes. There’s a category-five hurricane heading our way. We need to get back.”

  “A hurricane in Lincoln, Connecticut, in November?” Lindsey asks as we’re walking back to the car.

  Sasha gets to the driver’s side door, then stops to look at us. “Just like sixteen years ago when we were all conceived. Remember, Pop Pop told us about it?”

  I did remember. With a heated pain in my chest I remember my grandfather and all his stories. But as we ride back into town, the sky darkening above, I think about that night. Not that I can remember it, but I just imagine what it would have been like.

  All the roads would have been closed, businesses shut down, everyone warned to stay in their houses until the storm passed. My parents would have been living alone back then, passing the time as many other shut-in couples did. And I was conceived. On a stormy night filled with excess energy that birthed these powers.

  I wondered what would be birthed as a result of this storm.

  twenty-two

  Dad’s already boarding up windows by the time I get home. Falling into step right beside him I pick up one of the boards and stand by as he heads to the next window in the living room.

  “Hasn’t been an ordered evacuation in Lincoln since before you were born,” he says, taking the board from me and putting it up to cover the bottom half of the window.

  I reach down into his toolbox and grab a couple of nails, handing him one at a time. “Really? You think the storm’s going to be that bad?”

  He cocks his head to the side, looking at me for a minute. Then he resumes his task banging the nail into place. “Let’s see, you pissed off a powerful demon by choosing to stay on the good side. Pop, who was your Guardian, is now gone and your mother, who’s been gone for ten years, is suddenly showing herself to you. I’d say this storm is going to be worse than anything we’ve ever seen.”

  And with that assessment Dad just proves my worst fear. On the drive back we were all quiet, most likely trying to convince ourselves that this storm evacuation had nothing to do with us or what was going on in the Majestic. Apparently our silence wasn’t enough to make it so.

  “I haven’t heard him since that day at the cemetery,” I say.

  “He’s pissed off.”

  I nod and get another board for the last window. “Yeah, I guess. I still don’t know how to fight him.”

  “That makes two of us,” Dad says, and scoops up the toolbox. “Let’s move the photos and stuff upstairs and get them wrapped in plastic and put into trunks before we head over to the library.”

  “Right,” I say, following him.

  Lincoln’s library is the biggest facility we have, except for the mall, but that has way too much glass to be considered a good place of refuge. We’d be like sitting ducks by the time the winds hit. I doubt the entire town’s going to fit into the library, but the entire town probably won’t evacuate. There’s always those that think they can ride it out. Pop Pop would have been one of them. He wouldn’t have wanted to leave his house just because somebody else told him so. He was like that, a man who lived by his beliefs. And so was Dad. I guess this is the first time I really see the differences in them and the similarities. Dad was doing what he thought was best, all the while acknowledging that this could be really bad.

  Moving throughout the house, we finished packing up what we could. Dad emptied the little safe where he kept all his extra cash;
he didn’t really trust the banks. Running back upstairs I retrieved my jar of savings, stuffing it into my backpack. It wasn’t like we wouldn’t be coming back home. Then again, we didn’t know that.

  Half an hour later we were pulling our car into the back parking lot of the library. It was crowded but everything seemed to be going along in an orderly fashion. The dozen or so cops and firefighters standing in the streets directing traffic and groups of people were probably the cause of that. In all my life I’d never seen Lincoln look so busy, so congested. For a minute you’d think we were a big city, but as we approached the entrance to the library we were forced to think again.

  This was no state-of-the-art building. It was old redbrick, three stories plus the basement, about three small-town blocks long with no elevators and old-as-dirt vending machines that never worked. The selection of books was good, suited our public school system well, I guess. I rarely found what I needed here now, opting to use the Internet more and more.

  “Hey, man.” I turn to see Twan standing behind me.

  “What’s up?” I nod in his direction. He’s standing with a woman who has two shopping bags in her hand. Twan has a backpack like me and two bags in his hands, as well.

  “Auntie packed everything we couldn’t nail down,” he says with his usual chuckle.

  I grin back because Dad and I tried to do the same with what we felt was valuable. Funny how we each only had one bag.

  “This line’s moving way slow. Hope the storm waits for everyone to get inside,” Twan says.

  “The good Lord waits for no one,” the woman who I assumed was Twan’s aunt said. She had a stern but caring-looking face, and while her eyes looked deadly serious as she spoke, something about her stance made me feel like I could like her.

  “That’s the truth,” Dad says to her with a nod of his head.