A Tangle of Secrets

by R. G. Thomas

  Mr. Elder’s cool half smile appeared again, and then the series of tones sounded. Thaddeus jammed his notebook into his backpack and practically ran from the classroom.

  “Dude!” The word floated above the garbled sounds of snatches of conversations as Thaddeus shouldered his way through the crowded hall.

  “Thaddeus!”

  He stopped dead in his tracks, forcing the students behind him to go around. More than a few whispered curses and shot him dirty looks over their shoulders. Thaddeus didn’t care. He’d been the new kid in school so often this kind of behavior rolled off his back. But the treatment Mr. Elder had dished out was new and unpleasant. A 500-word essay about himself, and due the second day of class?

  And where had that line of thought come from for him to use his power?

  Andy and Crystal stood before him, their eyes wide.

  “Dude, what the hell was that about?” Crystal asked.

  “I know,” Thaddeus said as he let out the breath he felt he’d been holding for the last ten minutes. “Why was that guy being such a jerk?”

  “I don’t know, but he burned you pretty good,” Andy said. “It’s going to be all over school by the end of the day.”

  Now that Thaddeus had taken a moment to calm down, he noticed students giving him long looks as they passed by in the hallway.

  “Looks like it’s all over school already,” Thaddeus said. “Perfect.”

  “Hey, New Kid Cane,” a boy shouted. “Nice job giving the new teacher a hard time on your first day. Total badass.”

  Andy and Crystal looked at each other, then looked at Thaddeus. A moment of silence passed before all three of them burst into laughter.

  “I gotta tell Marty about this,” Crystal said. “He’s going to die. Literally die.”

  Thaddeus stifled his laughter and shrugged. “I was embarrassed, that’s all. I’m not like that, really. He caught me off guard.”

  “If that was you off guard, I’d love to see you on guard,” Andy said.

  A glimpse of memory came to Thaddeus: Isadora standing before him, ready to end his life. And then he’d summoned the piece of asphalt, brought it spinning up the trail along the side of Wraith Mountain to smash against her head. After that all it had taken was one swipe of his mother’s dragon tail and they had put an end to Isadora’s rampage once and for all.

  If he could live through the events of his summer vacation, he could definitely make it through starting a new school. And it seemed he might have already made a name for himself, considering the number of students openly staring.

  “What class do you have now?” Andy asked. He was bouncing from foot to foot like an excited child.

  “Um….” Thaddeus pulled the crumpled schedule from his pocket. “Geometry.”

  Crystal and Andy both made a face of disgust, and Crystal said, “The last hour of the day? That’s barbaric.”

  “What do you guys have?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Drama club,” Andy said. “And we’re going to be late if we don’t beat it. See you later, Badass New Kid Cane.”

  Thaddeus grinned as he watched them run off. The tones sounded, and he groaned, checked the school map, and hurried off to the final class of his very long day, his backpack bumping in time with his steps.

  Thaddeus didn’t mind having geometry as his final class of the day. He had always enjoyed math above all other school subjects, even English, although that was a close second. Math made sense to him. Every answer was right there on the page, hidden somewhere within the problem. All he needed to do was find the correct formula and reveal the solution.

  When the final series of tones of the day sounded, Thaddeus made his way through the shouting, laughing, shoving mass of students to the main doors. Now that he knew the layout of the school, he figured he could lock up his bike right outside the doors near his geometry class to make for a quick escape.

  As Thaddeus rode his bike slowly along the streets of Superstition, cars filled with kids passed him. Some kids called out insults, but some others shouted greetings or congratulations. A wave of pride swelled within him, and when he pedaled up his driveway, he wore a big smile that stayed with him as he leaned his bike against the back of the house.

  “Well, it looks as if your first day of school went well.”

  Thaddeus turned to find his father sitting in a lawn chair under the large oak tree in the middle of their backyard. A newspaper lay on his lap, and as Thaddeus approached, he saw it was opened to the classifieds.

  “It was okay,” Thaddeus said and dropped his backpack on the grass. He gestured to the newspaper. “Find anything good?”

  His father gave a half shrug. “The usual stuff. Retail. Truck drivers. Security guards.”

  “Wizard security guard,” Thaddeus said. “Sounds like the tagline for a movie.”

  His father chuckled. “Yeah, a bad one. So how was it?”

  “Mostly okay,” Thaddeus said.

  “Mostly is good, right?”

  “It’s better than slightly.”

  His father smiled. “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

  Thaddeus nodded, but something didn’t feel right about his enjoyment. He didn’t know what to make of it, though, or how to explain it, so he left it at that.

  “How’s Mom doing?” Thaddeus asked.

  His father folded up the newspaper and dropped it on the grass beside him. “She’s doing okay. I keep trying to reassure her that things will get better, but it’s difficult for her to see past how she feels right now.”

  “Did you expect her to be able to conjure fire like that?”

  “I didn’t know what to expect,” his father replied. “And, if I’m completely honest, I didn’t really think that far ahead. I was so focused on finding her again that I never considered what the aftereffects of the curse might be.”

  “She went through a lot,” Thaddeus said. “Both before and after the attack.”

  “Yes, she did,” his father said. “And it appears that her memories of life with Lucian are affecting her dreams and causing her to act out in the only way she’s become used to, which is generating fire.”

  “It doesn’t burn her skin or hair or anything, does it?” Thaddeus asked.

  “No, it doesn’t. But I’m not certain that means your mother is now some kind of fire-resistant witch.”

  Thaddeus considered the idea and couldn’t help a grin that his father noticed.

  “Yes, son, as cool as that would be, I don’t think we should put it to a test.”

  “Well, maybe not yet,” Thaddeus said.

  “Or ever,” his father added, and then his expression and tone turned serious. “Your mother feels ashamed and guilty about her inability to control what’s happening to her. Let’s keep it between the three of us, all right? Don’t tell Teofil or the others about this, at least not right now.”

  “Yeah, sure, I understand. I won’t say anything.” Thaddeus looked at the fence between his yard and Teofil’s. “I’m going to go see Teofil. I’ll do my homework after dinner.”

  “Homework?” his father said. “On your first day?”

  “Welcome to being a kid in the modern age, Dad.” Thaddeus dashed away and out of his father’s reach as he pushed up out of the lawn chair.

  “You left your backpack!” his father called after him.

  “Can you take it inside for me, please and thank you?” Thaddeus shouted as he ran around the corner of the privacy fence.

  He stepped through the gate into the backyard and stopped in surprise. It appeared as if every member of the Rhododendron family stood in a line along the ramp that led into the deep hole in the yard. Buckets of dirt were being passed hand to hand, and the final gnome—May or Iris, Thaddeus thought—dumped the dirt into a pile in the back corner of the yard before handing back the empty bucket.

  “Thaddeus!” someone shouted, and the entire line of gnomes looked his way and smiled. He could see the top half of Astrid’s head and her wildly waving
hand from where she stood on the incline.

  Thaddeus approached and peered over the edge of the hole. Astrid stood next to Miriam who stood next to Teofil who stood beside his father. Rudyard was busily digging out what appeared to be a small cavern off to the side of the hole, the entrance of which had been shored up with lumber. Teofil turned his dirt-streaked face up to Thaddeus and smiled.

  “Care to join the fun?” Teofil asked.

  “Oh, he’s much too clean for all of this,” Miriam said with a shake of her head. “Let poor Thaddeus alone. He’s been in school all day.”

  “How was it?” Astrid asked.

  “Less talking, more dirt hauling,” Rudyard said in a gruff voice. He looked up at Thaddeus over his shoulder. “No offense intended, Thaddeus, but the daylight doesn’t linger, especially in a hole as deep as this.”

  “No worries, Rudyard,” Thaddeus said. “What’s the activity all about?”

  “Dad decided to add three rooms down here instead of one,” Teofil explained.

  “Don’t know if you noticed,” Miriam said as she accepted a bucket full of dirt from Teofil and passed it to Astrid. “But our family’s pretty big.”

  “Really?” Thaddeus asked with a grin. “I’d like to help out, but I’ve got some homework to get done first.”

  “That’s much more important than this,” Miriam said.

  “Not when you’ve got thirteen gnomelets living under one roof,” Rudyard countered as he heaved out two big buckets of dirt.

  “You go on and do your work, Thaddeus,” Miriam said. “There will be plenty of other opportunities for you to help out in the future.”

  “I’ll be sure to help out soon, I promise.”

  As he turned away, Thaddeus heard Teofil shout up from the hole, “Don’t do it! Once you start volunteering to work with gnomes, they never let you go.”

  Thaddeus laughed as he jogged through the gate and turned toward his house.

  Chapter FOUR

  THADDEUS ENTERED his bedroom and dropped the backpack on his bed. He flopped onto his back alongside the pack and stared at the ceiling a moment, brooding over the assignment Mr. Elder had handed out. After a few minutes, he sighed, then grumbled, “Sooner it’s begun, the sooner it’s done.”

  He got off the bed and sat at his desk, hauling his backpack along with him and onto his lap. Unzipping it, he reached inside for his notebook and a pen as a soft knock sounded on his bedroom door.

  Thaddeus called, “Come in.”

  His mother stepped into the room. She wore a baggy sweatshirt Thaddeus recognized as one his father owned, and jeans and sneakers donated by Vivienne. With a quick, uncertain smile, his mother moved to sit on the edge of his bed and turned to face him where he sat at his desk.

  “Hi there,” his mother said, that nervous smile flicking across her face again.

  “Hi,” Thaddeus said, and suddenly he felt nervous himself. He hadn’t spent a lot of time alone with his mother since she’d come home with them. It wasn’t that he was afraid of her or not interested in getting to know her… but he knew she was still trying to understand the world that had changed so much while she’d been hibernating, and he didn’t want to say something that might upset her. Also, the recurring nightmares resulting in her setting the bed on fire were more important than him telling her what he had been up to all his life.

  “I’m sorry,” she blurted, meeting his gaze before quickly looking away.

  “Sorry? For what?”

  “For setting the bed on fire so many times, for one,” she replied. “Your father had to flip the mattress over this time.”

  “Mom, you already apologized this morning.”

  “I know, but it’s been on my mind all day, and I wanted to apologize for it again.”

  “You can’t help it. I understand.”

  She shrugged and sighed. “It feels like I should be able to keep from doing it, or maybe I’m doing something wrong or not doing enough to get this new power under control.”

  “But it’s all because of your dreams, right? How can you stop yourself from dreaming?”

  “I wish I knew.” She raised her gaze to his and gave him a long look, her expression sad. “It was your first day of school today, and it started off with your mother setting her bed on fire. It wasn’t the way I envisioned the beginning of your first day.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Thaddeus said. “You’ve been through a lot, both before the attack on the village and afterward. It’s going to take time for you to adjust.”

  She ran her hands up and down her thighs as she looked around the room. “I’ve lost so much time already. I really wanted today to go well because it was the first chance I had to wish you a good day at school.” Tears welled in her eyes when she looked back at him. “I really wanted to send you off to school without all the rushing around. I wanted to cook you breakfast and then give you a hug and a kiss and a lunch bag with a sappy note inside it as you walked out the door.”

  “You did hug me,” Thaddeus said. “And you apologized this morning as well.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “You called it a ‘new power.’ Do you think you can control it? Like, can you shoot fire from your hands?”

  A glint of excitement sparked in her eyes. She scooted along the bed closer to him and leaned in as she lowered her voice. “I need to practice, a lot, but I think I might be able to.”

  Thaddeus smiled. “That’s pretty cool.”

  She nodded. “It is, isn’t it?”

  They grinned at each other a moment, and then Thaddeus asked, “Does Dad know?”

  “I told him about it, yes,” she replied. “This is too important to keep secret from the two men I love the most.” Before Thaddeus could respond, his mother asked, “How was your day?”

  Thaddeus sat back in the desk chair. “It was okay. My counselor was kind of a dick.”

  “Thaddeus!” she exclaimed.

  “Sorry, but he was.”

  She appeared flustered as she looked toward his bedroom door and back again. “Does your father let you use language like that?”

  Thaddeus shrugged. “Sometimes. When the situation calls for it. And believe me, this situation called for it.” He sighed. “And I met the school bully as well.”

  “Bully?” She looked him up and down with a frown. “Did you get in a fight?”

  “No, not like that. He pushed me into a locker and called me names. The standard bully material. I’ve been to a lot of schools, and it’s the same at all of them. There’s one in every school all over the country.”

  “I’m so sorry, Thaddeus. Did you meet any kids you might like?”

  “A few, yeah. One of them is new to the school too, so that was good. All in all, the day wasn’t a total bust.” He hesitated, glancing out the window toward Teofil’s house before looking at her again. “I kind of got in trouble today with a teacher.”

  She frowned. “Trouble? How so?”

  “He’s a new teacher at the school and asked us to tell the class what we did over the summer.”

  “Oh.” She looked down at her hands, which lay clasped tight in her lap.

  “Yeah, oh. I didn’t know how to respond, so I was thinking about what I could and couldn’t say and wasn’t paying attention, and I didn’t hear him when he called on me. It caught me off guard, and when I didn’t respond right away, he gave me an assignment to write a 500-word essay to hand in to him tomorrow.”

  “Five hundred words? About what you did over the summer?”

  “Right.”

  They looked at each other a moment, and then both started laughing at the same time. It felt good to laugh like that, and especially with his mother. When their laughter subsided, his mother said, “I think you could probably get more than 500 words out of that, don’t you?”

  “I think you’re right.”

  “Have you decided what to write about?”

  “Not yet. I was just getting started.”

  “I won’t keep you fro
m it any longer.” She got to her feet. “Dinner should be ready at six thirty, so you have some time to get the assignment done.”

  “Okay.” Thaddeus watched her walk to the door before he turned away to look for his notebook.

  “Thaddeus?” his mother said.

  He looked over his shoulder to where she stood in the doorway watching him. “Yeah?”

  “I’m very proud of the young man you’ve become.”

  Tears surprised him and left him unable to respond. He settled for a simple nod and watched her leave the room. After a few breaths to get his emotions under control, he turned back to his notebook. He sat for a few moments, contemplating the blank page before him as he considered what to write. He liked to write out his assignments longhand prior to typing them out on his woefully out-of-date laptop. Writing longhand made it easier for him to gather his thoughts.

  Forty-five minutes later, he had written a draft that satisfied him. During that time, he had to get up and close the window to deaden the sounds of the Rhododendron family at work next door. Once he’d closed the window, he was able to concentrate enough to finish his essay. In it, he touched on his move to Superstition and his impressions of the town, along with his time working at the sporting goods store with his father. He’d decided that was best to include even though Edgar had closed the business.

  The essay wouldn’t win him any awards, but he figured he had at least 500 words written out in his cramped and slanted penmanship. He started his laptop and used the bathroom while it booted up. When he’d finished transcribing his handwritten essay, he was pleased to see he’d managed 524 words. Enough over the required word count to ensure he’d completed the assignment without being too much of a show-off, which might set an unobtainable precedent for any future assignments.

  He read through it again and, satisfied, printed out the document and slipped it into his backpack. His phone had ended up next to his bed and out of his sight, and he noticed he had a text message. It was Aisha, and her note made him smile.

  You fought ghouls, goblins, a witch, a big vicious bearlike monster, and faced down your Momma as a dragon. You can handle a stupid dumbass small town bully.