by King, R. L.
Freedman stared at cash, then shook his head. “No need for that, Mr. Stone. You want to meet Rainey, I’ll take you up there. It’s probably not late enough that they’re all in bed yet.” He still looked at the three of them with suspicion, but he jerked a thumb at the truck. “Hop back in, and we’ll see what we can do.”
They did as requested. As the truck meandered its way up the narrow dirt track leading toward the lights, Jason glanced sideways at Stone. “You think these guys are—” he whispered.
Stone shook his head as if to say not now. He wouldn’t say anything else until they rounded another bend and the forest on either side of the road opened out into a large, wooded clearing. Occasional electric lights dotted the area, illuminating a cluster of widely spaced wooden buildings surrounding a central courtyard area. Lights were on in some of the buildings.
As Freedman pulled the truck to a stop, one of the buildings’ doors opened and a man emerged. In the overhead light they could see he looked like a fortyish hippie: medium-length brown hair, wire-rimmed glasses, blue chambray shirt, down jacket, faded jeans. He tilted his head. “Lester? That you?”
Freedman emerged from the truck. “Yeah, Rainey. I picked up these folks on the road—their car had a little run-in with a deer down a couple miles. Was drivin’ ’em up to Morgantown so they could find a place to stay till they can get themselves a new rental car, but they kinda freaked out when they saw your sign. Insisted on comin’ up here to talk to you. I don’t know—”
Stone stepped out. “If you’ll excuse us for just a moment, Mr. Freedman,” he said, moving toward Rainey Sykes. “Hello, Mr. Sykes. I’m Alastair Stone. My friends are Jason Thayer and his sister Verity Thayer. May we speak with you for a moment?”
Sykes looked as confused as Freedman had. “Uh—sure. Of course.” He waved them forward. After a moment, Freedman sighed and got back in to wait. “What can I do for you folks?” Sykes asked.
“Your sign,” Stone said, fixing his gaze on the other man. “What does the symbol mean?”
Sykes hesitated. Clearly that wasn’t anywhere near what he’d been expecting to be asked. “It’s—just kind of our logo for the farm. One of our members came up with it awhile back. She was into ancient Egypt, that kind of stuff. The pyramid and the sun’s rays—”
“How many of your members are Forgotten?” Stone cut him off.
Now it was Sykes’s turn to go stiff. He stared at Stone with wide eyes. “Excuse me—?”
“You heard me, Mr. Sykes. How many of you are Forgotten?”
Instead of answering, Sykes paused for several seconds, then indicated the building behind him. “I think maybe you folks should come with me. I have the feeling we’re gonna need to talk, and this isn’t really the place to do it.” His cheery backwoods demeanor had vanished, but what replaced it was not suspicious or cold—he just seemed to be taking things a lot more seriously now.
“What are we gonna do about a place to stay?” Jason muttered under his breath to Stone. “If we let Freedman go—”
But Sykes had heard him. “We can put you up for the night, don’t you worry about that.” Moving over to the truck, he called to Freedman: “We’re gonna take these folks in for the night, Lester. We’ll make sure they get where they need to go tomorrow. Let’s just get their gear out of your truck and you can be on your way. Thanks for bringin’ ’em by.”
Freedman, looking more perplexed than ever, but obviously pleased about not having to drive to Morgantown and back this late, heaved himself out and began helping unload the luggage. “You sure this is okay?” he asked Stone. “I can still give you guys a ride—”
“I think we’ll be fine, Mr. Freedman. Thank you so much for your help. We do appreciate it.”
He didn’t say any more until after Freedman and his truck had driven back off down the lane. Then he turned back to the silent Sykes and asked softly, “You are, aren’t you?”
Sykes nodded. “If I understand your meaning of the word, yes—though that’s not what we call ourselves here. How—how did you know? I didn’t think any outsiders had any idea—”
“I think you’re right, Mr. Sykes. We do have a lot to talk about, then, from our side as well as yours.”
Sykes turned back toward the building behind him, pushing the door open. “My place,” he said. “Let’s go on in, and then I’ll have to leave you for a few minutes. I want to bring in a couple of the other folks who live here.”
Sykes’ house was small inside—a living room took up the majority of the space, with a kitchenette at one end and a fireplace at the other, and an open door led to a tiny bedroom and bath. The furniture was best described as “eclectic thrift store”: comfortable, serviceable, mismatched, and shabby.
“Make yourselves at home,” Sykes told them, crouching down to light a cheery blaze in the fireplace. “Let me get this going, and then I’ll get you some refreshments.”
Once the fire was burning and he’d gone, the three left in the room stared at each other. “Forgotten—here?” Jason asked, confused. “But he doesn’t seem—”
“Crazy?” Verity finished. “No, not really. But maybe they’re not all crazy. Maybe there are different types. I think we should listen to what they have to say.”
“By all means,” Stone agreed. He had gotten up from his chair and gone to the window, looking out into the night. “This whole business is getting stranger by the hour.”
“Let’s just be careful,” Jason said. “I know we’ve never seen it before, but I wouldn’t put it past the Evil to put up a sign like that just to lure people in.”
Sykes returned in about ten minutes, two other figures following him inside. One was a plump, middle-aged woman with long hair and a flowing, paisley-print dress under a bright red wool coat. The other man was probably in his sixties, and looked like the textbook definition of an aging hippie: flowing gray hair held back with a leather headband, flannel-lined denim jacket, jeans, round glasses, fringed moccasin boots, and an expression of somewhat medicated calm. All three of them wore serious expressions.
“Sorry about the wait, folks,” Sykes said, motioning the newcomers to seats and then going to the kitchenette to gather some drinks. “Most people here are getting ready for bed, but I thought this was important enough to keep them up awhile rather than wait until morning.”
Stone nodded. “Are you all Forgotten?” he asked without preamble as soon as the two new visitors were seated.
It was the old hippie who spoke. “That isn’t how we refer to ourselves, but I think the meaning is the same. How do you know about us, Mr.—”
“Alastair Stone.” He introduced Jason and Verity, then went right back to it, leaning forward in his chair and focusing his probing gaze on the man who’d spoken. “Are you, then?”
“My name is Joshua,” the old man said serenely, unruffled by Stone’s laser-like scrutiny. He indicated the woman. “This is Prudence. And you’ve already met Rainey, of course.”
Sykes came back over bearing a tray full of mismatched mugs of what looked like hot chocolate. He handed them around, and then sat on the edge of the same couch Prudence was on.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Stone said, trying not to sound impatient. “But—”
“Please, please,” Joshua said, holding his hands up. Bracelets made of leather and braided colored fibers bedecked his wrists. “How do you know about what you call the Forgotten, Mr. Stone?”
“It’s a long story. We’re from California, where we’ve some friends in the Bay Area who are Forgotten.”
“That’s how you knew about our symbol?” Prudence asked. “You’re one of the few who’s ever asked about it, and the only one who didn’t accept our usual explanation. Usually only others of our kind passing through recognize it for what it is.”
“We know about the Forgotten code,” Jason said. “We only know a few of the
actual symbols, like yours—good place—and the one that means ‘bad place.’”
“That’s the one we’re mostly interested in,” Verity added.
“And why is that?” Joshua asked, his shaggy gray eyebrows crawling up toward his headband.
“That’s part of the long story,” Stone said. He paused, considering his next words. “Are you familiar with the Evil, then?”
A near-simultaneous shudder ran through all three of the Harmony residents, and suddenly Stone was pinned under three gazes every bit as intense as his own had been.
“How do you know about the Evil?” Prudence asked in an even, carefully measured tone.
“We know quite a lot about the Evil,” Stone said. “As I said, we have some Forgotten friends back home in California, and they’ve explained it to us initially. We’ve—sort of taken it from there.”
“Taken what from there?” Sykes asked. His eyes narrowed. “You aren’t like us.”
“I am,” Verity spoke up.
“Indeed?” Joshua asked. He looked her up and down. “I wouldn’t have guessed.”
“You would have a couple of months ago,” she said. “I’ve—had some help keeping it under control.” She regarded him with curiosity. “If you don’t mind me asking: most of the Forgotten I know are great people, but they’re a little, um—no offense intended—not right in the head. You guys don’t seem that way.”
Joshua smiled. “There are many ways for the Gifts to touch a person, my child.”
“Huh?” Jason asked, leaning forward.
Sykes chuckled. “We’ve seen some of the folks you talk about—the ones who are confused. Not many around here, but sometimes small groups of travelers come through on their way somewhere else. We put ’em up when we can, but they never stay. Us—” He shrugged. “Joshua here—I guess you could call him sort of spiritual leader of our little colony—he thinks that being in touch with spiritual things can bring one closer to the Gifts.”
“That’s what you call it—the Gifts?” Stone asked. “So then—you’re saying you’re all in touch with spiritual things sufficiently for the Forgotten abilities to manifest in you?”
Prudence smiled a little. “Many of us—have arrived at our level of spiritual enlightenment with the aid of guides, over the course of many years.”
Jason and Verity looked confused, but Stone nodded slowly. “Guides of an—organic or chemical nature, I presume?”
Sykes nodded. “Most of us here are—or were—voyagers on the path to enlightenment, and we experimented with all sorts of means of tryin’ to find it.” He shrugged. “We don’t understand it, why it happened. But it did, and now we’ve joined together to help each other.”
“Everyone here is Forgotten?” Stone asked. “How many people live here with you?”
Prudence thought about it a moment. “About...fifty or so, I guess. I haven’t counted them lately. We have all types, from older people down to young couples with children here. Not all of us have the Gifts, but we are all focused on the same goals.”
“You do drugs around kids?” Jason asked, looking shocked.
Sykes shook his head. “Of course not. We don’t let the kids look for that kind of enlightenment until they’re of age—at that point, they’re not ours to command anymore, and they can choose their own paths. And most of us these days, beyond a bit of cannabis here and there—which we grow on our own farms—don’t really partake that much. We consider the Gifts we’ve been given to be the enlightenment we were seeking. Today we focus on living in harmony with nature, taking care of each other, and protecting ourselves against the Darkness.”
“The Darkness?” Jason asked. He shifted around in his chair, trying to find a position that didn’t make his knee hurt worse. He was afraid it was beginning to swell.
“What you call the Evil,” Joshua said. He raised his hands, indicating the space around them. “It is here. It is all around. It suffuses our world. I can feel it. But it does not touch us here.”
Stone took a deep breath. “When you say it’s all around you—what do you mean by that?”
“Can’t you feel it?” Joshua asked, turning to face him.
“No.”
Prudence shook her head. “Joshua is—extremely sensitive. We have others who can sense its presence, but in most cases it must be much closer. Joshua claims to feel it all around.”
She, too, fixed her gaze back on Stone. “But we’ve told you quite a bit about ourselves, and you haven’t said much about your own reasons for being here. You know of the Forgotten, but were you seeking us? Or do you seek what you call the Evil?”
Now she turned to Verity. “And you say you are Forgotten yourself, young one, though you don’t act like any of our kind I’ve ever seen.” Back to Stone: “What of you, and this other man? You aren’t Forgotten.”
“No,” Stone said. “We’re not.” He paused for several seconds, then appeared to reach a decision. “Are you familiar with mages?”
The three Harmony residents’ eyes widened. “Mages?” Prudence repeated. “We’ve—heard of them. But they’re—myths. Aren’t they?”
Stone chuckled. “I’ve never been called a myth before. But no, I assure you, we’re quite real.”
“You’re—?” Joshua stared at him in frank amazement. Then, to Jason: “You as well?”
Jason shook his head. “Nope, not me. Sorry. I’m—the muscle of the outfit, I guess.” He had started to say something about his mana-battery ability, but caught the barest of head-shakes from Stone and stopped.
“I am a mage,” Stone said, and nodded toward Verity. “Verity is my apprentice.”
Sykes looked confused. “But—you said she was Forgotten.”
“She’s both,” Jason said.
“How...is that possible?” Prudence asked.
“We’re not sure yet,” Stone admitted. “We’re still working that bit out. But it’s true.”
“Why are you here?” Sykes asked. “This seems a pretty odd place to find folks like you. I’m guessing you must have a reason for being here.”
“We do,” Stone said. “And perhaps you might be able to help us.”
“Help you...how?” Prudence asked, looking a little afraid.
Once again, Stone chose his words with care. “We—have reason to believe that one of the...conduits through which the Evil are entering this world is somewhere in this area.”
The Harmony people stared at him. “Conduit?” Prudence asked. “What do you mean?”
“It’s a bit hard to explain. But we think we know how they’re getting in, and one of the entrances is somewhere near here. We’re trying to locate it.”
Prudence looked frightened. “Why—why would you want to find it?”
“Because we want to shut it down,” Jason said, surprised, in a why else? tone.
There was a long pause. “How many of these—conduits—are there?” Sykes asked at last.
“We think there are two,” Stone told him.
“Where’s the other one?”
“Nowhere near here,” he said. “Right now, we’re focused on the one we’re near. We’ll deal with the other one once we’ve successfully located and sorted out this one.”
Joshua nodded slowly, as if thinking hard. “It might be that we can help you, Mr. Stone. I don’t know. But it’s getting late, and there isn’t anything else we can do tonight. Would you stay with us? We have a guest house that you’ll find comfortable, I think.”
“Thank you. It seems we have little choice at this point, but in any case we’d be honored to accept your hospitality.”
Joshua and Prudence both stood. “Rainey,” Prudence said, “Can you show our guests to where they’ll be staying?” She smiled at the group. “We’re happy to have you all here. I hope you understand—this is all quite a shock for us. We’ve never had anyo
ne like you come to us before. We have to discuss things with the others. I’m sort of—I guess you could call me an administrator, around here, but all our important decisions are made communally. It may take a few days. But believe me, if you’re serious—if you really are a mage, and there’s any chance at all that you might be able to do something about the Darkness, or even the bit of it that’s around here—you’ll have our help.”
“Thank you,” Stone said again.
“Let’s meet in the main hall in the morning,” Joshua said. “We generally rise at dawn and have a welcoming ceremony for the sun before we go off to do our various daily tasks and jobs, but of course we don’t expect you will join us for that—many visitors find getting up that early difficult. We prepare and eat breakfast as a group in the main hall afterward. You can meet us there if you like.” With a wave of farewell, he and Prudence left and closed the door behind them.
“Wow,” Sykes said, shaking his head as he began gathering the empty hot chocolate cups. “And here I was thinkin’ Lester’d just picked up some lost tourists who’d run into some trouble on a bad road. Who knew he’d find—you all.” He dumped the cups in the sink and pulled on his down jacket. “Come on—I’ll drive you to the guest cabin—it’s a little far to walk, especially after you’ve just warmed yourselves up. Let me know if you need anything. Depending on what it is, I might not be able to get it, but you never know if you don’t ask.”
They got in Sykes’s truck and he drove them past the cabins they’d seen when they came in, up a short, narrow road to another small cabin in a little clearing.
“Sorry it’s not fancy,” he said as they unloaded their bags. He pushed open the door and switched on a light. “Nobody’s used it in a while, so it might be a little musty. But there’s some bunks in there, and sleeping bags, and you’ve got running water and a bathroom. Wood’s next to the fireplace. It should be real quiet, but if you have any problems, just go down this road to the last house on the end. That’s Jimmy’s place, and he’ll help you out.” He looked them up and down one last time, as if convincing himself that they really did exist. “I’ll look forward to talking to you more in the morning, and I’m sure the others will too.” He waved and departed.