Kennedy Awakens

by Greg Alldredge

  The Gremlin sat right where they left it. Not that there would be anyone out and about to tow the car. The streets remained deserted. Kennedy doubted a tow truck could even reach the lot through the clogged streets and abandoned cars.

  Alleye popped the hatchback. “Get in, wolf boy.”

  Randell paused for a moment. Kennedy assumed he was about to argue, but another clap of thunder stuck directly overhead. He dove into the back of the car, cowering in the dark trunk of the hatchback.

  “Nice to see you’re ready to go.” Kennedy slipped into the front seat. “Alleye, I need to go home. I want to talk to someone. She might have answers.”

  “Chew bet.” The Gremlin found it harder to push through the accumulated snow. Before long, they would need a flying four-by to get off the ground.

  The car left the ground, and Randell let out a small howl before yelling, “Holy mother of…” Randell never finished the sentence. Free of the ground, the ride smoothed out, and he calmed down, “What happens if your car gets stuck?”

  “Chew get out and push.”

  Lightning flashed all around them, but Kennedy knew they should be safe if struck… should be. She wondered if Randell would have been happier with his head sticking out the window. Rather, he huddled in the rear, rambling to Alleye.

  Kennedy didn’t join in the anxious banter between the two. She was preoccupied with the lack of humans, their absence worried her greatly. Where did they go? Maybe the better question should be, where did the non-norms go?

  The distance from MIT to Medford was a short hop. Alleye landed in the same parking lot as before, only now the place was covered in snow. The few cars left behind were buried under the white mantle, indistinguishable lumps under the snow. The streetlights were now all dark from the loss of power. The landscape had turned undisguisedly alien from what Kennedy had grown accustomed to.

  The lightning flashed overhead, lighting up the snow. It only served to quicken their pace. The student from MIT danced about with nervous energy. There were no tire tracks on either side of the Mystic Valley Parkway.

  Randell paused before entering the woods. “You know, we have a higher chance of being hit by lightning than winning the lottery?”

  “Great, then keep moving.” Kennedy pressed him in the back. “It isn’t far.”

  Randell stumbled ahead. “A one in seven hundred thousand chance to be hit by lightning versus a one in three hundred million.” He kept talking to himself.

  “I think chew broke him,” Alleye muttered to Kennedy.

  “No… when I get nervous, I quote useless facts. It is how I deal with fear.” The lightning hit a tree in the forest. The boom and crack made all three jump. “It keeps me from shifting out of fear.”

  Kennedy wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. If Randell was bothered by loud noises… a battle using magic would surely be very loud.

  Randell yelped before spouting on, “The chances of being attacked by a shark is one in eleven million. And being hit by something falling out of the sky is one in one point six million…” Randell kept rambling. Kennedy decided it best to ignore him. Anything was better than him going all wolfie on them too soon.

  Kennedy stopped in front of the huge oak tree that served as her home. “We are here.”

  “Amazing.” Randell stamped his feet through the snow while he paced side to side.

  Kennedy motioned with her hands, and the door opened, allowing access. Another crack of lightning caused Randell to rush past the two women, forcing his way inside and onto the spiral staircase that led down.

  “I guess chivalry is dead.” Alleye motioned for Kennedy to follow the student. The cab driver followed right on her heels, out of the storm. “It is getting worse out there.” She shook the snow off her coat as they came down the steps.

  Kennedy whispered to Alleye as they descended the steps, “What happens if we get hit while we are in the air?”

  “By lightning?”

  Kennedy nodded.

  Alleye shrugged. “Not sure, might be a wild ride.”

  “Don’t say that in front of Randell. The shock might not do him good.” Kennedy wanted to be more lighthearted, but the thought of Marylynn locked in the cauldron weighed on her soul. She needed to consult her mentor. Even if she was potted at the moment, she might hold some important piece of the puzzle.

  “This place is so cool… Like a secret fort or an underground treehouse.” Randell reverted to his childhood, walking about the root-filled room, eyes wide like a kid in a candy store. Kennedy was certain she imagined him sniffing around the place. She was unsure of how he was mature enough to be teaching classes.

  “Is anyone here?” Kennedy called out, not expecting an answer from anyone except Marylynn.

  Marylynn’s voice called from the hearth, “You expected me to leave?”

  Randell froze, his head cocked to the side slightly. His eyes darted about the room, looking for the source of the voice.

  Kennedy rushed to the pot suspended over the long-dead fire. “I’m sorry I hadn’t returned yet. Are you certain the Sylvans or the Elves did this to you?”

  Marylynn answered, “I think so, why?”

  “I questioned them, and they seemed to be clueless. They were getting ready for a war with the dark side. I don’t think the Seelie or Unseelie Courts have the twins or Johan. Everyone is getting ready for battle. It all starts in a few hours.”

  “That is troubling…” Marylynn’s voice echoed from the kettle. “Do your best to honor our covenant… The peace must be maintained, at all costs.

  “Can you two give us a moment?” Kennedy looked at the two who stood right behind her. “Grab a drink from the kitchen.”

  Kennedy waited until the two had moved off. “It gets worse. Many if not most of the humans have disappeared. What do you know about a tear in the fabric of reality?”

  “Oh dear… that sounds like science fiction. Have you been watching those crazy conspiracy videos again?” The older woman’s voice seemed to wander in and out of focus.

  “Marylynn, are you all right?” Kennedy asked. The answer frightened her as much or more than the storm outside.

  “I just… I’m tired, dear, and a little confused is all.” The older woman’s voice trailed off. “I’m afraid my age might be catching up with me… or maybe I’m lost in this pot…”

  A crash of thunder interrupted the conversation. The tree shook, and dirt fell from the roof of the room. The magic lights flickered before going out.

  A yelp came from Randell.

  Kennedy popped the blue arc of magic between her fingers, bringing an eerie glow to the room from the single source. Just as quick, cell phone flashlights sprang to life from the bar.

  “We’ve been hit!” Randell cried out. His light panned in desperation about the room.

  “Relax, we are protected here by many shield spells and defensive magic. This room is the safest place in New England.” Kennedy turned her attention to Marylynn. “Is there anything you can tell us to help?”

  “I’m sorry, dear, I don’t really feel myself…” Marylynn’s voice started to fade. “I think I need a nap.”

  “I smell smoke… Look, it’s smoke.” Randell’s voice reached hysterical proportions, but he was correct. The unthinkable had happened. Kennedy’s home was on fire. He started to whimper. “We got to get out of this place.”

  The flames erupted from the hearth where the kettle that held Marylynn’s essence hung. Kennedy needed to jump back to keep from catching fire. Witches hated all forms of fire, specifically out of control mundane fire.

  “We have to save the pot,” Kennedy screamed, trying to force her way back into the flames. Randell and Alleye grabbed her from behind, pulling her back. The fire fueled by magic already covered the kettle and the room that surrounded it. The whole of the tree would soon be on fire.

  “We gotta go…” Kennedy had forgotten how strong Alleye was. She picked up the smaller girl witch and threw her over her s
houlder.

  Randell had already started up the spiral staircase.

  Kennedy cried and tried to cast a spell to control the fire, but all her efforts failed. Her last sight was of the huge kettle surrounded by flames while her home burned around it.

  Outside, flaming arrows whizzed past the three as they ran through the snow and flashing lightning. The magic fire hissed when it hit the wet trees. The great oak that held the coven for centuries shot fire into the sky, lighting up more than the flashes of lightning ever would.

  There was no norm fire department to rush to save the tree and surrounding forest. Only the snow might slow the flames.

  Kennedy was blind to what happened on the path ahead. Still carried over Alleye’s shoulder like a sack of flour, the feeling was undignified, to say the least. A deep dark growl erupted from the trail ahead. Alleye didn’t slow down, but Kennedy spotted a huge gray shape move past them and through the woods with impossible speed.

  Screams and shouts in the Goblin tongue echoed from all around the pair as they scrambled to make their escape. They shot past Randell’s clothes, discarded over a snow-covered bush. The scent of fear mixed with the smell of fire and ozone. The arrows subsided the same time the screams and shouts ended.

  Alleye set Kennedy down. Rather than yell at her friend, she watched her tree burn in the dark lonely forest. She was alone and homeless now. Silent tears ran down her cheeks, dropping into the deep snow at her feet.

  The skinny Randell walked from the shadows. Back in human form and nude, it was easy to see he carried a severed head in his right hand.

  The unnatural color of the creature, large ears, and pugged nose made it easy to identify the attacker as a Goblin. The outcasts, or at least the Goblins, had declared war on the witches. Now it was time to give them the death and destruction they seemed to crave so dearly.

  Randell threw the head close enough for Kennedy to be sure of what she saw. “Friends of yours?” he asked before using the snow to wipe the blood from his body.

  “Goblins,” Kennedy hissed.

  Surprisingly, Randell seemed unfazed from her manner or the word. She assumed his experience with the outcasts had buffered him from the world hidden to most normals. He seemed more concerned with hiding his nudity than the death he’d just caused. His pants on, he muttered, “Sorry about your home.” His words were full of angst and pain.

  The young witch felt the pain in his heart. It was a strange and new feeling for her to experience. Empathy for or from others had never been one of her skills.

  The event was affecting more than she understood. Her heart broke over the death of her past and her coven. The pain was real, but she intended to use every ounce of it.

  Kennedy was ready to find some comfort in revenge. The Authority and their rules could all go to hell. Someone was going to die for her pain.

  Chapter 16:

  Facing an army of Goblins was not her idea of bravery, more on the order of suicide. They had been lucky so far. Either the outcasts did not deem Kennedy and her bumbling around a threat and they didn’t worry about anything she did, or they played her. The last realization burned the young witch to the core. The thought of being used as a pawn in someone’s plans set her ready to burn… something.

  From the very beginning, she reacted to others’ moves. With little foreknowledge about what was going to happen, she seemed to bounce from one catastrophe to the next. Now she was homeless, her tree in flames. As far as she knew, her whole coven was dead or missing. Her heart was broken. She felt dead inside. Revenge was now the driving force behind her actions.

  Suspecting the Goblins all along, her worse fears were realized. If they insinuated themselves into the workings of The Authority, the very institution used to control magic outbreaks, they might be the ones behind the magic storm.

  Her only hope for peace seemed to be bringing a third party, or perhaps a fourth, into the fray. The meeting of the unaligned outcasts was scheduled for ten tonight. Two hours before the battle of the clans was set to begin. She didn’t know how many students would show, but now she only had a force of three. Anything had to be better. It would be up to her. She needed to convince Fae more likely to hide, who never involved themselves, to take a chance and do something to help.

  Living as she was in the body of a child; Kennedy became accustomed to the fickleness of youth. The younger a person was, the more likely they would be to complain endlessly about everything without the fortitude to take any action to create meaningful change. Convincing the students to act and having them follow through would be an uphill battle.

  The analog clock on the dash said just after one pm. Her phone, on the other hand, said 2130. Randell had set it on military time for some reason.

  Kennedy asked, “What time do your phones say?”

  A call from the back came, “2130.”

  Alleye drove with her knees while she dug the phone from her back pocket.

  Kennedy, not wanting to fly into a building, steadied the wheel. “Thanks.” Alleye glanced at her phone and showed it to Kennedy. “2130.” She threw the cell on the dash. “Man, chor phone is a piece of shit. It tells Chinese time.”

  “No, it is something else…” Randell rolled over in the back and stuck his head between the seats. “You mentioned reality tearing back at the tree.”

  Kennedy spun the best she could to face him. “That was a private conversation.”

  “Sorry… wolf hearing.” He tapped his left ear. “Don’t blame the ears, blame your whispering… That is all beside the point. If there is a tear in the fabric of reality, shouldn’t the other factors that make up the laws of our universe also be affected?”

  “Affected like what and how?” Kennedy asked.

  “I’m a geneticist, not a theoretical physicist, but I do love me some science fiction. I think we left the realm of science long ago. But if reality has been damaged, why shouldn’t time and gravity also be affected? In my mind, we need to question everything that happens, especially in relationship to Newtonian physics.”

  “Chew mean equal and opposite reactions, and shit like that?”

  “Interesting way to put Newton’s third law of motion, but yes.” Randell bobbed his head.

  Alleye shifted her glance to Kennedy. “Sista, chew tell him about chor finger.”

  Randell asked, “What about your finger?”

  “I accidentally shattered the glass into your building… with a spell that shouldn’t have had the power.”

  Randell tapped his fingers on the back of both seats while he thought.

  It didn’t take long for that habit to grate on Kennedy’s last nerve. She was about to say something when he stopped the annoying drumbeat.

  “If you think about it, that makes sense…” Randell snapped his fingers like something came to him. “If magic is just another energy that some can control, then it stands to reason magic must follow some sort of laws, not unlike Newtonian physics or even quantum mechanics. Damn, I wish I’d studied harder in my high school physics classes.”

  “Could chew speak English… or even Spanish?” Alleye glanced into the rearview mirror.

  “I agree with Alleye… dumb it down, please.” Kennedy already had a headache from the night’s events, and Randell wasn’t helping.

  The young man sat in the back, tapping out a cell message at a feverous pitch. His voice came slowly as he focused on the texted conversations. “The tear in reality is affecting all the forces that hold our lives together. Gravity, time, electricity, magnets, even magic. Their properties will all be affected until…”

  “Until what?” Kennedy asked.

  “I’m not sure… either a new homeostasis is reached or the universe as we know it dies… or both… or neither. I’m not smart enough to know. I don’t think anyone is. There can’t be any models for this, and it would take a supercomputer to run the simulations. Maybe we have thought about the life of the universe the wrong way for all of history…”

  �
�You talk about the universe like it is a living thing…” His words hovered dangerously close to Kennedy’s own beliefs.

  “Maybe it is. That is why we have such a hard time understanding how it works. We are thinking about it all wrong.”

  “Bottom line is we need to stop this, no matter what.” Kennedy rubbed her forehead. “With no universe, I do believe all life in it will cease.”

  “Yeah… we need to hurry. There is no telling what will happen to the world as the forces that hold it together erode further.”

  The snow still drifted to the ground as the car circled Fenway Park. At least gravity seemed to still function. Alleye bounced the Gremlin down next to the Red Sock’s dugout.

  “What do we do now?” Alleye asked.

  “We wait to see if anyone shows up.” Kennedy thought about waiting outside in the dugout, but it was so damn cold, and the snow kept coming down. The city was buried under the blanket of snow. She picked the stadium because it was only a short walk to Boylston Street and the start of the Fens.

  With no lights on, and the sun long gone if the time on the cell was correct, the headlights of the Gremlin provided the only illumination. The blanket of snow did a wonderful job of reflecting the light around the stadium, but the falling snow picked up the light and scattered it, causing a whiteout. Eerie shadows lurked everywhere. They could have hidden an army waiting to attack the three. The lights of the idling car would attract any of the students that made it to the park and the meeting.

  Kennedy failed to hide her surprise when the lights under the grandstand popped on. Snow covered the stadium seats for most of the way up, until well under the press box.

  The Gremlin died, and Alleye said, “Shit.” Her hand reached and tapped Kennedy. “I need my gun… give me Lola…” The driver tried to restart the car. Hands slammed down on the steering wheel. “Please give me Lola…” Her voice grew more insistent at Kennedy’s hesitation.

  The oddity of the situation caused her heart to race as well. Reluctantly, Kennedy handed the pistol back to her friend. With no indication who turned the power on, and the car dead, they had little choice.