Blackthorn: In the Tween

by Jamie Ott

  Chapter 2

  Surprisingly enough, the day went by smoothly, until her last class which ended at noon.

  Professor Milton walked in with a clipboard in his hand. The sun gleamed off his shiny, black hair as he gave Lin a friendly smile and nod. Then he walked to the back of the classroom and took a seat.

  Lin tried to relax and hoped that everyone would behave. Sometimes, because she looked so young, the students would challenge her authority.

  The last class of the day also had the most aggravating students. She wished he could have surprised her in another lecture. It was one thing to be evaluated by a fellow teacher, but she didn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of Milton.

  Figuring it would be better to delve right in, Lin began.

  “Today we’ll be discussing the element, air, and its components: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and the others, and we’ll look at the characteristics of water vapor.

  When using the craft to influence air to make wind, we must remember to address the particular molecules...”

  “Ms. Helewise?” her least favorite student interrupted. “We’ve studied this already.”

  Anna Macky was an obnoxious girl who liked to roll her hawk-like eyes, frequently, and to make Lin feel like an idiot in front of her class.

  “Before Craig, our last professor, was fired, we were studying how to consolidate water across molecules, so as to move heavier objects for those who don’t have natural telekinetic ability.”

  “Shut up, Anna,” said Lucas Rent, a beefy dark-haired boy with a backward hat. “If you want, I’ll catch you up later,” he said, looking straight into Lin’s eyes and making a slight kissing motion with his mouth.

  Lucas was another local privileged kid, who liked to tell everyone he was named after the great Lucas Blackthorn, son of Nicolas.

  “Screw you!” said Anna.

  “Lucas,” she said authoritatively.

  He sat up in his chair.

  “If you want to stay in this class, then you’ll show me respect. If I ever see a gesture like that, from you, again, I’ll have to ask you to leave. You’re not kids anymore. I expect each of you to act like adults.”

  From then on, the lesson progressed without too much commotion, thankfully. Anna continued to sigh and roll her eyes, every few minutes, but it didn’t make much difference to her lesson. Lin got the impression that Anna might have been jealous of Lucas’ crush on her.

  After the class was over and everyone filed out, Professor Milton came up and gave Lin a copy of the notes he’d taken.

  “You did well. I liked the way you handled those kids at the beginning.”

  Milton had a tremulous voice that made the little hair follicles on her arms raise upward into goose bumps.

  When she looked into his dark eyes, her heart picked up pace.

  Picking up the copy of her report and glancing at the comments, she said, “Okay, thanks.”

  “Listen, I hate to mention this because it’s probably just bad gossip, but the staff has been talking. You’ll learn that’s that what they do best here,” he smiled and winked. “I was put to ask you about the news report from this morning. I didn’t see it, but apparently, you were seen in the middle of last night’s attacks. I must ask if there are any activities you’re engaged in that could risk the lives of the students or put your reputation at risk?”

  “No,” she said defensively. “The only thing I’m guilty of is being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Well, I should advise you to be very careful. Do not get mixed up in trouble because the teachers and parents will hold your personal misfortunes against you, good intentioned or not.”

  Despite not really being in trouble, his words made her heart sink. Although she thanked the Professor, Lin was angry and indignant.

  “Tell Mara I said ‘hello’ when you see her. Oh, and can you give this to her?”

  He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.

  “It’s blank.”

  “Yes, I would give it to her myself but I must leave on a trip, right after class. She seems to trust you, which is why I ask.”

  “Are you, two, secretly dating?”

  His eyebrows rose just a little.

  “No. We’re simply good friends.”

 

  Later that evening, Lin was home grading papers when Mara came by.

  “I was gonna to call you, but I didn’t want to go home. How was your day?” Mara asked as she removed her coat.

  “Great.”

  “I saw you on the news this morning.”

  Lin’s face got hot.

  Mara followed her into the kitchen. Lin pulled two glasses and a bottle of wine.

  “Well?” asked Mara.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Okay.”

  They were silent, a moment, as Lin pulled the cork from the bottle.

  “Do you want to hear what Stanley at the Blackthorn Café said to me?”

  “Oh, Mara, I’m so sick of all the silly gossip about who’s behind all the attacks. Who does Stanley say did it this time, a ring of psychotic clowns on unicycles?”

  “No one really knows who’s responsible,” Mara said, and then sipped from her glass. “Stanley says the biggest problem is as soon as people appear, then they disappear. Blackthorn’s never had crime, so we’ve never needed real law enforcement. We’ve always had Deputy Dennison, which until now, was always enough.”

  “Why don’t they just hire more deputies?”

  “He tried, but everyone’s too scared.”

  “So he’s underhanded. Still, where was he last night?”

  “According to Stanley, Dennison got a call that someone had broken into the butcher shop. When he got there, he found the owners, Leslie and her son, out cold on the floor. He didn’t know the town was under attack until the paramedics arrived.”

  “All the while, everyone cowered in their homes or ran,” said Lin disgustedly.

  “Not everyone is a coward. There are those who would have helped, but it was a surprise attack. Half the town didn’t even realize what was going on. I’m sure if they did, they’d have helped out.”

  “Who would’ve helped out? Maybe those who would’ve helped out, could help Dennison?”

  “Yeah, well, they’re doing everything they can, plus they already have jobs and families.”

  “Who’s doing everything they can?”

  Mara stared at Lin a moment, and then said, “I don’t know. It just sounded like the right thing to say.”

  “Okay,” said Lin disbelieving. Sometimes Mara had a peculiar way of speaking, almost as if she knew something that Lin didn’t. After many attempts to question her, Lin gave up because she only got naught for answers. Still, it was frustrating to know that her own friend was keeping important secrets from her.

  “Milton told me to give you a piece of paper, today.”

  Mara looked perplexed.

  “Why did he give this to you?”

  “Is it important?”

  Looking irritated, Mara shoved the blank piece of paper into her purse.

  “Mara, what is going on with you? What is it with all the secrecy? Are you two involved in a relationship?”

  “No,” she laughed, but Lin wasn’t entirely convinced.

  After a little wine, Lin and Mara walked down to Sally’s Tavern for a greasy bite. The night was quiet and all the shops were closed. All the damage from the evening prior had been cleaned and fixed. Fresh pumpkin jack-o-lanterns had been set out in front of some of the shops, but along the sidewalk, there were still orange stains that reminded Lin of the prior evening’s attacks.

  Upon entering the tavern they were greeted by Sally. She was looking pleasantly harried that evening and, despite the cold, sweat was leaking down the sides of her smiling face.

  Lin looked around and noticed there were only three people in the tavern, so why did Sally look like she’d run a maratho
n?

  A tall, muscular sandy-haired man by the name of Billing entered from the kitchen. He immediately started wiping down tables. Lin couldn’t help but notice how he and Sally locked eyes for a moment, and then Sally looked quickly away.

  Hmmm, thought Lin, as she made the connection.

  Sally was particularly upbeat that evening. She beckoned them to the bar with a wide smile.

 

  As they walked across the room, Lin whispered to Mara, “Looks like Billing has, finally, worked up some nerve.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Nothing,” said Lin. Mara was never very observant.

  They scooted into the tall chairs. To their right, was a middle-aged gray haired man in a faded suit. A few seats down from him, sat an older woman whose hair engulfed her face in a large, white hazy poof. On their left sat a scruffy man who looked like he’d been on a serious bender. He had messy hair, red eyes, and a scent of filth emanated from him.

  Mara asked, “What happened to the usual crowd?”

  “They’re scared; staying home,” said Sally, as she stacked glasses. She set three flutes on the bar and poured sparkling wine into them. “On me.”

  They lifted their glasses and said together, “Happy Halloween.”

  After clinks and sips, Lin asked, “Champagne on Halloween?”

  “We take Halloween very seriously. Halloween is a magical night, as it is the celebration of Samhain; a tradition carried over from the first Blackthorn settlers. We have a huge celebration every year - except this year,” Mara said sounding disappointed.

  “Yeah,” said Sally. “We don’t dance naked under the moonlight and make animal sacrifices anymore, but we usually have a festival.”

  “Where are all the trick-or-treaters tonight?” asked Lin.

  “All the parents are having a haunted house and candy give-away at the junior high. Given the events, everyone thinks it’s safer to stay indoors. You two shouldn’t be out either; me and Billing, we live around here.”

  Sally turned a little red when she said this.

  “I say everyone should get the heck outta here,” said the gray haired man to their right.

  “Old man you’re a coward and you’ve always been. Why should we give up Blackthorn? This is our home,” said the scraggily haired woman.

  She picked up her drink, downed it and slammed the glass back onto the counter.

  “Yeah, this is our home. We don’t want strangers coming and taking our jobs and forcing us out!” shouted the middle aged man to her left.

  The man slammed his drink and stood up. They watched him scruff his feet as he walked out, slamming the door behind him.

  “Who was that?” asked Lin.

  “That’s Angel Craig,” said Mara. “He’s crazy when he’s drunk, but he can be just as scary sober. Be careful, if you ever see him when you’re alone. He’s been known to make threats and attack people.”

  “He’s got a right to be angry. It isn’t right, people forcing him from his home and his job!” said the man in the faded suit.

  “Shut up, old man,” said Sally. “You, both, ruined your own lives. Straighten up or deal with the consequences.”

  “Exactly,” said Mara. “Why can’t you realize that you’re the reason for your problems?”

  Silently, the gray haired man stepped off the stool and walked out, too. Lin wondered if she needed to be careful of him as well.

  “Now who was that?” Lin asked.

  “Markus Lancaster. Coward, fellow drunk to Angel, and father to Poppy Craig, Golden’s wife,” said the scraggily haired woman from across the bar.

  “Two drunks in the same family? Mara, you might be right: they are a miserable bunch of people.”

  “Nearly everyone in their immediate family has turned out to have some sort of addiction, or has done terrible things,” said Sally.

  “Drugs and alcohol are the only way they can tolerate each other. It’s one thing to be terrible amongst good people, but to be terrible amongst other terribles, well...” said the scraggily haired woman.

  “Mark’s been strange ever since someone burned down his home,” said Sally.

  “When did that happen?” asked Lin.

  “Ten years ago. That’s why he moved in with his daughter and son-in-law.”

  “He’s not a likeable guy, normally. He’s alienated his son, cost people their jobs, and cheated on his wife. Then when he got his girlfriend pregnant, he hexed her to miscarry. After six months in jail, that’s when he picked up heavy drinking,” the old woman told them.

  Thinking back to the earlier part of their conversation, before Angel and Markus interrupted, Lin asked, “Wouldn’t it be better if people went into hiding? Instead of fighting and dying? I mean, the Wackens are dangerous.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” said Sally calmly.

  She poured another round of sparkling wine and continued with, “Even if we leave, who’s to say they won’t find us, round us up and stuff us into one of those warehouses?”

  “What warehouses?” asked Mara with raised eyebrows.

  “You didn’t see them?”

  “See what?” asked Lin.

  “Go look outside.”

  Sally took another swig.

  Lin and Mara looked at each other, quizzically, and then slid off their stools and went outside.

  “I don’t see anything,” said Lin.

  They did a full 360. Seeing nothing, they walked across the street. From there, they saw it far and behind the tavern. Sitting on the topmost of the base of the mountain, above all the houses, were two of the largest structures Lin had ever seen. At first, they looked like large black shadows, but then her eyes adjusted, taking in the way the starlight reflected off their large surfaces. The sight of them gave her an ominous feeling.

  “Where do you suppose they came from? And how did they get them up there without us noticing?” asked Mara.

  “No one knows,” said Sally, surprising them from behind. “They appeared sometime last night, during or after the attacks. No one knows for sure because no one heard or saw anything. People are really freaked out though.”

  “Did the deputy try to remove them?”

  “Billing was up there earlier. He says the Deputy and a couple guys tried spells, battering ram, wrecking ball, saws and even explosives but nothing worked. They can’t be removed, and they can’t be destroyed.”

  “I don’t know about you gals, but that scares the living breath out of me,” said Mara.

  Not wanting to deprive Sally of the pleasure of an early evening off - a rare thing for her being that it was the only bar in town, Lin and Mara decided to leave early and return to the safety of their homes. However, Lin wasn’t planning on returning home at all. Rather, she was going to see the warehouses up close.

  After saying goodbye, Lin disappeared into the cool, night air. She circled the warehouses to make sure that no one was in the area. Then she landed on the soft ground in front of the warehouse to her right and walked around.

  Up close, the aluminum structure was the size of a shopping mall. Slowly, she reached out a hand to touch the surface of one of them.

  Lin shivered, deeply. The surface was extremely cold; colder then down in the streets of Blackthorn, and so cold that it hurt her fingers to touch.

  Just as she yanked back her hand, a sudden draft of air blew around her. She looked around to make sure she was still alone. But she had a distinct feeling that she was being watched.

  Not seeing anyone, Lin continued to walk around the warehouses, looking for any indication of how to open them.

  Another draft of air engulfed her. She spun around. Behind her was a shadow some thirty feet away. Lin squint her eyes, trying to make out the details of the figure, but the moon behind the person made him or her appear as nothing more than blackness.

  The person lifted his or her hand, as though to send a spell at her, but then, the figure flew, violently, back
ward through the air.

  He landed on the ground.

  Lin’s jaw fell. She looked around for who sent the person flying.

  She inhaled deeply. Behind her was a pearly figure of a girl. She had dark hair and white skin. The girl glittered in a way that made her think of angels, as depicted in movies.

  The girl looked right at her while not saying anything.

  Hoping she wasn’t seeing things, she closed her eyes, but when she reopened them, the girl was gone.

  Maybe it was bad idea to come, she thought to herself.

  With that thought, she flew off into the sky.