Sanguine Mountain

by Jennifer Foxcroft

  On the porch, I turn around and look up to the heavens. There’s no sign of him, but I know he’s lurking close. “I’m serious, Rocks. This is it. Goodbye.”

  * * * * *

  Saturday, my mood worsens after Kelly—Mom?—Kelly begs me once again to go with them on the McNamara’s reunion weekend after Christmas. I’d rather invite the Camazotz girls over for a nail night. Josie and Enzo are not my parents, but the guilt I feel for poor Chad and Kelly in the adoption gene lottery is intense. What are the chances of adopting a mobster’s spawn? I mean really. Part of me feels that I should distance myself from them now in case the truth ever comes out. Bet the McNamara’s wouldn’t be so keen on me babysitting then.

  I shove my wool jacket on the coat hanger behind the van door. Tiff hands me my black apron to tie around my hips. I need to make peace before we go back to school.

  “I’m sorry. I’m still pissed, but just so you know, I told Rocks not to come around anymore.” I hold up a hand. “No, I do not want to discuss it.”

  “I'm sorry too.” She hands me some tongs, and we prepare for our night.

  The first thing I do when it’s time to head home is scan the sky. I spend a good few minutes using all my senses the way Rocks always talked about. I can’t see a thing, but human eyes can trick you. The wind cools my face as my ears search out bat tones—nothing. I listen to my gut. The previous night, I had a feeling I was being watched. It’s a creeping feeling that I’ve sensed a bit lately. I’m now paranoid as well as friendless. The coast seems clear. I had thought about driving tonight, but parking is impossible and having to explain why Rocks wasn’t going to walk me home to Kelly was more than I had the strength to tackle.

  Five minutes later, I discern the soft flap of wings. I smile automatically before I catch myself. He should not be here. Looking up, I spy one lone bat high above. The dark skies don’t reveal any other protection program members tailing him. I pause and wait for him to lower to eye level. He must have something to say.

  “Rocks, I told you no more. And you shouldn’t be out alone,” I state. He flits around my head in slow circles staying well above eye level. “I mean it. You shouldn’t.” I try to follow him with my eyes but stop when slight dizziness takes hold.

  He flaps hard and ascends into the dark sky. “Just flip already!” I call up into nothing. I hear loud, sharp screeches somewhere above me and keep walking. I’m in no mood to play bat hide and seek. There’s a small park a few blocks ahead, and I’m guessing he’ll meet me there if he’s going to flip. I walk along, keeping an eye out. Why did he come back when I told him not to? My elevator can’t decide on up or down.

  At the park, there’s no sign of him. Alone, I would never enter this place at night, but sometimes Rocks and I cut through it to save a couple of minutes heading home.

  I scan the skies. “I’m going to go in since you’re here, but it’s against my wishes. No use wasting time though.” I’m glad nobody is nearby to witness the crazy girl talking to thin air.

  The grass absorbs my footsteps as I head right and toward a cluster of small trees. The bat comes shooting out of the branches like a canon ball and nearly hits my head.

  “Hey! What the fudge?” I shout. I look around to see why he would come at me at such speed. Was that a danger warning? I scan the shapes in the surrounding garden bed for anything vaguely human. Maybe there are some homeless he wants me to avoid.

  Annoyance joins the other emotions swirling around in the pit. “Just. Flip.” I scowl. I’m sure he has a clear view my face with his superior bat vision.

  Instantly, there’s a dark figure inches from me. I jump back with a small shriek. “Stop being a—” I gasp. It isn’t Rocks. “Who are you?” I take three more steps back, but he’s stepping toward me each time. I can’t get any distance between us.

  The darkness of the park makes it hard to get a good look at his features. He’s taller than me, but isn’t one of the boys I’ve seen—I don’t think. His features don’t have any tattoos or disfigurements. The only part I can focus on is his largish nose—nothing else out of the ordinary. I want to look over my shoulder, but I can’t risk taking my eyes off the looming figure coming at me. “Who are you? What do you want?”

  He chuckles. “Not so keen now little naught, but you invited me to flip.”

  “I thought you were someone else.” I stumble but catch myself. I’m back on the path that heads toward the pool, but the trees are blocking me from the street. This is not good. My hackles are standing on end.

  “Disappointed? I’m not. You look good enough to eat.” I watch him lick his lips. His eyes flick to my boobs.

  “Get away from me.” I shudder. I am not going to be a meal.

  “Or what? Rocks isn’t here to help you now.” He rubs both his hands together.

  I will not be a victim to some sadistic Camazotz freak. I brace my feet apart and make two fists. In my head, I list my options. Aim for the eyes, or the groin. Hit hard and run. I will not give up without a fight. His eyes flicker to my hands causing him to halt.

  “I have a message. Playing with Camazotz is a dangerous hobby for a girl who walks home alone after midnight. Don’t come back to the market. If you do, your little sister will need rabies shots too.”

  Horror Movie girl awakens in me. How could I forget her? I scream and scream and scream and scream. My lungs sing out to the surrounding world, and the boy full of threats runs off into the darkness. My vocal assault prevents him from flipping, but at least he’s gone. How dare he threaten Mini with an attack.

  It takes an extra minute, but my shaking fingers eventually hit the right letters.

  Tell the colony we’re done!

  Stop the threats.

  You don’t know anything about that, do you? If a bat threatens me again, I won’t be held responsible for my actions!

  I shove my phone in my pocket and run through the park faster than Rocks can flip. Three blocks from home, a loud thump on the path behind me makes my heart feel likes it’s about to somersault out of my rib cage.

  “Connie, stop. It’s me,” The familiar voice—that’s slightly out of breath—helps calm my thundering heart. I stop running and bend over to catch my breath. “I swear to you,” he pants. “I didn’t send anyone to threaten you. I swear, but I need to know who it was.”

  My lungs are burning. My fitness is shameful. Looking at him hurts, but I force myself not to look away. “Get away from me. I don’t know who the hell it was, but endangering Mini will bring out my claws.”

  A deadly rage fills his eyes at the mention of a threat to my little sister. Seeing him so enraged helps me calm down. He’s innocent. My gut knew that all along, but I’m not sure who to trust these days. The Enzo revelation has put me on guard, and the fighting between us is blurring all the lines.

  Rocks’ presence calms me down enough to walk the rest of the way home. I explain every detail of the encounter and my big nose description is useless. We find ourselves outside my house in no time, but I don’t want to sit and chat. I block his entry to the porch.

  “When are you going to learn to recognize me?” he asks from the lawn.

  I huff. “I don’t have x-ray vision all right?”

  “Try harder,” he commands. He takes two steps back and holds out his hands. “I’m sorry. Listen, I know you don’t want to be friends, but I can’t walk away after a second threat to you. I can’t and I won’t.”

  With that he takes two steps back and flips in front of me. The conversation is clearly over.

  * * * * *

  Being back at school was supposed to dissolve the funk I’ve fallen into and distract me from my dark thoughts. It hasn’t. Parker has almost finished his Economics assignment. We were in the library for over three hours before Principle Skinner eventually kicked us out.

  December days are too short, and the sun has already sunk below the horizon. Winter is my least favorite season, although the Christmas lights do make December worth it. My
knitted beanie could be an inch longer to save my poor ears. Parker walks me to the parking lot. His car is next to the building since he gets here for practice before I’m even out of bed.

  He runs a hand down my arm. “Thanks so much. Sorry it’s so late, but it was nice hanging out.”

  When Parker isn’t being a wrestling jerk, he’s kinda nice, sort of. He’s learning that I don’t need stupid stunts to impress me. But my heart’s a bit over boys. Boys turn girls into uncontrollable freak shows, and I’m sick to death of being one.

  “Yeah, I better go. I’m parked on the street. The lot was full. Slept late,” I explain. He raises his arms, but I turn before my brain processes that he was about to hug me. Even though I turn back toward him, he’s dropped his arms again, and now I don’t know what to do. In the awkwardness that follows, he raises his arms but pats both my shoulders instead. It’s weird, and we both know it.

  “See ya tomorrow.” I exit faster this time. I cut through the parking lot, jumping over the fence. I’m a block down and the only other car on the street is a van—another one. I squint but can’t see the logo from this angle.

  Footsteps on the pavement send me spinning around. Rocks, Decker and Ezra are walking out of the school grounds.

  “What are you doing here? Following me again?” My nerves are frayed. I’m an elastic band stretched to the limit.

  “Studying late?” Rocks walks up to me beside my car, but the boys hang back on the sidewalk. “That your new boyfriend?”

  “What’s it to you?” I puff up, trying to make myself bigger. I’ll take you on buddy, I think to myself. His eyes roam over my body, and he snorts.

  “I’m a lot bigger than you,” he says, leaning down. “I don’t want to fight. I just came to show you this.” He points to the red metallic bar piercing his left eyebrow.

  My eyebrows rise in response.

  “It’s so you can recognize me in the dark.” He looks down the street toward the van.

  “What?” I ask, following his gaze.

  “Thought I heard something.” He frowns.

  I take out a pen and paper from my purse and copy down the numbers.

  “What’s going on?” He grabs my hand as I try to stuff the paper in my bag.

  “Nothing. Let go.”

  “Why are you writing down license plate numbers if nothing is going on?” he growls between gritted teeth.

  I know that look and let out a sigh. I miss my friend who knows all my deep, dark secrets. I miss the safe, secure feeling that Rocks gave me by just being there. “It’s probably nothing, but … I think I’m being watched or followed. I don’t know. I get this creepy feeling.” I shiver. It only started after I told him we couldn’t be friends. It’s probably just confirmation of my insanity.

  Rocks goes to touch my arm but stops. “You know I’m following you. Not all the time and mostly only after sunset. Maybe it’s just that.”

  “Maybe. Do you know who came after me?”

  He shakes his head and looks away. It gives me time to study his new piercing. It suits him. I would never have wanted anything to mar his features, but the red bar looks good. I want to touch it.

  Rocks notices. “You like it?

  I allow just one side of my mouth to rise. “Yeah, it looks really good.” Hot, I think, but I’d never say, and that realization makes me feel even worse.

  When I get out of my car at home, the creepy feeling is still lingering. I can’t shake it, and it’s starting to add to my constant state of being pissed off at the world. Parents V1.0 are gangsters, I’m fighting with Rocks, and now, my intuition is on the fritz. Awesome.

  A short, sharp squawk, high in the trees in our front yard, has me squinting into the darkness. I walk up the porch steps and look out.

  The beating of wings makes me jump again. I grab my chest. A bat has flown in under the porch, over the swing. It comes up to me at head height, and I see clearly a little red metal bar over its eye. The turmoil within dissolves instantly.

  “Oh my God, that’s adorable. Bat piercings. Who knew.” I bite the inside of my cheek. His little face looks so freaking cute with a bad ass piercing. A second later, I’m peering up into Rocks’ human one. He flicks his hair and I stare at the piercing some more. It’s the perfect distraction from my mood.

  “Easy to see, right?”

  “Yeah. Thank you.” He nods, his eyes serious.

  Rocks walks down the porch steps and stands tall in the middle of the lawn. He scans the trees branch by branch.

  “What is it?” The cool night air is adding to the creepy feeling that hangs over me.

  “That bat call before wasn’t me. Or the boys.”

  “What?” The hair on my neck has gone haywire. “What are you doing?” I whisper.

  “I’m hoping for a communication, and if I don’t get one, then I know it’s whoever has been attacking you.” He’s silent again. His body language is fascinating to watch. He stands straight and tall, making himself appear even bigger than he is, but it’s the way he uses his senses that I’m intrigued by. Rocks subtly sniffs the air—a long slow inhale that other people wouldn’t think was unusual. I know he’s combing the air for clues and scents. He cocks his head to the left—his ears searching out higher frequencies. At this moment, I recognize the animal within him.

  A dog barks a few houses away, but that’s the only sound the evening gives us. Rocks turns around and strides back toward the porch.

  “You need to come with me tonight. I can’t stay here, and you aren’t staying here without me either,” he states. “There’s a presence lingering.”

  “Are you out of your freaking mind? I can’t go with you. I have school tomorrow and my parents are inside. You’re being absurd!”

  “Don’t argue with me. I don’t know who that Camazotz is, and you aren’t staying here without protection.” He crosses his arms over his chest.

  “We are not having this conversation. I’ll lock the door and won’t leave the house, but I’m not going to the colony. They’ll eat me alive!” One thing I am certain of is that I’m not welcome there. I’m creeped out here, but up there, I’d never sleep a wink because I’d be worrying about that threat on Mini.

  “Ugh,” he throws his arms up. “We aren’t seriously back here again, are we? You are not a menu item,” he spits out. I get the feeling that his anger is simmering just below the surface like mine these days.

  “I’m not meaning they’d eat me eat me, but then again, if you weren’t there, I wouldn’t be so confident. I’m just saying they hate my guts. If looks could kill sort of thing.”

  “Don’t be absurd.”

  “You were inside your shop, the last time I visited. You didn’t see the death stares and threats I received trying to get to you. Ask Scar—Zabreena.”

  “Is this a jealousy thing?” he asks, his hands now on his hips. “Are we back to that again too?”

  I roll my eyes. “No! It’s an ‘aeronaughts are the devil’s spawn for showing you human ways and luring you away’ thing.”

  He stands shaking his head. Seriously, if he hasn’t noticed how the other bats look at me, then his eyesight is worse than mine.

  “I’m going inside and I swear that’s where I’ll stay. Go back to the colony. That’s where your responsibility lies.”

  His angry features are the last thing I see before locking the door.

  * * * * *

  Friday morning, I grab my lunch bag and race out. Arguing makes me restless and sleep didn’t claim me until after three—just what I need to enhance my delightful mood. It’s cold on the porch as the sun hasn’t had a chance to warm it yet. I drop my keys fumbling with the lock.

  EEEK!

  My heart flips, but I know that sound. “What are you doing here? I told you to go home!” Glancing up, I spy the bat roosting in the top corner of our porch ceiling. I walk over and stand under him, the red bar gleams. “Rocks, I mean it. This is ridiculous. Now you’re putting yourself in danger. What th
e hell?”

  It’s more than my nerves can handle. I should’ve known he would never leave me in danger even if it dumps him in it. I don’t want to be worrying about him out alone as well. The energy to say all this fades. I can’t argue anymore. My shoulders slump. I just want to go inside and crawl under my quilt and hide from the world—forever. “Whatever. Just do whatever.” I turn and trudge to my car without a backward glance.

  For three days, the black bat is perched in the same corner of the porch above the swing. Day or night, whenever I check, he’s there. The red piercing makes his identity unmistakable.

  The only time I know he leaves our porch is during my Bun Lovin’ shifts. On Friday night a male voice echoing inside my head made me almost pee my pants.

  I’m here.

  I hadn’t thought I was calm enough for him to be able to communicate with me. The previous times, I’d been distracted. I would have thought my failure at effective anger management would have been a block, but the voice was clear.

  * * * * *

  Sunday, the man who prides himself on home defense finally notices the little creature that’s become a resident.

  “Kelly,” he hollers up the stairs. “Get the long-handled broom and keep Mini up there.”

  I’m trying to decide what to paint on my nails. Bright, happy, colorful images make me want to demolish my room. I’ve done a black base coat and am waiting for that to dry.

  “Which broom?” she calls back.

  “The red one with the long handle. We’ve got a situation on the porch.”

  Fudge!

  I fly down the stairs and out the door before Kelly has time to arm the love of her life. Chad is standing with his hands on his hips, studying the bat. My less than graceful arrival makes him turn around.

  “Go indoors. The last thing we need is you getting attacked again.” Too late, I think.

  “No, give me the broom. I’ve just finished my shots. I’m the only one that’s safe.” I eye the bat.

  “Out of the question.”