“Nay, of course not, you fool! I’m the scholar, cardinal, and archbishop, Thomas Wolsey. Almoner and lord chancellor to the king.”
“King? What king?” I asked, having a feeling I was somewhere in Europe on this realm and not in Half Horse, Illinois at all.
“You know my illegitimate fool of a son,” he accused her.
“Me?” My eyes roamed back to the gravestone of Jonathon. The raven cackled and flew away, leaving me alone with this odd man. “Do you mean . . . Jonathon?”
“Where is he? Where’s the money? Give it to me.” He came at me like a man possessed and his beady little eyes actually glowed. When his beefy hands reached out for me, I turned to run, bumping right into someone else.
“Johnny,” I said, almost relieved for a moment to see my little brother. But it wasn’t Johnny. Or at least not the Johnny I knew.
“Don’t give it to him,” hissed the boy that looked a lot like my brother but was taller and a little older and had . . . blue hair.
“Don’t give him what?” I said, already wishing I hadn’t asked.
“Sister, don’t tell him where we hid it.”
“Sister? Me? No, no, now wait a minute,” I said, raising my hand. That’s when I noticed the younger man wearing a blue leather bomber jacket lined in sheepskin. “Oh, no,” I said, thinking what a mistake I had made. I had to get that jacket back before Johnny opened the present. If he so much as tried it on, horrible things were going to happen.
The fog encompassed me just as the fat man reached out and grabbed me around the throat.
“No! Leave me alone,” I screamed, struggling with the man as his hands closed tighter around my neck. I felt the breath leave my body as he strangled the life out of me. I reached up and dug my nails into his hands and heard the most terrifying screech I could ever imagine.
“Raven! What did you do to Shadow?”
My eyes popped open and my mother was standing over me, looking down with a frown on her face and her hands on her hips.
“Mom?” I sat up as the cat darted away. Rubbing my throat, I realized Shadow must have curled up on my neck. “What are you doing home?”
“Ida gave me the night off since it’s Johnny’s birthday and we were slow at the diner. Plus, I was worried about you when you never showed up for ice cream. What are you doing lying on the floor? Did you trip and fall?”
“Where were you, Raven?” asked Candy, taking off her coat. “We waited for you but when you didn’t show up we had ice cream without you.”
“You couldn’t even answer the phone to let us know you were all right?” My mother was more than angry.
“I – I’m sorry,” I said, sitting up, trying to clear my head.
“Why are you wearing your jacket while you take a nap?” asked Johnny from the other side of the room. But before I could answer, he said something else that made my stomach clench. “Hey, is this present for me?”
I looked over to see him holding the blue jacket wrapped up in newspaper.
“No,” I said at the same time my mother said, “yes.”
“Raven,” said my mother from the side of her mouth as I got to my feet. “I thought you were going to get a present for Johnny. Please don’t tell me you forgot to do it.”
I wanted to lie and tell her it wasn’t his present. But I couldn’t. Seeing the excited look on Johnny’s face and the angry, disappointed look on my mother’s face, I had no other choice. I couldn’t let both of them down. Not on Johnny’s birthday.
“Yes, that’s the present I wrapped for Johnny, Mother.”
“I can’t wait to see it.” Johnny ripped open the paper and held up the old, worn jacket, not saying a word.
“Oh, Raven,” whispered my mother. “How could you?”
“I love it!” said Johnny, trying it on before I could even stop him. I grimaced, seeing how it fit him perfectly.
“Wow, that looks great on you, Johnny,” said Candy.
“Thanks,” he said, standing up straighter, almost as if he felt proud. “I’m going to be all the talk of the eighth grade now.”
“Yes, I’m sure you will,” I mumbled, thinking of Jonathon in the cemetery. He was wearing this exact jacket.
“You look very nice, Johnny,” said my mother, flashing a relieved grin. “Raven, don’t you have anything to say to your brother?”
“Happy birthday, Johnny,” I said, as he picked up his trumpet and blew a sour note. Somehow, I knew this was only the beginning of something very bad that was about to happen and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
Chapter 3
“Raven, hurry, the bus is coming,” shouted Candy from downstairs the next morning.
“Oh, no,” I said, dragging a brush across my hair, and looking at the dark circles under my eyes in the mirror. I overslept. The thought seemed impossible since I didn’t remember sleeping much at all. I’d been taunted by what I saw in the graveyard last night, and too upset to tell anyone. It was Johnny’s birthday celebration last night and I didn’t want to ruin it. I planned on telling Candy about it before bed, but by the time I was ready to settle in for the night she’d already been sleeping.
“Raven, where are you? You’re going to have to walk to school,” shouted my mom from downstairs. “I’m leaving now for work. Make sure Johnny doesn’t miss the bus either. He’s moving slowly today. Goodbye.”
The door banged as my mom went to her job at the insurance office where she did receptionist work. She worked two jobs to support us, and was hardly ever home. I missed the days of my youth when my father worked and my mother stayed home. But that was something that was in the past and was never going to happen again.
I quickly put on my crystal necklace, running my fingers over the slim stone, wondering if I should stop wearing it. But I liked the crystal. It seemed like a part of me now, and I wasn’t going to let a silly ghost in a graveyard scare me. Was I?
“I’m going to the bus stop,” shouted Candy from downstairs.
“I’m coming,” I shouted, grabbing my backpack from my dressing table. When I slid it off, something fell. I looked down, horrified to see it was that nursery rhyme book I had dug up in the backyard. And lo and behold, it opened to the page of Little Boy Blue.
A shiver wracked my body as I picked up the book in two hands, looking once more at the illustration of a boy with a horn sleeping by a haystack.
The sound of the front door banging got my attention. I slammed the book shut, threw it on the dresser, and grabbed my backpack, running down the stairs. I managed to pick up my coat on the way out and pet the dogs quickly before I closed the door and met Candy at the bus.
“Just in time,” said Candy, climbing the stairs of the bus. I silently followed.
“No brother today?” asked Mrs. O’Malley, the woman who drove the bus. Even though Candy and I were in high school, the town was so small that we had to share the bus with the junior high kids, too.
“What?” I looked down the aisles, not seeing my brother on the bus at all. “Candy, where is Johnny?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, taking a seat right in front. The bus was pretty full today and none of the kids ever wanted to sit up front. “I think he overslept.”
“Well, I can’t wait,” said the bus driver, about to close the doors. “Oh, here he comes now,” she said.
“Good,” I commented, throwing down my backpack followed by my butt as I took the seat next to Candy. I heard someone get on the bus and the doors close as the bus started away.
“I barely got any sleep at all last night,” I told Candy, yawning.
Her hand shot out and gripped my wrist and her eyes opened wide.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her. “You’re acting weird.”
“I think you’d better take a look,” whispered Candy, her eyes fastened to someone.
I looked up and my mouth fell open. “Johnny?” I blurted out, astonished by what I saw. My little brother didn’t seem so little anymore. He st
ood at the front of the bus with his backpack thrown over one shoulder and his trumpet gripped in his other hand. That wasn’t the shocking part, because that was normal. What wasn’t normal was the way he looked.
“Hey, Raven, how’s it goin’?” he said in a voice that sounded too low for him. If I wasn’t mistaken, he almost had an Elvis drawl. His blond hair was longer than normal, and, to my horror, it was no longer blond . . . but it was blue! He wore that stupid blue leather bomber jacket and acted like he thought he was cool. My body froze and my heart beat faster. I’d seen this look before and it wasn’t on my brother.
“Jonathon Wolsey,” I whispered, too quiet for anyone but Candy to hear me.
“Take a seat, John,” the bus driver called over her shoulder.
There was a seat empty next to us. “Sit down,” I told him, nodding to it.
“No thanks.” He looked up at the back of the bus where the cool kids sat and headed toward them. But they were all high school kids and never let the younger kids anywhere near them.
“He’s sitting in the back and no one is stopping him,” gasped Candy, craning her neck to see the other end of the bus.
I looked up into the mirror used by the bus driver, and could see my brother. He had a swagger to his walk, and seemed to think he was someone he was not. To my surprise, two high school girls moved over and let him sit in between them.
“Do you see that?” asked Candy, her eyes wider than saucers. “Raven, what is your brother doing?”
“That’s not my brother,” I told her.
“Huh?” Candy turned around and faced me, scrunching up her face. “What do you mean? Of course it’s Johnny. Who else would it be?”
“Jonathon Wolsey,” I said, releasing a pent-up breath of emotion.
“Who?” She didn’t understand at all. I had to say something fast because I wanted to tell her all about it before the bus got to school. So, I said the only thing I knew she’d comprehend. “Little Boy Blue.”
“What? Oh, no!” Candace sank down in her seat. “Please don’t tell me you were anywhere near the cemetery last night, Raven.”
“It wasn’t my choice.” I grabbed my crystal, rubbing it like a worry stone. “Oh, Candy, this is horrible and I think I had something to do with making it happen.”
“What do you mean?”
“As if the trumpet isn’t enough, I had to go and give him that blue bomber jacket I found in the basement. Little Boy Blue’s jacket, that is.”
“Raven, we’ve got to do something before anything bad happens.”
“I know.” I felt suddenly panicked. What kind of evil had been released upon Johnny? And how was I supposed to keep an eye on him when he didn’t even attend the same school as us?
“Maybe we should tell your mom,” Candy suggested.
“No. Not yet.” I swallowed a lump in my throat. If I told her, I’d no doubt be blamed for all of this. I can’t let that happen since I’m more or less in charge of watching over Johnny. “Maybe it’s nothing,” I said, wanting to believe it.
“Did you see anyone in the graveyard?” asked Candy curiously.
“I did. Two people actually. One was Jonathon Wolsey and the other was his father, Thomas Wolsey.”
“Who?” she asked.
“I’m not exactly sure who he is but he said he is almoner and lord chancellor to the king,” I explained.
“King? What king?”
“I don’t know.” Feelings of guilt, anger, fear and remorse swept through me all at once. “He didn’t explain that part. But I’m sure I’m going to find out whether I like it or not.”
“Your mother is going to freak when she sees Johnny’s blue hair,” said Candy.
“Maybe it’s not permanent,” I said, hoping it was true. “Remember how that crazy makeup only appeared on your face when you were being possessed by Little Miss Muffet?” I asked her.
“Yeah. So what?”
“So maybe when Johnny is really only my brother, he’ll look more like himself. No?”
“Sure,” said Candy, obviously not believing any of this by the tone of her answer. Actually, I didn’t believe it either. I sank down on the seat next to her wondering what was in store for Johnny. Whatever it was, I sincerely hoped it didn’t include his trumpet.
“Raven, hi!”
School was nearly over for the day and I was glad since I couldn’t concentrate anyway. I turned around, surprised to see the handsome Dex Campbell standing there smiling at me. His good-looking friend, Brett Halston, was next to him. Candy was with me waiting to walk to history class and she purposely bumped me in the elbow. Her eyes lit up, since she liked Brett. Of course, I liked Dex but he was Janelle Thompson’s boyfriend.
“Hi, guys,” I said, gathering up my books and slamming closed my locker.
“I was wondering if you wanted to come watch me practice after school in the gym today,” said Dex who was on the football team. Both of the guys were. Football season was over, but the team continued to do drills and work with weights and things for the rest of the year. It didn’t make sense to me, but I guess it kept the guys in shape.
“You, too, Candy,” said Brett. “I’d love to have you there. Maybe afterwards I can give you girls a ride home.”
“You have a car?” asked Candy in surprise.
Dex chuckled. “He meant in my car, of course. I’ll be the one giving the rides, not him. How about it, girls? Is it a date?”
I felt Candy’s nails digging into my arm. This wasn’t a usual occurrence and I knew she was chomping at the bit to go. A date with Brett Halston was something she’d always wanted. And now that her braces were off and Brett had noticed her – even if she was Muffet at the time – things were looking up.
“Where’s Janelle today?” I asked nonchalantly, knowing she always watched Dex practice. And being a cheerleader, she was constantly at his side as his biggest fan.
“She’s out sick today with a cold,” he told me. “She’s probably going to have to stay in all weekend.”
“Oh?” My heart raced. This would be the perfect opportunity to move in on Dex. Maybe after spending some time with me, he’d forget all about Janelle and we could be a couple instead.
“I see you still wear that crystal.” Dex’s hand shot out and he lifted my crystal, rubbing his fingers over it. At first it was almost erotic, because I was envisioning him rubbing his fingers over me in the same way. I felt some sort of connection to him and got really hot. But then I had a flash in my mind of Johnny – or Jonathon – or whoever my brother was now. I needed to keep an eye on him because I had the feeling he was going to get into trouble being Jonathon. As much as I wanted to go watch Dex work out, I couldn’t.
“We can’t, we’re sorry. We have other plans,” I told the boys, answering for both me and Candy.
“We? Wait. What?” asked Candy, her voice trembling as she spoke.
“I see.” Dex dropped the crystal and it settled once again against my chest. The warmth from his hand was instantly gone.
“What do you have to do that’s more important than watching us practice?” asked Brett.
“Yes, what do we have to do, Raven?” Candy asked through gritted teeth.
“We have to . . . take my brother to his trumpet lesson.” I looked back at Dex and smiled, really feeling like I wanted to cry. “I promised my mother.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want you to break a promise to your mother,” said Dex. “Maybe some other time. Come on, Brett.”
They turned and left, leaving me standing there with an open-mouthed friend.
“We?” asked Candy. “How could you? Why did you say that? Besides, Johnny doesn’t have a trumpet lesson today.”
“I know,” I admitted, feeling bad about the whole thing. “Candy, I just want to keep an eye on Johnny. Don’t you remember how frightening it was when you went through something like this being Muffet? I certainly do.”
“I suppose so,” she said, lowering her head and sadly looking at
the ground.
“You can go without me to watch the boys practice if you want. I don’t mind,” I told her, trying to cheer her up.
“No, it’s all right.” Candy hung her head. “It wouldn’t be the same without you. Besides, you’re right, Johnny needs us.”
“As soon as we get home, I think we need to come clean with Johnny and tell him everything about Mary, Mary, and Muffet, and now Blue.”
“Blue?” Candy smiled. “I like that.”
“It’ll be our code word,” I said with a giggle.
We walked to history class and since the chairs by Dex and Brett were already filled with other girls as usual, we sat by ourselves. I didn’t know how I’d get through the next hour since my mind was on Johnny. But eventually, class was over. And as I went to close my book, something caught my interest.
“Candy,” I said, pointing to a page that was assigned to us to read as homework. “Look at this.”
“I know,” groaned Candy. “I don’t care about King Henry the eighth or anything to do with history for that matter.”
“Not that. This.” I jabbed my finger down, showing her a name on the page.
“Cardinal Wolsey?” she asked. “What about him? Why are you so excited?”
“This is who I saw in the cemetery last night,” I whispered, picking up the book to get a better look at the plump man. “Yes, this is the same man. He said Jonathon – or Blue, was his illegitimate son.”
“Really?” All of a sudden, Candy took interest. “Now I can’t wait to do homework,” she said with a smile. “For once in history, I might actually get an A on the test after all.”
I spotted Johnny at the bus stop after school, just as everyone started loading onto the bus.
“There’s Johnny,” I told Candy, pushing my way to the front of the line with her right on my heels. We boarded the bus, and I instantly looked to the back, thinking Johnny would be sitting there.
“Raven, Candy, over here,” said Johnny, surprisingly from the front of the bus instead. “I saved you seats.”
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