by Maaja Wentz
“What does he want?” Tonya held up her hands.
“He wants to run Loon Lake like his father never did, and get back at me for killing him. How was I supposed to know he wouldn’t stay dead?” She put her hand on Tonya’s shoulder. “Or that he had already planted the seeds of revenge inside me.”
The tow truck arrived, and Aunt Helen went to speak to the driver.
“We should run before it’s a wizard war,” said Zain. “I’ve seen Harry Potter. Waldock sounds worse than Lord Voldemort.”
Tonya hesitated. Aunt Helen had never shared her past like this before. She was talking about burying a man like it was nothing.
Tonya went up to the tow truck where Aunt Helen was negotiating with the driver. She accosted her aunt and whispered, “Can you promise me no more violence?”
“There’ll be plenty of violence but I’m not strong enough to hurt him anymore.”
Drake approached. “You seem pretty strong to me,” he said.
Aunt Helen turned to face them. “I really have been in and out of the hospital, and I must go back.”
“What’s wrong?” Tonya asked.
“There’s a growth in my belly. I’ve had chemo and I need an operation that I’ve been putting off.”
“Why would you put it off?” Tonya clasped her hands together.
“I wanted to stop him first, in case I didn’t survive, but now my time’s run out.” The tow truck headlights deepened dark circles under her eyes. “I thought I could do it, but you’ll have to fight in my place.”
“What?”
“Fighting Len drained me more than I realized. I can feel the cancer taking hold.”
“Heal yourself.” Tonya shrugged.
“The stronger Waldock gets, the weaker I get. This thing he planted inside me all those years ago, links us. The stronger he gets the faster it grows.”
Tonya stepped forward and gave her aunt a hug. “You have to get better.”
“Save Loon Lake.” She stepped away and regarded Tonya at arm’s length. “Use your talents.”
“I’ve never practiced. All I know how to do is drain energy.”
“Perfect.”
“But I can’t control it.”
“Only draw from living things.”
“I can draw energy from a branch, but it kills it.”
“Then you can kill a person.”
“No!”
“Or you can control yourself and just take a little.”
“What good is that?”
“It will come to you in a fight, trust me.”
“And if I can’t control it?” asked Tonya.
“Use the Ash. When you’re close to it, you’ll be stronger.”
“You can’t leave me alone to fight Waldock.”
“The Trads are afraid to oppose him, and half the Mods are on his side. It’s up to you.”
“Stay and teach me what to do.”
“He’ll be weak at first. Act now, and you’ll be ready enough.”
“Your generation started this feud.”
“Kill him while you still can,” said Aunt Helen.
“I’m not murdering anybody.”
“Sorry Tonya. If I put off treatment again . . .” She looked away. “You’ll be on your own either way.”
POUTINE NOT RIOTS
On the ride down to Loon Lake, Zain drove their Mazda past clusters of the shambling infected. It was all the more terrible when they had to slow down because foot-draggers crowded into the road. From the back seat, behind Drake, Tonya looked into their eyes.
Hungry! Feed me! Tonya caught snatches of their ravenous thoughts. Those who had already eaten themselves into a stupor were dreamy and full of yearning. Must lie down in graveyard to decompose.
“Can you hear that?”
“What?” Zain drove carefully past yet another clutch of wanderers.
“What’s wrong?” asked Drake.
“It’s nothing. I’m just tired.” She hated lying but was afraid to admit she could hear their thoughts. It was like when she heard Professor Rudolph’s voice in her head but ten times worse. There were so many of them.
As they neared Loon Lake, another voice resonated in her head.
Feel me rise!
The voice was accompanied by a strange sensation. She could feel herself tunneling up through gravel and clay. Tonya gasped. She was linked to the Entity! She could feel what It felt and hear Its voice cutting through the cacophony in her head. She covered her ears and closed her eyes, desperate to keep It out.
“Stop!”
A kaleidoscopic jumble of images overlaid her vision. It was the view from a hundred sets of eyes, compressed. Among the multiplicity of images, she saw headstones, hospital rooms, moonlit trees, and food. Loaded spoons and forks and fingers simultaneously stuffed a hundred frantic mouths as if they all belonged to her.
“Are you okay?” She could hear Drake’s voice but couldn’t see the inside of the car anymore.
To banish this nauseating sensation, she blinked hard and tried to look out the window. She felt her body seated in a moving car, but the shadowy view of passing trees faded into a more vibrant image. Her sight was overwhelmed by the compound vision of the Entity. Multiple images moved in conflicting directions, like the view from 100 computer screens packed together. Why?
And then it came to her. She was seeing through the eyes of the shambling victims that filled the town. They must all be linked by the Entity and, somehow, she was linked to them too. They saw collectively, like an insect’s compound eye.
As if her belly contained a hundred aching stomachs, she felt the hunger of multitudes. Her mouth filled with conflicting flavors: liver and ice cream, cold French fries and hot Brussels sprouts, cupcakes and curry. She swallowed, hoping to clear her mouth but the sensations increased. Somewhere in Loon Lake, someone took a deep whiff of Limburger cheese. Ugh! Tonya’s mouth filled with bile. She opened her window and heaved, scattering sour fluid into the rushing air.
“Hey, watch the car!” Zain shouted. “It’s a rental.”
“Sorry. It’s the kaleidoscope vision.”
“What?”
“Nothing. I’m better now.” She couldn’t admit what was happening in her head. Her friends would think the Entity controlled her and ditch her at the side of the road. Maybe they should.
She sat back in her seat. “Sorry to put you boys through this.”
“It’s okay.” Drake leaned forward between the seats. “If people had listened to you, none of this would be happening.”
“It’s not all bad,” said Zain, “This morning students were rioting in the cafeteria.”
“That’s good?”
“He recorded everything.”
“I wish I could have recorded your adventures at the police station.”
“Seeing you is the most fun I’ve had all day,” said Drake.
“Plus rescuing you from your aunt was probably the least risky thing we’ve done in hours,” said Zain.
“So be straight with me Tonya.” Drake put a hand on her shoulder. “What’s really wrong with you?”
“Did my aunt seem weird to you?”
“Yeah,” said Drake. “She makes the hair stand on the back of my neck.”
“Me too!” said Zain.
“She has that effect on a lot of people,” said Tonya. “So, where are we going?”
Wherever I like.
Just as she had heard the farmer’s voice, the voice in her head was Zain’s. He was controlled by the Entity!
Tonya leaned forward between the door and Drake’s seat and whispered in his ear, “We’re in trouble.”
“Why?”
“Zain’s infected,” she whispered.
“Then why isn’t he a foot dragger?”
“He’s controlled by the Entity. When I say go . . .”
“Now, kids, it’s not polite to whisper.” Zain’s voice was cold.
“Jump!” Tonya yelled. She grabbed the lock button befo
re Zain could engage it. The car sped up as she leaped into the ditch.
Tonya tucked and rolled over the pebbly shoulder and into the long grass. She came to a hard stop against a bush, gaining new bruises on top of the old. For a moment, she lay still, her brain confused by the tumble. With trembling fingers, she felt her skull, testing for soft spots, or blood, but her head was intact. It only felt like it had been split open.
Then she remembered Drake. Had he followed her, or did Zain have him?
“Drake?”
There were streetlights along the highway this close to campus, but the ditch was crammed with shadowy weeds. She couldn’t see him anywhere. “Drake!”
She stood on the frosty grass trying to isolate Waldock’s sinister voice in her head. The Entity looked through hundreds of eyes. If it could see Drake now, would It be gloating because It had him, or would there be regret because he got away? The cacophony faded to a murmur, as if It knew she was trying to listen in. At least she could think and see clearly again.
Where was Drake? She worried he hadn’t made the jump.
“Hey!” Drake limped up to her, grimacing with every step. “You’re wrong about Zain. He’s my best friend. I’d know if he was turning zombie.”
“Then why did you jump?”
“Couldn’t leave you alone out here.”
“Are you hurt?”
He shot her a crooked smile. “I’m fine.”
“Except you’re with me. Zain’s the frying pan but I’m the fire.”
“Huh?”
“Could you tell if I was under the Entity’s control?”
“How do you know I’m not slavishly following the Master myself?”
“Master?” Tonya smiled with relief. “For starters, he’s not called the Master.”
“How would you know?”
Tonya hesitated. She wanted to trust Drake. “I hear the Entity’s voice in my head.”
“Entity? Is that the plant thing your aunt was talking about?”
“Fat-absorbing telepathic fungus. Nobody’s safe. Anybody could fall under its control, even me. Get out of town. Steal a car, anything! And don’t talk to anyone until you’re gone. Zain is infected, Lynette and Roberto, the diving team, students, professors.”
“I’m not leaving you here by yourself.”
“Waldock hates my family. Anyone with me is a target.”
“You expect me to save myself and let some mushroom thing get you?”
“I’ll be fine. What about Priya? She has a car and she needs your protection more than I do.”
“I’m calling.”
“Good.” Tonya had no intention of staying with her friends, but Priya and Drake could save each other. Tonya had a plan, a terrible plan.
Drake’s phone buzzed. “Hello, Priya?”
“What’s she doing?” asked Tonya.
“Says she’s looking for a way around the roadblocks, or a place to pull over for the night.”
After Drake explained where they were, Tonya asked for the phone.
“Do you have money?” she asked.
“It’s the freakin’ apocalypse out there. You bet I went to the bank machine.”
“Good. Fill a bunch of gasoline cans, as many as you can fit in the trunk.”
“Why?”
“I can’t talk about it over the phone.”
“Do we need water and food? Is this a road trip?”
“I’ll text you a list but get the gas, fast, and don’t talk about it. Anybody might be a spy.”
“What?” asked Priya.
Drake grabbed the phone. “She sounds crazy but she’s not. I’ll text you the coordinates.”
They hid in the bushes to wait. Tonya figured her plan to save the town could work as long as nobody saw them, and Priya brought enough gas, and the Entity couldn’t read her mind, and she could convince Drake and Priya to leave her alone near the cemetery.
Tonya took a deep breath and tried to think of something calm, like sunrise over Loon Lake. She inhaled through her nose and exhaled slowly, picturing the mist rising over still water.
When she was a kid, she once spotted a loon, so large that perspective made it seem closer. Around it dove tiny chicks who traveled under water, instead of dunking and bobbing like ducklings. She was fascinated by the babies’ jittery movements until they disappeared. The mother was still there, but the water around her was suddenly empty.
Tonya ran to get binoculars to see what had happened. Had they been swallowed by a muskellunge? Muskies were known to eat chicks. Tonya held her breath until she could bring the mother into focus with the binoculars and she understood. The babies had climbed onto their mother’s back. Tonya had seen loons many times since, but no mothers ferrying their chicks. How privileged she felt to have witnessed it.
Tonya closed her eyes. All was quiet in her head again. Her heart had stopped pounding and her mouth tasted clean. She loved Loon Lake with its jumping fish and hardscrabble seagulls. The beauty of moonlight rising over black water at night, and the way sunset turned the trees on the island gold. The flat-out perfection of nature here made her feel even guiltier about what she had to do.
Her guilt trip was interrupted by the rumble of a familiar clunker. Priya! She stepped onto the side of the road, blinded by oncoming headlights.
“Wait,” said Drake. “What if it’s Zain?”
“I’d know that knock, ping, and rumble anywhere.”
Priya pulled up and leaned over the passenger seat to crank open the window.
“Get a muffler!” Tonya got in beside her.
“Get ear plugs!” Priya smirked. “What have you two been up to in the bushes?”
“Nothing you can’t play in prime time.” Drake got in the backseat.
“Too bad. Next time, I’ll drive slower.”
“Did you get everything I needed?” Tonya asked.
“Right down to the wheelbarrow. Now tell me what this is about.”
“You don’t want to know. Drop me near the shop then get yourself and Drake out of here.”
“We’re coming with you,” they chorused.
Tonya decided to argue after they got to the shop.
When they arrived, Drake helped her unload the wheelbarrow and pile it up with water containers and gas cans.
“This plan of yours doesn’t involve torching the store again, does it?” Priya’s eyes narrowed.
“Of course not, but it does involve you guys leaving.”
“No way,” said Priya.
“Thanks. Really, I’m all set. You two should drive as far from Loon Lake as you can.”
“Not without you,” said Drake.
“Montreal is nice,” said Tonya. “Lots of culture and nightlife, and you can eat poutine without food riots.”
“You, me, nightlife? I thought you’d never ask.” Drake stepped closer. “I get why you’re trying to spare Priya but we’re in this together. I’m not leaving you in danger.”
“There’s nothing you can do.”
“Just because I’m a Muggle or whatever? I’m not walking away.”
“You can and should.”
“Once I know about magic they can hurt me, isn’t that what you said?”
“I think the mayor has more to worry about right now than one Mundane.”
“What are you two conspiring about?” Priya came over.
“Promise me you and Drake will get out of Loon Lake.” Tonya willed Priya’s obedience, but she lacked her aunt’s talent to enthrall.
BARBEQUE FLUID
“Come into the shop with me. You can help me look for fire charms.” Tonya had grown up hearing stories of her aunt’s charms protecting houses from chimney fires and lightning. She had tried to convince her aunt to place an anti-fire charm on the whole county, but Helen refused to give up barbeque.
If her aunt weren’t such a sparerib fan, Tonya grumbled to herself, they wouldn’t be searching for charms in a scorched cupboard full of broken jars. It was such a jumble after th
e fire, she might as well search with a shovel and a sieve. She checked all the logical places, and then the less logical, until she gave up on the ground floor.
Upstairs was intact but barren. In her aunt’s bedroom drawers, she found only herbs, lotions, and drawstring bags. The little sachets conjured up happy summer memories of when they minded the store together. That’s when her aunt should have trained her to use magic. Then Tonya would be able to fight Waldock like a witch, instead of depending on her wits and gasoline. She raised her fist and addressed the charred ceiling.
“Hello, Old Families! Time to step in! Where are you when we need you?”
Of course, they didn’t hear. She picked up the phone and dialed City Hall, but the phone rang and rang.
“C’mon Old Families. Pick up. I don’t have a hero complex. We can share the glory.” She hung up with a sigh.
“You have us,” said Drake.
Don’t remind me, thought Tonya. Once outsiders like Drake and Priya knew about magic, soon everyone would. She could imagine the Mods, rubbing their hands in glee as the epidemic exposed the existence of magic to the world. Once everyone knew about Loon Lake magic, the Mods would have won. Tonya sighed. Revelation Day was her Mom’s great fear. Mundanes would pour into Loon Lake looking for miracles. Mom had warned her sister, “They’ll have us casting spells at gunpoint.”
Tonya signaled the others to follow her into her aunt’s bedroom. “Can you guys help me search the attic?”
She climbed a step ladder and lowered a trap door. “Go on up. You’re looking for little sachets of herbs.”
The moment Drake and Priya stepped into the attic, she shut the door behind them and bolted it in place.
“Hey, let us out!” yelled Priya.
Tonya removed the ladder. “I’ll come back for you later.”
The ceiling muffled Drake’s voice. “Let me help you!”
“Sorry. I have to do this alone.”
Remembering the hand in a jar, she went to the kitchen to look in the fridge. Tonya’s plan required strong protective charms.