by J. M. Rojas
CHAPTER 10: LORE-KIN
After the long day, the much awaited evening came to Willow, easing the summer heat with a cool breeze from the mountains that stirred the dry leaves in the trees.
Caleb rolled into Merchant Park on his skateboard. His backpack hung low off of his shoulders, the straps pulled taut under the weight of the university textbooks inside it. His facial expression was distant and lost in thought. It was only through routine that his feet remembered all the bends and curves in the footpath; otherwise the teenager would have fallen over or crashed into a tree. In a leisurely gliding pace, Caleb finally came to an open basketball court, where he began to slowly skate in wide circles as if chasing his thoughts.
“Miss him too, hey?” A voice intruded his silent contemplation. “I remember you guys use to always play on this court. You'd set up a chair and use it to slam dunk some hoops.”
Looking up from his skateboard, Caleb saw Jack's siblings sitting on one of the park benches on the edge of the court. James was looking at him intently, and Alora was looking at her dangling feet. She slowly looked up at him too, squinting under a little hand against the evening sun that concentrated in one small but bright spot on the horizon, like the oncoming headlights of a car dipping down a hill in the road.
“What are you guys doing here?” Caleb asked, his voice still distant.
“The same reason you're here,” James said, “to reflect.”
“Reflect? That's a strong word for you, James.” Caleb didn't intend his response to sound condescending; but it did.
“He's not stupid, ya'know?” Alora huffed. “James wanted to show me where Jack loved to watch the stars.”
“Sorry,” Caleb said, kicking up his skateboard under his arm and walking over to the younger children. “I didn't mean... I was just—never mind.”
“Don't worry about it,” James replied, moving along the seat to give Caleb room to sit. “I read a lot. It started in fourth grade. First I read all the children books in the class room, then got bored. Then I started reading all the library books and finished them. And then... textbooks.”
Caleb looked at James with wide eyes. “You... you brilliant, little nerd—um, genius!” he awkwardly said, trying to cover up the slip of the lip.
Alora was glaring at him.
“That is amazing,” Caleb continued, smiling wearily at the small girl. “No wonder Jack did so well in high school and uni. He had you to proof read all his essays, no doubt.”
“No, he's fairly smart too. We all are.”
“Modest as well,” Caleb laughed, jokingly punching James softly on the arm.
“I get your sarcasm,” James said, then laughed as well, disarming the tension between them.
“So, this reflecting business is a little gloomy if you ask me. How about we all go back to mine and play some video games.”
“Don't pretend you're not upset, Caleb. I can sense your emotions. He was your best friend.”
“Don't get so down, he's only going to be away for a week. You're acting as if Jack's dead.”
Alora gasped at the word 'dead'.
“He's probably having the time of his life—”
“Somehow I doubt it,” James interrupted, turning away from Jack's boisterous friend. “I think something may have happened to him.”
“What?” Caleb asked incredulously. Then his mood changed, and he stood up in frustration. “What could possibly happen to that lazy bookworm? I'll tell you what will happen: he will stay in Rowan's apartment in Paradise all summer long reading his architecture and science fiction books. He won't go outside, he won't play beach volleyball with the babes that are everywhere there, and worse of all, he won't go through with the promise he made me.”
After a pause, both siblings looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.
“To kiss a girl! He said he will try and kiss a girl! Be a normal guy for once. Not some whacky recluse who talks about his father living on Atlantis!”
“Atlantis?” James said with raised eyebrows as if the word struck a familiar chord. “He has dreamt of Atlantis?”
“Atlantis!” Alora cried in excitement, “I have too!” She leaped off the park bench and began to twirl around as if in a trance. “I dreamed I was dancing with a big floral dress, but with real flowers stitched in it! And all these pretty stones!”
“Oh geez, here we go again...” Caleb sighed, rolling his eyes. “You're all mad.”
“Guys!” James shouted, bringing their attention to him. “This is serious!” He then turned to Caleb and pulled the bigger boy closer. “This is very serious. Last night, Alora and I saw Jack disappear through some mystical gate.”
“What?”
“No, listen to me. I am serious. There is something strange under the pond in the backyard. It must have been a portal or something, because it lit up and glowed blue. I dug yesterday and couldn't find anything. We saw Jack and a group of strangers disappear through it.”
“I've heard enough,” Caleb pulled away, effortlessly shaking James hands off his forearm. He turned and began to walk away.
“Will you just listen!”
Caleb stopped. In the time they had debated Jack's fate, the evening had quickly descended into the fringes of night, and the street lights were now softly aglow.
“I know you know something is strange with us. Something strange with Jack. Well, he told us not to say anything, but I'm going to say it anyway. Any repercussions will be on my head. If Jack trusted you, I will too.”
Caleb looked over his shoulder at the boy. Alora was cowering behind the bench, her little eyes glimmering like cat's eyes in the dark.
“We have power. All three of us. And before you try and walk away, watch this...”
Caleb turned around and looked in awe as James' eyes flashed bright white. His jaw dropped.
“Oh, wait. There's more. The best has yet to come.”
“James!” Alora cried, “You promised Jack—”
“We have to have him believe us.” Then suddenly, James began to levitate off of the ground. An invisible force seem to scatter the dirt on the basketball court away from where he once stood. “We have to make him see.”
Caleb combed back his hair with both hands in disbelief. “What the...”
A dog barked a warning somewhere beyond the trees, and James blinked the white light away, dropping to the cement floor with a soft thud.
“H-how did you do that?” Caleb stuttered. “Wait a minute. This is some kind of prank—but how? No, its real. I always knew there was something funny about Jack. As far back as eighth grade. He fell out of a bunk bed once and—oh, geez. This is, freakishly... cool!”
James' serious expression disappeared, and he cracked a smile at Caleb's sudden enthusiasm. “It is, isn't it?”
“But you can't tell anyone!” Alora pleaded, running over to stand near her brother. “Jack said so.”
“I won't,” Caleb promised, smiling at the younger girl. “I promise to take it to the grave.”
Then a strong blast of wind suddenly hit the park, rustling the leaves in a frenzy and violently shaking the backboard of the basketball hoop with its invisible hands. When it subsided, Caleb and the Grey children heard a choir of dogs howling from the nearby houses along Kingfisher street, and flocks of hidden nightbirds singing fervently from the trees. Then after a minute they stopped as if on silent command.
“We're not alone,” Alora suddenly said in a strange tone. Her eyes were shimmering white like James', and her arms were straight by her sides as if she was in some strange trance. “I can hear the animals. They are scared. Something is about to happen.”
A movement in the half-light pulled Caleb and James' eyes to the trees. They saw dark silhouettes moving towards them.
James grabbed Alora's arm. “Come on! We have to get out of here!”
Caleb was confused at what was happening, but survivalism kept him alert and responsive to the Grey children. He ran after them as they made for the street a
nd the protection of its lights. “Wait!” he cried, “Don't leave me!”
“You're older than us!” Alora shouted back.
“You have magic!” He retorted, catching up.
Then the footpath ahead was blocked off by a wall of six cloaked figures. Men and women with pale faces and black eyes. The Grey children slowed their brisk pace, then stopped.
“Who are they?” Caleb asked fearfully, swinging his skateboard back over his head as if he was waiting to hit one with it.
“I-I don't know,” James stuttered. “But this can't be good.”
“It isn't,” a small, innocent sounding voice replied. Then out of the dark mass of silhouettes stepped a teenage girl—or so she seemed. She was just as pale as the others, with long blonde hair that stuck out of her black hood in two thick braids. The finger that she pointed at them with had a long black nail that curled wickedly like a wolf's claw. All her fingernails were the same. “You are wanted by the master.”
“The m-master?” Caleb muttered under his breath. “Who is that?”
The girl—who Caleb noticed was quite attractive—laughed softly, wickedly. “He is called Gha'haram and he is the Star of Meztor. The new King of the Dead. All creatures of the night know his name.”
“G-G-Gha'haram? Mez-who?”
“Will you just shut up!” James suddenly ordered the older boy, with an impatient tone and level stare. “They are obviously not here to answer all your stupid questions.”
Caleb fell quiet, but he glared at the back of James' head, imitating what he said in a mocking whisper.
“Your master does not control us,” James said defiantly at the pale-faced girl. “Leave us alone!”
The crowd of shadows laughed darkly, and their mirth sounded cruel and dangerous.
“And Gha'haram does not take orders from the half-breeds of a dead Atlantean,” the teenage girl hissed venomously. “You will come with us. Alive... or dead.”
“Hey, sweetheart,” Caleb did his best to come off charming, but his words lacked confidence. “Lets talk this out.”
“There is nothing left to say, human fool.”
Then they began to move slowly towards the three. James did not waver in his new found courage, and his eyes ignited in furious pits of white-fire. Alora's also lit up, but she hid behind Caleb.
“I know her from somewhere,” Caleb whispered to himself. Then he remembered where. He remembered the afternoon Jack was trying to tell him about Atlantis at the bus stop. She was the pretty girl on the bus in front of them. She must of heard their conversation. “You!” He shouted, pointing at her. “I carried your textbooks on the bus!”
“You did,” she said with a sly wink. Her pace quickened and her claws were bared like knives ready to strike. “Thank you. Unfortunately, your charm won't work this time.”
A screeching of tires echoed behind the host of attacking shadows, and everyone looked to the road. A motorbike pulled up under a street light, and two figures in leather jackets and black helmets unmounted. When the rider removed their helmet first, James and Alora's eyes lit up in excitement and joy.
“Rowan!” James shouted, forgetting his eyes were still glowing white.
Then the second helmet came off. A long mane of blue-dyed hair cascaded down over the woman's shoulders. A soft, pretty face with big blue eyes, and a distinct nose-ring glittered under the light.
“Emily,” Alora whispered with a hopeful smile.
The two newcomers ran towards the group of shadows.
“Stay away from my brother and sister!” Rowan warned, withdrawing a small metallic handle from under his leather jacket, which morphed into a long blade.
“Revenant scumbags!” Emily insulted the rabble, revealing her own glaive, which had sat on her hips in the guise of a studded belt. It now took the shape of a silver trident. “Bottom-feeding vermin!”
“Kill them!” the blonde girl screamed at the lore-kin rushing towards them.
Five Revenant warriors unsheathed crude swords and axes from ancient Lemuria and charged Rowan and Emily. Their eyes burned bright red under their cowls, and their flesh began to move and stretch as they loped forward.
One tall Revenant threw off its cloak, revealing a bloody, severed dog's head clenched in one of its fists. It had decapitated the dog earlier to absorb the animal's life-force, and was now changing in form, taking on the aspect of the dead animal. When the Revenant was close enough to Rowan he saw its head had changed from that of a man's to a horrible imitation of a snarling canine with a red stone glittering from its forehead. The sick trophy was also now nothing more than a skull covered in ash, which the undead creature hurled at him before following through with a swing from his broad bladed axe. Rowan batted the dog skull away, and pivoted around the axe slash, coming in close and stabbing his glaive deep into the snapping jaws of razor-sharp teeth. The dog head choked on the blade, which pieced out the back of the Revenant's neck. Falling heavily to the ground, Rowan smashed its red Doom Stone shard to pieces with the metal heel of his boot.
Emily stabbed a smaller Revenant in the chest with her trident, kicked its limp body off, then spun and hit another with her weapon's haft end in its forehead, shattering its Doom Stone shard before it had time to shape-shift into anything nasty. The one with the trident wound to the chest writhed on the grass; but was silenced by the trident smashing its Doom Stone shard too.
“That leaves one each,” Rowan grinned at his fiancee.
“Not including the teenage girl,” Emily laughed, turning mocking eyes at the blonde-haired Revenant leader. “You have one, and I'll take her as my second.”
The girl Revenant hissed her disdain at the lore-kin and turned back to the Grey children. “I will be back for you, fools! Mark my words!”
Alora hid her face under Caleb's arm.
“Cassandra,” Caleb said in sudden realisation, holding Alora protectively close. “I remember her name was Cassandra Veil.”
The teenage girl leaped on all fours like a cat and scrambled as fast as one into the embrace of the night.
“Stop her!” Emily screamed—but it was too late, the girl was gone.
Rowan quickly dispatched one Revenant with his glaive by beheading it and then stomping it stone into crystalline dust.
James spread his arms out wide, keeping Caleb and his younger sister back from the last Revenant that turned away from Emily and began running towards them. “Stay back!” He shouted, his eyes burning brighter in the darkness. “Stay back!”
“Rowan, the children!” Emily cried, giving chase.
Turning away from his headless foe laying sprawled over a park bench, Rowan joined the charge.
Before the lore-kin could reach the Revenant, James swung his gaze to a sword one of dead creatures had dropped on the ground, and lifted it up with his mind. Moonlight danced along its chipped and jagged edge, illuminating its vicious design. The Revenant was almost on top of him when he threw it with sharp accuracy at the red stone that glittered like a burning target in its head.
A sickening crunch was heard, and the Revenant was instantly dead, falling backwards into the flailing arms of Emily who had just come up behind it.
“Get off me you filthy flesh-eater!” the woman cursed, pushing the limp body off her and onto the ground. With unrestrained fury, Emily stabbed its head with her glaive-trident until it was unrecognisable fragments of black bone.
“You know, my dear,” Rowan said, puffing for breath as he ran up beside her. “My brother clearly killed it before you smashed its head in.”
Emily laughed and kicked the dead Revenant one last time before saying, “I just had to make sure.”
“Wait for it,” Rowan said with a raised finger, silencing his fiancee. “And... now.”
All the Revenant bodies laying in their death poses suddenly lit up in flames and dissolved into brittle piles of bone and ash.
“I hate cleaning up Revenant leftovers,” Emily humphed, turning to the grisly mess. “I think
its your turn.”
“No, I believe I did the last clean up in the old church by the river. Your turn.”
Caleb and the Grey children looked at the scene unfolding before them and slowly they began to laugh. It was a mixture of amusement and nervous relief that they had survived the attack.
James, however, didn't laugh for long as the gravity of what had happened began to sink in, and he finally ran to Rowan and buried his face in his half-brother's leather jacket and cried. Cried at what could have happened to them, and what he had done. Even though he had killed a monster, he had still killed something, and his thoughts were heavy with despair.
It felt like hours when they finally returned to the house. Elly was in the kitchen, leaning on her walking stick and cooking chicken curry when the door burst open. The smell wafted out into the driveway hitting them in the face as they hurried inside.
James was the first to run up to his mother and embrace her. “I don't want to leave the house for a week!” He cried. “A week!”
“What's all this?” the woman said, turning a worried look to Rowan who walked up to her with Emily in tow. Their leather jackets creaked as they moved. “I thought you said you'd be back in ten minutes. It has been—”
“We had to divert to the gas station, and I had to get some provisions for the trip back. Worried about the... the—”
“Tyres!” Emily said, finishing his fumbled sentence. “We had to pump them up. And then Alora wanted an ice cream—”
“No I—
Mum can't know what happened, gnat! James' voice popped in the young girl's head.
“Oh, yes I did. I'm sorry, I was just so hungry.”
“Hungry for ice cream?” Elly said, raising a brow. “That's a strange thing to say, especially since you knew I was cooking dinner.”
“You never spoil her enough, mum,” Rowan said with his lop-sided grin, kissing her on the forehead.
“Well that's fine and all... but where's Jack? You said you left him with Emily in Paradise, but here she is. And why is Caleb here? What is going on?”
“Um, well—” Rowan started, lifting a hand to aid his thoughts, then dropped it when his next excuse disappeared into the nothingness where all bad excuses go.
“I think it is time,” Emily said firmly, holding Rowan's arm.
Rowan nodded slowly to her, then said to Elly, “You need to sit down for this, mum. I am going to tell you a few things that you might not believe. But trust me, it is all true.”
“Trust him,” Caleb finally said, stepping forward. “I don't believe many things, especially strange, mystical things, but this is true.”
“Mystical things? True?” Elly said, the look of confusion dragging her eyes to everyone in the room as if searching for the answers from them. “Where is Jack?” she repeated.
“He is safe,” Rowan said. “But he isn't in Paradise.”
“What?” Elly dropped her wooden spoon and reeled backwards. Her son rushed forward and caught her with his strong arms. “I can't lose another one. I can't lose Jack, Rowan. No, no, I just can't. I lost his father and it nearly killed me.”
“Mum,” Rowan said, looking deep in her eyes. “You need to calm down. I will tell you everything.”
Then Elly passed out.
After a brief moment of protests, Rowan silenced everyone and carried Elly to her room, commanding them to wait in the living room.
Caleb walked up to the pot of chicken curry and looked at it eagerly. “I nearly died out there, guys. Nearly died. And because of this craziness you've dragged me in, I deserve at least one nice dinner. So, please, excuse me while I make myself a large helping of this lovely curry. It will probably be my last meal if this night doesn't end well.”
James and Alora stood quietly, holding each other, and ignored Caleb.
Emily stood by the fly-screen door, looking out into the wall of night. Her senses alert and her glaive in hand. “Eat as much as you want, Caleb,” she said softly. “You'll need all your strength by the morning.”
Rowan then walked back into the room, and all eyes turned to him. “She is awake and calmed down. Everyone but Emily into the room. We have much to talk about.”