The Beast Cometh

by Constance Barker

  “Hmm...perhaps a curfew?” Fern asked. “No, it’s already too late for that,” she said answering her own question. “Maybe I can patrol the streets? Make sure everyone goes home?” Fern was desperately seeking for something to do to make her effective. “Is there anything we can do?” She said standing up from her chair in frustration.

  “There’s not,” I said with an air of finality to it that no one questioned. I took it upon myself to be the one to make that final call. I didn’t need everyone else bogged down with the guilt of it, though they still were. Fern hated the thought that her first act as Sheriff was going to be to do nothing when we knew something terrible was about to happen. She paced around the diner trying and failing to come up with something that she could do. For all we knew, it had already happened. Becky remained with her head hidden on the table while Fern paced endlessly for what felt like an age.

  “We should all get a good night's sleep tonight,” Hazel said. I had both hoped and dreaded more lessons tonight, and I was equally relieved and disappointed once it became clear that they weren’t going to happen. I was still uncomfortable with practicing blood magic, as my scarred palm made perfectly clear, but I did want to learn more. I felt that we were all woefully ill prepared for what was coming and the urge to learn more was intense. I was also still exhausted from the previous night and all the excitement of Fern being appointed Sheriff.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” I said standing up, I gracefully lifted Moody into my arms before standing and she stayed purring, asleep in my arms. I wanted to get out of there before Becky or Fern could protest, which I knew they would. At the end of the day, all we could do was try to sleep and see what happened in the morning. Fern and Becky were far too good and would make themselves crazy trying to think of a solution that would never come.

  “I’ll drive Becky home,” Hazel offered. Becky smiled at her newly found grandmother, grateful to have real family in her life for the first time. She had hope that it would lead her to her mother, but neither of them had any idea where she was. I was grateful for this as I could feel sleep coming on already and didn’t want to have to make the extra stop.

  “Thank you, Hazel,” Becky said standing up.

  “Thanks,” I said as well. I put my arm around Fern, who still hadn’t stopped pacing around. She paused when I grabbed her and sighed loudly.

  “I guess we should go,” she said defeated. It wasn’t until we were in the car and the others had driven away that Fern spoke again. I could see the wheels turning in her head the whole time though. Moody had woken up only enough to move to Fern’s lap in the car since I couldn’t exactly drive with a live animal on my lap.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked, even though I already knew.

  “I can’t just let people die,” she said, tears already brimming in her eyes. A combination of a million emotions finally pushing her over the edge. “I mean, that is what’s going to happen isn’t it?”

  “We don’t know that,” I shrugged. Fern looked at me dubiously. “Well, we don’t!” I said over defensively. “We know what has happened in the past, but we have no way of knowing what is going to happen now.” It wasn’t my most convincing argument. I didn’t really believe it myself, which didn’t help it.

  “You don’t have to lie,” Fern said aggravated.

  “She’s not lying,” Moody said half asleep from Fern’s lap. I looked over at her in surprise. She had never been one to defend me, and as far as I knew she thought that I was sure we were all going to die. “The comet can and has brought different things.” She was still lying down with her eyes closed. “It might not be that someone dies tonight.”

  “Are you sure?” Fern asked, a hint of hope in her voice. The only thing I was sure of was that Moody was a far better liar than I was.

  “I am,” Moody said lifting her head and looking at Fern to punctuate her sentence.

  “How do you know?” Fern pressed, still skeptical. She was at the point where she was willing to accept what Moody said whether she actually believed it or not, but the detective in her wouldn’t let her just leave it be.

  “I have had many a discussion with Hazel about it, and I’ve been stuck inside with the ghosts for what feels like decades,” she whined, turning her helpful bit of information into an excuse for complaining. “They never shut up about it.”

  “And there have been times when people haven’t died?” Fern asked with a harsh scoff. I wasn’t believing it either, but I didn’t want to press Moody since her argument was actually helping mine out as well.

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Moody said as she repositioned herself on Fern’s lap making her face twist in discomfort. “People die, but that doesn’t mean someone is going to die tonight.” It was my turn to scoff, though I wish I had stopped myself before I did.

  “That’s not very comforting,” Fern said looking at me. I shrugged not knowing what else to say. It wasn’t very comforting, but I supposed it was true too. My ability had told me that something was going to happen tonight, that the beast was going to come tonight. Nothing had told me someone was going to die.

  “It could be true,” I said, leaning into that possible hope. I didn’t want to lie to Fern, but she needed rest and she wouldn’t get it otherwise. Plus it wasn’t exactly a lie. Fern didn’t say anything else to me or Moody on the drive home. Even when we went into the house she was silent. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was angry with us or if she was just too exhausted to say anything else. I certainly felt that way, the cloud of exhaustion was pressing down on me. I watched Fern trudge to her room, Moody darting in behind her. I was able to fall asleep, but it wasn’t a restful one. I knew that the Stillwater I went to sleep in was not going to be the same one I woke up in and everything was going to change.

  Chapter Eight

  It didn’t end up taking until morning for the panic to spread. I was woken by a string of phone calls before dawn. With each ring, the ghosts shouted in fear, not understanding what was happening. For all they knew the world was coming to an end with each melodic ring. I tried to go back to sleep, but I heard Fern run to answer the phone and felt instantly guilty. I had expected both of us to ignore it and sleep through it. The ghosts would have gotten over it eventually, they were used to it now.

  “What happened?” I heard Fern ask in a frantic whisper. I imagined that the ghosts were surrounding the phone and subsequently Fern with curiosity. “Oh, God,” she muttered. It was at this point that I got up from my bed and stumbled into the kitchen.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. I was so exhausted that my eyes were puffy and I couldn’t open them completely. The sight in front of me would have been comical if I didn’t know the gist of the information that Fern was getting on the other end of the line. Mary Jane was standing as close as physically possible to Fern leaning into the phone trying to understand what was going on. The Colonel and Little Timmy were far more reserved, standing at either end of the kitchen as far away as they could be while still being in the same room. Fern held up a finger to me to wait even though I hadn’t really expected an answer until she was off the phone. Trying to be a little bit helpful I took Mary Jane by the shoulders and pulled her at least a little bit away from Fern to give her more space.

  “I’ll be in soon,” Fern finished hanging up the phone.

  “It has happened, has it not?” Little Timmy asked, his eyes were still wide from fear of the phone. Fern nodded at him but offered no more explanation as she was already darting to her room to get changed.

  “What happened?” I asked charging after her. The ghosts stayed behind, at the very least they understood that our rooms were off limits.

  “Some teenagers went missing last night,” She said scurrying around her room trying to get ready as quickly as possible.

  “I told you people didn’t necessarily need to die,” Moody said from the bed. She was still curled up and mostly asleep though she was somehow paying attention. Fern threw a sweater on her in resp
onse. Moody hissed at her, but didn’t make a move from under the fabric.

  “They already know they went missing?” I asked, confused. It wasn’t even morning yet, I didn’t know how they could even know these kids were missing yet.

  “They were supposed to be camping in the woods last night, and they were meant to check in with their parents this morning around 4am when they were packing up and hiking back home, but they never checked in,” Fern was already making her way to the door.

  “Maybe they just forgot? Or got lost? Their phone could’ve died,” I offered. There were a thousand things that could have happened to them that weren’t terrible.

  “A deputy went out to where they were supposed to be camping and they weren’t there but their stuff was. Signs of a struggle. They’re missing,” Fern said with confidence. “We need to find them before something does happen to them if it hasn’t already,” she added through gritted teeth.

  “Let me come with you,” I said, not sure what help I could offer. “Maybe I can help find them.” I had no control over when my ability came into play. Fern had some control over her ability but I had absolutely none at this point. It came and went as it pleased.

  “Okay,” Fern said nodding. I wasn’t expecting her to agree so easily. “Actually, that’s a good idea.” I didn’t know what idea I had given her. “We’ll get together an old fashioned search group.” Fern was more talking to herself than to me at this point, but I knew where she was going. She was desperate to find the kids safe and well, and a search party would probably be the best way to do that.

  “That’s a good idea,” I replied.

  “We will need to clear the scene first,” she muttered to herself. Fern looked surprisingly well put together even though she had gotten ready in only a few moments.

  “You go, take care of that. I’ll get Hazel and Becky and see what we can do. Let me know when you need our help,” I said, but Fern had already gone outside by the time I finished. “Alright,” I said to no one in particular.

  “We would like to help with this, search party,” Mary Jane said making me jump. I hadn’t been paying attention and I didn’t know that she had made her way towards me.

  “No, no, you should stay here,” I said, a knee-jerk reaction. We had decided that it was best to keep them out of sight after the ball. They had made a bit of a spectacle of themselves at the ball and we didn’t want to bring too much attention to them without being able to explain much about them.

  “We would like to help,” Little Timmy said reiterating Mary Jane’s statement. Their determination was clear and I knew that they were going to join us whether I wanted them to or not. “And I would like to know what that ringing contraption that she spoke through was,” he added, which lessoned the power in his previous statement.

  “Okay,” I replied. “We’re going to have to wait on Fern’s word. Volunteers can’t show up yet or they might hurt the crime scene.” The ghosts looked at me like I was from another planet. “Oh right, the phone was what Fern was talking into. It rings to let us know that someone is calling us and then it lets us talk to people in different parts of the world.” It was a poor explanation, but I couldn’t really offer much better than that. I didn’t understand the mechanics or science behind telephones either. I had the luxury of growing up with them, so I didn’t need to understand all that extra information.

  “How does that work?” The Colonel asked, still looking highly confused. He was not a man of science. He was a man of strategy and tactics, a military man through and through. To be fair, neither Mary Jane and Little Timmy looked much more understanding.

  “I honestly don’t really know,” I replied only half way paying attention. I couldn’t make myself care about explaining a phone when we had missing, probably dead, kids in the woods, and knowing that the thing responsible was somehow connected to us. This didn’t stop them from pestering me with questions about the phone for another few minutes before finally understanding that I wasn’t going to be much more helpful than I'd already been. I think they were trying to distract me from what was going on, but they weren’t successful.

  “Will you let us know when you need us?” Mary Jane asked as I grabbed my keys, finally ready to head out to get Becky and Hazel. Her question was less of a request and more of a reproachful reminder to not leave them out of this. I nodded to her, even though I didn’t want to risk them out in society. There wasn’t much I could do to keep them away.

  “I will,” I said, solidifying the promise. I looked around to locate where Moody had run off to, knowing that she wouldn’t be too happy with me if I left her behind. I found her back in Fern’s room, curled up on the bed this time deliberately curled under the sweater Fern had thrown on her before. I swiftly picked her up before she could complain about being taken out of her slumber. She was probably the only one here who had been getting any sleep, but I couldn’t really blame her since cats were meant to sleep most of the day anyway. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if the ghosts even slept at all. Our house wasn’t exactly equipped with enough space for even one house guest, let alone three. They had mainly been using the sofa bed, and I think that Little Timmy had either slept on the floor or curled up in the arm chair.

  “Is there a reason why you’re dragging me with you?” Moody asked annoyed as I carried her to the car. As soon as I wrestled with the door and it squeaked open Moody leapt from my arms into the car.

  “You would rather I leave you here?” I responded climbing into the car after her.

  “Fair enough,” she said curling up again. Even though I knew she was supposed to sleep a lot, I still couldn’t understand how she could sleep under the circumstances. I was waiting for Fern’s call. I had no idea what was going on and it was driving me crazy. She had to know more information by now, maybe the kids had even showed up already and it had nothing to do with the comet or magic. It would have been one hell of a first day. I hoped that when she called the teenagers would've been found safe and healthy, and maybe they had only gotten lost and nothing bad happened to them. I hoped, but I knew otherwise.

  Chapter Nine

  Fern was in her natural element as the Sheriff. She was a natural leader and had a search party of volunteers and officers put together before noon. Even the parents of the missing teens were relatively calm, comforted by the fact that Fern was at the helm of the search for their kids. None of them had been found yet, dead or alive, so everyone was clinging onto the hope that they weren’t dead. Fern had blocked everyone from the crime scene though, a deliberate move to keep things calm. She and her deputies had cleared the mile surrounding the site where the teens were camping for the night. It wasn’t until I met her there that I truly realized why she had wanted to keep everyone from seeing the scene.

  “Oh my Lord,” I said as I took in the campsite. It was clear that these teenagers hadn’t left on their own accord. Their stuff was thrown around haphazardly. A tent was ripped to shreds as if an animal with sharp claws hard attacked it. Their backpacks weren’t in much better shape, but that wasn’t what elicited my shock. Towards the back of the campsite there was a large rock with a flat face. On it there was writing that was clearly scraped into the face, it read ‘there will be more.’

  “What’s she doing here?” Officer Mulberry said as soon as he noticed me standing there staring at the rock. I jumped in shock and turned to face him. I looked between him and Fern, unsure of what to do. For all intents and purposes, I wasn’t exactly law enforcement or allowed to be there.

  “I asked her to come,” Fern said rising to the challenge. She still had to prove her authority to a lot of the deputies, especially the ones who were in Sheriff Brown’s inner circle, or I should I say Keith now that he was no longer the Sheriff. I hadn’t really expected Officer Mulberry to be one of those challengers, but he hadn’t exactly done anything I had suspected since the election began.

  “Why?” he asked pointedly.

  “I’m just here to make sure the search p
arty goes well,” I said holding my hands up in innocence. I smiled at him to show I meant no harm in being there. He was just being territorial, and I could understand why.

  “She’s here because I say she’s here,” Fern replied less amenable. “She’s got good instincts,” she added with a sly smile in my direction. I would have laughed in other circumstances. Officer Mulberry seemed to accept this, but reluctantly. He only gave a nod and went back to whatever he had been doing before.

  “Do you think that means they won’t be found?” I asked gesturing to the note carved into the rock.

  “Probably not alive,” Fern said with a gulp. We were talking in barely more than a whisper, and for some reason, I didn’t want Officer Mulberry to overhear us. It seemed that Fern felt the same way. “I feel terrible, everyone is out here searching for these kids thinking we’ll find them maybe a little worse for wear, but I know that’s not true. I haven’t told their families yet.” She hung her head in shame.

  “You are doing what you have to,” I assured her. “It’s only a matter of time until they are found, but until then we need to keep things calm.”

  “She does have good instincts,” Officer Mulberry said making me jump again. He had somehow made his was towards us so silently that neither of us had noticed.

  “Thanks,” I replied louder than I had meant to, still overcoming the shock.

  “You made the right call,” he said to Fern. I felt a ping of jealousy when it was clear that his assurance meant more to her than mine had. I shook it off as quickly as I could. I was her sister, my job was to assure and support her, anyone else’s would matter a little bit more than mine would. “No use in crushing hope until it needs to be crushed.”

  “I should have prepared them,” Fern argued.

  “Just because this message is here it doesn’t mean any or all of them are dead,” I said. Fern gave me a dark look, not willing to go into another conversation like the one that she, Moody and I had the other day. She was convinced that they were dead, but I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t think that they all were, at least one of them could have survived. It wasn’t like there was a guidebook to what we were dealing with.