Jack James and the Tribe of the Teddy Bear (25 page)

THIRTY-ONE

JACK DIDN’T THINK it was possible for them to eat the entire turkey in one sitting. It helped having Pud around. Surprisingly, all the Tanakee had large appetites, but Pud was hands down the most gluttonous. It also helped that Teresa’s cooking tasted delicious (even if it was a magic spell).

“Eat up,” Teresa examined the bird, its carcass picked nearly clean. “I’ve got much more where that came from.”

“No, no. This was quite enough,” Liz dabbed her lips with a cloth napkin. “I want to thank you, though. It’s nice to not cook for a change. Hate taking the kids to fast-food, you know. And their father’s not around to help, but you already knew that, right?”

Teresa chewed and swallowed. “You two are just going through a rough patch, that’s all. Every marriage has one or two.”

Liz laughed. “Yeah. Rough patch. That’s what this is.”

“Amelia!” Jack stood. His friend had started shaking. Her eyes rolled back. He touched her shoulder. “Are you okay!”

“Is she choking?” Liz got up and raced to the girl.

Amelia’s trembling began to die down and she returned to normal.

“Jack,” she breathed heavily, clutching the single feather hanging from her necklace.

“What? What is it?”

“We’ve got to get out of this house. We’ve got to go. Now.”

Ayita stood on her chair. “I sense it, too. They’re coming.”

“Who? Who’s coming?” Jack begged.

Amelia jumped to her feet. “No time. We have to go.”

“Everybody, get into the van,” Teresa suggested.

“It’s too late for that,” Ayita said.

“She’s right,” agreed Amelia. “That road’s the only way in or out. We can’t take it. We have to find a place to hide.”

Teresa brightened. “I know! Everyone, follow me!”

She led them out the back door, down a flight of stairs, and across her large backyard to where the forest grew dense. She stopped at a mass of thickets and reached into the wall of tangled vines to pull open a hidden door. Inside, the space was larger than it seemed, its walls lined with rows and rows of even more books.

“It’s okay. Just a little shed I use for storage. No one will find you in here.”

“What about you?” Amelia held her hand.

“Don’t worry about me. You just stay in here. All of you. That goes double for you guys,” she gestured to the Tanakee. “You don’t so much as poke your heads out, you got that?”

They nodded. Except Cheyton. He refused to join them in the cabin.

“What are we doing? Why are we hiding in here? Let’s just go!”

“Cheyton, get in here!” Enola demanded.

“You guys are making a big mistake. Trusting humans. Big mistake.”

“Just get in here, please.”

He paused. Jack knew he wanted to run. His bond with Enola was too strong. He plodded into the small hut and found a lonely place to sit in the corner. Enola snuggled next to him.

Teresa closed the wooden door and covered the structure with bushes again. She put her finger to her mouth, whispered,
“Shhh!”
then tiptoed across the yard and up the back steps. She paused at the door, peering down at them. She smiled, and even at the distance Jack saw her wink. It didn’t make him feel any better.

In the center of the room, a cozy sofa awaited. Liz relented, plopping down in a heap.

She yawned. “I’m so exhausted I can’t think.”

“So am I,” stretching, Lily joined her mother on the loveseat.

Soon, everyone had a comfortable place to sit. Enola and Cheyton huddled together. Pud snuggled on the couch between Lily and Liz. Takota sat on Jack’s lap, while Ayita rested on Amelia’s. They watched out a small window, anticipating the arrival of the unknown.

“Wake me up in ten minutes, okay,” Liz sounded half asleep already. Lily seemed out of it, also.

JACK ZIPPED UP HIS COAT and studied his view of Teresa’s home. He saw her driveway, the front porch, one whole side, and the back steps. Not perfect, but a good vantage point. They waited in the growing dark, listening to a chorus of frogs croaking in the distance. Takota felt heavy in Jack’s lap. Much heavier than he looked. He glanced down and noticed the little fellow snoozing, a slight half-growl, half-whine gurgling in his throat.

“Is he snoring?” Amelia asked.

Jack nodded, revealing a grin.

“I think she’s asleep, too,” she gestured toward Ayita.

“Must’ve been all the excitement,” he said.

“And the turkey.”

They giggled, careful not to wake anyone.

“Amelia, what did you see exactly?” he whispered. “Who’s coming?”

She turned. “I-I can’t say for sure. I just knew if we stayed in that house, we’d be in a lot of trouble.”

“What about Teresa? Isn’t she in danger?”

She reached under her sweater and ran a finger across the feather on her choker. “I can’t tell. It’s not clear right now.”

He asked, “Why do you touch that feather? Does it give you some sort of power?”

“I don’t know,” she held it higher. Chocolate-colored on one half, snowy on the other, it seemed to catch what little light remained in the day. “I’d like to think so. It was given to me directly by a Bald Eagle, you know.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really. A Bald Eagle flew over me and this fell into my lap. Did you know some Native Americans consider eagle feathers sacred?”

“Is that what makes it magical?” Jack inquired.

She smiled. “I don’t know. It does seem ever since I’ve had this, my abilities have gotten sharper. I just wish I could control them.”

He paused, considering his next question.

“Is that the real reason why your family had to move here? Were you having problems with your clairvoyance? Did people harass you for being different?”

Her smile vanished. She blinked twice. Then she spoke while turning away. “No. Of course not. My dad’s in the Navy. We move a lot because he keeps getting stationed all over the place.”

“But, there aren’t any Naval bases anywhere near here,” he pressed. “Are you sure it didn’t have something to do with your…abilities?”

She didn’t answer. All of the sudden he felt he’d stepped across an invisible line.

“Hey,” he tried to repair the damage. “I feel the same way about my imagination. Sometimes I wish it would just stop.”

She wouldn’t remove her eyes from the window. “You should never wish that. That’s what makes you unique. You’ll see. Your imagination will save us all, Jack James. Don’t you ever forget that.”

He shook his head. “If that were true then I’d be able to dream up a way to get us out of this mess.”

She looked down.

“What? What is it?” he asked. “Something’s wrong.”

“It’s just that…” she kept her gaze averted. “What I told you before, the other night, about you being a part of history and all that.”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I-I didn’t tell you everything.”

“What didn’t you tell me?”

Finally she looked at him, brimming with tears. “Teresa’s right. The Nagas, they’re behind all of this. They control Savage, and it might go even higher than that. They’re an evil species. I’ve been seeing them all my life. Some call them shadow people, most know them as demons, devils, even Satan himself.”

“What? What are you saying? That we’re being chased by the devil?”

“No, they’re not really demons. That’s folklore. Nagas are real, living beings. They walk between dimensions. They can appear and disappear. And they can do other things. They’re powerful, and they mean to destroy us.”

Jack felt fluttering in his gut. The butterflies were back. Not because of what Amelia just told him. He was still in shock about that. His cold, clammy hands, quick pulse and short-witted thinking could only be attributed to one thing—Amelia. In the late sunset, her alabaster skin glowed, her pitch-black hair shimmered.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

He glanced at Takota, asleep on his lap. “Amelia, have you ever wanted something so bad, ever wished and wished for something until you thought you would burst?”

“Well, yeah. Why?”

“No reason.”

She sighed and peeked through the curtains. “You know you owe me a kiss.”

His spine tingled. He became uncomfortably warm.

“Remember?” she asked. “The other day after school?”

“Of course,” he tried to breathe. His lungs refused. Every muscle in his body seemed on strike.

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

He stole a glimpse at his mother. She and Lily dozed contentedly on the sofa, Pud wedged between them. Enola nestled against a sleeping Cheyton. Takota and Ayita seemed dead to the world.

Amelia smiled. She squeezed her eyelids and put her lips together. Now or never. He leaned toward her and the quivering in his stomach dissolved, taken over by a sublime numbness. He caught her clean scent. Heavenly.

Before he made contact, something stopped him. A rumbling outside, coming up the driveway. Takota stirred in his lap. Ayita woke up with him.

“What is that?” asked Takota.

Amelia peered into the nightfall. “A car. Someone’s coming.”

Liz got up and ran to the window. Silently the rest of them did the same, each finding a surreptitious spot to watch.

Two headlight beams bounded into full view. They blinded Jack for a second. He tried looking out again, blinking away the haze. A seventies station wagon faced the house, engine running, lights flooding the front porch.

“Do you know who it is?” he asked. “Amelia? Ayita?” They both shook their heads.

“I don’t know, but I don’ like it,” answered Amelia.

“Me neither,” Ayita added.

Liz disagreed. “What’s the big deal? It’s just an old car, not some official secret agency vehicle. It’s not the police, either. What are we all afraid of?”

The car’s motor popped and gasped to a hushed standstill. The quiet made Jack’s ears ring. He heard the frogs again. In the chilly stillness, a mist crept up the hill. It played with the headlight beams, casting eerie shapes and shadows in the halo. Jack heard the door to Teresa’s house squeak open. She stepped into the brightness, guarding her eyes.

“Gert? Is that you?”

The vintage vehicle sat in silence. They all sat in silence. Jack held his breath. Teresa eased down the stairs, toeing each step. When she reached the ground, the driver’s door opened.

“Gert!” she flung her hands wide. Quiet and gloom accepted her greeting. She dropped her arms to her sides and hunched, peering in. Jack knew by the way she stood up, she’d seen something alarming.

Teresa stepped back, then again.

“You have them, don’t you?” a woman’s voice called from inside the wagon. It sounded familiar. “You’re hiding them here. In this house. The great, dark God will punish you for this!”

“Gertrude! What have you done!” Teresa hurried to the steps, stumbling over a ceramic planter. It cracked into several pieces, soil and roots spilling on the bottom step. A short, round figure, cloaked in black, flew from the wagon and seized Teresa’s arm. Two other doors opened and two more women jumped out, both dressed the same, both hurrying to help Gert. They subdued their prisoner, tying her wrists. Teresa seemed unable to put up a fight.

Jack shifted in his seat. Takota, too, was restless. They all were.

“We can’t just sit here,” Pud said to Takota, then Cheyton. “Can we?”

“Shhh!” Takota remained glued to the activity outside.

The three women held hands around Teresa, their faces hidden by the cowls of their gowns. Jack recognized they were chanting an evil spell. The tall, gangly one drew back her cloak, revealing a maze of wrinkles and crow’s feet.

“Oh, Great Master. Hear us! We’ve found them! The creatures are here! Let us lead you!”

Jack blinked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. A small, thin line formed in the air, stretching to the ground. Liz gasped. Lily whined. Jack felt Takota tense up. The line split into several sections which fell at once, forming the frame of a tall, slender man. The blackness seemed to wash away, leaving behind a creature with smooth, perfectly pale flesh. Even at night, even from yards away, Jack noted the thing’s features were flawless.

“That’s it,” Ayita whispered. “That’s what I’ve been seeing. A shadow person.”

“I think that’s the man Savage is working for,” Takota said.

“That’s no man,” Amelia didn’t blink. “That’s the thing Teresa warned us about. It’s Davos.”

“How do you know?” Jack was bewildered.

She remained motionless. “I just do.”

“This can’t be good,” Pud groaned.

“Hold on,” Jack detected something else. “Look.”

Davos had his hands raised, making a circle with his thumbs and forefingers. Between them, a point of blazing light burst into existence. It grew in a sudden jolt, hovering and sparking. Jack felt the heat from where he was hiding. A quick projection from the fireball lifted Teresa off the ground, her legs kicking and dangling.

“We’ve got to help!” Pud cried.

“Be quiet,” Cheyton ordered.

“But…”

“I mean it!”

Pud sulked.

Cheyton glared at Takota. “Nobody needs to make any brave moves. Got it? We don’t owe the humans anything.”

Takota looked at Jack, then outside. The witches split up. Two of them retreated to the rear of the house while their leader remained in front, dancing and chanting in some macabre language. Davos was stationary, his long hair falling in dark coils which swayed in unnatural ripples. In an instant his body divided into what looked like hundreds of long, thin shapes resembling winged snakes. They circled the area where Davos once stood, then widened their flight until they orbited the house.

“My God!” Liz blurted. She covered her own mouth and blocked Lily from the sight. The little girl, though, would have none of it. She wriggled from her mother’s grip and took her place along the window, watching with confused curiosity. The swarm of slender creatures infiltrated Teresa’s house, top to bottom, entering under doors, through open windows, the chimneys, every crack and crevice which allowed them in.

Jack saw the apparitions inside. The candlelight projected their silhouettes on the walls as the things spread throughout each room, separating into smaller and smaller groups. The operation seemed coldly efficient, and in a strange way he admired their calculated approach. That didn’t stop him from trembling. And the butterflies in his gut fluttered with the same ferocity as the dark swarm invading Teresa’s house.

“What are they doing?” Lily’s jaw dropped.

“They’re hunting for us,” Jack confirmed.

Still levitating near the front porch, Teresa struggled to free her wrists. The short, rotund Gert approached and raised her dagger-like instrument. It twinkled in the moonlight.

Jack squinted. “What’s she got?”

“It’s an athamé,” Amelia answered.

“Looks like a knife to me,” countered Pud. “I’m gonna help her!” he lurched for the door. Cheyton darted in his way.

“You’re not going anywhere!” he glared. Pud beseeched the others in the room silently. Then he breathed hard and went back to the window.