Mayhem (17 page)

For a second or so Krystal seems to hesitate, then she takes
a deep breath and exhales. “Remember a couple months back when I called you to the cemetery?”

I nod.

“I told you there was something guiding me there, some spirit that needed me. For weeks I kept trying to figure out who the spirit was and what they needed. I didn't know until that moment when we were in the cemetery again. Watching you suffer with conflict, trying to decide what to do, was tearing me apart. And when I thought my own pain and fear would prevent me from convincing you to do the right thing, the answer came to me. I closed my eyes briefly and there she was. I'd never seen her before but I knew instantly who she was and how she could help.”

Krystal, the medium and my girlfriend, had called my dead mother back from the afterlife to help save me. That was momentous, I knew. Still, I didn't really know how to digest it.

“Thanks,” I say, knowing that it's inadequate.

Looking over at me, Krystal smiles and squeezes my hand. “Don't mention it,” she says in a carefree voice.

But we both know what's happened between us is nothing to be carefree about.

Lindsey's coming up the other side of the sidewalk as we get closer. I look at her clothes first, because lately, with her I just don't know. She's wearing all white, sweatpants, T-shirt and baseball cap, with her long dark hair hanging through the opening in the back.

“I'm fine, Jake. How are you?” she asks looking right at me.

She's not smiling but she looks happier, like a huge burden has been lifted from her. I wonder if that burden was me.

“I'm good,” I tell her even though I think she already knows.

Sasha opens the front door and yells. “Come on, you've got to hear this.”

We move up the walkway and head into her house. Before we even take a seat, Sasha's talking.

“My dad's in Alaska. He called my mom last night, told her he was working on a new venture and he'd be there for a while. She's all excited thinking we'll be moving to Alaska soon, but yuck!” Sasha takes a much-needed breath, then continues. “Anyway, I talked to Fatima and she was strangely quiet when I mentioned Alaska. So I got to thinking, if Fatima's quiet and Dad's staying in Alaska, where is Mr. Bryant? I really think they're together working on that Project S. And if I'm right and they're working on it in Alaska, the question is why.”

“The question is,” Krystal says, putting her hands on Sasha's shoulders, “what have you been drinking, snorting or sniffing that's got you so pumped up? Take a seat and a deep breath, please.” She pushes Sasha down onto the couch and sits beside her.

Lindsey flanks Sasha's other side. “It's a lot you're trying to get out, but we have time. Just take it slow.”

Sasha's head full of curls is shaking. “No, we don't have a lot of time. It's dark there, don't you see. All the time it's dark, that's why they're there and I'll bet the demon that was haunting Jake, that Charon character, he's there, too.”

“Wait a minute, what are you talking about? Why would Charon be in Alaska?” I ask.

Sasha sighs. “I just told you, it's dark there.”

“And?” Krystal and I ask at the same time.

“They can hide in plain sight if it's dark. Whatever their plan of attack is now, it happens there, in the dark.”

We're all quiet, not real sure we understand what she's saying.

Then Lindsey starts to nod her head. “Barrow, Alaska. On November eighteenth the sun goes down and doesn't rise again until January twenty-fourth.”

I wonder why she knows this but then remember she's like a walking encyclopedia, keeping facts in her head like she's one day going to get paid to do so—or, quite possibly, need them to save the world.

“Wait a minute,” Krystal says. “So he's gone. The Darkness is no longer in Lincoln?”

I shake my head, because I, unlike the rest of them, can feel the answer. Don't ask me how, I just do. Almost like déjà vu, I just know. “It's still here. He has to keep an eye on us. We're still the ones to stop him, no matter where he goes, so he has to watch us.”

“Why us?” Krystal asks.

“It's our time,” I say. “On Earth, at this time, it is for us to stop the evil that threatens to tilt the balance in all worlds.”

“How do you know that?” Sasha asks.

“Because he is a Vortex,” a female voice answers.

All eyes turn to the window where the orb of light comes through. It was a silent entrance, one that none of us were aware of until she'd spoken. But now we see her in all her otherworldly glory.

Fatima.

“His life is a mirror of the Vortex before him,” she says coming closer to us.

“Uncle William,” I whisper.

“William
Kramer was a Vortex who has left this Earth, but you, Jake, are still connected to him. By blood and by power,” Fatima says.

“So will he, like, always know what's going to happen before it happens now?” says Lindsey, who is sitting on the arm of the couch now because she's gotten up, walked around, then sat back down about three times since Fatima's appearance. I don't know what her problem is, maybe both she and Sasha drank one of those energy drinks, or two or three.

Fatima shakes her head, flaming red hair moving along her shoulders, a huge contrast to her pale skin and white dress.

“William may not have known everything before it happened. But Jake will have some advantage now because William has been through a battle of his own.”

“He fought for the light, didn't he?” I ask, because thinking that my great-uncle could turn evil has been hard for me to swallow. I wish Pop Pop were still here so I could tell him that Uncle William didn't choose to go bad.

“William did what he thought was best. Unfortunately, he didn't have friends with him as you do, Jake. He didn't know much about the magical world. So when they came for him he couldn't handle it.”

“But he wasn't evil. He didn't choose evil,” I insist. I need
to believe this, to believe that someone who shared my blood couldn't choose to end life instead of preserve it.

Fatima smiled. This was the first time I really saw a reaction in her. Well, at the cemetery she seemed pretty adamant about what I needed to do, but still she'd reminded me of some kind of robot just spouting words. This time, though, her smile looks genuine.

“He was not evil and therefore Charon could not use him. But finding out cost William his life.”

I sink back onto the chair because that's all I wanted to hear. From her spot on the chair across from me Krystal smiles. I know she probably wanted to hear that, too. The fact that I might have been evil still freaked us both out.

“So what now?” Sasha asks. “We go to Alaska to fight him?”

“Charon is clever,” Fatima speaks. “He was a high-level liege to the Underworld when Styx cursed him.”

“Why did she curse him?” Lindsey asks. “I mean, why not just kill him, drown him in that sick water of her river. Why leave him alive to wreak this kind of havoc on the worlds to come afterward?”

I was with Lindsey. If Charon was so bad and pissed Styx off so much, she should have just toasted his demonic butt and been done with it. If she had we wouldn't be here right now.

“Because she's not inherently evil. Styx was given the river to guard, turned into a goddess by Zeus after she helped him win the battle against the Titans.” Fatima moves closer so that she's now standing in the middle of the room, her feet not even touching the expensive rug on the floor. We're all sitting around her like pets thirsty for knowledge and possibly a pat on the head for a job well done. Silly, but true.

“Charon wanted more power. He believes it is his destiny to rule a world blanketed in darkness. He has been trying to go against Styx's curse forever.”

“And he'll keep on, just like the Devil keeps fighting against God and his angels,” Krystal adds.

Of course she'd think along those lines, and while none of us add any credence to what she's said, I can't help but think about the similarities as well.

“In every world there are chosen ones to thwart his efforts. As Jake said, in this world at this time, it is you, the Mystyx.”

“But how do we fight him?” Sasha asks.

“Keep him from gaining power. You've done that when you pushed the darkness from that teacher it possessed,” she says looking at Krystal. “When you stood up to his anger and saved Krystal from losing the portals of her soul in that forest.”

I remembered both those times, at the school with Mr. Lyle and in the forest with…Franklin.

“And just a while ago when the Vortex chose to stand with the light.”

All eyes fell on me.

“But he is not finished,” Fatima adds. “He will keep trying.”

“Then whatever we do is for nothing. Why even keep trying?” Lindsey crosses her arms over her chest.

“Because at the designated time, in the designated place, Styx will be there. She will lend her power to yours and Charon will be banished for all remaining times.”

Okay, is it just me or did that just sound like a roundabout answer for she's still not telling us what we have to do to get rid of this demon?

And of course, Fatima picks that exact moment to have her
body sucked into a tiny white light that floats back across the room and through the window that she'd first appeared in.

“Crap!” I stand, yelling. “Still with the half answers. I thought we were finished with this secretive stuff.”

“She answered us this time, Jake,” Krystal says softly. “We're fighting an ancient battle, the one between good and evil. A battle that may never end, but still needs to be fought.”

“And,” I say, moving my hand like I want her to continue. “How does that help us know what to do to fight it?”

“Maybe we just figure it out as we go along,” Sasha adds.

“Yeah,” Lindsey says nodding. “Maybe we'll just know what to do when it's time to do it.”

I fall back into the chair not looking at any of them. “That idea sucks.”

Sasha's
driving way too fast. She's taking corners like she's behind the wheel of a police cruiser in hot pursuit instead of the sports car her father gave Mouse to chauffer her in.

“Where'd you say Mouse was again?” Krystal asks, holding on to the door handle to keep from sliding across the backseat.

I'm doing the same and shaking my head at the same time. I don't know which instructor Sasha had during driver's ed, but they should be fired.

From the front seat Sasha waves her hand. “I don't know where that big oaf is. He's been disappearing a lot lately. I'm half tempted to follow him to see what secrets he's hiding because I know he's hiding something. But instead I figured now was our chance to go out without him hovering over us.”

“So where are we going, and when did you say you got your license?” I ask.

In the front passenger seat Lindsey sighs. “She didn't get it. Jumped the curb then yelled at the testing agent. He told Mouse to take her home and leave her there.”

“Thanks a lot, Miss 411,” Sasha says with a frown. “And for your information, I was doing just fine until I saw something that shouldn't have been and got all distracted.”

“What'd you see?” Krystal asks.

Sasha shrugs. “Nothing important, I guess. I mean, since my power changed I've been seeing a lot of magicals down here walking around like they belong. But sometimes it still rattles me.”

I'm praying my seat belt works as we keep moving at this high rate of speed. “So you saw a magical at the DMV?”

“It was the testing agent. He had fangs the size of Dracula's, so every time he said something to me I freaked. And the last time he touched my arm I wanted to jump right out of the car. Instead I turned the wheel too soon and jumped the curb.”

“They fail you for that, you know,” Lindsey says, trying to hold back her grin.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Sasha smirks.

“So why are you driving without a license?”

“Dang, Krystal, you're so uptight. We're not in some big city, who cares if I don't have a license in Lincoln? There's hardly ever anyone on the road to hit anyway.”

And the moment she says that something darts out of the woods in front of the car. Sasha swerves to keep from hitting whatever it was. All the girls scream and shriek and I wish to any higher being that Twan had come with us instead of taking his aunt to the doctor. When the car finally comes to a stop I feel like I've got whiplash.

“We're here!” Sasha yells and jumps out of the car.

Giving Krystal a weary look I unsnap both our seat belts and we get out.

Lindsey's already out of the car but she's standing perfectly still. “Feels funny here.”

“Funny like we almost hit a deer and got ourselves killed,”
I say in a voice I know is drab and borderline angry, which I'm still trying to work on.

“No,” Lindsey whispers and walks ahead of us. “Funny, like we probably shouldn't be here.”

Sasha's already deeper into the woods and Lindsey's following her. I start to walk behind them but notice that Krystal isn't following. She's still standing by the car looking as if she might actually cry. Going back, I stand in front of her and take both her hands in mine.

“What's the matter?”

She takes a deep breath then sighs it out. “Memories” is all she manages to say.

I nod. Remembering her in Franklin's clutches deep in the forest that day doesn't sit well with me either. But Sasha has a reason for being here. We owe it to her to find out what that reason is.

“It's okay. I'll stay right by your side.”

With quivering lips she smiles. “You will?”

“I will. You're mine, remember. I'm not about to let you go now.” Leaning forward, I brush my lips over hers and resist the persistent urge to press further. “Let's go.”

With her fingers entwined in mine we start into the woods to try and find Lindsey and Sasha. It's not hard, since they're both glowing like lightning bugs. That's no exaggeration. Sasha's pink light and Lindsey's purple light from their birth-marks illuminate the area where they stand. Once Krystal and I make it into the clearing, our lights burn bright as well.

“Where are we?” I ask, looking around. It looks like any ordinary forest area with a clearing full of brush and downed trees. Only it's not quite the same as anywhere I've ever been.

“This is where they found that bus,” Sasha says. “I read
about it in the paper, the exact location, I mean. After those bodies were found we were all wondering about the connection to the Darkness. I figured it was past time to come and check it out.”

I keep looking around, trying to see beyond the tall trees because it feels like something's out there. “Yeah, the cops think I'm involved somehow so I guess it'll help if I can give them some real information as to what happened.”

“You?” Krystal asks from beside me. “Why do they think you're involved?”

I shrug. “I think Pace and Mateo may have put that thought in their heads. I don't know. But one day they came by my house talking about it, wanting to ask me about it, but Dad said no.”

“Oh, my God, Jake. Why didn't you tell us this before?” Sasha asks.

“Didn't think it was important.”

“If the cops are looking at you for a crime like this I'd say that's important,” Sasha adds. She's getting all fired up, her eyes glaring at me.

“They don't know how he's connected, they were just fishing for information,” Lindsey says. “Right, Jake?”

I nod because I still can't stand that she can get inside my head. “Yeah.”

“We absolutely cannot keep secrets from each other,” Sasha says with hands on her hips. “Whatever information we come across we have to share it when it happens. You never know what might be crucial.”

“Okay, Sasha. Don't get all wacked out about it. I didn't tell you because I was going through some things at the time. You know, being seduced by evil, harassed by bullies, then
losing my grandfather, that kind of takes a lot out of a person. You can see how easy it would be to forget small details like a visit from the police, right?”

At my side Krystal rubs my arm. Lindsey looks apologetic and Sasha, in a way that was only befitting of her, comes stomping right up in front of me and punches me in the shoulder.

“Don't you dare make me feel stupid for yelling at you, Jake Kramer. I can be mad if I want to.” But her eyes are watering.

“Cut it out. We're cool. And you're right, we shouldn't have any more secrets.” If she cried I wasn't going to be able to stand it. Me plus girls plus tears did not mix well at all.

“Okay, no more secrets,” Lindsey says, putting an arm around Sasha. “Now show us what you wanted us to see.”

After a few sniffles Sasha takes a deep breath. “I don't really know. I just got this feeling last night that we should come out here and have a look around. I mean, that bus disappearing and those two bodies showing up with their eyes missing is no coincidence. The police don't seem to have any clues, but then they're not looking with supernatural eyes.”

“And you think the bus disappearance was supernatural?” Krystal asks.

“Yeah. Don't you?” was Sasha's reply.

“I guess you're right. But where's the group leader and the rest of the kids from the bus? Shouldn't they have been found by now?”

Krystal raised a good question, one I'd been thinking myself. “Unless someone's not ready for us to find them.”

I move away from the center of the clearing, kicking leaves and branches out of the way as I go. Something's here. I can
feel it. There's an energy in this area, like a pool of power. And it's feeding something, or someone.

Me, I hadn't felt the power surges since that night in the cemetery. My biceps hadn't twitched, but they hadn't gone down either. I tried to do that running and jumping thing like I did out and back into the window before, but it didn't work. I guess these powers were part of the evil growing within me and once I denounced the darkness, the extra power went with it. I can still move stuff with my mind and I bet if I punch Mateo I'd break his jaw as well as send him flying a few feet. But those extras, along with my red-eyed raven, are gone. And I can't really say I miss them.

But there's power here and it's doing something. My gaze falls on the trees again and this time I see inscriptions in the trunk. Moving closer, I lean forward to get a closer look. It's symbols or something, just like the ones on that scroll I found in the yard that day. I'd put that scroll in my bottom drawer and hadn't thought about it since then. Until now.

“What is that?” Krystal asks from behind me.

Lindsey's suddenly at my other side. “It's Greek letters,” she says.

“Can you read it?” I ask, because I wouldn't be surprised if she could.

She shakes her head. “No. Not without my notebook, and that's at home. I know this is Alpha and this is Omega,” she says, pointing to two different symbols. “The Beginning and the End.”

“The Beginning and the End,” I say softly, remembering that I'd heard that before. “They were the Beginning and we are the End.”

“What are you talking about?” Sasha asks.

“Charon said it to me one time, that they, Styx and the gods and goddesses of her time, were the beginning. We, the Mystyx, are the end.”

“The battle ends with us,” Krystal adds. “I don't believe that. Good and evil have been fighting for a long time. To think we have the power to end that once and for all just doesn't sound right. Besides, as long as there's free will evil is bound to find its way back.”

“She's right,” Sasha says. “But maybe we can put an end to Charon's threat. Maybe that's our part and the rest is left for the next group of Mystyx, whomever they might be.”

Lindsey's about to say something, but Krystal's cell phone rings. She answers and then hangs up. “There's trouble coming. My mom says the mayor's issued an evacuation of all homes. There's a category-five hurricane heading our way. We need to get back.”

“A hurricane in Lincoln, Connecticut, in November?” Lindsey asks as we're walking back to the car.

Sasha gets to the driver's side door, then stops to look at us. “Just like sixteen years ago when we were all conceived. Remember, Pop Pop told us about it?”

I did remember. With a heated pain in my chest I remember my grandfather and all his stories. But as we ride back into town, the sky darkening above, I think about that night. Not that I can remember it, but I just imagine what it would have been like.

All the roads would have been closed, businesses shut down, everyone warned to stay in their houses until the storm passed. My parents would have been living alone back then, passing the time as many other shut-in couples did. And I was
conceived. On a stormy night filled with excess energy that birthed these powers.

I wondered what would be birthed as a result of this storm.