Meadowview Acres (23 page)

“Love you, too, Dad.” She smiled and left the room.

It seemed to Bug that she had only just put her head down on the pillow when she was startled awake. She opened her groggy eyes and, through the dim light, she made out the shape of her father sitting on her bed.

“Bug!” He half-whispered. “Bug! Wake up!”

She rose up on one arm and rubbed her eyes. “What? What is it, Dad?”

“I’ve just come from the newspaper. I was looking it over before sending it to print and I saw something on the Obit page. Honey, Professor Monroe died today. It says that he passed away earlier this afternoon from natural causes.”

CHAPTER 26

Hunter & Eli

E
ven with all of the precautions that he and Eli had taken, Hunter was still nervous. Eli had retrieved the rock from the storage shed and put it back into its box. Then he had put the box in the backpack, and put the backpack inside a suitcase. After a little more thought, he had put that smaller suitcase into a larger one. That suitcase was now secured in the trunk of the Flaming Tomato. All together, the rock was five levels of material away from them as they drove to school that Monday morning. Even so, Hunter was nervous, and queasy. He didn’t know if the nerves were messing with his stomach, or if it was the rock. It was probably a combination of both. He had skipped breakfast that morning in anticipation of puking on the way to school.
So far, so good
.

Hunter looked over at Eli behind the wheel. He was very quiet this morning. Hunter knew that his friend had been under tremendous pressure, but there was something else. Hunter had noticed that Eli looked older somehow. There was something in his face that hadn’t been there before. He knew that Eli was still grieving and feeling guilty about Heather. Hunter felt guilty as well. But Eli had a strange look to him. He looked haunted.

Hunter looked out the window and decided to try to lighten the mood. “I’m feeling good today, Eli. I’ve got a good feeling about this plan. Mr. Just has an awesome, scientific brain. I’m sure he’ll be able to do something. Then all of this crap will be over. Hey, my stomach’s not even upset!” He lied.

Eli just nodded and kept his eyes on the road. After a few minutes of driving in silence, he said, “I hope so, Hunter. I really do. I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

Hunter felt the sting of guilt as he remembered bringing the box over to Eli’s house that day. If only they had decided to take it back to the woods and bury it.

They pulled into the student lot and decided not to park in their usual place on the third row. The seniors were allotted the first two rows of prime parking spaces, followed by the juniors with the last two rows. Today, though, they needed to park as far away as possible. They couldn’t risk the rock affecting anyone walking too close to the car. Eli found a good spot on the far end of the visitor’s lot. After turning off the engine, Eli sat still, not making a move to get out of the car. Hunter just waited to give his friend some time.

“This is going to be the longest day of school ever,” Hunter said after a few minutes. “But let’s get going. The sooner it starts, the sooner it’s over, and we can talk to Just.”

Eli nodded again and got out of the car. Hunter followed and soon they were in their first period classes. Hunter worried about how Eli would manage his day. He guessed that his odd behavior would be attributed to Heather’s death, but Hunter wished that he could keep a better eye on him. When the bell rang for lunch after third period, Hunter waited beside his locker as he usually did. He was starving, having skipped breakfast, but he was anxious to see how Eli was holding up. After some time had passed, he finally saw Eli walking slowly toward him.

“Dude, you look terrible,” he said as Eli caught up to him. “Do you need to go home or something? I can take care of business this afternoon on my own.”

“No, I’m fine, really. I just have a huge headache. I need to be here, Hunter. Let’s go eat something, maybe that’ll help.”

Hunter made Eli stop at the nurse’s desk on the way to the cafeteria. Without any questions, she gave him two tablets for his headache. All she needed to do was look at him. She tried to get him to lie down for a while, but he said he wanted to eat something. Satisfied that the food and medication would help him to feel better, she had let him go.

The cafeteria wasn’t as noisy as it usually was. Hunter knew immediately that it was the absence of Hansen that made the difference. The table where he usually held court was filled with the same kids, Clark, Jacob, Jeff and Alan, but they didn’t seem to be making any trouble for anyone. Hunter thought without Hansen, those guys might actually be cool.

He scanned the other end of the table and saw Emily, Destiny, Trish and Clara. Clara was looking at him when he found her. She smiled her bright, beautiful smile and Hunter felt warm. The day that she had driven him out to the field by the woods had been so nice. She was Clara again – sweet, down to earth, no one to impress Clara. He smiled back and grabbed a tray to follow Eli down the lunch line.

The food and medicine did help Eli. His color came back a little, and he was a little more talkative, too. They discussed ways to break the news to Mr. Just. They were divided in their ideas with Hunter wanting to tell him just the bare bones and Eli wanting to spill the whole story. They decided to go with telling him as much as possible without all the details.

The bell rang, and lunch was over. Eli told Hunter that he would see him in chemistry class sixth period and left. Hunter took the chance to walk over to where Clara was still sitting. He was half expecting her to act like she didn’t know him, like she had for the past three years, but she didn’t.

“I was hoping you’d come say hi,” she smiled her dazzling smile at him, and her friends all looked at him and smiled, too. “You guys, this is Hunter Massey. We’re old friends.”

The girls all said hello and, leaving Clara behind with Hunter, gathered their things to walk to fourth period.

“It’s funny that I’ve gone to school with them for years, and this is the first time they’ve ever acknowledged me,” Hunter said to her.

“I know,” replied Clara. “Popular girls, what’re you gonna do with ‘em?” She rolled her eyes dramatically, and Hunter laughed.

“Yeah, right!” He said and Clara laughed back.

As he walked her to class, she asked him how Eli was doing.

“He’s pretty stressed out and upset right now. I think it’ll just take time. His mom offered for him to stay out of school this whole week, even Principal Harrison said it was fine, but he wanted to come.”

“I hope they’ll be okay. I really like Mrs. Andrews and Eli, too,” Clara said sadly.

They made it to Clara’s class with time to spare so Hunter hung out and talked for a few more minutes before going on to his own class. The next two classes were the longest Hunter had ever experienced. When the bell rang for sixth, he all but ran from the room.

Eli was already talking to Mr. Just when Hunter made it to the classroom. He walked to where the two were talking and heard the tail end of Eli’s sentence. “… that we could really use your help with.”

“Sure thing, Man, what’s up?” Mr. Just said. He was easy going and unperturbed as usual.

Eli looked at Hunter and continued, “It’s really important and can’t wait. Can we talk after school today?”

“Well, yeah, Man. Hey, you dudes aren’t in any trouble, are you?” He gave Hunter and Eli the once over and looked back to Eli.

“No, we aren’t in trouble. It’s just very important that we talk as soon as possible.” Hunter spoke for Eli, knowing what Eli was thinking. Of course he was in trouble. They were all in trouble.

“No sweat, guys. Right after school I have about ten minutes until detention starts.”

“This will take longer than ten minutes,” Eli said.

Mr. Just had a quizzical look on his face. He was also full of compassion when he said, “I’ve got all the time you need. Let’s talk before detention and then you can come back when it’s over for as long as you need.”

Hunter and Eli went to their seats in the back of the room as Mr. Just started talking about how an oxide is formed. As he spoke of oxides having an oxygen atom as well as another element, neither of the boys listened. Eli put his head down on the desk and was asleep within minutes. Hunter saw Mr. Just notice Eli sleeping. He paused his lecture for just a moment before continuing. He knew something was up with them and was giving Eli a pass. “I sure hope he can help,” Hunter thought to himself.

After what seemed to Hunter like a million years, the bell rang and most of the class headed for the door. Eli had woken up, looking surprised at where he was, halfway through the class.

Monitoring the halls, Mr. Just was standing right outside his doorway when the boys came out behind the rest of the class. Mr. Just saw them and smiled.

“I’ve got to stay here while the halls are full to keep an eye out for any hooligans, but we’re free to talk.” He waited as they looked at each other, trying to decide how to start.

Hunter plunged in. “We know you’re a scientist and all, but do you believe in things like curses?”

Mr. Just raised his eyebrows as he considered. He was very open-minded. There wasn’t a lot that he didn’t believe or accept, but he had never thought much about curses.

“You know, Man, I’ve never thought about it much. I don’t suppose I should say that I don’t believe in them, since I haven’t fully researched them. So yeah, sure I believe there are things out there that are unexplainable. I like for things to be proven and concrete. But I accept the fact that some things just aren’t.”

Eli took it from there. The fact that there was very little time made him more blunt than he would have liked. Students, showing up for detention, filed into the room past him, making him speak very quietly.

“We have a strong reason to believe that we are in possession of a relic that has been cursed. We can show you documentation if you need it, but time is really short right now. This thing – it’s a rock. It’s the reason behind the deaths. Mr. Jackson, Hansen Reynolds and my sister. It affects people in different ways, so we don’t know if we can protect you. We have to destroy it. Hunter and I can be around it for short periods of time, but we have to do this as soon as possible. Do you have anything that can dissolve a rock?”

Mr. Just involuntarily took a step backward. He wasn’t afraid, just a little freaked out.
Either this kid is on the list for Sister Mary’s House of Crazy, or he’s still in shock from his sister’s death.

“Whoa, Man, take it easy there, Eli. Now I know a lot has happened in the last few days, hell, you shouldn’t even be at school. But everything you just spewed on me is really out there.” He looked at Hunter. “You on board with all this, Cowboy?”

Hunter said, “I know it sounds crazy. But it’s true. If we had time to tell you the whole story, we would. Listen, can you surf the web while you’re doing detention?”

Mr. Just said, “Sure, no problem.”

Hunter went from the door to Mr. Just’s desk at the front of his classroom and scribbled something down on a scrap piece of paper. He came back to where Eli and Phillip Just were standing and held the paper out for Mr. Just. “Here. Do this, please. Look this up. This is what we have. It was dug up behind our neighborhood, and Eli and I brought it back to our houses. We shouldn’t have, but we did. And now we need help, we’re desperate. We’ll go grab something to eat and come back when detention is over. Hopefully, by then you’ll believe us and you’ll know what we can do.”

Mr. Just looked at the kids. He knew these guys weren’t the ones always making trouble. They didn’t goof off; they made good grades, and one look at Eli told him that something other than grief was at play here. He had made up his mind.

“Absolutely. You got it, Man. Come back in an hour and I’ll do what I can to help.”

Eli looked at him and said, “This shouldn’t be happening, and it’s my fault that my sister’s dead. We have to end this.”

Mr. Just put a hand on his shoulder and said, “I’ll do whatever I can, Eli. Hold it together, Dude, hold on. I’ll see you in a little while.”

He watched Eli and Hunter walk down the hallway to the doors to the student parking lot. He could definitely tell the two were seriously freaked. Seeing them like that, when Mr. Just knew that they were usually laid back and light hearted, really made him curious. Maybe there was something at work here other than coincidence. When they had gone, Mr. Just opened the scrap of paper and read what Hunter had scribbled – “The Rock Of Varuupi” and “Professor Preston Monroe”. He frowned and went in to take roll for detention. It was still a few minutes early but he wanted to get started. He had heard that professor’s name before and had an uneasy feeling. He had read the man’s obituary just this morning along with a short article on his life.