Psyched (14 page)

“I promise not to use anything I see for school,” he said, as if he could read her mind.

She smiled ruefully. “Are you in my head already? How did you know I was thinking that?”

“Aisi, if you truly want to finish this, you must understand one thing.” Father J grasped her shoulders and turned her so she faced him. “Your heart and mind must be open. You cannot control this, and you cannot control them. You must ask for help and share this burden, and you must draw on all you know to defeat them. And you must accept that you may not be able to finish it all at once.”

He was right. She knew he was right, but that was the only way she knew how to operate. If she didn’t control it, what other weapon did she have? She looked nervously at Vance. “Are you ready for this?”

He looked as scared as she felt, but he waited for her. When she wouldn’t, or couldn’t, he reached over and gently took her hand. His closed over hers with warmth and strength, and she locked onto his eyes, energized at a touch which sent shivers running up her neck and down her back. Aisi’s eyes burned into Vance’s as Father J gripped her other hand.

Vance returned her intense gaze until all went black, and together they plunged into a cloudy haze of darkness.

Chapter 14: The Old Man with the Lamp

Her old house. She’d never wanted to return, even in dreams, yet there she stood. The roof of the covered front patio had a gaping hole right above the door, which hung on broken hinges. The black sky above her poured rain, and rivulets of water gushed over the edge of the hole onto the patio. Despite that, she remained dry. She glanced over at Vance, who still held her hand tightly. She stood untouched by the chilly night and the icy rain on the porch where she and Nakia used to play.

She touched the railing of the porch, where a frayed piece of rope flitted in the cold wind. She smiled. “Nakia and I used to tie a couple of jump ropes to this post and turn it so we could play Double Dutch.” The plastic handle from the old jump rope still dangled on the other side of the rail, and she heard a hollow plastic thump when she let it fall again. “I was terrible, but she was good. She said if we practiced enough we could be guest stars on Sesame Street.”

Vance looked from the railing to just beyond her, squinting. “Is that a light coming toward us?” He turned around, looking for Father J, but he was not there. He glanced at his hand, still holding tight to hers. “Aisi, if I let go of you, am I really letting go?” He started to get oriented to where he was and just seemed to notice that they weren’t really where they seemed to be. He tentatively dropped her hand. Nobody vanished. He smiled, looking nervous but happier than a kid in a penny candy store. He leaned on the rickety railing, which should have fallen under his weight, but it held firm. They intently watched the light which moved slowly closer, inching its way toward them.

It bobbed up and down, and soon a form taking long strides took shape behind it. The shadowy man in old miner’s clothes marched confidently up to the porch, a hard hat with a light attached showing him the way in the dark. A heavy pick axe was tossed over his shoulder, and his other hand firmly grasped a bucket. He walked confidently up to the door, peered in the window, set down his bucket, and knocked on the door.

Aisi’s father quickly opened it, hurried out, and closed it quietly behind him. The moment he stepped out, the porch appeared as Aisi remembered from when she lived there. It looked cheery even in the dark, with a fresh coat of white paint, bright red shutters, and a flower wreath hanging from the door. A double stroller and a few scattered, empty diaper boxes littered the porch. Aisi and Vance moved toward the two men, the creaky porch silent beneath their feet as they walked.

The older man looked at a paper where he scribbled something in scratchy cursive. “Uh, Mr. Turay? You the one who wants work done this late at night?”

Big Billy nodded. “I am.”

The man pushed his hard hat back to scratch his forehead thoughtfully. “You gonna tell me why I had to come dig up some rocks for you at this late hour? Why couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“I will pay you double as promised. It must be done tonight.” He put his arm on the man’s shoulder to guide him around the back of the house in the starry night. “I have an old well that I must fill in. I have twin toddlers, you see, and it must be filled in to protect them from it. One of them likes to wander, and we found her crawling in here this evening.”

The old man grinned. “I understand. Wouldn’t want to wait myself, in that case. Last Christmas my daughter gave me the prettiest little granddaughter you ever did see.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a worn leather wallet. He flipped it open and showed Billy a picture of a chubby, pink-cheeked, blonde baby girl with curly pigtails. The light from his headlamp shone on one image after another pulled from his wallet, though the proud grandpa beamed brighter. “Monica Rose is her name. Ain’t she pretty?”

Billy smiled indulgently, still nervous but polite. He glanced toward the edge of his property, by the trees, where a faint red glow pulsated menacingly through a heavy bush. He closed his eyes for a moment, brow furrowed in concentration. When he opened them again the red glow had vanished but a hint of red blazed briefly in his eyes. He rubbed his forehead, like he had a headache.

“You ok, son?” the man asked. He may have caught a glint of red because he looked at Billy with uncertainty. He took a step back and looked around. “I thought I saw…trick of the light, maybe?”

“I will help you,” Billy said, the red gone from his icy eyes as he looked down at the man. “My wife is with the girls. If the noise wakes them, she will tend to them. I need this done tonight.”

“Well, you called the right man for the job,” he said confidently, letting his pick axe fall to the ground beside him as he shifted his hat back to scratch his head. “I work quick and I’m real good, so let’s get crackin’.”

Billy showed him the way to the dark hole in the ground, surrounded by cracked and broken rock. The hole was just big enough for a man to wriggle through. The man squatted down and shone his headlamp into the chasm, which disappeared deep into the tree-covered hill behind the house instead of down into the ground, as a well should. “Say, this is something else! I’ve never seen a well like this.”

“I will get the wheel barrow and cement,” Billy told him, quickly walking back to a detached garage, which stood on the other side of the yard behind the house. “Don’t get too close. You should stay with me. Come, let’s get the cement.”

The man ignored him as Billy jogged away, fascinated. “Is this an old mine shaft? Sure ain’t no well. I think I see something down there.” Billy, who vanished around the corner of the house, could not hear him. His voice echoed down the rock tunnel as he pushed himself further into the shaft to get a better look.

Soon the man’s feet vanished into the hole as something jerked him in, a burst of red light flared, and the man’s shrieks of terror were swallowed up in collapsing rock and flames. Billy ran back toward the hole, shouting, hands outstretched toward the hole. Flames licked the bushes surrounding its opening as large rocks avalanched over the hole. The fire from behind them flared angrily, white hot as Billy murmured, “
Servo is domus. Debello totus malum,
” over and over. Tears streamed down his face as the man’s screams suddenly fell silent. The rock over the hole melted under the intense heat from the shaft, and Billy fell to his knees when the shaft finally sealed and the glow from beyond was gone. He buried his face in his hands, sobbing and muttering angrily to himself.

Aisi and Vance approached Billy carefully as he knelt, weeping, next to the shaft. Vance shook his head with a frown. “I know what he said before. ‘Protect this house and vanquish all evil,’ but what is he saying now?”

Aisi knelt beside her father. She reached out nervously, unsure if he could feel her, but she still put an arm over his shoulder as his body trembled and shook, his chest heaving. She looked at Vance after a moment. “He keeps saying, ‘another life lost to my stupidity. Forgive me, Jok.’”

“Billy? Billy! Where are you?” The front door opened and light from the house flooded the front yard as her mother stepped out. “I thought I heard something out here.” Jorja’s steps echoed on the wooden planks as she walked the length of the home’s wrap-around porch. She tightened the sash of her bathrobe. She folded her arms when she saw him standing and looked at the muddy splotches on the knees of his pants. “You had to wear your nice pants out to fix the hole again, Billy?” She shook her head with exasperation. Her long, red braid fell over her shoulder and she clucked her tongue with disapproval. “Good thing you’re so cute. I might have to hurt you otherwise. Have you ever tried to get grass and mud stains out of that fabric?” She reached toward him and pulled him into a hug as he came close.

With a still shaky voice, he asked, “Are the girls safe?”

Jorja, confused, pulled back and studied his face with concern. “Well, sure they are. I put them in bed just now. Nakia went right to sleep, but Aisi was throwing her stuffed animals and screaming, as usual. I’ll never understand why that little girl doesn’t like sleep. I thought I heard a knock but she was carrying on so much.” She rubbed his muscular arms tenderly. “Are you okay, Billy? What’s going on?”

Aisi could see in his eyes the same resolve she felt when she had to make up something to protect the people around her and keep control of her world. “I fixed the hole. Our girls are safe.”

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she let it pass. She put her arms around him and leaned her head against his shoulder as she guided him back inside. “Let’s make some hot chocolate and light a fire tonight, ‘kay? I’m ready to kick your butt in a game of slapjack.”

Billy’s eyes were still a little puffy, but he managed a faint smile. “You know you never win with me, and you are the one who taught me to play. You must like being punished.”

She laughed as they went inside and the screen door slammed shut behind them. “Oh, that’s big talk, big guy! Let’s see you put your money where your mouth is! I am gonna spank you this time!” The door closed behind them, taking with it the light that illuminated the yard. Vance and Aisi found themselves in the dark, the twinkling stars the only light for a quick moment before the scene dissolved around them and reformed almost instantly into something completely unfamiliar.

Chapter 15: Monica

Aisi no longer stood outside on the porch of her old home. She found herself in an unfamiliar apartment with Vance close to her side, his hand again in hers. In the middle of the room, a blonde woman and a little girl who looked a lot like her knelt on the ground on either side of a coffee table.

Aisi approached, wanting to see their faces. The woman leaned forward. She wore shredded, cut-off jeans and a tight floral print tank top. As she leaned, she put her weight on her elbows and looked intently at what appeared to be an ancient board game, full of numbers and letters in archaic script. Odd symbols covered the edges. The woman touched an object in the middle of the board with both hands pressed almost reverently against it. The little girl’s chubby hands rested on top of her mother’s.

“What are we doing again, Momma?” the little girl asked, looking bored. Aisi looked closer and recognized this was an older version of the little girl she saw seen moments before in a picture from the old miner’s wallet. Monica Rose. She glanced out the window for some context, a landmark, anything that would give her a clue where she might be.

Lights from her high school’s football stadium glared at her through empty bleachers. Aisi was in a small apartment complex with a seedy reputation, across town from her father’s diner. This place was known for being a rat-infested hole. She glanced down at the filthy, matted carpet and around at the dingy, wood-paneled walls. A stereo thumped loudly above, rattling the walls in the tiny apartment. As she glanced around she shuddered and decided the reputation was well deserved.

“Do you know where we are?” Vance whispered.

Aisi nodded grimly. “We are in the nasty roach-motel apartments across from my high school, and this little girl happens to be the person who hates me more than anyone in the world right now.”

He looked confused as he looked more closely at the girl. “What do you mean?”

“Monica Rose. She is the old man’s granddaughter and my arch nemesis.”

Vance smirked. “Doesn’t that seem a bit melodramatic?”

Aisi shrugged. “Probably. I mean, I think it’s her. She obviously has the right name, and if this is her and her mom, she looks just like her mom when she grows up.” She studied the trim, athletic build of the woman kneeling, studying the board with a knotted forehead. The woman closed her eyes, like she was frustrated or trying to think hard. She tilted her head toward the ceiling with intense concentration, short blonde locks falling back. Yes, Monica Hart was a perfect carbon copy of her mother.

“What is this game supposed to do, Momma?” the little girl asked as she got up, clearly uninterested. “It’s stupid. Can we play my matching game instead? I want my zoo animal cards.”

“Not now, baby girl,” the woman said impatiently. “I think I am getting close to an answer.”

“To what? All that stupid thing does is show me letters and I already
know
all those.” She flopped grumpily on the couch, arms folded as she scowled.

A knock at the door startled them both. Monica jumped off the couch excitedly and ran to answer it. She peeked out the grimy window next to the door, pushing aside dirty, white, tasseled curtains to see who it was. A pair of eyes met hers right at her level, and she squealed with delight before she yanked the door open. “Momma, it’s your boyfriend!”

“Hey, baby, I brought you some flowers today,” the man said, pulling a bouquet from behind him as he entered. These flowers had obviously been picked moments before. A little bit of soil still clinging to the roots of the cosmos and purple cone flowers dropped unceremoniously onto the already dirty carpet.