Trefoil

Trefoil

by
: M C Moore

Copyright:
2011
M C Moore

ISBN: 978-1466459670

Published: November 2011

The right of M C Moore to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

Find out more about the author and upcoming books by following her on twitter @
mysticmoore
.

Dedication

Celine-for all you
r
support through this project.

Bronwyn-for all your editing help.

Mom-for believing in me.

Chapter
1...

The dreams had started about ten days ago. 
A single woman running through a forest, as if she were being chased by
an invisible attacker.
  There wa
s a sense of fear and urgency in her movements.  She felt no need to pause for the tree limbs or brush that impede
d
her progress.  She was heading for a single point in the trees, an arch of branches.  The
n with one fluid motion she put
something in her mouth and disappear
ed
.  Meckenzie kn
ew who the woman wa
s, she would know her anywhere.  Even if it had been eight years since she had seen her.  The woman was her mother.

As always, Meckenzie awakened
to find herself in her room, feeling out of breath with a killer headache
.  Always she wanted to cry and sometimes she did.  Meckenzie stumbled
into the bathroom to splash
ed water on her face.  Sleep had
been elusive.  Running a brush through her golden blond hair, she decide
d returning to bed would
only
encourage the dream to return.

So Meckenzie padded
quietly down the stairs to the first floor of the grand home that ha
d
been in her family s
ince it was built in 1887.  It wa
s one of the few homes
surrounding Central Park that wa
s still a single family residence.  She was always impressed that her great grandmother had taken so much care in designing the home with the architect.  The hand carved baluster that ran along the circular stair case through all seven floors.  The stained glass of the top floor that allowed rainbows to dance upon the walls throughout the day as the passing of the sun made its way across the sky. Her grandmother had loved so much having her whole family in residence when she was alive, that
wa
s why the house was so large.

Meckenzie had explored every nook and cranny with her brother and sister.  Many adventures had taken place here.  One would enter the home on the ground floor which housed the living room, dining room, kitchen and a parlor.  The circular stair case ended in a dome at the top, allowing light to flood down all the floors to the entryway.  The terrace floor was one down from the ground floor and housed the art gallery, ballroom, and a terrace complete with garden.  One floor down from that was the gym and swimming pool.  Their father had a room and a library on the second floor.   Her brother Taggart's room and the media room were on third floor.  Meckenzie and her sister Kellan had rooms on the fourth floor.  There was a fifth floor that had a guest room and parlor. Meckenzie had always felt like the house was too big for her family, especially after her mother had vanished.

Being the first born of triplets, Meckenzie was always the first one up, so it surprised her to find her brother Taggart ma
king coffee.

"You're up early."

Startled, Taggart dropped the coffee grounds on the kitchen floor.

"I have a Physics exam this morning, just trying to get in some extra cramming. You look like crap, trouble sleeping?"

"Thanks!"  Meckenzie growled at Taggart.

"No really, are you okay?"

"Just been having some weird dreams, well I should say a weird dream.  Is there anything for a headache in this house?"  Meckenzie and her siblings had never had to take any kind of medication.  While other kids struggled with colds and the flu, the Desmond trips, as the triplets were sometimes referred to, had perfect attendance for eight years running.  The only thing that had kept them home was that fateful spring after their tenth birthday when their mother had disappea
red.

Taggart gestured behind him, "I think dad has some stashed in the drawer by the sink."

"You look; I'll get the broom and clean up your mess."

Taggart was only a minute younger than Meckenzie, but she always felt like the older sister.  Always trying to clean up after him and keep him out of trouble.  Not that Taggart was prone to any
trouble that
was all Kellan.  Being the youngest of the three, Kellan always seemed to find trouble.

After sweeping the floor and downing some aspirin, Meckenzie went to wake up Kellan for their morning run.

Knocking softly, Meckenzie op
ened the door to Kellan's room.

"K,
wanna
run?"

Kellan mumble
d
, "
Mmphh
?!"

"K, I didn't sleep well.  I need to run, so get up."

"Ok.  Be ready in five."

Meckenzie changed into her running clothes and pulled her hair back.  With any luck, they could do five miles through Central Park before needing to get ready to make it to school on time.  That was if Kellan was really getting ready.

Throwing on her running clothes, Meckenzie slipped her iPhone around her arm, setting the run app so it would count her miles and play her run playlist.  She made sure she had the pepper spray she kept in a hidden pocket of her running shorts.

As she came out of her room, Kellan started down the stairs, iPod
in hand.

"Think we have time for five miles."

Kellan laughed, "I do, but you might not be able to keep up."

"Keep up?  I'm not getting any slower, I thin
k maybe you’re getting faster."

Kellan took off down the stairs and shouted over her shoulder, "Race you then."

Passing the second floor, Lawrence Desmond smiled at his daughters as they dashed down the stairs.  "You girls be careful and stick together if you’re going into the park at this hour." 

The sun barely had a hold on the morning sky as the girls started their run.  They had been running in this park for years and had mapped out a five mile path that led right back to the house.  Kellan took it slow at first, letting Meckenzie keep up, but eventually she started to pull ahead.  By half way through the second mile, Kellan was far enough ahead that Meckenzie would lose her around bends or bridges.  By mile three, she was nowhere in sight. 

Meckenzie listened to Arcade Fire play as she jogged on. 
These morning runs cleared her head and allowed her to focus her energy on the upcoming school day.  Kellan had always been athletic, and Meckenzie had felt that the only thing that they could enjoy together were these morning runs.  Lately though, Kellan had been outrunning Meckenzie by greater and greater distances. 
As she approached the Trefoil Arch, Meckenzie thought she saw someone hiding in the shadows.  It would be just like Kellan to try to scare her, but being cautious, Meckenzie reached for her pepper spray. 

As if the arch entrance was covered with a thin layer of water, it shimmered ever so slightly with the light of the rising sun playing off its surface.  Meckenzie thought her mind must be playing tricks on her.  The shimmering stopped and the shadow within the shadows was gone.  Surely it was lack of sleep and the lingering headache that created this illusion. 

Meckenzie stopped before the arch entrance.  Slowly turning 360 degrees, she observed the area around the entrance to see if the person had exited into the grass.  No one was around, not even Kellan.  Spoo
ked, she began running again, p
icking up her pace with the goal of just getting home.  

As she pushed herself to run faster, t
he burn in her legs felt good, but it reminded Meckenzie of her dream once more.  The frantic nature of the woman's run plagued her thoughts.  What was she running from?  Or maybe, she was running to something.  Lost in her deep thought she almost ran into traffic.  Meckenzie startled, stepped back up on the curb just in time to avoid the town car with a blaring horn.  She crossed at the light, with only the safety of her home and a warm shower in mind.

Meckenzie found Kellan in the kitchen elbow deep in a bowl of some sugary breakfast cereal.  She thought maybe Kellan had
seen something at the arch that
morning.  "Did you see someone under Trefoil Arch?"

Kellan laughed, dribbling rainbow colored milk from her lips.  "You mean like a troll?  Did he ask you to answer his riddle before he'd let you pass?"

"Never mind, it must have been the sun."
  Meckenzie's shoulders dropped, sleep was causing her to see things now.

"Not a troll then?"

"You are a dork.  Why would it be a troll?  It looked like a person, there one second gone the next.  They had to have been there when you jogged through."  Lack of sleep was throwing Meckenzie into a bitter mood.

"Nope."

Meckenzie grabbed a banana and headed up to her room.  She needed to wash the morning off of her and get her head cleared.  This was turning out to be a long day and she hadn't even made it to school yet.

Meckenzie stepped into the bathroom, shedding her iPhone and pulling her hair out of the ponytail she had pulled it up in.  She began slowly running a brush through her hair staring blankly at the mirror.  Suddenly Meckenzie had a feeling she was being watched so she turned around to see if anyone was behind her.  No one was there.  As Meckenzie turned back to the mirror, she could’ve sworn that it shimmered like a pool of mercury.  Meckenzie reached out and touched the mirror, not really knowing what she expected to find. 

She sat the brush down on the counter and decided that the lack and sleep and headaches were really getting to her.  Maybe a shower would solve all those problems.  Meckenzie had no way of knowing that her problems were just beginning.  No way of knowing that the day was just going to get longer and more complicated.

Chapter
2...

The walk to Darian A
cademy was only a few blocks.  Taggart had left early to get a few minutes of lab time in.  He was well on his way to medical school, and his acceptance into Harvard, which had come before school had started, was the first step.  Knowing what you wanted to do from a very early age was a blessing and a curse.  Taggart had been singularly working toward the goal of getting into Harvard since he was seven.  This means he had very little social life, no girlfriend, and very few friends.  He always said he didn't need many friends because he had a perfect set of bookend best friends in Meckenzie and Kellan.  He also claimed that when he was ready he'd have no problem getting a girlfriend, because what girl didn't want to marry a doctor. 

Meckenzie had very little clues as to what she wanted to do with her life.  She had considered the possibility of becoming a writer.  She exceled at school politics, though she thought that might be in part to her being pretty and part of the schools trendy triplet population.  Meckenzie thought it would be easier the closer she got to college.  Kellan had always been the athlete, and had been recruited to play basketball at Stanford, Connecticut, Texas, Tennessee and several other schools.  She had done several basketball camps in the last four years that had gotten her national exposure.  Not to mention Kellan seemed to be getting faster and stronger the last couple of years. 

Meckenzie had several acceptance letters in her room, but still had not decided which school she would attend.  The thought of being separated from her siblings was a troubling one, but she knew that after this year, her senior year, they would all be going their own directions to start their adult lives.  Meckenzie thought it might be worth it to go to NYU and just stay at home with her dad.  He would be all alone in that big house once the trips went off to college.

The warning bell rang as Kellan and Meckenzie jogged up the steps.  First period was the same for the trips;
a Humanities
block that involved English and Government.  They slipped into their table in the back next to Taggart, and waited for class to begin.

As Mr. Humphries started the lecture involving the writing of Plato and the fact that the government was a republic and not a true democracy, the door opened to the class.  Meckenzie felt him before he entered the classroom.  It was a dull ache in her head that felt malevolent.  The intake of air from the female population of the class could have sucked the oxygen out of the room.  His tall, lithe body was clothed in designer fashions, dark hair framed a finely chiseled face, and the icy cold blue eyes staring back at Meckenzie could not be real. 

As he handed Mr. Humphries a note, he scanned the class.  Meckenzie flinched as a buzzing sound like a horde of bees began in the back of her head.  She must have instinctively looked behind her.  Kellan asked, "What's wrong?"  Taggart reached over and touched her arm, the buzzing stopped. 

Mr. Humphries mumbled, "This is highly unusual.  Well, it seems we have a transfer student.  Students welcome Tynan Rabe.  He'll be joining us for the rest of the year.  Though it is highly unusual to get a transfer mid semester, we'll try to make you feel welcome.  You can take a seat in the back; I believe there is an opening at the Desmond table next to Kellan.  Raise your hand Kellan."

Tynan snaked his way through the tables.  Everyone watched him except for Meckenzie.  She only felt a sense of dread and sickness. 

As he sat down he smiled at the triplets, "Hi, I'm Ty." 

Kellan not privy to Meckenzie's growing apprehension introduced them.  "I'm Kellan; this is my sister Meckenzie and my brother Taggart." 

Ty smiled and gave a little chuckle.  "You all have Celtic names and an English surname."  He said without expecting a reply.  "My name is Celtic also, but my last name is German, it means Raven.  I’m a bit of a language aficionado."   Arrogance dripped from his last sentence like tar. 

Meckenzie's head began to buzz again and instinctively she touched Taggart.  The buzzing stopped.  She focused on Mr. Humphries droning lecture at the front of the room and prayed for time to move a little faster. 

When the bell
finally
rang for class change, Meckenzie thought that she might have to go home sick.  As soon as she reached her next class,
math or calculus as it was evilly
know
n
as, the buzzing had stopped completely.  Meckenzie couldn't be for sure, but it seemed as if Ty had inflicted this debilitating buzzing upon her.  It had started when he arrived and was gone when he had disappeared into the halls. 

At lunch Meckenzie spotted Kellan headed for the front door.

"Kellan!
  Wait!"

Kellan flipped around "Hurry, I need to run home and grab my assignment for Ms. Thompson's class.  I left it on the printer."

As the girls flew down the streets of New York headed toward Central Park, the buzzing started in Meckenzie's head.  She slowed down a bit and looked around.  She spotted Ty across the street staring at them.  Kellan realized belatedly that Meckenzie had stopped.  "Come on Meckenzie, are you ok?"

Just then, Ty turned and headed into a coffee shop.  Meckenzie could have sworn she saw him laugh. 

"Meckenzie, what are you looking at?"
Kellan asked.

"Did you see Ty over there?  He was staring at us.  I don't like this guy at all."

Kellan stopped and looked across the street, "I didn't see anything, now hurry up I have to get back to class.  You sure are jumpy today." 

"I just get this sick feeling and a buzzing in my head when he is around.  Maybe it's lack of sleep."

"Or maybe it's a crush."

Meckenzie flinched in horror.  She knew for sure there were no feelings of lust, love or even curiosity for Tynan Rabe.  He was simply and most definitely evil.