Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) (3 page)

“That you keep
the visit to
talking
,” she said.

“What do you
mean? What else would we do?” Trevor asked, attempting to look innocent.

“Son, you
haven’t been innocent since you were in my womb,” Anna said, making Simon
chuckle. “What I mean is that I have parameters here that I expect you to abide
by. First, no spells, no magic, none of that.”

“Okay,” Simon
said once it was clear that Trevor wasn’t going to acknowledge her first rule.

“Second, you
stay on campus with Anish and you don’t even so much as take a single step off
campus.”

“That’s a weird
request,” Trevor said.

“I don’t care if
it’s weird, and I don’t need your commentary on my rules. If you have a problem
with it, then by all means, stay home.”

“No, Mom, it’s
cool,” Trevor said, his excitement returning.

The boys turned
to walk away, but Anna stopped them by walking in front of them and blocking
the staircase. “Oh, and one more thing. I want to go on the record as saying
that I don’t like this. Although I don’t have a concrete reason for saying no,
which is why I said yes, I still have a feeling about this.”

“A feeling?”
Simon repeated.

“A feeling,”
Anna said. “Let’s just say that I don’t want last year’s events to become an
annual affair.”

“If only we
could be that lucky,” Trevor said. “Minus the death, of course.”

“Of course,”
Anna said.
That’s what makes me nervous
, she thought.

As the boys
traveled down the stairs chattering to each other in teenage boy code, Anna’s
hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention. She decided to blame her
overly cautious and protective nature for her anxiety. After all, with the
portal closed, what could possibly go wrong?

Everything
, a small voice
in her head whispered. Against her better judgment, she decided to ignore it.

* * * * * *

2

Trevor and Simon
quickly walked down the stairs before his mom could come up with an actual,
valid reason to turn down their request.

“Wow,” Simon
whistled. “That went
much
better than I was expecting.”

“True that,
dude,” Trevor agreed, adding his own whistle. “We shouldn’t have waited until
the last minute.”

Simon ignored
him and turned the radio on to their favorite classic rock station. “Are you
ready for what’s coming?”

“Insanely
ready,” Trevor hummed as he shut the door. “This year has totally sucked
balls.”

“That’s a visual
image I really didn’t need, man,” Simon complained, laughing humorlessly.

“Once we get out
in the field, I’ll make sure to bring…”

DING DONG!

The sudden, rich
chime of the doorbell made them both jump.

“Dude!” Simon
cried. “Did you even
consider
the issue of volume when you wired the
doorbell to ring down here, too?”

“Jesus,” Trevor
moaned. “I’m sorry, I’ll fix it.”

If a doorbell
freaks us out…
Simon
thought as Trevor threw the door open and bolted up the stairs.

Tommy, Trevor’s
twin brother, had also heard the chiming. He nearly collided with Trevor as
they reached the front door. Although close in physical proximity, their once
intimate relationship had yet to recover after their father disappeared – well,
died. But only Trevor and Anna knew that.

Both brothers
reached for the door. Sam was standing on the other side.

“Sam!” Trevor greeted
happily. They had become close over the last several months. Simon had said
that near-death experiences and fighting demons probably had a way of bringing
people together.

“Hey buddy,” Sam
smiled as he fist bumped Trevor.

“I don’t get
you, dude,” Tommy said to Trevor. “What’s the deal with this friendship? You’ve
never been cool with people in positions of power. What gives?” His tone was
scathing.

“What’s it to
you, asshole?” Trevor shot back.

“Language!” his
mom chastised as she walked into the foyer. “Tommy, I don’t think they need
your approval to be friends.”

Trevor was
pleased with his mom’s support. Among his siblings, he had always been the
black sheep. But over the last few months his twin brother had become a douche.
Trevor wanted badly to tell his brother about the epic battle under the
Brickton mansion. But his mom, being the brilliant sheriff she is, had bribed
him with a summer internship at the police station. It turned out better than
he expected. Both Trevor and Simon had been such a help that they were each now
on the payroll.

 “Whatever,
wanna-be copper,” Tommy said. And with that, he turned away and jogged up the
stairs toward his bedroom.

“I wish I knew
why he’s so angry,” their mother said sadly. It pissed Trevor off that Tommy
was upsetting their mom. He made a mental note to tell him later what he could
do to himself and where he could go to do it.

“A word, Sheriff?”
Sam said formally. Trevor knew that tone. He also knew that if he wanted to get
any valuable information, he was going to have to be invisible.

“Of course,” Anna
said. While the official cops were waiting for them to become scarce, Trevor
and Simon were crawling through the basement window that led to the perfect
destination to eavesdrop.

“We need to talk,”
Sam whispered.

“About what?”
Anna asked nervously.

Simon was having
trouble hearing. “
Pssst!”

“
Shhh!
”
Trevor shot back.

“Can you hear?”
Simon asked.

“Not with your
big mouth flapping. Shut it.”

Simon shook his
head and kicked Trevor’s foot.

“I’m not 100%
sure the portal is closed,” Sam said out of the blue.

This surprised
Anna. “What? Why? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”
Anna repeated, flabbergasted. “Have you believed this for the past
year
?”

“Yeah,” Sam said
flatly.

“Why the hell
didn’t you say anything?”

“I don’t know.”

“Jesus, Sam, you
don’t know? Really?” She took a deep breath. “Is there something you’re not
telling me?”

Sam shrugged, and
then motioned for her to wait a moment. He walked over to the edge of the
porch. Without warning, Sam stomped his foot with considerable force.

Not having
expected Sam’s sudden movement, Trevor’s body shuddered a bit following the
slam. He immediately knew he had given up their location.

“What was that
about?” Anna asked.

“Come on out,
Trevor,” Sam said.

“Damn,” Trevor said
harshly.

“Uh, language,
young man,” Anna scolded. She stared daggers at Trevor and Simon as they
crawled through the latticework and dejectedly walked up the stairs.

“Really,” Anna
said, shaking her head. “You two look like puppies in a window trying to sell yourselves.
You both look pathetic with those big eyes. But I’m not falling for it this
time. Sam and I were having a
private
conversation.”

“We didn’t think
about that,” Simon said. “I’m sorry.” He elbowed Trevor.

“Me, too, Mom.
Sorry.”

“How in the
world did you end up under the porch?” Sam asked.

“Wraparound
porches are the bomb,” Trevor said with a wide smile.

“Indeed,” Sam
laughed.

“I think you
boys can head back in the house,” Anna said.

“No,” Sam said
softly. “If it’s okay with you, Anna, I would actually like for them to be
here.”

Anna just glared
at Sam.

“I know you’re
looking out for your boys,” Sam said sincerely. “I respect and appreciate that.
But I feel I need to point out that without these boys, we might possibly be
dead right now. And ignoring what happened, and ignoring that these kids are
walking Googles with all their knowledge about that shit, well, I think we
should give them the benefit of the doubt.”

Trevor could
tell that Anna wasn’t exactly thrilled with Sam’s monologue, but he also knew
his mother. Sam had acted like a father, trying to help his mom see the bigger
picture. And it was working. Slowly but surely, Anna was morphing back into a
human after being a formidable mother bear.

“You’re right,
Sam,” Anna confessed. She brushed the dirt off Trevor’s shirt and tried to
stroke his hair. He stiffly rejected her grooming attempts, as only teenage
boys can.

“You were
saying, Sam?” Simon urged.

“Right. Well, it
was Matthew and Anish who closed the portals, right?”

“Right,” Anna,
Trevor, and Simon answered in unison.

“Good,” Sam
chortled. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. They are amazing, especially Anish, as
far as knowing
anything
about demonology and all that jazz. But I can’t
help feeling like there’s something out there. Maybe a Wendigo, maybe not. The
reason I’ve kept quiet is because I know that it could just be me being
paranoid. It would make sense after what we saw last year. Plus, I really
didn’t feel like embarrassing myself. I’m sorry.”

“Sam, you have
absolutely nothing to apologize for,” Anna said as she put her hand on Sam’s
shoulder.

“We’re all there
with you,” Trevor said.

“And there’s
this question I have that’s been driving me nuts,” Sam explained. He looked at
Simon and Trevor. “And this is why I think it might be helpful to have you guys
here.”

“What are you
thinking?” Anna asked, genuinely curious and concerned about her friend. Sam
just happened to be the best damn cop she had ever known.

“I’m wondering
if there is any way to prove that it worked. You know, so we can know that they
actually closed the portal. But how exactly would you prove something like
that?”

Simon felt a shiver
crawl too slowly down his spine. “Damn…or, uh, I mean, darn,” he stuttered.

“What?” Anna and
Sam asked in unison.

“That’s a really
good question,” Simon answered. Trevor, Anna, and Sam looked at him like they
were disappointed in his response.
What? Should I just know random bullshit
like that?
is what he wanted to say. Instead, he just shrugged his
shoulders. “I honestly have no idea.”

“That’s
helpful,” Trevor snickered.

“Oh, and you
have a better answer, genius?” Simon asked, clearly irritated.

“No, you’re
right. I’m clueless, too.”

Anna and Sam
laughed. It was Anna who answered.  “Anish assured me that the Wendigos are
gone. And, assuming that none of us attempt to reconnect with those bastards, then
we shouldn’t have any new, unwelcome visitors from Hell. Or wherever it is they
came from.”

“Good deal,”
Trevor said. He promptly sat down on the porch swing, joined by Anna and Simon.
They swung in relative silence.

“It blows my
mind sometimes,” Simon said.

“What’s that?”
Sam asked.

“Like, did that
stuff really happen to us? I’m pretty smart, you know,” he said. He felt
slightly embarrassed for tooting his own horn. “But even in my wildest dreams,
I don’t think I ever
really
logically believed that all of this stuff
was real.”

“Well it’s a
good thing you’re smart enough to know that logic can only take you so far,”
Sam said, a serious expression on his face. “You have to use your instincts and
your gut when you’re facing down Death.”

Simon and Trevor
nodded gravely.

“It blows my
mind, too,” Anna seconded.

Trevor shifted
uncomfortably. “Am I stupid for suspecting that something is going to happen?”

“Why would you
be stupid?” Sam asked.

“Because I’m
thinking that Halloween is never going to be the same again.”

“I think after
what we’ve been through, you’re not being stupid at all, honey,” Anna said.

“I agree,” Sam
echoed. He turned and looked at his car, as if ready to leave. “Well, I just
wanted to share that piece of information,” he said quickly.

“What’s going
on?” Tommy asked as he stepped outside. Trisha was on his heels. She folded her
arms across her chest.

“Nothing at
all,” their mother lied. “Sam was in the neighborhood and dropped by for a
visit.”

“That sounds
exciting,” Trisha said as she walked back into the house.

“Nice,” Anna
said. “I’m sorry,” she said to Sam.

“I know what can
make the day more exciting,” Sam offered. “You guys wanna go out and get some burgers?”

“Totally!”
Trevor exclaimed.

“That solves my
lunch dilemma,” Anna said brightly.