Will Wilder #3

by Raymond Arroyo

  “You are!” Renny jumped in front of Will and kind of ran backward so he could hold his attention. “You just killed Sorec Middle School, you’re the hero of Perilous Falls, and the hottest cheerleader anywhere is having milkshakes with you tonight. Lilith told me that you all were meeting. She was really excited—”

  Lilith! I’ve got to meet Lilith.

  Will thanked Renny for coming and ran to the locker room. Andrew had been searching for Will inside the room to congratulate him. But Will entered and changed so quickly into his khakis, he was headed out the door, pith helmet in hand, by the time Andrew caught sight of him.

  “Hey, Will-man!” Andrew yelled to no avail. “Will-man.”

  Will didn’t even hear Andrew’s calls. He ran out the locker room and sped toward Bub’s, thinking only of Lilith and protecting the “maiden” who might protect him.

  “What do we do?” Simon whispered rather loudly to Cami as they faced the decrepit old man at the front of de Plancy Cemetery.

  “I don’t know,” Cami said, smiling weakly.

  “His name is on the tombstone,” Simon squeaked, sheltering behind Cami. “He’s dead. He even looks dead.”

  “What y’all so sceered for? What are ya doing here?” Lemar James asked, his mouth cracked and ashy.

  “Run,” Cami told Simon, pulling him along. “We’re going to run—to Peniel.”

  And they did. The pair charged down the path and rounded the front gate, high-stepping it to Dura Lane.

  The bewildered old man stood alone in the middle of the path lined with nothing but headstones and crabgrass. He was so confused. Since that flash of light, he hadn’t seen anyone for days, until he happened upon the two kids. Lemar James wanted to go home. Only he couldn’t remember where home was. “Keep everyone away. Keep everyone away,” he repeated to himself, echoing the voice inside his head. He wandered down the path in his confusion, hoping the execution of his duties would bring him clarity.

  Cami and Simon were halfway up High Street and far enough from the cemetery to stop and catch their breath. “The game is probably almost over. Maybe we should head over to Burnt Offerings and wait there for Will?” Simon said.

  “I think it’d be better to tell Miss Lucille what we saw,” Cami said, trying to regain her composure. “And then we’ll go meet Will. Peniel is not that far away.”

  “Doesn’t Will deserve to know that he’s been socializing with dead people?” Simon exploded.

  “Okay, I’ll call him,” Cami said, removing the helmet and returning it to Simon’s shopping bag.

  Will’s phone rang, but he did not pick up.

  “Keep walking,” Simon said, pushing Cami up the street and checking behind them. “We don’t want Count Dracula catching up with us.”

  Cami dialed Andrew’s number as they walked, hoping he was with Will. After several rings, Andrew’s voice broke through. “Where are you guys?”

  “Simon and I are headed to Peniel,” Cami said. “I need to talk to Will.”

  “Peniel? Why are you all going there?” There was noise in the background. “I’m sitting in our room at Burnt Offerings. I thought we were all meeting here after the game?”

  “We didn’t make the game. Simon and I went to the cemetery and we’ve got to tell Miss Lucille what we saw. Where is Will? I need to talk to him.”

  “Unless you’re that cheerleader, Lilith, I don’t know if he wants to talk to you. I heard he was going to Bub’s to meet with her. He didn’t even say goodbye to me when the game was over. After making like seven touchdowns he was acting all—”

  “Go to Bub’s and tell him to come meet us at Peniel,” Cami demanded into the phone. “Carry him if you have to, but bring him there. That kid Renny Bertolf that he’s been hanging around with—he’s dead. One of the open graves at the cemetery has a headstone with his name on it. He died two years ago!”

  Andrew jumped to his feet. “How can he be dead if he’s walking around?” He grabbed a roll from the table and headed for the door.

  “Just go to Bub’s. Call me when you get there.” Cami hung up just as she and Simon neared the gates of Peniel.

  * * *

  At Bub’s, Will drummed his fingers on the front table, his eyes trained on the door. Every table was filled but one. A steady stream of people pushed through the glass door, but no Lilith. Will had already inhaled a milkshake and was losing patience. “Where is she?” he asked quietly, checking the faces at the tables.

  Just as he was about to leave, Renny Bertolf passed by the front window. He was staggering—bruised and bleeding from his mouth. Will ran to the door and all but caught the boy as he stumbled in.

  “What happened to you?” Will asked.

  “Caleb,” heaved Renny, wiping the trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. His jacket arm was ripped and there were cuts on the side of his face. “I was walking over here with Lilith. He found out you were coming to meet her and went crazy. I tried to stop him, but…”

  “Where are they now?” Will yelled. People at nearby tables stared in their direction.

  “The cemetery. He said something about the cemetery,” Renny struggled to answer.

  “The CEMETERY?” Will’s face turned red with anger. Of course a demon would head for the cemetery. A place of death…surrounded by death…It would have more power there. “We’ve got to go save her.”

  “I’m scared, Will.” The small boy looked as if he’d been running in traffic—and got to know each car intimately.

  “You’ll be fine with me,” Will said, adjusting his pith helmet. “I can take care of Caleb—whatever he is.” Will stormed out the door of Bub’s, with Renny hobbling behind him.

  * * *

  Aunt Lucille sat at her father’s desk and deliberately dialed Dan Wilder’s number, with Simon, Cami, and Abbot Athanasius surrounding her. “Dan, I’ve just learned something disturbing and I need your help.”

  The kids couldn’t hear Dan’s response, but one side of the conversation was enough to get the meaning.

  “We don’t know where he is. Cami and Simon were just at the cemetery. It turns out that Renny boy that Will befriended—he’s been dead for two years….Dead. Yes, dead. His grave was one of those disturbed.” Aunt Lucille grimaced and stared at the receiver for a split second. “Hello, Dan? Are you there? Oh, good. He may be with Will now….We don’t know….Your son’s life may be at stake….That’s what we do when a member of the family is in danger; we step in to protect them!…I might need Leo and Marin’s help….I understand that, but Will is in danger NOW!”

  While she argued with Dan, Cami’s cell phone rang. It was Andrew. She retreated to a corner and took the call.

  “He’s not here,” Andrew said, standing in the doorway of Bub’s Treats and Sweets. “I don’t know where he got to. Hold on.” Andrew went over to the first table nearest the door, one of the three against the front window. “Excuse me, have you all seen a kid with dark hair in a pith helmet? Seen where he went?”

  A rotund man in overalls, with the remains of a doughnut in one hand and powdered sugar covering his thighs, looked up. “Sure, he was here a few minutes ago, right, Harry? The Wilder boy.”

  His emaciated tablemate in a seersucker jacket nodded, continuing to sip his coffee.

  “Couldn’t a been more than a few minutes ago. He shot out of here with some other little kid who was all busted up.” The fat man stuck his tongue out in mock disgust.

  “What did the kid look like?” Andrew asked.

  The thin man in the seersucker jacket smirked, raised his gray eyes to meet Andrew’s, and deadpanned: “Looked like the Phantom of the Opera’s son.”

  The fat man giggled. “He did look like the phantom’s son. Haa haaaaaa. Only this kid was messed up, like he’d been hit by his daddy’s falling chandelier.” He swatted his friend for a reaction a
nd got none.

  “Did…did you see which way they went?” Andrew stammered.

  “The Wilder boy screamed something about the cemetery. ’Spect that’s where they went. Right, Harry?”

  The other man took a swig of coffee and silently nodded.

  “Thanks,” Andrew said, running from the shop. “Will went to the cemetery. And Renny’s with him,” he blurted into the phone.

  Cami relayed the information to Lucille Wilder, who resumed her heated call with Dan. “He’s at the cemetery. Go there with the kids….Dear, I know all that….Where did they lure Daddy and your father? Exactly. Their power is strongest there. This demon is playing for keeps. If you care about Will, you’ll meet me at the cemetery with the children, Dan, or I’ll come get them myself.” She slammed down the phone and turned to Athanasius.

  “It’s a Sinestri trap—one the Wilders keep falling into.” Lucille rose, flexed her fingers, and headed for the staircase. “I was too late to help my father and my brother, but I’ll be darned if I fail Will.” Her blue eyes went misty. “We can’t.”

  “I’ll run up ahead. Join me there when you can,” Athanasius advised. Without another word, he gathered up Cami and Simon and raced after Lucille down the spiral staircase—all of them intent on reaching de Plancy Cemetery as quickly as possible.

  Will and Renny crouched next to a cracked mausoleum in the middle of the graveyard. When they heard Caleb screaming, they ducked behind the nearest structure—a bricked family tomb—which unbeknownst to Will was emblazoned with the name MODO.

  Ten yards off, Caleb held Lilith by her arms and seemed deranged. He spoke quietly, then burst into yells, making it hard for Will to understand what was being said. Will could hear the yells, but Caleb’s whisperings were unintelligible.

  “You said to meet you here. I met you here,” Caleb said intensely. “You said to get the other guys to jump him. We jumped him. You said to wrap him in chains. I wrapped him in chains. IT DID NO GOOD.” Caleb wore an expression of anger and frustration that Will had never seen before. He strained to hear what was being said, to no avail. But his nose itched and he fought back a sneeze.

  Caleb gripped Lilith’s arms tighter. “You said you’d tell me! So what is it? Why the quiet act all of a sudden?”

  Will grabbed at the corner of the tomb, ready to sprint and knock Caleb into next Tuesday. Watching the scene, he gripped the wall tighter, bits of the brick turning to pebbles in his hand.

  “Don’t go. You don’t know what he’ll do,” Renny warned.

  “I can take him,” Will spat out. “I just demolished him on the field. I have to protect her.” Will never took his eyes off Lilith, whom he could tell, even from a distance, was panicked. She struggled to break free of Caleb’s grip.

  Renny held Will’s arm. “If he’s a monster or whatever, he’ll destroy you.”

  “He won’t. I’m stronger than he is,” Will said, sneezing into his hand.

  “How, Will? How are you stronger than him? Look what he did to me.”

  “You don’t have to worry.” Will touched his chest. “I wear this amulet.” He pulled it out of his shirt so Renny could see. “Don’t tell anybody. But so long as I have this, I’m like invincible. It has the hair of Samson inside, and it gives me incredible power.” He tucked it back into his shirt. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

  Caleb raged at Lilith in the clearing. “I’ve had it with you! When do I get my strength? You promise, and you promise, and you tell me nothing. I thought you liked me!”

  Will had heard enough. He got to his feet and rushed Caleb.

  Abbot Athanasius stepped out of the shadows, blocking his path. “William!” he hissed. Will skidded to a stop.

  “What do you see?” the abbot asked.

  “He’s a demon.” He pointed at Caleb. “He’s a demon. He’s going to hurt her—Lilith.”

  “I didn’t ask that. What do you SEE?”

  Will blinked in anger and confusion. “I don’t see anything,” he hissed at the abbot. “But I know he’s a demon. I can feel it.”

  “Feelings are changeable,” the abbot said, situating a thick purple ribbon around the back of his neck. “Your gift was never your feelings but your sight. I hope it is not too darkened. Stay here.” He turned to Caleb, arms at his side, touching his forefingers and thumbs together. The abbot intoned Latin as he pointed three fingers of each hand squarely at the boy. Caleb backed away from Lilith with a look of sheer terror. A thin blue light radiated from the abbot’s hands and reached toward Caleb.

  “What are you doing? Who are you?” Caleb screamed.

  “Discede ergo nunc, discede, seductor. Tibi eremus sedes est. Tibi habitatio serpens est: humiliare, et prosternere.”

  “What do you want? Are you her dad?” Caleb stumbled over a gravestone and Lilith hid behind a tree.

  “Silence, spirit! You answer my questions alone,” the abbot said. “Your name? And how many of you inhabit this boy? YOUR NAME?”

  “I…I’m Caleb Gibbar. I…I…”

  The abbot trained both the blue rays on him and moved closer. “Your name, beast? Not the boy’s. YOUR name?” Caleb tucked his head to his chest and covered it with his arms.

  In front of the de Plancy Cemetery, Dan Wilder pulled up just in time to catch Aunt Lucille approaching with Cami and Simon, who was still holding the brown shopping bag with the St. Joan helmet inside.

  “How’s that for perfect timing, dear? Thank you for coming,” Aunt Lucille sang out. “Simon and Cami, run ahead and find Will. I’ll be right behind you with the kids.” She opened the back door of the station wagon and Leo and Marin climbed out.

  “Stay close to Aunt Lucille, okay, guys?” Lucille turned sternly to Dan. “You’re not coming?”

  He clutched the wheel of the car and shook his head. “I can’t…I can’t…”

  “Well, I haven’t time for a debate, dear. And neither does Will.” She took Leo and Marin by the hand and marched them into the darkness of the cemetery.

  Dan sat in the car, the window rolled down, listening to a boy shrieking in the distance. It wasn’t Will, but it was a boy. He reluctantly stepped out of the car and slowly walked toward the cemetery gates when he was startled by a dog leaping at his pant leg. It was an old golden retriever. It couldn’t be…

  “Raphe?” The dog yipped and licked his hand. “I thought you died a long time ago, boy.” He dropped to his haunches and found himself suddenly laughing as the dog lapped at his face. When Dan was younger, Raphe was his constant companion. They went everywhere but to school together. He hadn’t seen him since that horrible day when he was twelve—the day he lost his father and mother. Dan was like a boy again, nuzzling his old friend in the shadows. Tears, which he could not explain, spilled from his eyes.

  “Danny.”

  He turned toward the huge oak tree that grew along the cemetery fence. There stood a figure in the dark, beneath the tree’s broken shadow. She called his name again. Dan wiped his eyes and stood warily.

  “Yes?”

  Into the light stepped a woman with white hair and high cheekbones. She yanked at her green shawl, brushing tears away from her eyes.

  “Danny. That’s actually not Raphe; it’s his son. I never quite got over Raphe either.”

  Dan inched closer, with wonder and trepidation. There were sprays of wrinkles around the woman’s eyes and she was much smaller than he remembered her being. Slack-jawed, as if encountering a ghost, he slowly mouthed, “Mother?”

  In the cemetery, the abbot relentlessly demanded the name of the demon inhabiting Caleb. Over and over the boy kept muttering his own name, until he finally passed out.

  The abbot dropped his hands in frustration. “This is useless. He’s not possessed.”

  “He is,” Will protested. AH-CHOO! AH-CHOO! “He is. I know it. The demo
n has to be right here.”

  “He’s right,” Renny called out from the edge of the Modo tomb. “I saw him with my own eyes. Caleb’s the demon. You’ve got to kill it.”

  Cami, Andrew, and Simon came running up the path. “Don’t listen to him, Will,” Cami yelled.

  “He hurt me badly—three times,” Renny said hysterically. “He’ll kill us all if we don’t stop him.”

  “Renny Bertolf has been dead for two years,” Cami told Will, pointing to the open pit nearby. “His grave is over there. I don’t know how he’s walking around, but he is.”

  Will sneezed madly. He was dazed with confusion. How could Renny be dead? He’s standing right there. Caleb has to be Asmodeus. He has to…Where did Lilith go? Lilith knows Renny. I’ve got to protect her. She “must be protected.” “Lilith? Lilith?” Will screamed.

  “What do you see, William?” the abbot asked. “We need your eyes.”

  Will panted, looking all around him. Renny was still standing by the tomb. Andrew, Simon, and Cami were walking toward him. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. No extra shadows. No glimmering lights. No creatures.

  “Nothing,” Will bleated helplessly. “I see nothing.”

  Cami put an arm around him. “It’s okay, we’re here for you.”

  “I’m here for you too.” Renny shuffled forward. He was so alone and pitiful. “They’re trying to separate us. They’re jealous that we’re friends.”

  “I’m going to just stand behind you if you don’t mind,” Simon whispered to Andrew.

  “I was the only friend who cared when they were ignoring you,” Renny said. “They don’t understand us.”

  “Stay where you are,” the abbot ordered Renny.

  “Tell him I’m your friend,” Renny pleaded with Will. “Don’t let them hurt me too. How can I be dead? I’m right here.”

  “He’s dead, Will. That’s Renny Bertolf’s body, but there’s no kid in there,” Cami said, staring the small boy down.