by Jay Barnson
Appropriate for Teens, Intriguing to Adults
Immortal Works LLC
1505 Glenrose Drive
Salt Lake City, Utah 84104
Tel: (385) 202-0116
© 2019 Jay Barnson
http://rampantgames.com/blog
Cover Art by Ashley Literski
http://strangedevotion.wixsite.com/strangedesigns
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For more information email [email protected] or visit http://www.immortal-works.com/contact/
ISBN 978-1-7324674-8-4 (Paperback)
AISN B07NJZQVLD (Kindle Edition)
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
About the Author
To my mom, for life and legends. To Ellen, for the history.
Jack Parsons stood with his John Deere hat on his head and “Grandma” Annie’s sword in his hands. He guarded two powerful witches as they bolstered the magical seal on the crossroads between his temporary home “Around the Bend,” and his home in Maple Bend, West Virginia. Whoever was on the other side had been tearing the seal down at record speed. Jack stood as a last resort in case Jenny and Annabelle Rose failed.
Annie wiped the sweat from her forehead as she and Jenny finished the old song together. She ran her hand through her silver waterfall of hair, which only bore a hint of the red that matched her granddaughter’s. “I reckon that’ll do for now. But we got ourselves another problem. Normally, I’d expect that seal to last a few years. Even Evelyn shouldn’t be able to tear it down in less than four months, but it’s only been one. It’s hard sending magic across worlds. She must have a whole gang of witches wearing it down.”
Jack asked, “How long can you keep doing this?”
“Until they give up, or we run out of the makings for new witch-bottles.” She raised the bottle they had just replaced and inspected it in the sunlight. The contents were shriveled, and a powdery ash that hadn’t been there a week earlier lined the bottom. “I don’t see any cracks. We might be able to reuse this bottle one more time if we have to. Still, at this rate, I’m going to need new supplies within a month or two.”
Jenny sighed. “At least that gives us some time.”
“Not really, it doesn’t. We’re old-school around these parts, and we can’t just shop at Food Lion or mail-order what we need. We need to send someone we trust from Hobbfield to get what we need from the larger towns. Jack, do you remember how to get to Branton?”
Jack nodded. “Of course.”
“Could you get there without a road?”
“I reckon I’d just follow the creek.”
“That’s what I do.” She turned down the path to the house, and the other two followed. “Hobbfield is the village where Branton is in our world. I’ll write y’all up a list to give to a friend of mine who lives there. She can make the supply arrangements. If you and Jenny leave before noon, y’all ought to get there before nightfall.”
Jenny’s jaw dropped slightly, and she asked, “What do you mean? Won’t you come with us?”
“I can’t tell you how much I want to, hon. I don’t feel safe leaving right now for even a couple of days. I just can’t figure why Thadeus has such a bug up his butt now. The portal’s been here for decades, and it ain’t been protected by anyone but our family.” She lowered her eyes. “I ain’t done such a great job at that. I’m sorry, kids. I should have been better prepared. I should have kept a better eye on the witch-bottle on the other side. I should have tried to find someone to help while there was still time.”
“You couldn’t have known,” Jenny said.
“I should have. I know the ol’ family stories well enough. We’ve been keeping an eye and a witch-bottle on the crossroads ever since Colette went ‘Round the Bend, even after we knew she was dead. My mama might not have been so vigilant, but I should have been. Especially after that son of a bitch in the white suit killed Debra.”
Annie wiped her cheek with the heel of her hand. “Anyhow, no use crying over spilled milk. Just gotta clean it up. I’ll take care of the list and give y’all the money you’ll need. We’ll work it out.”
Jenny scanned the treetops as they walked. Jack saw her lips move, mouthing the words to the old song that served as a protection spell. She was probably unaware she was doing it. Jack knew how she felt. While they hadn’t seen a trace of giants or other monsters in four weeks, these woods still didn’t feel safe and inviting. He doubted the woods back home in Maple Bend, eerily similar but far from identical in this parallel world, would ever feel safe again. He knew too much about what could lurk there.
That was okay. Safety was an illusion. So much of West Virginia had been mapped out, marked off, and connected by paved roads. What thrilled him now was what he didn’t know. It felt so familiar, but everything was new. So much of this place might never have been seen by human eyes. What was out there, where the familiar towns and cities should be?
“Thadeus mentioned a crossroads in Morgantown when he was talking to Evelyn,” Jack said, breaking the silence. “He said it was one-way. Why haven’t they tried to rescue her through that one?”
Annie shook her head. “Who knows? Maybe they have. I ain’t got anything to go on but family stories and village rumors.”
Jack mulled this over for a moment. “Begging your pardon, ma’am, but I’ve got a question.”
Annie looked sideways at Jack. “It’s ma’am now, is it? That must be some question.”
Jack shrugged. “I was just thinking about when folks booted Thadeus from this world in the first place. They cut him off entirely and shut down all the crossroads. He can’t come back even through this one. So how’d he know about his daughter? How did he know she was imprisoned?”
Annie sighed. “I can only speculate. I know our little crossroads is special, but it ain’t the only way here. Maybe it ain’t the only way back, neither. As far as I know, they’ve got themselves a telephone wire between worlds.”
Jack grunted a semi-response, and remained lost in more questions he knew Annie wouldn’t have answers to for the twenty minutes it took to return to Annie’s house. It was really
not much more than a shack, most of it built by Annie’s own hands with materials brought up from Hobbfield. She lived so far from the village to keep an eye on the crossroads, and to avoid drawing attention. Annie said she hadn’t planned for houseguests when she built the place. She and Jenny slept inside, on the same tiny bed, and Jack slept in a makeshift extension to the house created by canvas and boards. It felt like camping every night. Jack liked it. Still, he missed his bed in his own home. As tiny as the trailer house was, it was a mansion compared to this. He never let Annie suspect he was anything but appreciative.
While they gathered blankets and food in backpack-sized cloth sacks, Annie prepared a short list of supplies. She handed it to Jack with a small bag of coins. “Y’all take the list and the money straightaway to Vanya. Just ask for her. Everybody knows everybody there. She’s a good friend, and she’ll make all the arrangements. She also knows about me and where we’re from, so you can speak freely with her. Now, I’ve given you more money there than she’ll need. Make sure she accepts a fee for herself, then you two enjoy yourselves some spending money. Take your time. Spend a couple of extra days in Hobbfield. Y’all ought to get to know people other than me around here.”
“Do they speak English?” Jenny asked. It was a practical question. Jack hadn’t even thought of it.
Annie nodded. “Yes, but the dialect is different. They have a strange accent and use different words for some things, but y’all should be able to get along fine. Just don’t mention the crossroads or our world. They’ll know you ain’t from around here, but if they knew you come from the world where they exiled the greatest evil in history, they might get a bit unpredictable. Better to let that sleeping dog lie. Otherwise, just be safe. We ain’t seen hide nor hair of them giants since our fight with them, but that don’t mean they are gone, or that there ain’t other deadly creatures in these woods.”
“Like unicorns,” Jack said.
“Right. Y’all know. Take that ol’ sword, Jack, just in case, and be careful. Keep your wits about you, and don’t take off those amulets. If something goes wrong, those might give you a chance to survive and run away.”
Jack fingered the small handmade pouch hanging at his neck. It was like the one Jenny had made him when they came Around the Bend the first time. Annie had made this one, and while the construction seemed more solid, Annie claimed it was no more powerful than Jenny’s. As far as Jack was concerned, Jenny’s magic was better than a bulletproof vest. But then, a bulletproof vest wouldn’t be much help against a giant.
“We’ll be back before you know it,” Jenny said. “Don’t worry.”
They embraced. Annabelle Rose hugged her granddaughter first, and the two spoke quietly for a minute. Then Jenny stepped back, wiping her cheek. Annie wrapped her arms around Jack. She spoke quietly to him as well. “I know you’ve been champing at the bit to get exploring. I kept you cooped up with me too long. I meant what I said. Y’all should take your time once you’ve met with Vanya and get to know folks down in Hobbfield. I’ll be fine for a few days, so don’t let Jenny convince you otherwise. She needs to socialize, too, whether she believes it or not.”
“What did you and Grandma whisper about?” Jenny asked after they had left sight of the shack.
Jack shrugged. “She told me not to let you bring us back home too fast. She thought we should to get to know Hobbfield.”
Jenny was quiet for a moment, and then said the word, “Home.”
It took Jack a moment to realize what she’d said, and he stopped in his tracks. “Hey, I’m sorry, Jenny. I meant Annie’s place.”
She smiled thoughtfully back. “I knew what you meant. I only just realized that this place is more home to me now than Maple Bend. After all, I was only there about a week.”
“Oh,” Jack said, resuming his stride along the thin, grass-hemmed game trail along the side of the creek. The trickling water bore the same coppery hue of its twin back in West Virginia. How could something feel so familiar and so alien at the same time? Adjusting his hat, he said, “I mean, I worry about Mama. And Jessabelle, and Hattie. Sean, too. But, especially Mama. She’s not been good for a long time. If I knew for sure they were all okay, I think I’d rather be here, too.”
Jenny squinted at him for a moment. “Why? You don’t have family here.”
He shrugged. “I got a whole world. Hardly anybody back home has ever seen this place. It’s all new, waiting to be discovered. I wish we could have come here a couple of years ago. No man in the white suit, no Evelyn, just a new place to explore.”
Jenny raised an eyebrow. “This is all just an adventure to you, isn’t it?”
He grinned. “Well, yeah! I mean, I wish it wasn’t so dangerous, but I’m glad to be here. Isn’t it an adventure for you, too?”
Jenny grinned. “I suppose it is.”
They followed the creek along a shallow ravine for a half-hour. Jack took off his John Deere hat and wiped the summer sweat off his forehead with his arm, staring up the tree-veiled hill.
“What’s going on?” Jenny asked. “Do you see something?”
He flipped his hat back onto his head, covering hair that had been overdue for a haircut before he got stuck in this world. Between that and a month’s uneven facial hair growth poorly trimmed with Annie’s scissors, he would probably scare himself if he stumbled across a mirror. “I think so. Follow me.” He pushed his way up the hill.
“We should follow the creek so we don’t get lost,” she said, but she followed him up the slope of the ravine anyway.
Jack shrugged and said, “I’m sure we can find it again.” He was mostly sure. Even though the geography mirrored that of their world, and the woods he knew better than his own bedroom, much of it was different. The trees, in particular, didn’t form the familiar patterns that had grown and changed only slightly over the years in Maple Bend.
They topped the ridge to a plateau and Jack strode purposefully forward the length of a football field. The insect sounds felt familiar, although the constant drone of the cicadas he’d left behind weeks ago weren’t present. They’d probably died down in his world, too. A gentle breeze rustled the forest down the mountain. Trees surrounded them and covered them with a canopy of leaves that admitted only shifting spotlights of sun. Somewhere nearby, a woodpecker drilled in a rapid staccato.
Jenny stood beside him. “Okay, what did you see?”
“Do you recognize this place?”
She looked around, taking in the curtain of brown and green. “It’s pretty, but everything up here still looks like everything else to me.”
Jack pointed a short distance away. “Your Aunt Hattie’s trailer should be right here.”
Jenny’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
“I reckon so.”
She stared at the overgrown forest that could have been what Hattie’s property had looked like two hundred years earlier. Then she looked over at Jack, and asked, “What do you mean, ‘you reckon so?’ Does that mean you are sure, or that you aren’t sure?”
Jack chuckled and shrugged. “I reckon it means I’m mostly sure.”
Seconds passed, filled with the pleasant drone of insects and the whisper of a breeze through the treetops. Jenny broke the relative silence. “Jack, are we ever going to see Hattie again?”
“I hope so.”
“I worry about everyone else, too. I wish I knew they were okay.”
Jack nodded. Jessabelle and the others had done plenty to earn the wrath of Evelyn and her boss, Thadeus. Since they were still trying to break through the barrier between worlds, Jack’s friends on the other side were in a lot of trouble. He reminded himself they’d proven more capable of taking care of themselves than he was.
“Let’s go check out the church,” Jack said.
“What’s to check out? Look, I know you’re excited to see your hometown turned into a forest and stuff, but we really need to get to Hobbfield.”
“It’ll only take a few minutes. I ain’t gonna lo
ok for my house or anything, but I really think we ought to check out the church.” He started walking.
Jenny made an exasperated sound, but followed. “Why?”
“It’s stupid.”
“Duh. I could tell you that.”
“No, I mean...” Jack looked over his shoulder at her and waved in the direction of where the church would have been in their world. “When I overheard Thadeus and Evelyn talking that once, he said that the crossroads was originally where the church is.”
“So?”
“I thought maybe it only got closed on one side. Just like Annie said... some go only one way.”
“Closed on one side?” Jenny responded. “I don’t have any idea if that’s possible. We only seal off one side at a time, so I guess it’s worth checking out.”
They continued their hike toward the old church. It took a bit of guesswork because the terrain didn’t offer any clear natural markers. No bulldozers had come thirty years ago to build roads or prepare for development that would never happen. Jack felt like he was making his way through his own house in the dark.
At first, he didn’t notice the rocks. Covered by decades—maybe centuries—of dirt, moss, and vines, they blended smoothly with the forest and hills around them. As he gradually determined that the church could have stood nowhere else, the tall, strangely symmetrical nine mounds came to his attention.
He pointed them out to Jenny as they explored strange twenty-foot circle. Her mouth opened slightly, and she stared in what seemed like real fascination. “It’s like a smaller version of Stonehenge!” she exclaimed.
“A stone what?”
“Stonehenge. A circle of stones in Britain. They think druids put them there thousands of years ago.”
“Huh. Were they building a fort or something?”
“Nobody knows. Whoever did it is long gone and didn’t leave any records behind.”
“Then how do folks know it was... what did you call them?”
“Druids. They don’t. It’s just a fun mystery.”
