by Jay Barnson
“Were they giants? ‘Cuz these look like something a kid would do, but it would have to be a giant kid.”
Jenny shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
They drew closer. A shift in the breeze brought an odor... something rotten and horrible. It was the smell of death under the hot July sun. Then the wind changed again, and it was gone. While Jack tried to figure out the source of the smell, Jenny moved to the center of the mounds, heedless of the weeds grasping at her ankles. She leaned forward, peering into the distance as she turned in place, searching for something in the air. Finally, her shoulders dropped, and she shook her head.
“I reckon it was worth a shot,” Jack said.
Jenny nodded. “It certainly looks like where... huh...” She walked past the mounds, toward the creek.
“What do you see?” Jack asked. He lost sight of her past one of the mounds. He circled around it and then heard her stifle a shriek.
Jack dropped his sack, yanked the sword from the scabbard, and charged forward. Jenny stood near thick brush, one hand covering her mouth as she stared at the ground, backing away. Jack drew close, looking into the thick vegetation.
The dead man lay tangled in the weeds, twisted in a pose of agony.
Jessabelle-the-cat double-checked the surrounding forest before changing back into the girl. She had to be twice as careful these days. Once the discovery of the dead ogre and snallygaster corpse on the Casto’s property had made the news, the trickle of new faces in Maple Bend had turned into a flood. The population of the little unincorporated community had doubled over the course of a week, and many of the new residents sought things out-of-the-ordinary—monsters or supernatural creatures.
That would be her.
The King family, which owned most of the vacant properties in the area, were hiring everyone they could to fix up houses for rent. That meant that at least some visitors planned to stay awhile. Or maybe the King’s meant to turn Maple Bend into a tourist attraction. Jessabelle imagined the signs. “Come see the remains of the Maple Bend Dragon!” Maybe they’d change the name of the community back to the original—Blood Creek—for the sake of advertising. The locals assumed most of these new residents were journalists, scientists, or government workers. Now that Evelyn, the witch, was dead, Jessabelle was sure one of them was Evelyn’s replacement. But which one?
Jessabelle couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched, but as far as her feline senses could tell, there was nobody nearby. She’d feel safer changing after dark, but with the deaths and disappearances of the last several weeks, her mama demanded that she be home before sunset. Tonight she’d been unusually specific about Jessabelle being home by 6:00. In July, that meant broad daylight, even in the thick forested mountainside where the sunlight only hit the ground in isolated shafts.
Overcoming her paranoia, Jessabelle changed. With the change in form, she thought of herself differently. Now she was Jessabelle-the-girl. She didn’t know where her clothes went—or where her human body went—when she changed. In a way, she thought of it as a closet where she’d hang up Jessabelle-the-girl, and put on Jessabelle-the-cat, or Jessabelle-the-panther. On the inside, she felt like the same Jessabelle, but each body was a profoundly different experience. Her abilities, perceptions, and even emotions were different. It was so exhilarating that she felt sorry for normal cats and people who couldn’t change.
She also feared the day when she could no longer change for fear of discovery. Which form would she take? She always assumed she’d remain Jessabelle-the-girl, because that was how she’d been born, but since Jenny and Jack became trapped Around the Bend, being a girl hurt too much. She loved the strength and predatory instincts of Jessabelle-the-panther, but in the world of people it was too dangerous a form to take for long. Lately, she felt most comfortable as Jessabelle-the-cat. Her heart still felt like breaking no matter what form she took, but the cat cried less. Nobody wanted to ask the cat any questions. They ignored the cat.
But now, her mama expected Jessabelle-the-girl home at 6:00. Jessabelle checked her watch. 5:57. She would be late. Her mama would have to deal with it. Besides, she had never explained why she needed Jessabelle home so early, anyway.
Jessabelle-the-girl made her way back to what counted as “town.” A relatively flat, relatively clear area acted as the residential hub of Maple Bend. Several homes, many of them mobile homes as old as her mama, stood close to each other: A bald dirt-patch of human habitation in the middle of the wilderness.
She caught the movement of a curtain in the window as she grew close. She was only ten minutes late, yet her mama had been staring out the window waiting for her? Jessabelle released an exasperated sigh, and she steeled herself for the tongue-lashing she was likely to receive. What did it matter, anyway? With an intake of breath, she opened the door and stepped inside.
“Surprise!” the small crowd in the living room cheered. Little streamers decorated the walls, and a sheet of butcher paper hung over the couch that said, “Happy Birthday Jessabelle.” Her mama, Hattie, Sean, her classmate Emily Church from Branton, and a woman Jessabelle assumed to be Emily’s mother were all there, wearing silly striped pointed hats. Sean raised a similarly decorated party blower to his smirking lips and blew, the paper unrolling with an annoying noise.
Once she recovered, Jessabelle shook her head. “What’s going on? It ain’t my birthday.”
Linda Rose grinned. “You think I don’t remember the day my daughter was born? It was six-oh-two in the evening of July the second, sixteen years ago.”
Jessabelle looked around at everyone in confusion. “Today’s the second?” she asked.
Hattie chuckled and smiled at Linda. “Ah, to be young in the summertime.”
Jessabelle’s mama leaned forward and in a stage-whisper said, “I wanted to invite your cousin and Jack Parsons, but they ain’t around. Hattie said your cousin is off with another relative right now.”
Jessabelle nodded, biting her lower lip to prevent her mama from seeing any emotion. “Thank you, Mama.”
Her mama smiled. Her hair had only a tiny streak of gray, and otherwise remained the natural dark, dark color of Jessabelle’s own hair. She had more wrinkles and a few more pounds now, but she had been a stunning woman when she was Jessabelle’s age. Her father had been rugged and handsome, too, before he’d been killed in Afghanistan. How the two of them ended up with someone as plain as herself, Jessabelle couldn’t guess.
“Anyone up for some birthday cake?” Linda asked, to a round of agreement. She disappeared into the kitchen and then emerged with a cake lit with sixteen candles. She held it in front of Jessabelle. “Better blow this out in a hurry. Make a wish.”
That was easy. Jessabelle wanted Jenny, Jack, and Grandma Annabelle back. Jessabelle held back a rising sob, forced a smile, and blew on the candles. Four of them stayed lit. Jessabelle took another breath and finished them off. Everyone laughed.
“You get three strikes, right?” Hattie said with a laugh. “I’m sure your wish will come true.” Mama went back to the kitchen to cut and serve the cake. Hattie followed her and dished up ice cream.
Jessabelle spoke with Emily and Emily’s mother. “Thank y’all coming. I really wasn’t expecting this.”
Emily stared at the floor and then back at Jessabelle. “Did you really forget it was your birthday?”
Jessabelle nodded. “I did. Things have been so crazy around here. I didn’t even know what day it was!”
“Crazy. There’s no way I’d forget my sixteenth! But it ain’t until October. Can you believe we’ll be juniors this year?”
Jessabelle smiled. She decided she liked Emily. Anyone who would come all the way up from Branton to Maple Bend for a birthday party had to be decent friend material, right? “No, I can’t. It seems like we are barely out of junior high!”
“I know, right?”
And then that was it. They had nothing more to talk about. They both glanced awkwardly at the kitchen and wore
similar expressions of relief when Hattie and Linda came out with the treats.
“I ain’t even had dinner yet,” Jessabelle said.
“It’s a party,” Sean said. “Dessert comes first!”
Jessabelle ate, and the adults made small talk. Jessabelle still felt a clawing at her heart over the people that should be here. Their tiny house would feel crowded, but the feeling of home she was enjoying would be complete. Sometime soon, they’d get the man in the white suit, and it would be safe for everyone to come home.
Hattie set her bowl down. “Should we do presents?” Everyone looked to Jessabelle’s mama, who gave a smile and nod of approval.
Emily handed Jessabelle a small box wrapped in paper that could double as Christmas gift-wrap. Jessabelle carefully undid the wrapping and opened the box. Inside were two silver flower-shaped earrings. Jessabelle stared in surprise, and then looked up at Emily and her mother. “They are so beautiful. Thank you. I ain’t pierced my ears yet, but I can’t wait to wear them!”
Hattie said, “With your mama’s permission, I can take care of that for you.” She glanced over at Linda.
Jessabelle’s mama nodded enthusiastically. “You’re sixteen, now, Jessabelle. It’s time to get your ears pierced. Once they are healed, you’ll have some beautiful earrings to wear.”
Jessabelle looked awkwardly at Emily. After a moment, they shared an equally awkward hug. Any more awkward, Jessabelle thought, and they’d be acting like boys. “Thank you so much! I can’t wait!”
Hattie’s gift came next, also in a small wrapped box. Once again, Jessabelle carefully opened the wrapping and box, and found a silver pendant inside. At first she thought it was a Christian cross, but it was symmetrical with flowery designs like knot-work along it. Hattie undid the clasp and helped her put it around her neck.
“This was your great-grandmothers. I don’t know where she got it. But it ought to go to you now.”
“Thank you, Hattie. What’s the pendant supposed to represent?”
Hattie shook her head. “Honestly, I really don’t know. I just remember admiring it as a little girl.”
Jessabelle smiled.
Sean shrugged at her. “Sorry. I didn’t know it was your birthday until last night. I ordered you something off of the internet. Hopefully it’ll be here in a couple of days.”
“It’s okay, Sean. You don’t need to get me anything.”
“Too late.”
“Thank you, then.”
Her mama gave her a large box, wrapped carefully in red tissue-like wrapping paper. The box was heavier than Jessabelle expected. It was impossible to unwrap it cleanly, so she did her best to remove the paper in one piece and place it neatly folded on the table. Then she opened the box.
The black leather glistened in the sunlight coming through the blinds. Jessabelle lifted the jacket out of the box and held it up to get a better look at it. It looked familiar, but it was beautiful. The motorcycle jacket was cut in a feminine style for someone of her build, with a scattering of silver studs. It didn’t match her style, but then her style was little more than sweats and a hoodie. Nevertheless, she was in awe.
“I saw your light jacket no longer fit you last year. This was your daddy’s jacket. I have a friend who works leather down in Branton, and she fixed it up and made some alterations so it might fit you better. The lining is all new, too.”
“This was daddy’s?”
Her mama nodded. “It’s all yours now. New and improved. It might not fit perfect, but it won’t look like a man’s jacket.”
Jessabelle rushed forward and embraced her mama, still clutching the jacket in one hand. They held each other for several moments. Then Jessabelle ran the back of her hand across her eyes and said, “Thank you. I wish it was colder weather now.”
Hattie chuckled. “Careful what you wish for. We’re supposed to get some rain ‘round these parts in the morning. Might be a break for this heat.”
They laughed and talked. A part of Jessabelle’s heart wouldn’t heal, wanting so badly to have Jack, Jenny, and Annabelle with them. But the rest of her felt good. She felt very good. She had a home and still had friends and family who cared about her. For the moment at least, all the things that went bump in the night seemed far away and inconsequential.
All too soon, Emily and her mother announced they had to leave. They wanted to get down to Branton before dark because there were only a few lights along that road. A few minutes later, Hattie and Sean left as well. Jessabelle went outside to see them off.
“Thank you for coming,” she said.
Hattie smiled. “You think we’d miss this? Especially knowing the others who you’d have wanted to be here?”
“Have you been to see Jack’s mama?”
Hattie nodded. “Yes. She’s convinced he took a job down in Parkersburg. I feel bad about lying to her, but I really didn’t know what else to do. Better she believe that than believe he’s another victim. She knows he helped kill that ogre. She tells the reporters and anyone else that will listen that Jack killed it single-handedly.”
Sean whistled. “That’s a good thing, if they believe her.”
“I don’t know if they do or not. It doesn’t matter. Less attention on us.”
Jessabelle considered Sean and then pointed to the spot on his chest where she knew an amulet was hidden beneath his shirt. “Any sign of your ghost, yet?”
“No. Neither of them.” He looked down at the shirt, and said quietly, “If Hattie’s charm is working right, there won’t be a sign of either of them.”
“I’m sorry. About Debbie, I mean.”
He shrugged. “She’s not going anywhere. I’m just glad I’m not dead, too. We’ll fix things sooner or later. I’m more worried about which of our visitors is Thadeus’ new agent.”
“She’s named Cheryl,” Jessabelle said.
Sean wiggled his head and shrugged. “If she’s even using that name. We could see who goes up to the crossroads.”
Hattie frowned. “No. We don’t know that Evelyn reported where it was. As far as we know, the witch might be watching us to lead her to the crossroads.”
Jessabelle wrinkled her nose. “All they need to do is follow the smell. There’s still a dead giant up there.”
“And a live one hiding somewhere,” Sean said.
They looked at each other in silence for several seconds, then Jessabelle asked, “So what do we do?”
Hattie gave Jessabelle’s arm a reassuring squeeze. “We need to proceed carefully. The man in the white suit is a nasty piece of work, and he plays a long game. Our best bet right now is to stay off his radar.”
“Are you sure we aren’t already on it?” Sean asked.
“Then we hope we aren’t at the top of his ‘to do’ list. We stay out of his way so we don’t become—what do they call it?—targets of opportunity.”
“I’m real good at not getting noticed,” Jessabelle said.
“Don’t rely on that too much, honey. Remember, he knows what you are. Be careful.”
Jessabelle smiled. “I promise.”
The thunderstorm hit in the dead of night, the kind of storm locals called a gully washer. The lightning crashed, and the power went out as some errant tree fell over the power line leading to Maple Bend. Not enough generations had passed since heavy rainstorms brought with them the threat of flash floods due to the strip mining in the mountains, and the big storms brought with them a nearly obsolete tribal fear.
Jessabelle awoke with a start, gripped by that vague, nameless apprehension. Consciously, she loved the sound of the rain and thunder. Subconsciously, it unsettled her and made it impossible to relax and return to sleep. The lamp by her bed didn’t light when she pressed the switch, leaving her with nothing to do but to lie in bed and listen to the storm passing overhead, and think night-thoughts that made sleep even harder to come by.
Somewhere out in the night, a deadly giant lurked. A terrible, murderous phantom hunted Sean. The man in the white suit
schemed plans that might involve the murder of those Jessabelle held dear. Her cousin, her grandma, and Jack were trapped on the other side of a gateway they dare not open again, perhaps ever. And yet more evil, terrible things might prowl for victims around Maple Bend.
Within an hour, the worst of the storm had passed, replaced by a constant drizzle and the faintest pre-dawn glow outside her window. But Jessabelle’s dark musings had left her keyed up and unable to return to sleep. After a few more minutes of frustration, she got up and hunted clothes from her drawer. Even as Jessabelle-the-girl, she saw well enough even in near-total darkness. It was one reason she feared seeing a doctor. They might give her an eye exam and learn her secret.
In spite of her excellent night-vision, she had no idea what color shirt she pulled over her head. She saw the dark lump of the cross pendant Hattie had given her on the dresser. On a whim she put it on. Throwing on yesterday’s jeans, fresh socks, and the only pair of sneakers she owned, she was almost ready.
Instead of grabbing a raincoat from the hall closet, she put on her father’s leather jacket. It was a little large on her. She liked it that way. She padded out through the living room to the front door and opened it slowly to avoid causing noise. The door behaved itself with only a faint creak as she stepped through and closed it behind her.
On the tiny front porch, Jessabelle took a deep breath, the petrichor scent dispelling the dark, stubborn thoughts that had held her. She considered going back inside and trying to go back to sleep, but couldn’t resist the thrill of the darkened morning. There were not many trees close to her house to screen her from view of her neighbors, but at this hour nobody would be up. No one could see her in the darkness, anyway.
In a flash, she became Jessabelle-the-cat. Her clothes and the girl-body vanished to wherever they went, and she became surrounded by luxurious black fur. Even her jacket transformed with her, much to her satisfaction, unlike a bulky winter coat she owned. An instinctive cat part of her recoiled at the idea of her fur getting wet in the remaining drizzle. The girl couldn’t wait. She bounded off the porch and out into the morning.
