Mimic (A Spear Bearer Short)

by Stephen Clary

mail, and there’s all these letters from different fertility clinics. I think they just got started too late.”

  Uncle Mitali suddenly chuckled. “We get all this mail and it’s not like we can write on it ‘please forward.’ I mean, it’s not like mail can be forwarded to where they went.”

  “There’s something else that’s interesting,” Aunt Verna said. She paused and looked at her husband. Then she looked down the table to where the kids were eating. Lori was talking to Masi about Disney princesses or something and Jay was playing with his food. Lizzie pretended to be very interested in slicing the ham on her plate with a knife. Now Aunt Verna rose out of her seat and halfway across the table and whispered, “This is weird. I just now thought about it. Their name was McCracken.” Then Aunt Verna looked down the table toward her little girl Masi.

  “I want a kiss too,” Lizzie said, getting down on her knees. Lori and Uncle Matali already had received kisses from Masi.

  Masi ran to her and said, “Kraken says you saw him.”

  Lizzie looked at Aunt Verna. She wasn’t sure what she should say.

  “Big people don’t see him,” Masi said. “But he says you did.”

  Lizzie smiled and said, “Your friend Kracken is silly.” She looked around and saw Jay staring at her.

  “You were there,” Jay said.

  Lizzie held his gaze. What could she say?

  “What are you talking about Jay?” Aunt Verna asked.

  Jay didn’t answer his mother but continued to stare at Lizzie.

  “Kracken said Jay Jay scared him,” Masi said. “He was just being a silly joke joker playing dress up and Jay Jay scared him and Lizzie she saw it.”

  “I don’t like Kracken,” Jay said.

  “You shut your mouth Jay Jay,” Masi squealed.

  “That’s not very nice Masi,” Aunt Verna chided. “You say you’re sorry. And I don’t want to hear any more about Kracken.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I said so.” Aunt Verna took Masi by the hand and led her upstairs.

  Pat pat pat pat...pat pat pat pat...pat pat pat pat.

  ‘Masi,’ Lizzie thought, struggling to wake up. ‘Masi with her plastic padded feet. What is she doing?’

  Lizzie took the Spear in her hand and looked toward the hallway. There she could see a figure running back and forth near her door. ‘So, Kracken, you want to play?’ she thought.

  When she opened the door she saw Masi running to the staircase so she followed. Masi ran fast, and Lizzie was trying to be quiet, but every so often Masi would stop and look back and Lizzie would almost catch up to her.

  Masi went down the steps and stopped several feet from the front door. She looked up.

  Lizzie looked up too and then down at the little girl. “Masi?”

  “Look. It’s magic.”

  Lizzie looked up again. It was very still and quiet, but then she heard the sound of a car out on the road.

  “Now,” Masi said.

  Patches of blue and red appeared on the ceiling. They spun around each other for a second and then they were gone. At first Lizzie thought of a kaleidoscope, but her second thought was of a mobile above a baby’s crib.

  “See?”

  “Yes,” Lizzie said. She looked at the door. “It’s the stained glass in the door. The light from the car came through the window and lit up the ceiling.”

  “It’s magic,” Masi said, smiling.

  Lizzie wondered what her dad would do. Surely he wouldn’t banish the soul now. He would have to make sure. Absolutely sure. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Masi,” she said, her plump cheeks wide with a smile.

  “Really?”

  “Well...”

  “Well? Are you Masi?”

  “I’m no one,” Masi said, “I never was.” Her face suddenly went from cheerful to sad and it left Lizzie with the impression of a cloud passing over the sun.

  Lizzie lifted the Spear. But what if Masi was just pretending to be Kracken? How could she know for sure? Surely her dad could understand that. “Are you Kracken?” she asked.

  “I think. They were. But then they went away and then Masi came. I love Masi. She is little mama. They say that. I love her.”

  Lizzie pointed the Spear at Kracken...but she couldn’t say the words. She’d seen what happens when the Spear pulls the soul from a living body and it was terrible. Her father had used the Spear on a horrible man named Jake, a drug dealer, to save Lizzie. Jake had lain there with his eyes open, still alive but having no soul.

  “What is that?” Kracken said, pointing at the Spear.

  Lizzie stepped closer to Kracken. She had to make sure. With her free hand she reached out and touched Kracken.

  “Ohhh,” Lizzie moaned. A coldness burned her flesh and seemed to suck the warmth out of her entire body.

  Kracken pulled and Lizzie pulled, but for a moment they seemed stuck together, and Lizzie could feel his panic and confusion. She heard a baby crying, but whether it was in her mind or actually aloud she could not say.

  Then they came apart and Lizzie dropped to her knees and bowed down onto the floor in a daze. She shivered. After a moment she realized she was crying.

  “Pull yourself together,” she said aloud. This is not how a Second should behave.

  She took a deep breath, as her Tai Kwon Do sensei had taught her to do. “Clear the mind,” she thought.

  “Point the Spear,” she said aloud. “Say the words.” She sat up quickly, ready to finish the job.

  But Kracken was gone.

  The next day after breakfast Lizzie’s dad pulled her aside. “Is it done?” He asked in a hushed voice.

  “No sir,” Lizzie answered. “It was Masi this time. I couldn’t be sure. Not absolutely sure.”

  Mr. Long shook his head. “Should I take the Spear and do it myself?”

  “No sir,” Lizzie said automatically. She wanted her dad to be proud of her. She wanted him to know she could do the job. On the other hand, if her father insisted he do the job she wouldn’t argue—it would be a relief not to have to banish this spirit. Even though she knew it wasn’t Masi, or Uncle Mitali, or whomever it might be next time, the thought of pointing the Spear at them, of seeing their scared faces as the black void engulfed them...well, she didn’t even like thinking about it.

  “Tonight’s the last night,” Mr. Long said. “If you don’t get it done tonight then we’ll have to make an excuse to stay longer.”

  Lizzie nodded.

  “I never told you this job would be easy,” Lizzie’s dad said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “But I have to trust that you can do it.”

  “I’ll do it dad,” Lizzie answered, looking at her feet. “I promise.”

  Lori and Masi were playing in Masi’s room. They were sitting on the floor with a large plastic dollhouse opened up and dolls spread all around.

  “What are you doing?” Lizzie asked.

  “Playing Barbies,” Masi answered.

  “Tell Lizzie what you just told me about Kracken,” Lori said to Masi.

  “Kracken never was a baby,” Masi said. “Almost. He tried but he couldn’t.”

  Lizzie raised her eyebrows and tilted her head toward Lori.

  “You know what Kracken is,” Lori said.

  Lizzie shook her head, even though she did know. She thought of the lights spinning on the ceiling like a mobile. “I don’t want to talk about Kracken.”

  “He’s little,” Masi said, “like me. He’s just a silly joke joker.”

  Lizzie looked at each girl in turn.

  “You shouldn’t do it,” Lori said. Her eyes narrowed and her lips formed a straight line.

  “Do what?” Masi asked.

  “It has to be done,” Lizzie said. “When you are older you’ll understand.”

  Lori shook her head. “I’ll never be a Second.”

  Lizzie frowned at Lori. Masi was just four years old, but nonetheless they shouldn’t be talking about this in front of her. “I’m l
eaving,” she said.

  Lizzie woke up. She listened but heard nothing. Yet something tugged at her.

  The air mattress lifted and fell as she pushed herself out of bed. Lori stirred, breathed in deep, and muttered something unintelligible.

  Lizzie picked up the Spear. She expected to see something in the hallway, but there was nothing.

  “Are you going to do it?” Lori asked.

  Lizzie wanted to shout at her, but she forced the emotion down. “I have to.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Earth is for humans. The kind that breathe.”

  Lizzie went to the door but before she could leave Lori said, “I don’t think you should do it.”

  “If I don’t,” Lizzie said, “Dad will.”

  Lizzie went down the hallway to the staircase. She recognized the figure standing at the bottom of the stairs looking at the ceiling. At least this time she wouldn’t have to worry that she might be banishing a living human.

  Kracken stared at the ceiling. Lizzie heard the sound of a car outside.

  “It’s coming,” Kracken said.

  Then the light came through the window, and the patches of red and blue danced around in a circle across the ceiling, and then it was dark again.

  “It’s magic,” Kracken said.

  Lizzie bit her lip. She didn’t want to cry, but this was hard.

  “I think I like you the best, Lizzie,” Kracken said. He pointed to his face. “I love your speckles. You are beautiful.”

  Lizzie could not stop the tears.

  ‘Point the Spear,’ she repeated her mantra in her head. ‘Say the words.’

  She lifted the Spear and aimed it at her mirror image. “I’m—” she started, but her voice caught in her throat. “I’m sorry. I...I have to.”

  Kracken smiled. “What are you doing?”

  It was now or never. “Damnari inter manes,” she said. The