by Eros, Marata
We sat there quietly for a second and Jade said, “Fifteen is so lame.” Her voice was glum.
I squeezed her against me. “Why?” I pressed a kiss on the top of her head.
She gave a wan smile. “Because, if we were sixteen, we could drive, we'd be sophomores.”
Jonesy interrupted, “Ah. I've gotta take that dumbass Driver's Ed in the summer because of my birthday.”
“Me too,” John added.
Bry said, “That's what you do if you got a fall birthday. Otherwise, it's the biggest teaser in the world turning sixteen but not done with the class part. That sucks.”
We all nodded, Bry was the only one of the group that had wheels.
Alex was wearing the longest board shorts in the world, like capris. Wardrobe-challenged much. “When do you turn?”
“Seventeen?” Bry asked.
“Yeah,” Alex said.
“December.”
“Why were you at school when the goon squad tried to be losers again?” I asked.
“Ah, news flash, Caleb, they're not trying,” John said.
True dat.
“Droppinʼ Tiff off, that's what.”
“Lucky,” John said.
“Don't believe in luck,” Jonesy said.
“I could have helped,” Alex said indignantly.
“Right. But you wanted to keep things secret,” Jade said.
We all looked at each other.
“I think that's out now,” I said.
Bry lifted his eyebrows.
I expounded, “Alex threw a formula guy through the gym door.”
Bry's head whipped to Alex.
He ducked his head, pleased with himself.
“Like, pushed him?” Bry asked.
“No, it was a superman,” Jonesy said, throwing both arms straight out in front of him.
“Cape time,” John agreed.
“What happened that he had to go through the door? Just askinʼ.” Bry said.
I told him the whole deal; them trying to force Griswold to let us go with them, how she'd managed their suit asses, how they were packinʼ heat—all of it.
“This sounds a little like Graysheet action to me,” he said.
We nodded. It had seemed that way to us too.
“Can you believe Griswold?” Jonesy said, shaking his head.
“Yeah, I thought she really sucked,” Jade said.
Sophie nodded.
Tiff said, “Well, she really sucked for them!”
We laughed then John said, “We'll have a sub until Griswold gets back.”
“Maybe she won't come back. Ya know, like the government freaks will get her.”
We chewed on that.
Finally, I said, “No way, they wouldn't want her around for any long term stuff. She'd totally cramp their style. She's gotta be In Charge.”
Gramps hollered for us to get over and suck up some food.
Didn't have to ask us twice.
The guys jogged over to the BBQ-er and Gramps hiked an eyebrow. “Why don't you swine let the girls go first?”
Right.
Tiff, Sophie and Jade looked at us and Jade said, “Let them go, we don't need to ʻfeedʼ that bad.” She smiled.
I'd teach her another French lesson later.
I grinned back and Jade looked like she was getting me.
We piled back around the picnic table and the adults (except Jonesy's mom, who did look kinda green) ate at the “adult's table,” right on the deck.
We put our heads together. “What are we doing for Jade's birthday?” I asked.
She looked down at her plate for a second, and I lifted her chin with a finger. “What?” Her green eyes were filling with tears.
“I think that my dad is going to try to come by, and make me do something with him.”
“Ah, no. I mean, he can't, right?” I said, completely blown away with the thought of that turd being around Jade.
She shook her head. “The restraining order has expired and we have to prove that one needs to be re—”
“Implemented,” John said.
She nodded. “Yeah. And it costs money.”
Bry leaned back against the fence the table was shoved up against. It was an ugly metal cyclone thing (you got it, illegal). “I say if you're not there, he can't find ya.”
“The hide-a-way is a good solution,” John offered.
“Yeah, the only thing we have to worry about is Clyde showing up,” Jonesy said.
I looked at him. “Why would he?”
“It seems that whenever you get within two miles of Scenic, dead shit happens,” Bry said.
Alex, Tiff and Sophie nodded.
Huh. I thought about Jade celebrating her birthday in the dump. “Uh, I was thinking about a cleaner place.”
We were all quiet.
Jade gave a tiny shoulder lift. “It's okay, I just want it to be private, my friends around. Mia can come too.”
Jonesy rolled his eyes. “She's gonna have to do a show and tell for me to have enthusiasm with her joining our coolness.”
Sophie crossed her arms over her chest. “Not your coolness. She will be added to the girlsʼ coolness, Jonesy.”
He opened his mouth to say something, and Tiff suddenly asked, “When's your birthday, Hart?”
Jonesy smiled like the cat that ate the canary. Or two.
Brother.
“Halloween,” he said and made the sign of the vampire cross.
Bry leaned forward. “No shit?”
I nodded.
“That's funny, Hart. I mean really. That's like the height of weirdness.”
“Irony,” John added.
“Pretty cool,” Tiff said. “I mean, it fits and all.”
Jade smiled. “I think you're the one that will have to have a huge party, Caleb.”
Whatever, it wasn't an important birthday or anything. It's just like Jade said, only fifteen .
“So, when is yours?” Tiff asked Jade.
“Next Saturday.” Jade said.
“Almost October,” Alex said.
“My mom will bake a cake. What's your favorite?” I asked.
She smiled. “Banana.”
Figures as a girl she'd have to have lame fruit as part of it.
The guys made disdainful faces.
“What?” Sophie swung her hair over her shoulder in an irritated flip. “Banana is perfectly respectable.”
“Chocolate is the only way to go,” Jonesy said.
“Pllleeeassse, that's so missionary position.”
He turned to Sophie with a glint in his eye. “And you'd know, huh?”
Mom said, from about two football fields away, “Did I hear a sexual innuendo?”
Oh. My. God.
Jonesy laughed, pointing at Sophie. “She's acting inappropriately Ali. I am being defiled.” Jonesy covered his heart with his hands.
Mom didn't buy it for a nanosecond.
“It was just an expression,” Sophie said. Her face had become a dull brick color.
“You kids watch what you're talking about over there,” Gramps said. “Or, I'll have to think of some creative tasks for you to accomplish.”
I gave the group The Look. Gramps had talent, he could keep us working for hours.
“Why's that so bad?” Tiff asked. She had obviously never been Tasked by Gramps before.
“Ah, duh , Tiff. He'll have us picking each other's belly lint with tweezers for like, five and a half hours.”
“I was thinking toe jam,” Alex said for a crystal clear visual.
“Eewww!” Sophie yelled and Jade made the gag face.
Tiff laughed. “You guys are so tame, you should be in my house.”
“Yeah, no shit.” Bry agreed.
“I don't think I want to hear the Weller stories,” Jade said as politely as possible.
“Probably not,” Bry agreed.
We started to polish off the food, our plans for Jade's birthday weekend set, when Gramps gate swung open and the
formula guys waltzed in. They were the same ones from school.
On Grampsʼ property.
Gramps slowly stood, taking in the measure of the pair and said to me, “Caleb, go in the house and get the puppy.”
Oh shit.
“Pop,” Mom began, and he looked at her hand on his sleeve and it fell away.
Jonesy looked at me. “Don't tell me the puppy is some sissy thing.”
“Not from Mac it's not,” John said and Bry nodded.
It so wasn't . I jogged into the house with the suits marking my progress.
I grabbed the KEL-TEC KSG bullpup shotgun that Gramps had trained me to use. He said it was the very best home self-defense weapon.
I checked that the safety was on, and jogged back to where he stood, the nose of the shotgun pointing at the grass. My judo training swirled at the back of my head in vibrant anticipation.
Gramps was big on preparation.
Mom covered her mouth with a hand and Helen said, “I think I'm going to sit down.” She looked around. “And watch the drama from there.”
Bill nodded, settling her in a chair and called Jonesy over with a hand.
“What in the Sam Hill is going on here? Who are these guys?” Bill started in.
Jonesy shrugged. “They're the guys that were lurking around during the AP Test last year.”
“So, they're okay,” Bill clarified.
Jonesy thought about it. Finally, he shook his head. “I don't think so, Dad.”
Bill straightened. “We need to get to the bottom of this.”
Jonesy put a hand on his arm. “Mac's got this, Dad.”
Bill looked at Jonesy, nearly his height now. “What do you mean?” He lowered his voice, “He's older now, Jonesy.”
Jonesy nodded. “Doesn't matter, he's got it goinʼ on, Dad.”
Bill waited with Jonesy.
I gave the puppy to Gramps, stock first, like he'd shown me.
The suits put their hands under their jackets.
“Hold up there, fellas.” Gramps said, pressing the muzzle of the shotgun under the tender flesh of Skinny-who-Smoked. “What are you doing on my property, packing heat, without being properly introduced?”
“Mac,” Dad began.
“Not now, Kyle. We need to get these introductions out of the way and then we can swap spit and take long showers together. Right now, I don't know their plan.”
Stocky asked, “Are you Mackenzie O'Brien?”
“I am,” Mac said, the muzzle never wavering.
“Can you take your gun away, sir, so that we can talk to the group here?”
“No.”
They stared at each other, and whatever Stocky saw convinced him of Grampsʼ intent. Gramps wasn't much of a negotiator.
“Alright, I'm going to disarm,” Stocky said.
“ Slow pal, or we're going to see daylight through his head.”
That was it for Helen, who ran to the house, making pre-barf sounds.
Oh joy.
Jonesy looked after her, and Bill shrugged. “Nothing stops it,” he said, not without sympathy.
Stocky took Smoker's gun from the holster and put it on the ground and I gave Dad a look and he picked it up and put it out of reach. He repeated it with Stocky's gun.
Gramps hadn't moved. “Now the ones at the ankle, fellas.”
Stocky sighed, reaching to lift his pant leg up to reveal a super small gun there too.
We put his and Smoker's guns with the others.
Stocky planted his hands on his hips like, well?
Gramps lowered the muzzle and stepped back carefully; never lowering his eyes from the two of them. “Not to be redundant but what are you doing on my property?” Gramps repeated warily.
The two looked at each other, then the loosely assembled crowd of teens and adults.
“We're sorry to intrude,” Stocky began, his hair lifting off a head in the breeze, the suit sitting on him oddly, his muscular physique pushing it out in all the wrong places.
“No, you're not,” Gramps said softly.
“Mac, would you just let him speak please,” Dad said.
Gramps looked at Dad and neither flinched.
“My paranoia is justified, Kyle. You could use a healthy dose yourself. Especially after the last year.”
Dad sighed. “It is not that their appearance here doesn't give me pause, but I'm not presuming it is the imminent threat that you appear to.”
Gramps grunted, “I always get excited by guys that show up with guns; always .” His eyes narrowed on them.
Smoker put his hands together, imploring. “We need to take the AFTDs.”
Mom said, “Absolutely not. My son is not going anywhere. And I don't know Tiffany's parents, but since they are not here right now, I will speak in their stead, emphatically no. ” She placed her hands on her skirt, the bells sounding off and tried to look intimidating. If they let her Go On, it would be. I could speak from experience.
Tiff had sidled her way over to me. It was feeling a lot like last year.
Bry and the Js came over too.
It was Alex that got the clownsʼ attention. “The Body can stay there,” Stocky said, pointing at Alex. “We don't want to have to hurt him.”
“I wouldn't worry about that,” Gramps said, his hand stroking the butt of the puppy.
Jade got behind me and I turned to her. “I need room, stand back.”
Why? she mouthed.
I grabbed her wrist and her mouth became an “O.” She was getting what was happening here. Maybe they just wanted to talk to us, but I hadn't a grain of truth from the lot of ʼem last year, and I was picking up on Grampsʼ uneasiness. He had a point: guys with guns. Duh. I couldn't help Gramps if Jade was too close.
I looked at the Js and John nodded back, he'd do what he could, but a Null wasn't any help against mundanes. Jonesy was a mystery and Bry was a mundane.
Hell, things weren't looking good. They'd effectively separated Alex from us and he was the one dude we wanted at our backs.
“We need to warn them. We have reason to believe that the serial killer is aware of the kids trying to help with the investigation. We have paperwork that allows us to take the kids in for questioning.”
Gramps raised the muzzle again. “No can do, gents.”
Bill said, “This is America, last time I checked. We are not interested in being bullied because of some paperwork. Our children are not leaving with you.”
Smoker looked at Bill. “It's not your child we need, Mr. Jones.”
“Any child,” Helen said, having returned to the group, wiping a shaky hand over her forehead. “You're not convincing us of anything but the intentional cloaking of your motives behind contrived reasons. Can't sugarcoat a turd,” she said.
She was so channeling Jonesy, only an old chick. Weird.
Smoker was momentarily distracted by her hair as she gestured when speaking then he looked at Stocky. “Show him the papers.”
Dad stepped forward. “I will look at them, Mac. Maybe, for the time being, you can put the gun down again?”
Mom looked at Gramps. “Fine.”
The suits let out a breath.
Dad looked at the papers while Bill and Helen peered over his shoulder. Mom and Gramps had their eye on the suits and the teens milled around, not willing to go any closer to the formula guys.
Dad's expression went from neutral to disbelief. “It says here that you think the killer is on the inside?”
Smoker nodded. “The kids could be working the case and there may be someone, a lab tech, a crime-scene fly...”
“What did you say?” I asked.
He looked at me. “This isn't really supposed to be discussed in front of—”
“I'd just go for it, ” Gramps said.
Stocky looked at the two of us. “You two kind of cut from the same cloth, eh?”
“Pretty much,” Gramps said. “Now talk.”
“It could be a forensic tech.”
Wow, th
at narrowed it right down since I'd met probably a hundred since Tiff and I began. Tiff confirmed this thought, rolling her eyes so hard I only saw the whites.
“Or, it could be someone that goes to the crime scenes and just watches. Sometimes these sick shits like to see the aftermath,” Smoker elaborated.
Great.
Tiff snapped her head around and said, “Smith.”
“What, the Null?” I asked.
“The Teacher,” she enunciated slowly.
Wow, shit. Of course.
“You've thought of something?” Smoker asked, moving forward.
“Stay where you are,” Gramps said.
He hesitated and slid something out of the cuff of his button up sleeve and put his opposite thumb against it, he held it for a second and five dudes poured into the yard.
Wonderful.
Gramps didn't hesitate. “Ladies! Get yourselves behind the gents.”
The chicks all congregated behind Gramps, Bill, Dad and the teenage boys.
I heard Helen say, “I think I'm going to be sick again.”
More formula people. They loosely circled Stocky and Smoker.
Unfazed, Gramps said, “Reconnaissance, fellas?”
Smoker nodded curtly, “It's all about the greater need, Mr. O'Brien and our need is great.”
Stocky said, “Hand over that weapon, O'Brien.”
Gramps smiled. “You know when you'll get it, don't you?”
Mom said, “When you pry it from his cold, dead fingers,” she said by rote.
Smoker smiled. “That can happen.”
“Caleb,” Gramps said.
“Yes, Gramps.”
“Have I told you about this place. How old it is?”
What?
“No.”
“Yeah, I guess I got the last piece of land that had Indian burial grounds on it.”
My mind was spinning, churning out the possibilities.
My Dad apparently, was thinking faster. “That can't be, you'd have to ...”
“...be grandfathered,” John finished, surprise dulling his voice.
Sweet! I grabbed Tiff's hand and she mine, but it was Grampsʼ hand that latched onto my forearm. “Bring them Caleb, bring them all.” His eyes held mine, calm and deadly serious.
*
The Dog saw the Bad Men appear in the Old Alpha pack's yard and growled. He knew that the Bad Men wanted his Boy, he could smell them. He could also smell the Boy's kind here... buried beneath the soft earth. He wished to stand beside the Boy. He whimpered: how to get the glass to be gone? The Dog looked for a way to be with the Boy. There! He would break through the soft material that was very small holes, he backed up, using the top of his head and his forefeet to tear the mesh of this strange portal...
