by Tony Nalley
And his sneaky plan on how we’d get away with skippin’ school had been successful too! His plan was that when the school bus come up the road and it was still dark outside and all, that me and him would walk down the road a piece and act like we were gonna catch it! Only we’d slip inside of Mr. Roberts’s red barn at the last moment instead! That way when the school bus driver Ms. Ferguson stopped, she would think we wasn’t ridin’ it; while my mama would think that we’d both just gotten on! Sometimes things just worked out better if you kept it simple!
You see, sneakin’ and stuff wasn’t somethin’ that I was very good at. Colby had to come up with the idea; I just had to make sure it was followed through on! I mean, I knew we’d have to skip school and all, but I hadn’t figured on just how we was gonna do it! I wasn’t no good at lyin’ none neither! Cause just about every time a lie started to rise up from out of my mouth, my heart would start to thumpin’ and I’d have to swallow it real hard! So I had to be real careful what I said.
I just found it better not say nothin’ or do nothin’ that needed to be lied about.
“Now how is it Toby…?” Colby asked me. “…that you figure …that this here spot is where that thing you’re lookin’ for is buried?” Colby asked me as I wiped the sweat off my brow and looked up at him and scowled. “I mean, what if it’s over here instead?” He suggested as he stepped three spaces to his right. “And then, what if it’s over here or here, or over here?” he said as he moved from place to place and made fun of me. “I mean you could dig that hole, clear to China, and still miss it by a foot and a half!” Colby exclaimed as he stood there and folded his arms like he was proud of himself for thinkin’ it. “I mean, if it’s even there!”
Colby was kinda smart about things when he put his mind to it and didn’t act so stupid! So that’s when I told him about how I’d seen Mr. Roberts walkin’ around his place the other day, lookin’ for arrow heads and old coins and stuff like that. And about how he was usin’ a metal detector that let him see where the stuff was, way down deep in the ground! And well, the long and the short of it was that he’d let me borrow it!
I’d been honest with Mr. Roberts! I’d told him that I believed there was a treasure buried beneath this old barn! And he listened to me too! And when I’d finished tellin’ him my story, he smiled at me and he told me that ‘I could dig all the holes that I wanted to out there in his barn! As long as I filled em’ back in when I was done!’ And then he went on to tell me that ‘anything that I found in his barn, like buried treasure or whatever…’ he said that, ‘I could keep!’ So that’s how I knew to start diggin’ there, right there in that spot. Cause right under that spot was where I’d seen the shadow; the long darkened shadow shaped like a coffin.
“Toby!” Cricket yelled as she snuck up from behind me and wrapped her arms around me tightly standin’ down in the hole. “I missed you!” She whispered as she gave me a quick kiss on the back of my neck. And then I whispered back that I’d missed her too!
“Get a room!” Colby jeered as he lit up another cigarette.
“You’re just jealous!” Cricket chided as she hugged me again quickly and then jumped up on the ground where Colby was sittin’ and sat with her feet hangin’ down into the hole as well.
“How’s Ms. Lillie?” I asked her. “Is she doin’ Okay?”
“She’s doin’ alright.” Cricket answered. “She told me to tell you that she was praying for you.”
Cricket hadn’t been to school all week. And I’d really missed her! She’d come by the house yesterday and I’d introduced her to Colby. But after that she’d run off again to Ms. Lillie’s house. That’s where she’d been stayin’. I reckoned that …what had happened with Lucian had scared her somethin’ awful, so she’d decided to stay over there with Ms. Lillie for a few days.
“It’ll all work out.” I said to console her. “You’ll see.” And then I returned to my diggin’.
The hours passed by quickly as me and Colby took our turns at diggin’, and as Cricket kept a look out. Almost five feet of earth had been removed from that hole, but we still hadn’t found nothin’! And even I had begun to wonder if this was the right spot!
Clunk!
The sound resounded and vibrated through the handle as my shovel struck the wood!
“Hey!” I said excitedly. “I think we’ve found it! I’ve just hit somethin’!”
I knelt down and scooted away the dirt from the wooden lid with my hands. And Colby and Cricket jumped down in the hole beside me! And all three of us scraped away and scooped away at the dirt!
“Stand back!” I said. “Ya’ll jump out for a minute. I’m gonna open it up!” Colby and Cricket hopped up out of the hole and stood and watched as I reached down …and let go the latch that sealed the coffin!
“Hey! Wait a minute Toby! Wait!” Colby shouted as he held up his hands and ran to the other side of the barn. “Listen! I hear the bus coming!” He shouted again as he looked outside through the slats between the boards. “It’s already time for the bus to let out! Toby, we’ve gotta go! Or your mom will find out we skipped school! We’ve gotta go play like we’ve just got home!”
This was definitely Colby’s area of expertise! I was so glad that he’d been paying attention!
“Come with us Cricket!” I urged her. “You can come over and have some supper with us.”
“Okay.” She answered as she nudged me like she was sayin’ thanks.
We put our tools down deep into the hole and we scooted a couple of hay bales over top of it that lay by one of the walls of the barn. And then we hurriedly exited the barn and walked up the road just as the school bus passed. That way it looked like we’d just gotten off of it!
“We were just like the Three Musketeers…” I thought. “…Colby, Cricket and me. Only one of the Musketeers was a girl! And she was the one I liked!”
Mama said that she didn’t mind havin’ another mouth to feed at the table when I told her I’d invited Cricket to supper. And she’d told me that she ‘thought the world of her’ and that it was ‘okay with her if she comes over anytime, as long as she knew she was comin’ and I kept my door open upstairs!’ And I guessed that was okay with me since we were mostly outside when she’d come over anyways.
My dad liked Cricket too! And he kidded with her and stuff. Girls usually liked my dad cause they thought he was handsome. And I didn’t mind that none as long as they understood that he was where I got my looks from! I mean …like father like son, you know?
Well anyways, we ate our supper and we did our visitin’ and we rested up for a while afterwards cause of all that diggin’ we’d done.
And no one suspected at all that we’d skipped school!
When the clock struck seven and the darkness had begun to fall, we started back out again for Mr. Roberts’s red barn.
“Now, don’t ya’ll stay out too late now!” My mama told us. “Toby, we’ll leave the back door light on and the door unlocked, cause we’ll probably be going to bed soon. Okay?”
“Okay Mom.” I answered.
“Good night Mrs. McAnully.” Cricket said. “Thank you for being so nice.”
My mama’s heart must have melted then as she came out and gave Cricket a big warm hug.
“You come back and see us again anytime!” My mama told her. “I mean that young lady.”
And then Mama waved to us as she went on inside.
Colby had slipped upstairs while nobody was lookin’ and had gotten my flashlights so that we could see where we were goin’ since it got darker out. He also got his machete, just in case. We used those flashlights as we made our way back down the driveway, and onto the road back to the barn.
It was pitch black as we entered it. And it held an eerie feelin’ to it now.
We removed the bales of hay from where they laid across the hole and I jumped back down inside upon the lid. And I felt again for the latch that would unseal the coffin; the final restin’ place of the man whom, I did not yet kno
w.
The lid opened partially, caught on its sides by the dirt. I jerked at it until I broke open its hold. And then I pulled its door open wide! It was then …by the light of Cricket’s and Colby’s flashlights shinin’ down into the coffin that I looked upon the face of the dead man; the one who’d been buried in this unmarked grave.
“Who was he?” Colby whispered as if we were at a funeral. “What was his name?”
“His uniform is Union.” I said as I looked upon him. “I believe his name was Nathanael!” I answered. “And this…” I said as I reached down and took up the box of shiny gold lined with silver and pearl inlay that was held tightly within his boney grasp. “…this is the golden box of the ‘Sang Pierre’!”
“What?” Colby turned his head to the side and asked.
“It’s the Blood Stone, Colby!” Cricket told him. “‘Sang Pierre’ means Blood Stone in French. It’s what we’ve been looking for!”
And as I stood there within the hole I opened the box to see the stone. And the light from the flashlights reflected upon the image of the stone like that of a crystal; a beautiful deep blood red crystalline jewel that glistened in the light like sparklin’ diamonds, reflectin’ its colorful glow throughout the barn!
“Don’t touch it, Toby!” Cricket shouted as she held out her hand for me to stop! “Remember the curse!” she said as I recalled my hand, pulling it back before I had touched it.
It was at that moment that the light from the full moon shown high in that October sky! And we turned then, the three of us, and looked out into the heavens through the open window of the barn loft. The Blood Moon had risen! And there came a great howlin’ of the wolf!
Twenty Nine
Blood Moon
I handed the golden box of the ‘Sang Pierre’ to Cricket as Colby ran to the edge of the barn and then climbed up into its rafters to get a better look at the moon. And I looked back down upon the skeleton of Nathanael once again, and I felt pity for him where he lay.
It was then that I saw the sword!
Images from my dream returned to me as I reached down and took up that sword …images of the ghosts as they danced merrily through my visions. I saw their faces again as they watched me and I saw this great silver sword, shinin’ in the glimmerin’ of the twilight…
‘Werewolves’ howled as the moon shown of blood, and as the Blood Moon illuminated the night!
“Toby!” Colby shouted from the rafters. “They’re thousands of em’ Toby! They’re everywhere! They’re comin’! They’re coming from everywhere!”
And it was as though Mr. Roberts’s red barn was the center of the universe! The ‘werewolves’ were drawn to it …they encircled it …they filled it!
I climbed out of Nathanael’s grave and I stood at Cricket’s side and I raised that silver sword in my hand as the barn was filled by the growlin’ and snarlin’ of savage beasts!
And from out of the ‘werewolf’ horde …Lucian walked. And he stopped and he stood before me!
“You and I made an agreement, boy!” Lucian said as he stood in his human form. “I have come here now …for what is mine!”
“Don’t give it to him Toby!” Cricket shouted to me and as she then turned and spoke louder so that Lucian might hear. “It was kept from his kind for a reason!”
It was Cricket’s words that echoed through my mind then. ‘It had been kept from his kind; …their kind …our kind …mankind?’
Lucian reached out for the golden box of the ‘Sang Pierre’ just as Cricket withdrew it and hid with it in the shadows behind me! And I stood face to face once again before the man with the cold blue eyes …as he changed …back into his darker state …into his truer form!
And the air was filled with the roar of a thousand ‘werewolves’!
The ‘werewolf’ who was Lucian snarled and growled with great fury as he circled us deviously! And his eyes showed of much anger! He lunged at us as I stepped quickly to the side, while Cricket dropped swiftly to the ground! And he howled menacingly into the night!
He jumped over us and circled once again as he snarled and gnashed his canine teeth! And then he lunged at us a second time, while I barely missed him with the cold steel of my blade! It was then that the horde of ‘werewolves’ charged at us!
With great fury they swarmed as I wielded that sword; striking them hard upon its sharpened edge! And I felt the cut of my blade slice deep as their blood splattered upon my silvery steel! I watched as they fell in anguish to the ground to the left of me …while many more fell in misery to my right!
I felt their pain as they fell before me! Though I could no longer feel my own!
The ‘werewolf’ who was Lucian seized up Cricket within his grasp! And the golden box of the ‘Sang Pierre’ fell from her hands upon the groundand opened at my feet! And the Stone of Blood within’ its hold rolled out upon the earth! And I heard the sounds of Cricket’s screams!
All eyes turned and gazed upon the stone, as it shown brilliantly by the light of the Blood Moon!
And as the fighting resumed …I looked and I saw a ghostly white apparition standing beside me! An apparition fighting by my side! A phantom spirit who had taken up his ghostly sword and had joined us there upon that field of battle! While their fury could not harm him, his blade still met their flesh without remorse!
Colby had jumped down from the rafters, and he fought them with great passion! He fought them with wood and he fought them with fire!
We engaged them in battle with all of our strength …with all of our sweat …and with all of our might …as on and through the waning of the light, ‘werewolves’ also fought against other ‘werewolves’!
It was then and in that moment, when it seemed the light was about to go out upon the whole world, that I looked and saw a great black ‘werewolf’ rise up and leap through the air! It lunged towards the alpha male …attacking Lucian from behind and forcing him to the ground!
I heard the sound of Cricket’s screams again as she fell upon the earth! And I saw Lucian’s hold come undone as she broke free!
The great black ‘werewolf’ threw off Lucian’s gun as it pinned him to the ground! And I looked into the eyes of that rueful beast, and I saw …eyes that I remembered!
I stood over Lucian then holdin’ that great silver sword above him; that silver sword that shined in the glimmerin’ of the twilight! And the ‘werewolf’s stopped their fighting! And her words came back to me. “You have been given many blessings from God my dear boy.” The voice I remembered said to me. “Just as all of God’s children have been given many blessings. What we need you to do is what you were put here upon this earth to do!” Her voice returned to me and said. “What we need is a happily ever after. And let His will be done!”
I looked down at Lucian as he lay upon the ground in stunned disbelief! And I turned and looked out upon the horde of ‘werewolves’ as their eyes were filled with fear …and I met their glare with my own!
I raised that silver sword above where Lucian lay and I plunged it down deep! With all my heart and with all of my soul! I plunged it down deep …deep into the soil beneath the shadows of Mr. Roberts’s red barn! The fighting was ended! It was finished! We were ALLthe Chosen!
For it was in those moments that I realized that even Lucian was ‘human’ like me. He held the same fears, the same wants and the same blood within his veins! It was not the blood of Nathanael. It was not the blood of countless generations! It was His blood this had all been about!
The light of the Blood Moon that had shown down through the open loft window, cast its light then upon that great silver sword! And I saw it shinin’ as a silver white light; a pure white light in the symbol of a cross!
A symbol of the One who had been given …so that ALL might be saved!
I realized then too, that it had not been about the curse of the ‘werewolf’ any more than it had been about the curse of ‘cancer’ or about a curse of ‘disease’! It had been their belief in the curse that had given
it power! It was their belief that had kept it alive! It was also then that I realized that it had not been about my name! It had not been about the translation of the ‘son of a werewolf’! It had been about His name! It had been about His name all along! For not my will but His will be done!
I knelt down there in the stillness of the barn as thousands of ‘werewolves’ …people …men, women and children who were of the curse …watched as I picked up the ‘Sang Pierre’ with my bare hands! It no longer held power over me! For in it …I no longer believed! And as I clasped the Stone of Blood in my hands, kneeling down before the cross, I bowed my head …and I prayed to the God of Heaven! And for a moment …there was peace.
Just then I heard a great commotion before me! And I opened my eyes and saw as Lucian threw off his captor’s hold and rose again to his feet! He took up his silver revolver! And I saw him fire his gun! And I heard the screams …scream of the ‘werewolf’ who had lunged at me from behind! And I saw him as he fell dead upon the ground!
