Blackthorn: In the Tween

by Jamie Ott

  Chapter 7

  Lin opened her eyes slowly. She felt like she’d had the best sleep ever. Her dreams were pleasant and she wanted to return to them.

  Lin closed her eyes, rolled over and fell, with a thud, onto the floor.

  “Ooooooo,” she moaned.

  Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes. When they focused, she realized she was looking at the wood floor in her apartment. Somehow, waking up that morning didn’t make sense yet she couldn’t think of why.

  Groggily, she got up and made her way to the shower.

  Lin turned the water on extra hot, hoping it would help her brain shake off the remnants of REM chemicals that wanted to drag her back down into the lofty layers of her mind.

  Fifteen minutes later, and halfway through her first cup of coffee, Lin started to feel as though she were forgetting something.

  She went to her calendar on the wall because she didn’t remember what day it was; it was Saturday.

  From her purse, she dug out her cell phone.

  She was supposed to call someone, but whom? Lin decided to go out for her usual breakfast at the Lodge. A good breakfast was all she needed.

  When she stepped outside of her apartment building, she immediately squeezed her eyes shut. The sun was out earlier than it normally was, and it shone directly in her face. It was just so bright and beamed right down onto the street. Normally, the mornings were shady and extremely cool. As one who took pleasure in observing her surroundings, she knew the sun didn’t make its way to that position in the sky until about 3 p.m.

  As she made her way downtown, she started to sweat excessively. She stopped in front of the café and looked up at the backdrop of the mountain. All the snow was gone. It was just dirt and trees.

  One thing she loved about Blackthorn was its location meant cooler temperatures most of the year. Lin hated having to duck under the awnings to avoid the glare of the ravaging, bright yellow sun, as she did that morning. It was terrible for her complexion.

  Before going to the Lodge, she stopped to peer into Lucy’s shop, but it was empty. Lin banged on the door and called her name.

  No one came.

  She lingered for a moment. Another feeling of forgetting fell over her like a thick blanket. No matter, she thought. Just get something to eat.

  She resumed her walk.

  Lin did her best to avoid the glare of the hot sun. She walked along the walls of the buildings, under the shadows of awnings.

  Even the atmosphere was strange; there was a yellow haze about, like a golden marine layer. It just looked odd to her because she was used to seeing glaring gray-white specks of mist against a crisp, cold blue sky. The air always felt on the brink of rain or dew, but now it was so dry, like a cold desert heat.

  By the time she got to the Lodge, she was extremely thirsty.

  “Water and coffee,” she said to hostess.

  The restaurant was emptier than usual.

  “Close the door, dammit!” said the owner who was sitting behind the counter. “You’re letting the cool air out!”

  “Sorry,” said a young woman who had come in behind her.

  The crazy girl from the mall was there, too, sitting at the counter and eating a big bowel of ice cream.

  Lin took her usual spot next to the front window where the light of day would slowly warm her, and she could look at the beautiful crisp mountains.

  Fifteen minutes later, she was sitting in a booth on the opposite side. The glare of the sun made the table, by the window, too hot to touch.

  Lin observed the fewer than usual diners. They looked tired and confused, just as she felt. Like her, they all sat on the other side of the restaurant. Normally, people opted for the best views, but altogether, they looked as if they were hiding in the little shade that the Lodge ceilings provided.

  “Hi, Lin,” said Lacy.

  “Hey, there.”

  “Usual?”

  “Yes, please,” she said as she rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up.

  But when Lacy made to write down her usual, she stopped, stared at the pad and asked, “What do you usually have?”

  Funnily enough, Lin couldn’t remember.

  The rest of the weekend, Lin felt a little out of place. She tried to call Mara several times, but she must have been busy. She even stopped by her shop but there was no sign of anyone. Sunday, she pounded on her apartment door for fifteen minutes. Her parents seemed to be missing, too.

  That night, as she got ready for bed, she wondered if Blackthorn was in more trouble than anyone realized.

  She made sure the crystals were out, before settling for the night.

  Monday morning arrived. After a cup of coffee and a shower, she was off to school as usual.

  Another thing occurred to her, before she left: She couldn’t remember if she had any papers for weekend grading. Very strange, considering the piles of work she’d gone home with every weekend since she’d started at the academy, and never could seem to finish.

  Lin walked up the muddy trail to the doors. She stepped over the threshold and stopped in her tracks. She felt as though someone stunned her, or like she’d wakened from a drunken sleep. Her lungs seized up and she hyperventilated.

  Breathing hard, she dropped down to her knees as many images crossed her mind. They were memories of just a few days before: Mara was missing, the deserted hospital, the sheriff’s office and the deserted town. She was at the towers. Blair tried to kill her.

  Several pairs of arms lifted her onto her feet and guided her to a couch that had been brought into the entrance hall. A hundred or so students milled about, whispering and talking, and some were crying.

  The doors opened again. A girl walked in, froze mid step and fell to the floor. Two boys lifted her up onto her feet and guided her to the couch, and sat her next to Lin.

  Milton, Riley, Doctor Mandel and Ms. Crackwell walked up to her.

  “What’s going on?” Lin asked breathlessly.

  “We seem to be getting our memories back. What do you remember?” Milton said.

  “Mara and I went to the Glass Towers to find Blair. We were attacked. She was hurt, so I took her to the hospital. When I left the towers, I found most of Blackthorn to be deserted. Mara went missing. Next I was downtown, which was also deserted, and that’s all I remember. What do you think is going on? Why did I forget all these things?”

  “We’ve determined that we have been put under some sort of spell,” said Ms. Crackwell. “What I remember is having tea at the Botchers Room, downtown with Mrs. Waters, and then there were screams. Men pointing their wands and muttering curses everywhere.”

  Just then, they were joined by Doctor Mandel. He sighed and said, “I haven’t felt right since I woke up Saturday. It’s like we’re not in Blackthorn anymore.”

  “That’s because we’re not in Blackthorn,” said Lin.

  The professors looked at her.

  “What?” Lin said. “You haven’t noticed the strange heat and the position of the sun?”

  “Yes, I did,” said the girl who sat next to her. “The sun is hot at the wrong time of day; it’s in the wrong place. I live on Williams Street, the last block on the base of the mountain, and it’s especially noticeable up there. Normally, it’s very chilly, as draft and fog descend down the mountain most of the morning, and it doesn’t get warm until later in the afternoon; that’s when the sun is right above us. It’s for that reason the snow never melts, because the sun appears there right when it’s setting. But now, it’s like it’s there all day. We’ve all been dizzy and thirsty a lot, and I even had to put on sunscreen.”

  Professor Riley, a stout and dramatic witch, exclaimed, “But how could we not be in Blackthorn, that’s silly!”

  “It’s not silly,” said Lin defiantly. “The sun is the biggest clue that something is off! This is exactly what the Wackens wanted.”

  “What do we do?” asked Ms. Crackwell.

  “Has anyone seen Miles? We sho
uld have a meeting right away,” said Milton.

  “We haven’t seen him since last week,” said Doctor Mandel.

  “We should have a staff meeting in the dean’s office as soon as everyone gets here,” said Lin.

  “Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t show,” said the girl who sat next to Lin.

  “What do mean?” asked Ms. Crackwell.

  “Some people are missing; although it didn’t occur to me until now, because I didn’t have my memory. It might be possible that some people were eliminated prior to being brought over to wherever we are. For example, my neighbor, Alexander, has a gorgeous dog that was barking nonstop. Well, Alexander never came home, and we’ve been feeding the dog ever since. Then there is Shirley at the grocery store: I stopped in to get some things, and they said they hadn’t seen her. She just didn’t show up to work. It’s been the same with others all over Blackthorn. People have simply gone missing.”

  “Now, come to think of it, I noticed the Lodge seemed rather empty this weekend,” Lin thought aloud.

  “Why do you suppose some people have gone missing?” Ms. Crackwell asked.

  “Because they were rebels,” said Milton.

  “You mean contention?” asked Doctor Mandel.

  “Yes,” Milton replied.

  They went quiet a moment, and then Mandel continued, “I have a feeling that we’re only safe as long as Golshem and his followers don’t think we’re aware. If they learn that we’ve awakened, they will impose strong-arms to control us. Now if we can figure out how to stay secret about all this, we can have a head start.”

  “A head start to what?” asked Riley.

  “To escape, of course. We’d be a sad bunch if we, a lot of witches and wizards, couldn’t even figure out how to pull this off. Let’s head to my office,” said Doctor Mandel.

  “What about the students?” asked Lin.

  “This is ridiculous,” cut in Professor Riley, her voice getting high.

  “No, they’re right,” said Ms. Crackwell. “We’re not in Blackthorn; it’s the only thing that makes sense. They put us asleep and hijacked us. Why does it no longer snow? The soil on the mountain is like dust.”

  “I was walking the neighbor’s dog and it was like I was in two places at once,” the blonde cut in. “I was looking at this house on our street and I thought I had double vision because of the heat, but now I’m not so sure.”

  “Two places at once?” Milton repeated thoughtfully.

  “Into the mists – that’s what Lichen said when he came down from the hill top,” said Lin. “He kept saying they went into the mist, and that there were ghosts up there.”

  “Right!” said Doctor Mandel. “He said they controlled the clouds. I think, whatever they did to us, it’s got something to do with the mountain. I’ve been up there, and like others, have experience oddities as well.”

  “You have to be, really, the stupidest, most gullible group I’ve ever met,” said Riley. ”Lichen is insane. There has to be a more logical explanation than fog on a mountain.”

  “Avalon,” said Lin.

  “What?” asked Ms. Crackwell.

  “It’s just a story my grandmother told me. She said Avalon receded beyond the veil…”

  “But it didn’t,” Milton interrupted. “Some say it’s simply shifted with the earth, slowly and over time.”

  They all stared at him, and Lin could see the wheels inside his head were turning.

  “Are you gonna continue, or just leave us hanging?” asked Ms. Crackwell shortly.

  “What is Avalon?” asked Riley.

  “It’s an Earthly plane,” said Milton, “that once coexisted with us, but receded into its own dimension as the world lost its magic, and its faith – right around the time when Christianity stamped out the last of Druids. The mists were a doorway to Avalon, an island that was itself a doorway into the fairy realm. It disappeared and was said to still exist, but only in places where magic still ruled; where magic still ruled, Avalon could be reached by going into the mists in the hours of the tweens.”

  “What is the tweens?” asked Riley.

  “Tweens are what describe the half points of a day. Sunrise and sunset when the dimensions cross each other, creating shadows that look like fog or a marine layer, but are really a slip in space and time; and that is how it got its nickname, mists,” said Lin. “Or so my grandmother told me.”

  “Maybe that’s why there have been so many strange sightings up there,” said the girl. “People are accidentally seeing through the mists into the other plane. My grandmother used to tell me stories about little girls and boys running and playing, and one who’d even stolen her brand new puppy when she was a child. She said the boy took the dog into mountain and disappeared.”

  Immediately, Lin flashed back to the ghostly girl she’d seen on the mountain just a few weeks ago.

  “Think about it,” said Doctor Mandel. “What if we are in Avalon, right now? What if, by magic, the Wackens created a copy of our town in order to trick us? That way he’d trap us, and before we’d wake up, he’d control us in the fairy realm. It’d be too late for us to escape back to Earth.”

  “Awesome,” said the girl.

  “No, not awesome, Sally,” said Ms. Crackwell. “Fairies are dangerous people. Don’t think for a moment that they won’t impale you over a spit. We need to get home, now. If history shows us anything, it’s that humans have pissed off every entity we’ve ever known. It’s for that reason we’re alone on the Earth. I wouldn’t be surprised if fairies would enjoy the idea of taking revenge on stranded humans.”

  “While that’s true, it’s important not to over generalize. Others have met them, and it wasn’t all bad,” said Milton. “Remember the old lady Mackey who claimed a girl came to her garden and sang to her roses in order to keep them growing; then there was Mr. Blake who was visited by a boy every evening who sat and watched the stars while saying nothing.”

  “Yes,” agreed Ms. Crackwell, “they might not all be out to destroy us, but still, we have a bloody history together. We should be concerned.”

  “Quick question,” interrupted Lin. “Why are we waking up now?”

  “If I had to guess,” said Doctor Mandel, “I’d say the Wackens did not account for the enchantments of this castle; one of them being that any spells are automatically lifted whenever one passes the threshold. When this castle was built, rumor had it that Nicolas Blackthorn used anti enchantments spells at the entrance. Being a school of magic, people need to be sure all enchantments, spells, and hexes are lifted before returning to their homes, and returning to school.”

  “Okay,” said Lin, “but how are we gonna keep all this secret? Like you said, as long as the Wackens think we’re still oblivious, we’re safe.”

  “Yes, how do we get everyone to agree to pretend nothing has happened? I doubt everyone will be able to resist telling their family and friends,” said Ms. Crackwell.

  “A powerful draught,” said Doctor Mandel, “to go with their lunches; to bend their wills to us, for the time being.”

  Getting Home