The Riser Saga

by Becca C. Smith

  I wondered suddenly if Elisha was poking around in my head. I tried to concentrate and focus only on her, but I felt the same as I always did. If Elisha was in there she was doing a great job of keeping herself hidden. Speaking of which: where was Ryan? I hoped he wasn’t still mad. I hoped Bill wasn’t still mad. I had enough to worry about without the two of them at each other’s throats. But what worried me the most was that Ryan wasn’t here already and what did that mean? Did he finally see the light and want nothing to do with me? He told me he’d never break up with me, but maybe after his walk Ryan decided I was more trouble than I was worth. My mind couldn’t stop thinking the horrible. I wished I had a button I could switch to make me calm down.

  I decided to go exploring on my own while the girls were sleeping. I stood up, shrugged at the fact that I was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, and went downstairs. It was just as quiet as it had been last night in this town. I never realized how loud life really was, with its constant hum of hover-cars and hover-delivery and just the sheer noise of people constantly buzzing about. It was like a tomb here. I couldn’t hear anything outside, not a peep. There must be some kind of air-restriction laws or something. And for some reason that made my stomach turn a little. I felt like a city girl that was just thrown in the middle of the woods. I never realized how the sounds of over-population were actually so much of a comfort to me. It made me feel protected somehow, like help was only a scream away. I guess I was developing issues after everything that’d happened to me. So far my traumatic experiences in life had all been when I was isolated and alone. Turner would never try and kill me in public.

  But, my concern wasn’t Turner at the moment, for better or worse, Roberta’s recent visit made me calm down on the grandparent front. Though I knew I could never truly trust them, (for the time being at least) they were being civil. And at least they couldn’t make an attempt on Jill’s life while we were in Havenville. At least I hoped not.

  I walked to the front door and found myself opening it very slowly as if I was expecting to wake up the whole town. I just wasn’t used to this amount of quiet, I guess. I stepped out onto the front porch and breathed in the fresh air. It was a cool crisp morning and the slight breeze felt amazing on my face. The brick houses seemed like the walls of a prison, though, and kind of took the joy out of the moment. I walked across the bright green lawn to the boys’ abode next door, the soft grass squishing underneath my bare feet. I hadn’t felt like putting on my shoes, though now I wish I had, just in case I had to run.

  Wow.

  Why did my mind think like that? It didn’t used to. Lame.

  I reached the heavy oak door of the boys’ house and knocked softly.

  Within a few seconds Jason’s smiling face was there to greet me. “Alone?” he asked as he let me in.

  “They’re still sleeping,” I said, stepping in.

  Their house was nearly identical to ours on the inside, from the furnishings to the paint on the walls. It was creepy actually. Why did everything have to be the same? “Where’s Ryan?” I asked, a little more impatient than even I thought I was.

  Jason’s face scrunched in confusion. “I thought he was with you.”

  Wait.

  What?

  “Why? Isn’t he here?” I could feel panic rising in my chest all the way to my throat in a matter of milliseconds. “I thought he came back here after…”

  “After the five-year-old temper tantrum fight? No, we just thought he went back to you afterward.” Jason wasn’t bothering to hide his disdain for Bill and Ryan’s altercation. I didn’t blame him.

  Bill walked down the stairs and upon seeing the look on my face came running down two steps at a time. “What is it?”

  “Ryan’s not here, and he’s not at Chelsan’s either,” Jason said, eying Bill like it was his fault.

  “Let’s make sure.” Bill ran back upstairs to search the house guilt written all over his face. I knew he shouldn’t feel guilty, but for some reason it made me feel strangely satisfied that he was.

  Jason and I checked the downstairs.

  Nothing.

  Ryan. He left me.

  “Maybe he’s at your house and you guys missed each other.” Bill tried to smile at me reassuringly as he rejoined us from upstairs. I felt a surge of anger toward Bill when he smiled. I was being stupid, but I couldn’t help it. How dare he smile when Ryan was missing!

  I nodded instead, but my gut knew Ryan wasn’t there.

  It was becoming harder and harder to breathe.

  Bill started to put his arm around me and I shrugged him off. He recoiled like I had hit him. I immediately felt bad. “I’m sorry, I’m just freaked out right now.”

  Bill nodded, but he was upset. I had hurt him again, lovely person that I was.

  Jason took me by the hand and we all walked over to where the girls and I stayed last night.

  Once inside I yelled louder than I anticipated, “RYAN!”

  I was in full freak-out mode now. I ran up the stairs ignoring the complaining grumbles of Nancy and Jill as I searched every nook and cranny of the upstairs. Somehow I doubted Ryan was in the medicine cabinet, but I checked anyway. I could hear Bill and Jason downstairs calling out Ryan’s name as well.

  But there was no answer.

  Ryan wasn’t there.

  He was gone.

  “What’s going on?” Nancy was up and next to me in a matter of seconds from the expression on my face.

  “Ryan. He’s gone,” I said and plopped down on one of the twin beds.

  “What do you mean gone?” Jill asked with folded arms. “Couldn’t he just be checking this place out? You know, looking for something incriminating against Elisha? Isn’t that like your boy?”

  I impulsively stood up and hugged Jill.

  She had to be right. That was just like Ryan. He probably went on his walk and discovered some kind of intel that he needed to scope out before coming back. I pulled away from Jill and tried not to notice the awkward expression on her face. Hugging was apparently the last thing she expected from me, but I couldn’t help it, she gave me hope, and I really wanted to believe that Jill was right. I put on my Chuck Taylors with renewed vigor. That had to be it.

  Bill and Jason joined us from downstairs.

  “He’s not here,” Jason said with worry.

  “Jill thinks he might be doing a re-con mission,” Nancy said as perkily as possible to put everyone at ease.

  Even as she said it, my heart started to sink all over again.

  Ryan wouldn’t go anywhere without me. Unless he was afraid I’d get hurt. But he promised to come back to me in the morning. He promised he wouldn’t leave me.

  On some subconscious level, I knew something was wrong.

  My gut was screaming at me that Elisha had Ryan.

  “I hope you’re right, but I just have this horrible feeling.”

  “Me, too,” Jason echoed my thoughts.

  Nancy elbowed him with a disapproving glare, then turned to me with a supportive smile. “He’s fine. You’re just being paranoid because we’re in Freaky Town.”

  There was a knock on the door.

  Relief flooded through me.

  Ryan.

  I raced down the stairs and opened the door to see…

  Elisha.

  Her creepy seven-year-old face made me want to puke. “Where’s Ryan?” I asked abrasively. I was tired of playing nice with the ninety-eight-year-old brat. I may not like Roberta, but I knew she was right about Elisha poking inside my head without permission.

  “He’s safe.” Elisha’s purple eyes seemed to smile at me.

  My stomach churned in response. She didn’t even deny having him. She didn’t even make up a lie about him being off exploring or something like that. Just: He’s safe.

  “We’d like to see him now,” Bill said. He and the others had joined me without my noticing, I was so frozen with shock and indecision. Bill obviously was feeling responsible about Ryan’s disappea
rance. But it was my fault. I should have never let him walk away from me.

  “Later. Trust me, he’s fine. We just had some questions about how he solved Trilidon’s Theorem all those years back. Nothing to worry about, I assure you,” Elisha’s child-like voice tried to sound reassuring.

  But I wasn’t biting.

  “No. I’d like to see him now.” I crossed my arms in defiance.

  “I didn’t want to say anything, but now that you’ve forced my hand… Ryan doesn’t want to see you right now. I gave him private quarters,” Elisha said soothingly.

  My eyes instantly welled up. She’s lying. She’s lying. I repeated over and over in my brain. I knew it to my core. I hated Elisha for trying to manipulate me like that, even while the insecure part of me wondered if she was actually telling the truth.

  I almost decked Elisha right there and if it wasn’t for Jill gently holding my arm back, I would have. I whirled on Jill, but her expression made me pause. Her eyes very distinctly told me, Not now. And, being that it was so out of my “normal” zone to have Jill Forester actually warning me, I turned back to Elisha. “Fine, but he better be here for lunch.”

  “That’ll be up to him,” Elisha replied so condescendingly I instinctively looked for anything dead to annoy her with.

  And that’s when I noticed…

  Whoa.

  Nothing dead.

  Anywhere.

  But how?

  Christian Coalition towns bury their dead. There should be hundreds and thousands of dead bodies buried somewhere near. And what about insects? Or dead plants? Or anything?

  Something was definitely off. Or definitely prepped for me coming here.

  Which meant Doris, Elisha and Roland Light had prepared this place for me.

  Prepared it so I couldn’t use my powers.

  Gulp. And gulp.

  We were walking into a snake pit, I could feel it, and yet I couldn’t walk away. My feet just seemed to go wherever Elisha told me, and I couldn’t stop myself.

  “Come on, one stop and then I’ll take you to breakfast.” Elisha started walking away and we all followed.

  See?

  What was my problem?

  Whoa.

  As soon as I left the doorway…

  Boom.

  Thousands of black swirling holes on the nearby hillside. The graveyard no doubt. Not to mention the usuals all back: dead bugs, grass, plants. The house was hiding my ability to see dead things.

  I walked close to Jason and whispered so only he could hear. “Whatever is in the metal at Brady’s that blocks my powers is in the walls of the house.”

  Jason’s nod was barely perceptible as we followed Elisha toward the cathedral in the center of town. The cobblestone felt wobbly under my shoes, or maybe I was concentrating so hard not to fall over from nerves I was a little oversensitive.

  The cathedral’s intricate carvings of complexity and design were just as breathtaking the next morning. A loud bell rang and people started filing out of the church in droves. No wonder it had been so quiet, they were all inside, what? Hanging out? What exactly do people do in cathedrals? Pray, according to Ryan, but to themselves? Out loud? I had to admit the whole thing was kind of fascinating.

  I found it hard not to stare at the older members of the community, although today they seemed more sweet than scary. So fragile. I instinctively wanted to help an old man that was using some kind of metal cage on wheels to walk. But I was too shy, and it looked like he had plenty of help from his neighbors. Everyone seemed so friendly, waving to us as they passed, and nodding their hellos. I would have almost felt comfortable if it wasn’t for the hundreds of pregnant women in the crowd reminding me that this was the biggest kidnapping in recorded history.

  That and creepy Elisha standing in front of me.

  “You know, I rescued you,” I said a little snarkily.

  Elisha turned to me with that same icky grin she’d been using since I first laid eyes on her. “Yes, and I thanked you for it.”

  “I just want to see Ryan and see if he’s okay,” I sputtered in annoyance.

  “He’s fine. He doesn’t want to see you, so drop it.” Elisha turned away from us and started walking up the steps of the cathedral. “I want you to meet someone. Come with me.”

  Why was I following her again? And yet, there I went, following Elisha right into the maw of the church. Maybe Ryan really didn’t want to see me… Stop it! I couldn’t let Elisha wheedle into my paranoia like that. If I could just see Ryan, I could make everything right.

  We all trudged up the twenty or so stairs to the pointed arched doorway and walked through into the most beautiful room I’d ever seen. First off, it was huge! The masonry on the inside was just as delicately ornate as the outside, with stone flowers, vines and swirlies all over the place. Light poured in from the stained glass windows surrounding the entire room with one large shaft of light the main focus. It came from the largest stained glass window that framed the back of the room in the same kind of pointed arch like the doorway and it lit a single podium on a wooden stage.

  That’s where I saw Roland Light.

  His tall, lean form was hunched over the podium, peering at his electronic reader as if its contents were sacred. Roland looked up at the sound of us walking on the slate flooring as we came closer, passing by row upon row of long wooden benches. His short white hair looked like plastic perfection and his long face smiled at our approach making the deep creases in his cheeks appear even larger and more menacing.

  Roland stepped down from the podium and off the wooden platform to greet us. He leaned down and hugged Elisha first. “Aunt Elisha, it’s still a miracle that I could finally see you.” He turned to me. “And I have you to thank for it.” Roland hugged me so fiercely I could barely breathe. I didn’t want to hug back so I sort of just stood there limply, letting him squeeze the air out of my lungs.

  He finally pulled away and I forced a kind of half-smile.

  “You’re welcome,” I muttered.

  Roland laughed out loud and it was actually warm and inviting.

  No.

  I had to remind myself that I needed to be suspicious of Roland, he could be dangerous. If Roland could make me drop my guard that easily I needed to be more alert.

  “I thought you could join us for breakfast, Roland,” Elisha said with a childish grin.

  I hated it when she did that. No acting like a kid!

  “Where are the twins?” I decided to ask suddenly. I didn’t know why I said it just then, but I wasn’t disappointed by their responses.

  Both Elisha and Roland were completely taken aback. They weren’t expecting me to mention the twins.

  Roland recovered first. “They’re safe. Resting, I presume.” He didn’t look as happy to see me anymore.

  Good. I’d rather have him annoyed than super nice. It helped keep my brain clear.

  “Safe. Seems to be the standard answer for anyone that’s missing,” Jason chimed in and typed something in his electronic writing pad.

  “What are you writing there?” Roland went from friendly to territorial in about two seconds.

  “Just some notes.” Jason smiled, then tucked away the pad in his interior jacket pocket. “And Doris, where’s she? Let me guess. She’s safe?”

  I loved him so much in that moment. Good old Jason, making them sweat.

  “Everyone welcomed into Havenville is safe. You think I’m the bad guy, I can see it in your souls.” Roland smiled warmly. “I’ll just have to prove you wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.” Then he laughed and slapped Jason on the back like an old friend. “Come on. Let’s grab that bite.”

  See it in our souls, huh? I really didn’t like this guy.

  And I suddenly felt a wave of massive disappointment in myself. Why did we come here? Why didn’t we insist that we be taken home? Why did I help us escape from the Clean-Up truck? It was scary that I was now trusting Turner more than these two. And now that Ryan was missing, I felt
helpless. There was no way I’d leave now. Not without him. And I guess they knew that. That was probably the very reason they separated us in the first place. I just hoped he was okay.

  I didn’t say anything after that. I just followed Roland and Elisha out of the cathedral, the gang surrounding me like bodyguards. (Even Jill seemed over protective of me.)

  Our small procession made its way through the cobblestone streets, past townsfolk and pregnant ladies, all happy, all smiles. Were we in “Stepford” country or something? I just focused on the shoes on my feet and tried not to think about how deep I was in this mess. I sussed out all the dead things I could see and confirmed that the hundreds of swirling holes on the hill was indeed the Havenville graveyard. Well, as long as I was outside, I had an army that could protect us. Small comfort. And gross, too. The rest of the villagers were so nice, how horrible of a person would I be if I brought back the rotting corpses of their loved ones for my protection? Pretty horrible. But still, if I had to, I would.

  After a brief walk we entered another house that looked like all the others. The inside matched that of the boys’ living quarters exactly. I did a quick dead things check and sure enough, I couldn’t sense any black holes. Whatever they did to the houses completely blocked me from using my powers. I wished that we had had a little more time to figure out what the magic ingredient was in Brady’s metal, but the sample was at Nancy’s house and we weren’t. I just hoped we could get Ryan and get out of Havenville before whatever nasty proverbial shoe dropped on my face.

  Why were we here again?

  Uggh.

  The smells of eggs and bacon filled my nostrils with a kind of culinary bliss.

  “Man that smells good,” Bill echoed my thoughts and I had to smile at his simpleness.

  “It’ll be better than anything you’ve ever tasted. All our food is grown and raised here in Havenville. There are miles of farmland surrounding this town and everything is chemical-free. Trust me, you’ll taste the difference.” Roland was smiling as he motioned for us to sit at a large dining table. It sat twelve normally, so the seven of us fit perfectly. Especially since I could distance myself from our hosts by sitting across from Elisha and a chair away from Roland, who settled in at the head of the table. Nancy and Jill sat across from me, but also kept a chair between themselves and Elisha, while Bill sat on my right with Jason next to him.