The second set of prying eyes didn’t make themselves known until Mom was boarding her train. It had cost every penny in her pocket and Grandpa James’s to change her ticket. Jimmy thought about the wasteful pack of useless baseball cards sitting on the kitchen counter back home, but knew better than to remind Mom how right he was.
After the fifth hug and promise to call every day, Mom finally turned to go. That, of course, was when Ash jerked awake in the bag and freaked out. He beat against the fabric and screeched in Jimmy’s head. Smoke escaped through a tiny hole in the bag Jimmy hadn’t noticed before now.
But, just like with every other mysterious thing in this town - flying mountains and all - none of the adults noticed.
Except one.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jimmy felt the man’s eyes on them long before he found him in the crowd. Only a sliver of his face was visible in between the large brimmed hat he wore and the high collar of his long trench coat.
The man lurked, off to the side, away from the mass of people. Crouched between two buildings, he still seemed bigger than life. There was a presence about him that made Jimmy uneasy. He didn’t want to stare, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away.
The coat helped the man blend into the alley, become almost invisible. Yet, Jimmy’s new magical senses told him it was more than that. An extra darkness swirled around the man like an evil shadow, or he was the shadow. But that was crazy, right?
If Jimmy was so inclined not to believe his own eyes, which he wasn’t, the reactions of Ash and Ridire-solas convinced him this dark figure meant trouble. His sword glowed an angry yellow and struggled to break free from his belt holster. Smoke rose from the air holes of Jimmy’s bag as the dragon hissed and clawed the zipper.
Something inside Jimmy screamed a warning.
Mom wiped a tear away and planted another huge kiss on Jimmy’s forehead. “Please try to have a good time with Grandpa James. I think this summer will be good for both of you. I probably should have done this long ago, but I wanted you all to myself after…”
“All aboard,” the loudspeaker cut into Mom’s speech.
Jimmy tore his eyes from the mysterious stranger creeping closer to them long enough to catch sight of Grandpa James and the round man closing the truck’s hood and shaking hands. “I’ll give him a chance, Mom. Promise. Now hurry before you miss this one, too.” Jimmy forced a smile into his voice.
“And don’t destroy the house with that thing.” Mom pointed at the wooden sword before reluctantly turning to board the train.
Jimmy watched the back of her head climb the train’s steps for a scant heartbeat, then looked back toward the scary man.
But the dark alley stood empty, a bit brighter in the man’s absence. Still, the beedy eyes remained fixed on him. He felt them burning the skin on his shoulder, the one holding Ash’s bag. And in his head, where only he and Ash should have been, came a sinister threat about touching things he has no business with.
Whatever reservations Jimmy might have had about spending the summer with his new grandfather, he forgot them in that moment, and ran to the safety of the large familiar man.
Grandpa James waved for Jimmy to follow him toward a strip of stores on the main road. That was the road where the boy made fun of him, but it was also in the opposite direction of the shadow man’s last known location. So he went.
The downtown area still seemed to be bustling with people even at this late hour. Jimmy looked up to see where the sun was in the sky, if at all. Then he realized, to his horror, the sun was gone.
He’d been so worried about Ash and the lurking man, he didn’t notice the mountain growing again. It cast a shadow over the tops of all the buildings. Those shadows grew down each side street as he watched.
Ash whimpered in the backpack and Jimmy soothed him. “I won’t let him get you.”
Jimmy strained his eyes to see Grandpa James in the increasing dark. He stood in the doorway of a store called New Amsterdam Pharmacy, smiling. He waved again and disappeared inside. The door’s cheery little copper bell chimed.
Jimmy ran to catch up, shaking Ash terribly in the bag. A green wave of sick passed between them and he slowed down. “Sorry.”
In the bright lights of the pharmacy, Jimmy saw Grandpa James leaned against the counter taking a pair of glasses out of the pocket of his flannel shirt. Even with them on, he leaned farther over the counter and squinted at a small bottle of pills.
“Ye sure this will help with my rheumatics?” Grandpa James rubbed his bad knee with one and and shook the bottle for good measure with the other. The pills clinked around inside.
“Yes, James,” the pharmacist, a woman with a name tag that said Sarah, said as if for the hundredth time. She smiled at Grandpa James and placed her hand on top of his, then pulled it away when she saw Jimmy.
Grandpa James didn’t seem to notice the touch at all, but Jimmy sure did. He’d never met his Grandma Margaret, not that he could recall, but he got a surge of territorialism for her sake at the sight of another woman near Grandpa James.
But when Sarah turned her warm inviting smile toward him, the bravado melted a little. Grandma Margaret had been gone a long time.
“Why, James.” Sarah came from around the counter and hurried toward Jimmy. “He looks just like Jim,” she said to Grandpa James instead of to Jimmy, whose hair she was rustling.
Whenever someone mentioned Jimmy’s likeness to his dad, it made him uneasy. How alike were they, really? Would he run out on his family when he grew up? Maybe that’s why he didn’t pay any attention to the girls at school, not wanting to get involved with someone just to abandon them like his dad.
Well, that and the giant brown splotch across his face that made sure no girls got involved with him either.
“I bet he and Isaac will get along great!” The woman looked around and called out, “Isaac? Come out here and say ‘hello’ to Jimmy.”
There came no response, and nobody came out of the other room. Jimmy was glad. He wasn’t about to hang out with this woman’s kid while she tried to seduce his grandfather.
Nonplussed, the woman continued. “He’ll come along shortly I suppose. Hi, I’m Sarah, nice to meet you.” She removed her hand from Jimmy’s tangle of hair and presented it.
“Hi. Jimmy. Nice to meet you, ma’am.” Jimmy shook the offered hand, and Sarah pulled him into a Mom hug. The familiarity of it, so soon after watching his mom leave, broke his resolve.
Then, a rush of anguish flooded Jimmy, but it wasn’t his. Or not all his. At that moment, Jimmy knew what he would do with his summer. Ash needed his mom.
When Sarah finally released Jimmy, she pulled him and Grandpa James back toward the front door, the last place Jimmy wanted to be. The shadow man’s eyes still crawled over his skin.
“Isaac,” she called again. “Come meet Jimmy!” Then, lower, only to Jimmy and Grandpa James, she added, “He so needs a friend right now.” If Jimmy didn’t know better, he’d think she was about to cry. “His home situation is… less than ideal, poor thing.”
Grandpa James nudged him farther out the door. Jimmy scanned the sidewalk and streets for any sign of her kid. He also stepped back a bit, hiding between Grandpa James and this woman, in case the group of boys was close by.
The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and he saw, not the boys, but the shadow man. They locked eyes.
In one motion, the dark figure swept his long coat through the air and moved quicker than any human should, in Jimmy’s direction. He left swirls of black smeared shadows behind him, and none of the people around him noticed a thing.
“Oh, there!” Sarah waved toward the one empty spot nearby.
Jimmy tore his eyes from the man for a second and when he looked back, he was gone again. Only a lingering whisper of ‘mine’ remained.
Cold terrified shivers passed between Jimmy and Ash.
“Isaac, sweetie, come say ‘hi’ to Jimmy.” Sarah pried Jimmy from between her and Grand
pa James and shoved him outside, like presenting a new puppy to win a child’s approval.
The boy, Isaac, was hunched over a thick book, pushing his glasses back up his nose. It had to be Grandpa’s girlfriend’s kid; with the same wavy brown hair and freckles. Although, Jimmy realized he’d expected the boy to be much younger. From his size, this kid looked to be older than Jimmy. He wore a plain white undershirt and long pants, even in June. He looked much thinner than the rest of the townsfolk.
Under normal circumstances, and especially after the ordeal with the other local boys, Jimmy wouldn’t dare approach a kid he didn’t know. His cheek burned with the anticipation of feeling another set of curious eyes on his birthmark.
But he remembered how sad Sarah — yes, that was her name — he remembered how sad she’d sounded when she said he needed a friend. Something about her tone made Jimmy feel like he and this boy were kindred spirits. Maybe Jimmy needed a friend, too.
The boy lifted his head but left the large book open in his lap. He squinted in the sun, although to Jimmy, there was none. The mountain that nobody else could see blocked all the light. “Coming, Aunt Sarah,” he said in a deep voice that made him seem even older than Jimmy had changed his mind to.
Aunt Sarah. Jimmy supposed that was better than him calling her Mom. Somewhat.
Isaac gathered his things and walked right through the shadows left behind by the scary man. His body blurred for a brief moment before coming back into focus. He didn’t miss a step or shiver with dread or anything. Just kept walking. Again, nobody but Jimmy saw it.
What was wrong with this town?
“Hi,” they both said in unison. Jimmy stuck out his hand for a shake, but Isaac waved. Then, a smidge too late, Isaac tried to take Jimmy’s hand, which he’d already yanked back to his side.
The grown ups laughed and turned to go back inside, their work done.
Jimmy and Isaac stood there staring at each other, not knowing what to say. Ash moved around in the bag, trying to settle himself. Jimmy wondered if he should show him to Isaac, but decided not to. He didn’t know this kid enough for that. Plus, if he didn’t notice the giant mountain in the air, he wouldn’t notice Ash. He’d probably think Jimmy was showing him an empty backpack like some weirdo.
As expected, Isaac couldn’t tear his eyes off Jimmy’s birthmark. He stared, eyes glazed over, for what seemed like forever. When Jimmy couldn’t take it anymore, he adjusted the backpack straps and turned to leave. He’d rather sit in the hot truck than deal with anymore snide comments about his birthmark.
“Did you know that birthmarks are believed to be a remnant of how you died in your past life?” Isaac blurted out.
Jimmy turned back. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Isaac said, his voice full of wonder, and pointed at Jimmy’s eye. “What did you do?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
On the way back to the farm, Jimmy rode in the front of the truck with Grandpa James. Hunk of rust that it was, being inside the cab felt more secure than out in the open where the mountain could get him. Or the shadow man seemed to be the only other person who knew what was going on around here. That thought did not comfort him.
What did comfort him was Grandpa James’s apparent ignorance to the fact that the pharmacist liked him. After she gushed forever about Jimmy’s birthmark and white-blonde hair, she sat him and Isaac down at a corner table and fed them ham sandwiches. Jimmy snuck away to the bathroom so he could share his with Ash.
At first he’d tried to sneak it to him by unzipping his bag slowly so it wouldn’t make any noise. When the puff of smoke poured out, he waved it away and looked over his shoulder toward the adults. When it was obvious they weren’t paying him no mind, he checked Isaac to find a similar look of oblivion.
His book was back out and he forgot all about Jimmy. The cover of the book read “Discovery of the Double Helix DNA Structure; and How it Will Change Our Understanding of the World.” Yet for all that outlandish science mumbo jumbo, the older boy moved his lips when he read, something that Jimmy hadn’t done since first grade. It made Jimmy chuckle, and think about the stuff Isaac had said about his birthmark. What had he done in a former life to cause one that big, and on his face? He shuddered at the thought.
After a long quiet spell, Jimmy had relaxed and even let Ash stretch out a bit. While they ate, Jimmy made a plan for how he would find Ash’s mom, and he knew that plan started with the ominous mountain now looming in his passenger side mirror.
“… runnin’ games and the like if ye want.” Grandpa James had been talking.
“Huh,” Jimmy asked, then stammered. “Sorry, what? I didn’t hear you.” Mom hated when he said ‘huh.’ The memory of her so fresh in his mind ached.
“Off in La La Land, were ye? That’s what Margaret used ta say ta yer Da.” Grandpa James forced a laugh, but his face held the same expression that Jimmy felt at that moment.
“I guess so. What were you saying?”
“Miss Sarah said there was the Annual Corn Festival goin’ on in town this weekend if ye’ wanna go. Games and competitions and stuff. Sarah and Isaac are gonna be there. That boy’s having it hard lately. Make nice with him. And MacLauren’s taking Rowan. I figure if ye’ two play nice together today, ye might wanna go, too. Do ye run or play sports?”
Jimmy shifted in his seat. The last thing he wanted to do was pit himself against other boys in a feat of athleticism. But this was the first time he and Grandpa James actually talked, and the old man seemed excited about showing him off around town. “Um, I played baseball a little, but Mom couldn’t afford my uniforms.” He regretted it as soon as it came out.
“Yeah, I reckon they’s a lot a that goin’ around these days.” Grandpa James said nothing for a long stretch and Jimmy almost thought it was safe to go back to planning his hunt for Ash’s mom. Then Grandpa James added, “I think it’ll be good for both of us to get back out there.”
Before Jimmy could protest, the truck skidded to a stop. Jimmy’s first thought was to groan about the dumb thing leaving them on the side of the road again. Ash had already puffed up to do the same, as a blast of frustration hit their magic bond. Ridire-solas brightened to attention, ready if needed.
But the engine still rumbled, and Jimmy noticed the flashing lights at last.
He checked the mirror, expecting to see someone in the mountain’s clutches, but it still seemed to be interested in him alone.
An officer stepped up to Grandpa’s side of the truck and motioned for him to roll down the window. “Road’s blocked,” he said, shaking his head.
“We live just over the hill yonder,” Grandpa pointed toward the grimy windshield.
“Sorry, sir,” the officer turned and nodded his head in the direction of the field behind him. “Got a situation back here that’s being investigated. You can turn around and come back up Old Mill Rd.”
Grandpa James sighed and slapped the steering wheel. “I would, officer, really I would.” He struggled to mask his Gaelic and sound respectable. “But ye see,” he slipped, “Ol’ Bessie here had a rough morning and I don’t reckon she’ll make it all the way round Old Mill.”
The officer eyed the truck and then Jimmy, who made his best pitiful face, lip jutted out and puppy dog eyes. It still wasn’t enough. The officer’s resolve returned and he began to give them another head shake of ‘no’ when Grandpa James opened the door.
“Maybe I got somethin’ that’ll work,” he said. “Looky here.”
The two men walked around to the back of the truck and Jimmy heard the large metal toolbox open again. Was Grandpa James giving them flares?
No, that wasn’t it. When they emerged from the back of the truck, the officer tucked a mason jar full of clear liquid down in his uniform shirt. Jimmy could smell the burn of it from his seat.
Grandpa James shook the officer’s hand and winked. “Now, ye be right careful with that particular brew, sir. She’s got a bite to her.”
“What did you give him?�
�� Jimmy asked as Grandpa James shifted the truck back in D. The gears creaked and they started rolling.
“Grown up stuff.”
As they passed the row of police cars, Jimmy strained to see what happened. A large red tractor hung perilously from the top branches of a wide tree. Several policemen stood beneath it staring up, craning their necks and scratching their heads.
Off in the distance, a dark swirl of energy pulsed in the sky. It poured out from the tip of the mountain, like a hot breath of danger.
Jimmy’s stomach flipped.
The cops gazed up at the flying tractor, obliviously wondering how in the world it got up there.
And Grandpa James stared at the clear road ahead.
As they approached the farm, dust settled across the orange sky. Jimmy watched the sun crawl behind the grain silo. His eyes drooped and he almost lost hold of the backpack. Only the constant need to assure Ash they were almost there kept him from nodding off. That and Grandpa James’s small talk about all the fun trouble Jimmy, Isaac, and Rowan could get into on the farm.
“Yer Da used ta jump off the old silo over yonder. Swearin’ he could fly. Like ta broke both his legs one summer. Margaret… your grandma… made me put up a fence all the way round it. Didna keep him off it though. No siree.” Grandpa James slapped the steering wheel.
“Is Rowan gonna sound funny like his Grandpa?” Jimmy asked. “I couldn’t understand a word he was saying.”
Grandpa James laughed. “Hard ta tell. Depends on whether they came over before or after he was born. Mr. MacLauren and me, we spent most our lives in Scotland. But… ye ken what I’m sayin’ right, can’t ye?”
Jimmy cut his eyes over to Grandpa James and began to nod, but that nod turned into a slow shake of ‘no.’
Both Craig men laughed.
“It’ll be easier by the time yer ready for-” Grandpa James broke off. The truck’s headlights caught a flash of something shiny. Ridire-solas and Ash started up at the same time. Jimmy covered both with his hands and darted his eyes to Grandpa James.
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