by KD Blakely
My breath caught in my throat and my voice came out strangled. “That was Lucky.” I grew up on stories about Lucky, our miracle dog who survived against all odds.
“Yes. Lucky was dying and Chris knew it. I could see how much he loved that dog.” She shook her head before continuing. “I should not have done it. It broke all our rules. Magick does not even work well outside Chimera, so I knew I might not be able to do any good. But I could not stand there and do nothing. And I was able to reduce the worst of the damage.”
She smiled wistfully. “I was not at all sure it would be enough. I kept worrying about that little boy, knowing how heartbroken he would be if he lost that dog. I could not help myself. I had to find out what happened.”
She smiled at me. “I came back the next week and found Chris in the same place by the road. He had been waiting for me every day, hoping I would come back. He kept insisting I saved his dog.”
I spoke up, “Even the vet said it was a miracle. Lucky should not have survived those injuries.”
“Fortunately, no one believed your brother when he told of the lady he’d never seen before. Who made the bleeding stop when she put her hands on Lucky and whispered words in a language he’d never heard.”
It was strange hearing the story I’d grown up with this way. It was a family legend. How the day I was born was a lucky day. The same day our dog Lucky beat all the odds and lived. Now I understood why Chris always said it was magic. All this time I’d thought he was telling me his own stupid THE-STRANGEST-YEAR-EVER story.
Note to self — I have to apologize for all my teasing. Darn it!
Ronny continued, “I could not convince him I had done nothing special. He was very smart, your brother, even so young. I had never been around children before, and I enjoyed our time together. He asked me to come back, so I did. He liked to guess what I was: magick, paranormal, alien. It was fun watching him grow up, trying to catch me out.”
She smiled again, and this time she looked younger than ever. “When he grew to be an adult, I not only loved being with him, I loved him. So much, I knew my life would be long and empty without him.”
I sat up in my seat as I realized something, blurting it out without thinking. “You gave up your magic to be here with Chris.”
Her smile dimmed. “Yes. I had to give up many things to be with your brother. Do not think of it later and worry. Being with Chris is worth it. But it is true I have very little magick here, and that will fade with time. And I will begin to age the same as everyone here.”
The sound of the bell over the door interrupted her. As Doug finally walked in, I felt a surge of annoyance. How could he make us sit here waiting so long!
“Why didn’t you tell us you were going to be…so…late…?” I trailed off as I got a good look at him, while next to me Faith choked on her orange soda. Doug’s shirt was dirty and torn, his lip split, and his hair matted with sweat.
“What happened to you?”
Doug threw himself into a chair and let out a groan. “Ray’s gang got me. Man, they sure don’t like you three. They saw me go into the cemetery with you, and wanted me to tell them how we disappeared.”
He looked at me and apologized. “I should have listened — you knew we were being followed, and I said they wouldn’t be a problem.”
That was a good thing about Doug. He could be bossy and act like he knew it all, but he was usually willing to admit if he was wrong.
Ronny sounded worried when she asked, “What did you say to them?”
Doug laughed. “They’d just started pushing me around when Olivia’s dad moved the fire truck out behind the station. He asked what we were doing there. You should have heard them stuttering before they took off. Don’t worry — I wouldn’t have told them anything.”
His cocky smile pulled at his split lip. It had to hurt, but that didn’t wipe the grin off his face.
Boys!
I asked, “So what did you tell them?”
“I kept saying we were really good at hiding. It wasn’t my fault they couldn’t find their own heads without a map.”
Faith gave a surprised giggle. When we turned to look at her, she shrugged and said, “Couldn’t find their heads without a map! I wish I was brave enough to say something like that.”
I turned to Ronny and told her, “We need to know what you want us to do. We looked around Chimera for an hour yesterday. We never saw anyone, so we couldn’t ask about your mom.”
Ronny’s eyes widened and all the color drained from her face. Her voice sounded strangled. “That is impossible! You must have seen someone. There are always people there.”
I shook my head. “There was nothing for a long time. No people, no animals, no birds. I didn’t even see a bug.”
“You did not see any living thing?”
“Before we left we did see four animals. A cat came over to me. An owl landed on Olivia’s shoulder. A fox followed Faith around, but seemed too nervous to get very close. And a Jack Russell kept jumping all over Doug. Other than those, we never saw anything. Except trees and grass of course.”
“A black cat I understand, and an owl does not surprise me, but there are no foxes in Chimera. And I don’t know anyone named Jack Russell.”
“Oh no,” I said quickly as a surprised laugh escaped Olivia. “A Jack Russell is a dog. And the cat wasn’t black. It was Siamese. My favorite!”
“This is not right. There are no Siamese cats there,” Ronny insisted. “And no cat in Chimera would come up to a stranger! They stick to their own witch or wizard.”
The four of us started speaking at once, describing how the animals appeared, our voices coming out in a jumble. Ronny’s face creased in confusion, then she shook her head. “I do not know what to think. Nothing you say makes sense. Please — start from the beginning.”
She held up her hand as we started to speak again. “One at a time. Please.”
I blurted out, “We went through the tree onto a dirt road. After a while, the road split, one part disappeared to the right behind some hills. The—“
Ronny interrupted, “You are speaking too fast, Kat. Slow and steady wins with grace.”
I stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out what she meant. Faith muttered, “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Wow, no wonder Chris has to correct her all the time.
I grinned and continued, speaking slower. “The main path curved to the left. We went that way. We passed a field covered with strange flowers. On the left, there were giant apple trees. That’s—”
Doug was the one who interrupted this time. “So, we were arguing about that. It’s okay to eat the apples, right?”
Ronny looked at him, startled. “No, they are not safe. We call them Sleeping Beauty apples, and they are poison. My aunt thought it was funny to put a sleep spell on them, like your story of Snow White. No one has been able to reverse the spell.”
I glanced at Doug, who was looking a little green. Good thing he got interrupted.
Ronny propped her chin on her hand. “You were definitely on the Mountain Road, but you say no one was there. I do not understand what can be happening.”
Doug opened his mouth to speak, but Ronny held up her hand. “I think…I think you should go see Ghalynn. He is an elf who lives away from most of us. He and I are friends, of a sort, and I believe he will agree to help you.”
I would have felt better if Ronny had looked, or at least sounded, a bit more certain.
“Is he a nice elf?” Faith asked timidly, her voice higher than normal. “I’ve heard there are nice elves and dark elves. What kind is Ghalynn?”
Ronny’s laughter rang through the room. When heads began turning in our direction, she stifled her amusement and lowered her voice. “Nice is not the word I would use. Irritating, frustrating, rude and short-tempered would be closer. But he is not a dark elf. Set your mind to ease on that. I am sure he will help, once you get him to listen.”
She pulled a piece of paper an
d a pencil out of her purse. “I will draw a map to his cabin, and give you an introduction.”
“I guess that means we’re going back.” Faith’s shoulders slumped as we watched Ronny quickly sketch Chimera. I recognized the tree and the road leading away from it.
I took the map with her introduction on the back and folded it into the pocket of my jeans. “We’ll try to find him the next time we go.”
Doug spoke up, “If your mom is right, the last Saturday in February will be the next time we can get in there.” He glared at me as he said, “They said we have to wait and go together, so we can only go that Saturday.”
Ronny nodded, “I hate to wait that long, but I agree. Since you did not see anyone near the tree, there is something strange happening in Chimera. You should stick together.”
I said, “So we need to find Ghalynn. Anything else?”
Ronny sat forward. “Not now. But I am curious what is happening between you and this boy, Ray,” Ronny told Doug.
He said, “Ray’s dad is the Mayor. My dad says the Tate’s are always Mayors or on the City Council. They’re big dogs in this town.”
Ronny interrupted him, smiling. “I did not know they allow dogs on your Council. The Mundane world keeps surprising me, even after all these years.”
Doug chose to ignore her, while the rest of us just stared, not sure what to say. “Um, Tate Road, next to Main Street, was named for them. Ray seems to think it makes him better than the rest of us.”
Faith spoke up. “Ray’s best friend is Andrew. Andrew thinks you shouldn’t live in Santa Ramona unless you’re rich or important. Anyone else, like Mom and me, should just get out.”
“It sounds like you must avoid Ray and also this Andrew as well,” Ronny said, worried. “It is clear,” her glance went to Doug and lingered on his torn lip before she continued, “they are not afraid to hurt others, and they are watching you now. Please, do not get hurt on my account.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful,” Doug replied cheerfully. “They won’t hurt us.”
I wondered if those would count as ‘famous last words’.
Chapter 14
Initials…Who Knew?
I couldn’t wait for the end of February for both Chimera and Chris. I’d talked to Chris briefly on the phone, but couldn’t wait to talk to him in person when he got back from his current research trip. He said he was glad I finally knew the truth. I said I was glad I wasn’t still waiting for him to tell me about it. Because he should have told me himself! After that, he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Go figure.
I was relieved we were able — mostly — to avoid Ray and his friends the first three weeks of February.
Faith spent a lot of energy avoiding Andrew. But I couldn’t stand being around the real leader of the gang. I found myself gritting my teeth every time I caught sight of Ray’s short spiky black don’t-mess-with-me-I’m-tough hair between classes.
He bowled through the halls with his friends as if he owned the place. He was tall and broad, and everyone moved out of his way without him saying a word. He didn’t even need to glare at anyone out of his freeze-you-where-you-stand pale grey eyes to totally intimidate them.
He gave the three of us an evil grin each time he saw us. His chipped front tooth made him look like a wannabe pirate. I’d heard his mom wouldn’t let him fix it until he was done playing sports. Probably because his father loved to brag how Ray wasn’t afraid to get ‘a little rough’ on the basketball court.
Would he be proud that Ray liked to get ‘a little rough’ in the hallways, too? This week, the last week in February, we weren’t always able to avoid him.
Tuesday, I was late getting out of gym. I threw on my clothes quickly, ignoring the sweaty hair that stuck to my head and the shirt tails that flapped loosely when I took off at a run. Mr. Gordon didn’t like his History class interrupted by someone coming in late.
Of course, that would be when Ray caught me.
I wasn’t even surprised when I heard him bellow, “I’ve always known you were a stupid troll, Taylor. You don’t even know how to dress yourself.”
While Andrew and Polly laughed, a group of passing cheerleaders looked at me with scorn. I felt the blood rush into my cheeks and knew my face must resemble a tomato.
I snapped, “At least I don’t need a bunch of reject friends to help me find my class.” I scolded myself all the way to History. That had been so lame. Why couldn’t I ever think of something cool to say?
I almost didn’t tell the others. But being able to share stuff, even embarrassing stuff, is what best friends are for. And like good friends, Faith and Olivia tried to hide how lame I’d been. Instead, Faith said, “No Kat, its perfect. They are a bunch of rejects.”
“Yeah,” Olivia said, “We’ll call them Ray’s Rejects.” Olivia and Faith high-fived each other like they were actually excited about the idea.
You know you have great friends when they turn something stupid into something good.
After that, I was Ray’s favorite target, and Wednesday was his day to make me miserable.
First, he tripped me in the hall between classes. It was partly my fault. I’d been thinking about Chimera, excited there was only a week to go. I didn’t notice Ray lurking in the hallway like my own personal boogeyman.
It felt like half the school was there, laughing, as I sprawled over the dirty beige linoleum. I’d never realized how messed up the floor was until my nose ended up an inch away.
Yuck!
To add to my humiliation, my books and papers went skidding out of my backpack in an untidy mess. I kept my eyes down, not wanting to see any of the faces around me. Hearing the laughter was bad enough.
I saw Ray’s black tennis shoes move up next to me, uncomfortably close, as I gathered my stuff. I refused to look up as he said — loudly, “What a klutz, Taylor. You’re a menace. You could have hurt me, falling down in front of me like that.”
I was so angry I would have hit him. If I were bigger. And stronger. And if I could get away with it without being suspended. Instead, I gritted my teeth and fought back angry tears. No way was he going to see me cry! I ignored him, and felt my muscles go limp with relief when the bell called him away to his next class.
By the time I gathered everything up, half of my papers were scrunched or smudged with footprints. I almost screamed in frustration when I saw my English essay — it was beyond salvaging.
As I took off for class I muttered, “I hate Ray Tate! I hope he chokes on a bug!”
Too bad wishes don’t work in Santa Ramona.
Later that same day, Ray tripped me in the cafeteria. I hope no one else ever has to wash their lunch out of their shirt and hair in a school bathroom. I was so angry I actually did see red for a moment. It was weird, I had no memory of leaving the cafeteria or going to the bathroom. One moment my tray was smashing into my chest. The next I was staring at myself in the mirror while water ran in the sink. Just as well really. I could picture the humiliating scene in all its gory detail.
Thankfully, I was wearing a black hoodie that day. It hid most of the carnage. The hamburger hadn’t been too bad, but the ketchup and chocolate pudding smeared all over my chest could have been seriously embarrassing.
And you should never mix those things together. They smelled even worse than they looked. I know this because I had to smell damp cotton, chocolate, hamburger and ketchup the rest of the afternoon.
Fortunately, the next two days were better. I was careful to hide or go the other way anytime I saw Ray. I was getting lots of exercise taking back routes around the school to any of the classes I didn’t share with Olivia and Faith.
I understood a little better now, how Faith felt the first day we ended up in Chimera. I’d do almost anything to keep away from Ray and his Rejects. I slunk around school trying to see everywhere at once. Sometimes if I caught a glimpse of Ray down the hall, it made my knees shake.
I dreamt about tripping him, knocking him into a va
t of sticky strawberry jelly, and covering him with permanent glow-in-the-dark happy face stickers.
When I wasn’t worrying about Ray, the rest of that week was pretty good. With our next trip only a few days away, all of us were getting excited. Well, all except Faith. She kept thinking about all the things that could happen in there. The rest of us got to share secret glances and whisper “Chimera” when we passed in the halls.
There were two extra reasons I was looking forward to Chimera this time. One was Ray. I wouldn’t have to watch my back all the time to be sure he wasn’t about to do something.
The other was being able to talk about whatever we wanted. We had to be careful what we said at school, and Ronny had asked us not to put anything about Chimera in writing. We could only make a few cryptic comments on Facebook. It made me realize how much I liked to text and chat about stuff when I couldn’t do it!
At least in Chimera we’d be able to talk without being overheard. It seemed impossible to have a private conversation! Someone, parents, teachers, brothers or sisters, or one of the Rejects, always seemed to be hanging around.
It was driving me crazy. When I mentioned this to Doug, he had the nerve to laugh. He actually reminded me how my mom was always telling me to learn patience. The superior tone in his voice when he added, “Patience is a virtue,” made me grind my teeth together.
Conceited Turkey!
I was thrilled when we approached the large fig tree Saturday morning. 10:00 am seemed pretty late to start, but Olivia had refused to meet any earlier.
We’d agreed to go to the cemetery in pairs so the Rejects wouldn’t notice us. I felt like Nancy Drew as Doug and I snuck through town, doing everything we could to avoid being seen. We beat Olivia and Faith by only a minute.
They approached at a run, motioning Doug and I to go ahead through the tree. Once again, I struggled through the dark, clammy center, hating the feeling of cold jello, of struggling to get air into my lungs, of endless falling...
