by KD Blakely
I threw myself backward on my bed and growled. “Why does everything have to keep changing!”
My mom chose right then to walk by my room, and listened to what I said. Even though it was obviously meant just for me! A good reason to keep my door closed in the future.
She looked at me through the for-the-very-last-time open doorway. “You shouldn’t feel that way, Kat. Change is inevitable. Well, except from a vending machine.” She grinned at her own joke and I rolled my eyes.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
“Really. You’re going to love turning sixteen and being able to drive. There’s so many things to look forward to, and none of them are possible if things don’t keep changing.”
She sighed at the mutinous expression on my face. “I’ll remind you of this conversation next year. You’ll see.”
“Yeah, we’ll see how much I change my mind.”
Note to self — Get ready to enjoy it. How often do you get to prove your mom is wrong?
Chapter 22
And Then There Were Five
The next morning, Doug called me. He sounded strange. “Something’s come up and we’ve got to talk. Mom and Dad are gone, and you need to get over here. Right now.”
“Um, okay. I guess,” I was confused by his intensity. “What’s up?”
“Tell you when you get here,” he said, ending the call.
I stared at my phone a moment before putting it in my pocket. Doug had sounded so…odd. After telling Mom where I was going, I hurried to Doug’s. It didn’t take long — he only lived two houses away. Though I only took a couple minutes, Doug was on his porch, pacing.
“There you are!” After ordering me over, he didn’t sound glad to see me. In fact, he wouldn’t look me in the eye. I stood there waiting, and he finally grabbed my elbow and towed me into the house. I was shaking my arm, trying to make him let go when he stopped abruptly in the living room.
I started to tell him off, but noticed Brady Truman sitting on the couch. I was surprised. I didn’t know he and Doug were friends. He was drinking the same brand of orange soda that Faith liked. I had to fight back a spurt of laughter. His hair nearly matched the orange color of the soda can. What a total ginger!
I jammed my hands on my hips and turned back to Doug. I scowled at him as I remembered him dragging me through his house. “So, you gonna to tell me what’s up?”
“Did you know Brady and I have been friends for a while?” He paused and I shook my head. “Well, we’re in Math Club.”
I began tapping my foot, hoping he’d get to the point already!
He began to speak faster. “We had a club meeting yesterday. On my way home, I didn’t know it, but Brady followed me. To ask me to be his partner on a club project.”
Urrrgh. What’s the point of this?
I rolled my eyes. “How nice for you both.”
“Uh, okay, well, Ray grabbed me when I cut through the park right by his house.” He cut me off before I had a chance to say anything about that. “I know, I know, it was stupid. Ray wanted to have another — discussion — about getting into Chimera.”
He paused when I gasped and cut my eyes towards Brady. Brady smiled back at me, dimples showing at the corner of his mouth, looking relaxed. His hair stuck up in short clumps and his clothes were slightly rumpled. He’d make a great absent-minded professor when he grew up. All he needed was a sweater-vest and a bow tie.
I turned to Doug and frowned. “We promised not to discuss that in front of anyone.” My voice was tight and high. It sounded like someone else was talking. I was really disappointed. No, I was really angry! How could Doug betray us like this?
“Don’t say it!”
“Say what?” I demanded, glaring.
“Whatever it is you’re thinking. Give me one more minute, and it’ll all make sense.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded once. I was so mad I wasn’t sure I could speak even if I wanted to.
“I told Ray I didn’t know what he was talking about. You know, my standard line.” Doug smiled, but when I kept frowning he continued quickly. “Ray was really ticked off. I was amazed — I’d never heard some of those words. If his mom heard him, she’d have washed his mouth with soap.”
“I was impressed as well,” Brady said, grinning. Even through his thick glasses I could see excitement shining in his eyes.
Doug shot him a grin before continuing, “So, then Ray tried to clean out the gutter with my head. I told him blood would make the gutter harder to clean, but he wouldn’t listen.”
I sucked in a breath as my eyes shot up to the bandage on the side of Doug’s head.
He reached up and touched it carefully. “I’m okay. Let me finish. So not only was Ray swearing and pounding on me, he was shouting about the tree, and Chimera, and how his friends were gonna make us all suffer the next time.”
Brady said, “I think Ray wants to kill you.” He turned to me. “Ray kept telling Doug he’d tried to show that place to Polly’s brother. He wanted to prove Polly hadn’t been lying. But neither of them could get in and Robert accused Ray of making a fool of him.”
Doug smirked. “Ray hasn’t figured out that Chimera only opens at the full moon.”
Brady laughed. “It seems that Robert’s been making fun of Ray all week. So Ray blames you for getting them lost, and for not telling them how this Chimera works.”
I burst out indignantly, “That’s not fair! He and his friends weren’t invited. We don’t have to tell him anything!”
I hated when Doug looked at me like I was two years old. Even his voice sounded like he was talking to a little kid. “This is Ray we’re talking about, Kat. What does fair have to do with it?” I wanted to stick my tongue out at him, but then I’d look like I was two.
He continued, “I thought Ray and I were alone, so I told him the same things you just said. And I told him to stay away from us from now on. That last bit might’ve been a mistake. I think he was ready to do something I’d regret”
“You think?” Brady asked, grinning.
“I didn’t know Brady heard the whole thing. When Ray tried to smash my head in, Brady stepped up with his phone open. He told Ray he’d already entered 9-1-1, and all he had to do was press ‘Call’.” Doug and Brady grinned at each other, although none of this sounded funny to me.
Doug said, “Dude, I couldn’t believe it when Ray backed down.”
“Actually, I couldn’t either,” Brady said. “I was sure I was going to spend my afternoon explaining everything to the police.”
Doug looked back at me. He looked apologetic. “Brady told me he wanted to talk about Math Club, so I asked him over. At first, we talked about our project. I started hoping he’d missed what Ray said about Chimera.” Brady’s grin now looked more like a smirk as Doug continued, “Then he said he wanted to join us.”
I groaned, and Doug held up his hand. “I said ‘join who’? He told me he’d seen Ray beating up on me during basketball. And how we go into the cemetery around the full moon each month. He’s smart. He put that together with what Ray was screaming today and figured it out.”
Brady shifted on the couch and cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. “It was easy for me. I’m good with puzzles. I won Top Young Scientist in Southern California last year. After the work I’ve done with puzzles and codes, figuring this out was…easy. I would prefer to join you. I believe I could help. But if you don’t want me to go with you, I’ll go on my own.”
“We’ve already got the Rejects wandering around in there. Now you could be there too?” I shook my head, disgusted.
Note to self — Watch out for anyone born in TSYE!
“Let me go with you. That will eliminate three different groups tripping over each other,” Brady said calmly.
I could recognize a lost cause. Doug and I took turns trying to explain that Ray would be his enemy too. But Brady insisted he didn’t care. He was fascinated by the whole idea of Chimera. He kept insisting, “I want to go with you.�
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“I have to talk to Ronny,” I finally told them grumpily. I pulled out my phone and asked Doug, “Do you trust him?”
“Yeah,” Doug said slowly. “I do.”
“Okay then.” There was a pause as I waited for Ronny to answer. I decided not to let Doug and Brady hear what Ronny had to say.
”Hi Ronny, its Kat. Something’s come up. A friend of Doug’s overheard a fight between Doug and Ray…No, he’s fine…No, there’s nothing Doug could do. His friend figured out everything…Yes, everything. He wants to help, but I didn’t want to take him without checking with you first.”
When I paused to listen to a question from Ronny, Doug mouthed, “What’s happening?”
I frowned at Doug, then answered, “Yes, Ronny, we trust him.” I gave Brady a challenging look. “We’ll take him next Saturday, and bring him to meet you Monday after school. We’ll tell him everything we know, so you won’t need to go through it all again.” I nodded a couple times as I listened to her, then said, “Okay, thanks. Talk to you later.”
I shut my phone with a snap and turned to Brady, frowning. This whole situation was making my skin feel twitchy. “Once you’re in, you’re in. No sharing any of this with anyone else, got it? And you have to agree to follow our rules.”
“I understand,” he said quickly.
“You need to swear you won’t tell anyone,” I said. “Swear it!”
Brady leaned forward and stared straight into my eyes. “I swear it.”
I believed him.
So I explained who Ronny really was and what we’d learned about Chimera. Brady interrupted me a few times with strange exclamations. “Not scientifically plausible.” “Irrational.” “Inconceivable.” “Highly improbable.” Each time, I stared at him until he apologized for interrupting.
He hung on each word when I described our familiars, and laughed out loud when I described Olivia’s owl dive-bombing Ray and Andrew.
He sounded eager when he agreed to meet us Saturday morning at 9:30. I explained that was a little later than the last two months. We hoped the Rejects would get tired of waiting and be gone when we got there.
Brady got up to go and Doug reminded him to watch his back. Ray or Andrew would be looking for him.
Brady laughed. “Same goes for you!”
“I gotta go,” I told them. I knew I had to give Faith and Olivia the news. When I did, I wasn’t surprised that Faith liked the idea of having another person along. The reaction I didn’t expect was Olivia’s.
“Brady Truman? He’s a total nerd! How can you even think of letting him there with us?”
“Look, Olivia, he found out about it and plans to go with us or without us. It’s better to have him with us. Right?”
“I guess it doesn’t matter what I think since you already told him he could go. Oh, just forget it! See you at school.” I was left looking at my phone, not quite sure what had just happened.
Chapter 23
Say What?
The next Saturday was clear and warm, and there was no sign of the Rejects when we got to the cemetery.
“Watch your step,” I told Brady, and stepped into the tree. The cold heavy center was still filled with terrible silence and darkness. It swallowed me up, tumbled me down, then spit me back out. I hit the ground and rolled out of the way, watching as one by one the others stumbled onto the road in Chimera.
“You told me the tree felt like jello,” Brady exclaimed from the ground next to me. “But it feels viscous, not gelatinous.” He looked around in interest, unaware we were all staring at him.
On the other side of me, Olivia sneered, “Nerd.” At least she kept it under her breath. I didn’t think Brady heard her.
He said, “I understood this place in my head, but it feels significantly different to experience it. It must be at least 7 degrees Centigrade…” at our quizzical looks he continued, “…um, about 12 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than Santa Ramona. And the scent of the air is quite dissimilar.”
“There’s no cars,” Olivia said shortly, raising her eyebrows so high they looked like they were crawling into her hair.
I remembered arguing with Doug about that and decided to change the subject. Brady was looking at his arm where a large bulky watch hung loose. I pointed to his wrist. “Hey Brady, what’s that?”
“It’s my dad’s.”
“O-kay… I’ve never seen you wear a watch. Why are you wearing it here?”
“Well, it’s kinetic.” He sighed when he took in our confused expressions. “Self-winding.” His face lit up as he explained, “It uses the motion of your arm instead of a battery. It seemed logical it might work here, where electronic items can’t.” He held it up to his ear. “It’s still ticking, but I don’t know if it will work on Chimera time or Santa Ramona time. It might help once we know.”
“Won’t your dad get mad that you took it?” Faith asked.
“Oh no, he doesn’t like it — too big and heavy.”
He looked like he was going to tell us more, but got distracted as our familiars approached. He watched intently when Doug and I bent down to welcome Rusty and Shadow. I looked up in surprise at an odd high-pitched squeaking and the rapid fluttering of wings. Brady grinned as a black bat the same size as Pyg swooped around him.
Faith jumped, then cowered down and covered her head, letting out a squeal that didn’t sound much different than the bat.
“What’s the matter?” Brady asked, startled.
“Duh! It’s a bat!” Faith’s voice was high and tight and positively dripped with sarcasm.
“Um…so?” Brady asked, his eyebrows mashed together so tight, he looked like he only had one.
“So, I don’t want it stuck in my hair.” She shot him a look that clearly said he was crazy.
Brady shook his head in disbelief. “Bats don’t get caught in people’s hair!” He sounded exasperated when he continued. “Why does everyone say that? Bats have a sophisticated ability to sense where they are and what’s around them. Like sonar.”
Faith took her arms down slowly and asked, “Really?”
“I’ve researched bats. Two years ago, I wrote a report on them for my science project. They’re totally awesome. Some pollinate flowers, like bees. Others eat hundreds of insects every night. If you’ve got insects, install a bat box. I could help you if you’d like.”
Faith stared at him in astonishment. “I’ll, uh, let you know.”
Olivia asked suddenly, “What’s your middle name?”
“My middle name? Why?”
I was surprised when Olivia insisted, “Just tell us!”
“It’s Albert,” Brady said in confusion, looking a little embarrassed.
“Albert?” Faith asked, like she’d never heard that name before. I’d heard it, but it was really old. No one named their kid Albert now.
“After Einstein, okay? Geez.”
“Brady Albert Truman?” Olivia laughed. “I knew it!”
When he only stared at her, puzzled, she explained how initials seemed to work with familiars.
Brady’s frown was so deep, his eyebrows looked like they were trying to tie themselves in a knot in the middle of his forehead. “You described this situation, and I thought I got it. But it’s rather extraordinary, isn’t it. Maybe magic does exist.”
“Um, bats like caves, don’t they? Maybe it’ll help us at the cave.” I smiled, but I really wanted to roll my eyes like Olivia.
Rather extraordinary? Note to self — Don’t ever talk like a nerd!
“Where’s our familiars?” Faith asked, looking at Olivia.
As if they heard her, they were suddenly there. The fox poked its head over the wall, nose twitching. “Hey Foxy,” Faith called and moved slowly to avoid startling the shy animal.
We all laughed when the owl swooped over and landed on Olivia’s head, hooting excitedly.
We each took a few minutes to welcome them, while Brady looked on with wide eyes. “I didn’t believe this, not really. They s
hould not exist.” He shook his head wildly, “What am I saying? This place should not exist.”
This time I did let myself roll my eyes. “Come on, let’s go,” I said.
No one moved. “You’re right.” Doug punched Brady’s shoulder. “Let’s go!”
I say let’s go and everyone just stands there. Doug says let’s go and everyone starts moving. What’s up with that?
Our familiars sometimes followed and sometimes ranged out ahead. It was fun to watch Brady’s face. He kept stopping to look at the strange plants and rock formations. Even funnier, he kept muttering things like ‘not empirically possible’, ‘breaks all known scientific principles’, and ‘what would Einstein say’.
We all started pointing out the strange features in the fields as we passed. The cabin was just a little way ahead when we heard the Rejects. In front of us.
“They’re already here,” I whispered, feeling my heartbeat accelerate. I’d been hoping they’d give up when they didn’t see us.
“Let’s listen to what they’re planning,” Doug said. “We need to get close enough to hear them.”
Faith grumbled under her breath as we crept around the back of the cabin after Doug. We leaned carefully against the wall, out of sight of the window. Ray was talking. His voice carried to us clearly. “…don’t know if they’re coming today.”
“They come here every fourth Saturday,” Carly was sulking. I wondered what Ray had said to her.
I didn’t like Carly much, but I felt sorry for her when Ray sneered, “I don’t know why I listen to someone as stupid as you.”
“Just because you’re my cousin doesn’t give you the right to be mean to me, Ray.” She sounded like she was about to cry.
“If you hang with me I get to treat you however I want.” I was surprised — Ray didn’t sound angry. He sounded…indifferent.
“You know I wouldn’t be here if Mom didn’t make me hang out with you!” Ray’d better be sure Carly wasn’t near anything breakable. She sounded angry enough to break it over his head.
Faith keeps saying Carly’s nicer than the rest of the Rejects. Maybe she’s right.
