The Broken Circle (The Book of Sight 2)

by Deborah Dunlevy

  Dominic burst past Logan and stuck his hand right into the mass of them, pulling it out a moment later with the lighter clenched in his fist. He tried to strike a flame, but again the Red Spots were right there, killing themselves and the fire at the same moment. It was as if they knew that the tiny spark held their destruction. Logan felt a moment of despair. After all this, there was no way to light the fires. Then Eve grabbed his hand from behind.

  “We should make a circle.”

  She was holding onto Alex with her other hand, and Alex reached out to Adam. The four of them surrounded Dominic, stomping and shaking and kicking insects with all their might.

  It was just enough. Dominic flicked the lighter and knelt quickly by the pile of leaves. They went up like they were soaked with gasoline. All five of the kids jumped back, but Logan still felt the flames singe his leg hair a bit.

  After that it was only a matter of repeating. They formed and reformed the circle around each pile, beating back the Red Spots, giving Dominic enough space to light it up. It seemed to last a hellish eternity. Logan bitterly regretted suggesting multiple piles, but at last it was done.

  They stood back and watched the fires burn while trying to brush bugs, both dead and living, off their clothes.

  Logan couldn’t take his eyes off the flames. They burned in all the colors of the rainbow, as if the gems were giving back the whole spectrum of light they’d absorbed from the sun. They flickered blue and red, purple and yellow, green and orange, and back again. For just a moment, he forgot about the crawling nightmare around him.

  It didn’t last long. The leaf stones burned quickly. After about 10 minutes, the fires started to die down. Soon they were nothing more than piles of glowing coals.

  “Well, that was amazing,” said Eve. “I’m glad I didn’t miss it.”

  Logan nodded. “Yeah…Why did you come back anyway? I thought you were staying away.”

  “Oh right, because we were really going to do the whole ‘girls faint away while guys are brave’ thing. I’ll admit that I freaked out a little. Okay, a lot. I’ll even admit that I’m not looking any lower than your shoulder right now. But I’m not going to have Adam telling me it’s okay to hang back. He sounds too much like my dad.”

  Logan actually found it possible to smile. He should have known that telling Eve not to do something was the surest way to get her to do it.

  “So how are we going to spread the ashes?” asked Alex, shaking her foot and sending several Red Spots flying.

  “Dom and I were just talking about that,” said Adam. “We should have brought rakes or something. I didn’t really think of that before.”

  “I could go home for one,” said Dominic, “but I’m not sure if that will be fast enough. The Gylf said this had to be spread out soon after burning.”

  “Just use our hands?” asked Alex.

  “That will burn,” said Dom.

  “Plus, um…remember?” said Eve, holding up her injured hands all crusted with pink paste and now dotted with grime from squashed bugs, too.

  Adam walked over to one of the almost dead fires and kicked at the nearest coal. It crumbled, but didn’t go far.

  “There are a bunch of trees at the end of the field,” said Logan. “We could look for some branches and use those to sort of sweep the stuff around.”

  “Perfect!” said Alex. “That should totally work.”

  “If I volunteer to go gather branches, will that make you all think that I’m just trying to get away from the bugs again?” said Eve. “Because I am, but I’d rather you didn’t know it.”

  Logan couldn’t help laughing with the others.

  “We should all go,” said Dominic. “I think we need to be quick.”

  Whether they’d been damaged in the blast or whether it was just good luck, there were lots of broken off branches laying around under the trees. Each kid took two or three and dragged them back to the fires. Little wisps of smoke were still rising, but the coals had mostly turned from red to gray. Working quickly, the kids crumbled the coals into ashes and spread them around the edges of the pit.

  “Should we put some down in there, too?” asked Adam, peering over the edge to the hole crawling with insects.

  “Just sweep it over and see what happens,” said Eve.

  Adam gave a big swipe with his branch and a cloud of ash puffed out over the pit. A little breeze caught it and blew it about as it settled down.

  “Well that works,” said Adam.

  They all got to work sending ashes over the edge. Logan kept his mouth shut, but even breathing through his nose made him feel sick with all that ash in the air. He held his breath for as long as he could, but he still found himself choking a bit. Until Eve grabbed his arm and he forgot all about the ashes.

  She was pulling him back from the edge, back away from what he now saw was a surge of insects. They were all coming together around the pit, crawling over each other in their haste to eat the ashes of the Changing Tree. What had been a thick carpet of grayish bugs was now a writhing mound, getting higher with each moment. Insects writhed out and back into the pit, slowly refilling it, turning it into some kind of sick lake.

  Eve turned sideways, gagging, but Logan could not tear his eyes away. Staring, he imagined the hoard of bugs as one terrifying creature, black and restless and alive. Then he saw that the creature was moving less and less, slowly stilling until only a few twitches were left. He saw Adam go up close and bend down.

  “You guys, come here,” Adam called. “You have to see this.”

  Eve held on to Logan’s arm for moral support as they moved closer. The Red Spots had mostly gone still now. Dead, Logan hoped. He wondered how they were going to clean up this mess. Surely the whole world could see them all piled up like this. He was just thinking about another fire when he saw the nearest Red Spot begin to steam. As if some kind of acid were eating it away from the inside, the insect dissolved before his eyes until all that was left was a slight vapor and a smudge of black on the ground. All around him he could see little puffs going up, the pit was smoking again.

  Once more, Eve pulled him back. “It can’t be good to breathe that in,” she said, pulling the neck of her t-shirt up over her mouth and nose. Logan did the same. They all backed up as far as the police tape and watched the Red Spots melting away. When there was nothing left but a slightly greasy looking black pit in front of them, a collective sigh went up.

  “We did it,” said Adam.

  “We did,” Eve said. She was grinning. “Every last one of them is gone.”

  Logan looked around at his friends laughing with relief and tried to summon his own smile. It just barely worked. He knew they had won, but somehow it didn’t make him feel happy. It had been a horrible morning.

  He couldn’t erase the images from his brain. Had the others just forgotten the Changing Tree, or that horrible thing they had just killed?

  Why was he the only one who saw what this meant? This wasn’t over. Whoever had brought those bugs to cover up the pilpi’s cave was not going to go away just because they’d killed a few bugs. And who knew what new form of horror they would bring the next time?

  • • • • •

  Just before dark, Logan said good-bye to all his friends. He knew he hadn’t been very good company, but at least he hadn’t said any of the horrible things that he had been thinking. He’d gone along with the impromptu celebration they put together, stopping all together at the grocery store for loads of snacks and then heading back to Logan’s house in time to party with the little kids when his mom went to work.

  What was wrong with him? Logan wondered. Why couldn’t he just relax and have fun with everyone else? They had been really cool. They didn’t seem to mind hanging out in the cramped trailer with two little kids. Eve and Alex gave Darcy some kind of special braided hairstyle thing. Dominic played catch with Sam. It should have been great. Instead, he kept feeling this strong annoyance that everyone seemed to have forgotten what they’d do
ne that morning. How could they act like it was no big deal? All he had to do was stop moving for two seconds and he could feel those insects crawling all over him. Was he really the only one?

  The trash can was overflowing with the remains of their celebration, so Logan hoisted the bag, tying it as he went. He kicked the door shut behind him, enjoying the way it muted the sound of the television the younger kids were watching. It felt good to just stand in the dim light alone for a few minutes.

  “Looked like you guys were having quite a party today.”

  Logan started at the sound of Candace’s voice. She was sitting on her tiny front step, smoking a cigarette. He hadn’t even noticed her there.

  “Um, yeah, sort of,” he said. He always seemed to have brilliant answers like that when his pretty neighbor was around.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell your mom.”

  Logan turned red. “It wasn’t like that. We weren’t drinking or anything. It was just…”

  Candace laughed. “I know. I’m just giving you a hard time. I’ve seen you with those kids before. The book club kids, right? They don’t seem like the type to get smashed or shoot up or anything.”

  Logan thought that he should have been relieved but instead he felt slightly insulted. He tried to study her face, to see what she was thinking, but the feeble light from the trailer windows left too many shadows.

  “Worried your mom will find out you spent the grocery money on junk food? She won’t hear it from me. I’m good at keeping secrets.”

  “I didn’t…” Logan stopped. He didn’t want to explain that his friends bought everything, that they always bought everything because everyone knew he didn’t have any money.

  “Oh right, the rich kids put up the cash. I should have figured.”

  Logan felt his face flush again.

  “You’re a good kid, Logan. I hope when I have kids I get one as cool as you are.”

  How did she always do that to him? One minute he was sure she was mocking him and the next minute she was like the best big sister ever. Not that she was his sister. That would totally ruin some of his best daydreams. He slammed the lid on the trashcan, very thankful that she couldn’t read his mind.

  “That Eve girl stopped and said hi on her way out. She’s really nice,” Candace went on. “She introduced your other friends, too. What’s the deal with her and that blonde kid? Do they have something going on?”

  “No,” said Logan, a little too forcefully. He made himself say in a quieter tone, “They’re just friends. We all are.”

  “Oh, that’s cool. I just thought there was a bit of a vibe, but I can be wrong. She seems to think a lot of you, that’s for sure. She told me the other day that you can practically read minds or something.”

  Logan shrugged. This was getting more embarrassing by the minute. When Candace didn’t say anything else, he finally ventured, “It’s not hard to tell what’s on Eve’s mind. She says everything she’s thinking.”

  Candace laughed long and hard. “Well that just about sums her up.” She stubbed out her cigarette on the door step. “I’ll say it again, Logan. You’re a good kid. A smart kid. Don’t let those rich kids walk on you.”

  “They don’t.”

  “Good to hear. Well, good night. I’ve got an early shift in the morning. Your mom saved my life recommending me for this job, but I’ve got to tell you, the 6 am shift sucks.”

  Back inside, Logan retreated to his room to get a couple of minutes to think. There was a lot on his mind: the destruction of the Changing Tree, the awful experience with the Red Spots, the mysterious enemy who had brought them in the first place, the casual way his friends had taken everything. And somehow, even with all of these much bigger worries, his thoughts kept circling back around to what Candace had said about Eve and Adam. He had never noticed any vibe between them. Adam talked more to Alex than to Eve. And Eve talked nonstop to everyone, so that couldn’t mean anything.

  Logan tried to picture their faces today, sitting at his table joking over Monopoly. He tried to remember their eyes, to see inside in that way that gave him clues about what people were thinking. There was nothing there. If there was, he would have known.

  Not that it mattered. They could be into each other if they wanted to. It was just weird that he wouldn’t have seen it before. Anyway, none of that mattered right now. They had to try to make some progress in figuring out who had planted those Red Spots. With something like that hanging over them all, there was no time for anyone to think about dating anyone else.

  If the others weren’t capable of seeing that, then he would just have to remind them.

  6

  A Message

  Adam put down the book. He wondered if he was actually shaking or if it only felt that way. A glance at the clock told him that it was past midnight. He wasn’t surprised.

  He had picked up the Book of Sight just to try to take his mind off of things. Hanging out with his friends and being loud all afternoon had mostly helped him not think about the awful events of the morning, but as soon as he’d gotten home and found himself alone it all came flooding back. The hideous insects crunching under him, the once proud tree looking like a cancer patient, the awful smell of dissolving Red Spots. He had figured that trying to puzzle out the mysterious third story in the Book of Sight would distract him, keep his brain busy. He was right.

  With very little effort, the whole story had unfolded before him. Just like with the first two chapters, he had felt that he was living this story right alongside the characters. Only when he was done did he become aware of his bedroom, the book in front of him, and his own two hands that held it.

  He should have been tired. After all, he had gotten up literally before the crack of dawn this morning and it looked like dawn might crack again before too long. Instead, he felt elated, energized. He jumped off his bed, laughing for no reason other than it felt good.

  He felt ready to do anything, only, of course, it was the middle of the night and there was nothing to do. He couldn’t wait to tell the others. Still, remembering the look on Alex’s face last year when he had pounded on her door in the middle of the night, he thought he should go ahead and wait. That had been an emergency. This was just exciting.

  It was also probably going to keep him up all night because he had every intention of reading it again.

  • • • • •

  By four o’clock the next day, Adam was feeling as frustrated as he ever had in his life. He had fallen asleep around five in the morning planning to sleep until his parents were safely at work and then head out to find everyone and tell them the good news.

  Instead, he had been shaken awake at 7:30 with his mother’s firm admonition to get dressed as fast as possible or they would be late. He had tried to explain to her that it was summer and he didn’t have to go to school that day, but it was possible it had just come out as a moan. He wasn’t totally sure.

  Five minutes later she had been yelling up at him to get a move on. It turned out that she had an open house the next day (she was a realtor), and the owners hadn’t exactly been taking care of the place. Apparently she had been all too happy to volunteer her two sons to cover the yardwork. That meant that not only was he dragged out of bed after only two hours of sleep but he also had to work like a slave with a lawnmower and rake for four hours with only the remains of a cold pop-tart and the faint promise of a double cheeseburger for lunch to sustain him.

  When they had finally finished, Adam tried to make a quick escape, but his mother had decided to take advantage of her day with her boys to run errands all around town, having them carry bags and try on winter coats off the clearance racks until Adam thought he would lose his mind. Brian, his older brother, didn’t seem to mind, probably because he got to drive. Brian would put up with anything for more time behind the wheel these days. This made Adam the only voice of reason in the car as he explained the concept of summer vacation.

  At last, after at least three more “one last quick
stops,” his mom said that they could head for home. They had just finished up at the bank, and since they were only about five minutes from Dominic’s house, Adam asked if he could just get out there. His mom looked at him suspiciously for a minute, but she had met Dominic about a hundred times and let Adam go to his house just as many, so there wasn’t any real reason for her to say no. With a strict warning to be home before dark, she finally set him free.

  He ran all the way to Dominic’s house.

  Dominic was in his grandmother’s garden pulling weeds. It didn’t take long for Adam to tell him what had happened and convince him to go get his own book and try reading the story. Since Adam didn’t have a book with him, he volunteered to finish the weeding while Dominic read.

  When an hour went by and Dominic didn’t return, Adam knew he had found that he could read the story. Fortunately, doing yard work for Dominic’s grandmother was way better than doing it for Adam’s mom, mostly because Mrs. Hernandez always had these amazing home-baked cookies and she wasn’t at all stingy with them. Adam was in the kitchen polishing off his tenth when Dominic finally came back down the stairs.

  Adam saw the look in his eye and just grinned. Dominic grinned back. There really wasn’t anything that needed to be said. Except maybe one thing.

  “Should we go tell Alex?”

  Dominic shook his head. “She’s not home. I talked to her earlier today. Her dad finished his latest edition and was going to take her shopping all day.”

  Alex’s dad wrote and illustrated a series of comic books. Most of the time he was holed up in his little studio working day and night, and Alex was free to do whatever she wanted. When he finished a project, though, he would come out for a few days and the two of them were inseparable. He would take her out to eat, buy her stuff, take her fishing or camping. Adam thought Alex’s dad was awesome. His own dad was an accountant and acted exactly like one.

  “Logan and Eve will want to hear about this. There’s still plenty of time to get to their side of town and back before dark.”