Snapdragon Book II: In the Land of the Dragon

by Brandon Berntson

  “Well, hello,” he said.

  “Hi,” Masie said. She took off her gloves and approached the pulpit. She took off her earmuffs.

  “I don’t know if you remember me,” she said. “I came here a long time ago. I met you in the back. You were putting the stereo in your truck, the same one, it looks like.”

  “Well, yes!” he said. He put the turntable on the shelf beside him. “This old record player’s like a pet. I’m afraid I can’t …Mandy?”

  “Masie,” she said.

  “Masie,” he repeated. “It’s good to see you. What brings you here?”

  “Well,” she said. “Lots of things, I guess. I suppose I wanted to thank you.”

  Jasper raised his eyebrows. “Thank me?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “For what you said last time. The talk we had. You were very considerate.”

  “Well…in this business,” Jasper said, “you have to try all you can in that department.”

  Masie nodded.

  “So, anything else bring you back?” he asked.

  “Faith,” she said.

  Jasper beamed. “Is that so?”

  “Remember when you said, ‘When you know, you’ll just know?’”

  “I think I remember that, yes.”

  “Well, you were right,” she said. Masie couldn’t stop smiling. If the smile were any bigger on her face, it wouldn’t be on her face, she thought.

  “Wow,” he said. “You’ve discovered the truth for yourself then?” Jasper seemed enlightened.

  “Things have been pretty bizarre lately. I know God answers prayers, and I know He’s not gonna answer them the way you want Him to. But I know. I know…and I want to learn more.”

  “Masie,” Jasper said. “That is one of the sweetest things you could say to a guy like me. That is music.”

  Masie laughed. “Ten o’clock every Sunday?”

  “You bet. In fact, Masie, we have a prayer night every Wednesday, too. It’s a humbling and beautiful thing to be a part of. It starts at seven p.m. Don’t hesitate. We’d love to have you.”

  Masie nodded. “That’s great. I’ll bring my Bible. I’ve been reading bits and pieces here and there, and I have lots of questions.”

  “Hopefully, I have the answers. If I don’t, you know Who does.”

  They shared a beautiful, but awkward moment before Masie spoke again:

  “Well, I just wanted to come down and see if you were here. I got lucky, it looks like. Thank you so much. I know you probably think you didn’t do much, but you did.”

  “I won’t take credit for that Masie,” Jaspers said.

  She nodded, still smiling.

  “We’ll see you Sunday?” he asked.

  “You bet,” she said.

  Masie turned to go, but Jasper called her back:

  “Masie?”

  She turned. “Yes?”

  “You still have my number?”

  “I think so. Yes.”

  “Don’t be afraid to use it. Anytime. Any questions. Okay? Anything I can do for you or your family, please. Don’t be afraid to ask.”

  His compassion touched her. “Thank you,” Masie said. “Thank you so much. See you Sunday.”

  Jasper nodded a final time, and Masie turned to go.

  Outside, the warmth of the sun and the blue sky made her feel as if she’d been born again, and Masie supposed she had.

  iv

  Deirdre Lolly fumed and swore. Some might say the streets of Ellishome were not completely safe. After all, this monster was still alive, and it wanted to do damage!

  It breathed, inhaling, exhaling smoke; it bedded total strangers without shame. It wished Gavin were not only lost, but home as well, and not to be comforted and cared for, but to be severely beaten, brutally punished for the wrong he’d done!

  Deirdre Lolly wanted to make sure Gavin never walked again!

  The torture, knowing she had nothing to vent her rage upon, maddened Deirdre. She went into a fury, breaking dishes and lamps. She put her hands through the pantry door, bringing scratches and blood to her hands and nails. She’d thrown the hair dryer at the bathroom mirror, shattering it into a million fragments. She tore the house apart.

  Gavin had beaten her in every sense of the word, and she knew it. Frank Bimsley had come by and explained the situation, but she didn’t believe a word of it. He told her Gavin was dead, his body laid to rest somewhere in the mountains. What did he mean ‘laid to rest?’ What did he mean, ‘mountains?’ She couldn’t even go to her own boy’s funeral?

  She was preparing for a confrontation with these children. And if their parents stood in her way, they’d better watch out! She wanted to find out exactly what had happened to her child! And nothing would stop her!

  Putting out the rest of her cigarette and blowing the smoke above her head, Deirdre opened the kitchen cupboard and exhumed a bottle of Smirnoff. A few more shots and she’d go. She wasn’t quite drunk enough yet, but she was dressed for the occasion: hair teased, blue mini-skirt, lacy black top, and high heels. First, she’d go to Eddie’s house, confront that stupid boy and his mother. Then she’d make the rounds, making her presence felt. She would get the truth out of them before the night was over. And when she finished confronting these kids and their families—making a torrential scene—she’d go to the bar. When she came home, pretending Gavin was here, she would kill him all over again! She’d reenact how she wanted to kill him. She would make a doll with his name on it, pulling off its arms and legs. She would stab it a thousand times.

  She poured a shot, drank it down, and resolved again—if she could have one more chance—she would kill her boy.

  Deirdre lit a cigarette and stuck it between her glossy red lips.

  Standing in the kitchen, she heard the front door open. She paused, furrowing her brows. A smile spread across her face.

  He’d come home. He was not dead after all. Sheriff Bimsley had only wanted her to believe that, but Deirdre knew better. She knew too well! Gavin had come home, and if he wasn’t dead now, by God, he soon would be! She’d give him a thrashing he’d never forget!

  Deirdre shut the kitchen cupboard, knowing full well, somehow—after all these months—that her rebellious child had come home!

  She stormed into the living room, but stopped immediately.

  There was no one there. The door was open, and the cold air came in, snow swirling across the threshold.

  “Damnit,” she said.

  Deirdre went to the front door, moving around the length of the couch, and that’s when she saw it. Her mouth hung open, the cigarette fell and began to burn a hole into the carpet.

  It was some kind of joke, one of Gavin’s, no doubt.

  A full-grown tiger was standing in the living room of her home. It looked directly at her.

  She’d only had a few drinks, nothing to contribute a hallucination, surely. She was in bed dreaming, drinking too much over the past few years. Not that she had dry spells and was withdrawing to such an extent that she saw visions, but she couldn’t make sense out of what she was looking at.

  She took a moment to register the animal’s complacency. Its face was gentle in its contemplation of her, granting her time to register her plight.

  Time for you to be beaten, Mommy, Gavin said in her mind, and Deirdre’s brows furrowed. Tommy bumkin.’ Performance buster! Don’t you dare touch that dial!

  Another crazy thought came to her:

  Somehow, someway, the boy had a pet tiger. He’d merely been waiting for the right moment to spring it on her. She’d tried hard to be a good mother! That was all! Was that so bad? Didn’t he understand she was only trying to instill a little discipline? What mother didn’t? It wasn’t easy for her to raise a child on her own! The little bastard ought to be thankful!

  These thoughts failed to alter Deirdre’s situation. She was frozen in fear. When she looked, the tiger seemed to smile, an evil leer announcing her death would be salvage and painful, that her death, in fact, was g
oing to begin right now…

  The tiger’s lips pulled back, revealing rows of destructive teeth. Its muscles contorted, claws digging into the carpet, were pinned back on its head, ready to pounce.

  Ben took a single step toward her.

  And Deirdre Lolly took a single step back, eyes going wide. She shook her head, holding her hands out in front of her.

  She would get him for this! She’d kill the little bastard if it were the last thing she did!

  But deep down, defeat swallowed her. Her vows were empty. The tiger confirmed her thoughts. She’d not defeated Gavin at all. In fact, she thought—in the space between her ears—she heard the sound of his laughter.

  Goodbye, Mommy. Go into the Dark World where you belong. Someone’s waiting for you there.

  The tiger growled, a low rumble escaping its throat, a cross between the hiss of a snake and the roar of a demon.

  Deirdre cursed her dead son.

  In the seconds that followed, she understood everything, and she screamed at the tiger in her defense:

  “I never meant to hurt him! I didn’t! He’s a good little boy! I promise I’ll do better! I never meant to hurt him! Please, dear God! I swear! I never meant to hurt him! I love him! He’s a good little boy! For Christ’s sake, please! I’m begging you!”

  The animal answered her, sensing the futility of her words. It even seemed to laugh. Pathetic, useless, Ben seemed to say. Her life was a waste, and as she’d been in life, so she’d be in death. The world had no need of her.

  Do you understand? it seemed to say, but Ben didn’t give her time to respond.

  He sprang, and claws dug into Deirdre’s face and throat. She screamed in painful, galvanizing horror. Ben, like a crazed animal, was tearing Gavin’s mother apart.

  It was worse than any rabid dog, a nightmare coming to life in her very own home. Deirdre Lolly tried to scream, but it was too late. She put hands up in front of her face, but its massive paws were too powerful. The pain was white hot, electric, encompassing Deirdre from head to toe.

  Ben smothered her, burying his massive head and saber-like teeth into her chest.

  Again, she tried to scream, but blood choked her throat. Laughter seemed to follow her down into the darkness, and soon, she was no more.

  When it was over, Ben relaxed in the triumph of his kill and licked his paws.

  CHAPTER IV

  As winter turned to spring and things began to warm up again, Ellishome also started to come more and more to life. Some people were not ready to give up on the rural town just yet. School was in session, though many kids would have to repeat certain grades, or attend summer school. But a growing bustle and activity spread throughout the streets. More and more work places were opening for business. Moving trucks were not leaving Ellishome so much these days as arriving into Ellishome. The town was a growing community again. The mystery of its horror and that horror’s departure had left many to wonder without answers, but there was a different feeling in the air now.

  Ellishome was safe again.

  Seth had heard about Gavin’s mother, and those who knew of Ellishome’s past contributed Deirdre’s death as one of the last of many victims. That it had happened after the battle with the Dragon didn’t puzzle Seth Auburn.

  Gavin had been avenged.

  Seth walked by himself down the warmer streets of Ellishome on a particularly warm spring day. Life with he and his friends had remained quiet and uneventful. They had decided not to talk about their quest and the things they’d experienced. But in looks and gestures, they shared plenty.

  On that sunny, Saturday afternoon in May, Seth walked down Main Street just days before his eleventh birthday. He and his friends had to attend summer school that year if they wanted to move on to sixth grade, but at least they would be there together, he thought. Seth dreaded summer school, but knowing the others would be there at least made the prospect endurable. Summer school would be higher in attendance that year, he supposed.

  While walking in front of Lucy’s Quick Stop, Seth noticed a portly boy stepping outside holding a tall fountain drink in one hand, and a candy bar in the other. He was wearing baggy shorts and an equally baggy striped shirt.

  It was Albert Papal.

  “Hey, Seth,” Albert said, holding his fountain drink high.

  For whatever reason (perhaps because of the candy bar and soda), but the weight Albert had shed on their quest had returned with full force. No longer the rugged warriors they’d been, his friends had trimmed their hair short and began to look more like their old selves again. Except for Malcolm, who seemed content to grow his hair long.

  “Hi, Albert.”

  Albert took a bite of his candy bar and slugged it down with the soda. “I know what you’re thinking…and I got to tell you…being gone all that time,” he said, whispering, as if it were their little secret. “Being gone all that time…and going through what we did…man!” Albert shook his head. “I don’t know…it’s funny…seeing everybody again after everything that’s happened…it’s weird, don’t you think?”

  Seth nodded.

  “I don’t know,” Albert said. He grabbed his chunky belly with the hand holding the candy bar. “Good old Mom. She makes the best pies in the world. She was so happy to see me after I came home, the first thing she did was bake the biggest, sweetest, blueberry pie you ever saw in your life. Blueberry is my favorite, I cannot deny. Boy! Let me tell you! That was the best dang pie I ever had!”

  Seth smiled.

  “Anyway,” Albert went on. “How have you been? No bad dreams or anything?”

  Seth shook his head. “No,” he said.

  “That’s good.”

  “You?” Seth asked.

  Albert shook his head as well. “Funny,” the boy said. “Like it never even happened sometimes, you know? Like I’m already forgetting stuff. Mostly the journey we took through the mountains. I remember we saw some scary things and some really beautiful things, but I can’t really remember what those things were exactly. Don’t you think that’s weird?”

  Seth nodded, but he did understand. In his own right, he noticed a strange spell seemed to have been cast, and he was forgetting many of the horrors of the quest. Unfortunately, he was forgetting some of the beautiful things, too.

  For a second, the soda pop in Albert’s hand turned into a tankard. Thick, heavy vambraces covered his forearms. In the next second, the vision faded.

  “Yeah,” Seth told Albert, not mentioning what had just happened. “It is weird.”

  “Well,” Albert said. “I gotta go, lad. That’s me dad in the car. I was to come in and pay for gas and get no more than a soda and a candy bar. Like a bite?”

  Seth laughed and shook his head. He did not mention the transition to a timeless warrior or the accent in which Albert had just spoken. “No, thanks.”

  “Well, I’ll see you,” Albert said, speaking normally again. He waved good-bye with the hand holding the candy bar, going to a big brown car parked at the curb. Albert’s dad was in the driver’s seat. The man waved to Seth, and Seth waved in return.

  Watching them drive away—with Albert making faces at him through the window—Seth couldn’t help feeling a little sad. It was as if they’d never gone on the journey at all. Hadn’t he been worried they would be different? They were the same kids they’d always been, anxious for toys, goodies, and make-believe.

  Seth pulled out a few crumpled bills from his pocket. Suddenly, a soda pop and a candy bar sounded like the best things in the world.

  ii

  That night, his mom walked into the living room from the hallway while Seth sat at the dining room table. Masie was watching television on the couch. Samantha Auburn was dressed in a way Seth and Masie had never seen before. A sparkling silver necklace sent glimmers of light around her neck, and she wore earrings to match. She was wearing a slim, dark blue dress and blue shoes. Her hair was up, and she was fixing the other earring into place.

  “Mom?” Masie said, r
aising her eyebrows.

  Samantha smiled and winked at her daughter.

  “Mom, what are you up to?”

  Masie stood up, looking at her mother from head to toe. Seth watched all this with suppressed humor.

  Samantha didn’t reply and continued to smile to herself in secret.

  “Mom!” Masie said, stomping her foot with impatience. “Where are you going?”

  “I,” Samantha said, drawing it out with perfect emphasis, “have a date.”

  Seth raised his eyebrows. Masie was in virtual shock.

  “A date?” Masie said. “With who?”

  Samantha Auburn smiled again. “With whom, you mean. And wouldn’t you like to know.”

  “Mom!”

  Samantha broke out in round, hearty laughter. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

  Masie stomped her foot again, making Samantha laugh even harder. “Mother!”

  Seth and his mother exchanged a glance. Samantha looked at Masie. “Austin McCall,” she said.

  Masie’s mouth did everything but hit the floor. “Mom!” she said. “You can’t go out with Austin McCall! That Rudy’s dad!”

  “I know its Rudy’s dad, dear. But he came by work the other day and asked me if I’d like to go to dinner with him. He’s a very nice man. And, being the lady I am, I amiably accepted.”

  “But, Mom!” Masie said, with vehemence. “If you and Austin start dating, and me and Rudy are already dating, then that’s kinda gross, don’t you think? Don’t they have a law against that?”

  “Not that I’m aware of, sweety,” Seth’s mother said. “What are you worried for anyway? Rudy isn’t your brother, not unless Austin asks me to marry him.”

  “Mom!”

  Samantha again, burst into cheerful laughter. She walked over to her daughter and patted her cheek. “You have nothing to fear,” Samantha said. “Yet.”

  “Mother!”

  “I left a twenty on the table, so you kids can order a pizza,” Samantha said. “You kids have fun. I’m meeting him at the restaurant. Bye now.” With dramatic flourish, Samantha grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair, and exited the house.