A Girl Between

by Marjorie Weismantel

  Sam laughed, “This’ll be great. I had nothing to go sliding with so I threw this together from crap we had in our garage. Then, I sprayed the skis with silicone. Does anyone want to try it before I do?”

  “No,” answered five people at once.

  “I’ll go after YOU Sam,” Doug yelled.

  It was great fun while it lasted. Other people showed up to slide so it got a little crowded. I ended up trying every contraption we had, even the chairski thing. Instead of going straight down the hill, it would cut across, either swerving off to the right or left. Sliders that were walking back up the hill had to dodge it or they would get smacked. For a while, the snow was sporadic, but as the day wore on it became heavier. We’d have to head out soon.

  “Tess, I’m spraying some of Doug’s silicon on my ‘speed demon’. You want to check it out with me?” Will asked. At that moment, we were the only ones on the top of the hill.

  “Yeah, sure. I LOVE speed!” I responded.

  Will proceeded to clean off the bottom of his sled and then he coated it with a layer of the silicone. “We’re gonna fly down this hill so I suggest you sit in front of me and I’ll hold on to you,” Will explained with a teasing glint in his eye. “I don’t want you to get scared.”

  “Anything you say, Will,” I said with a condensing smile. Then, I climbed onto his sled and settled right in front of him. He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close. Next thing I know, we were flying down the hill and beyond. We were going so fast that I heard myself scream. The sled kept on going, right through some trees and into the woods, way beyond all the other sliders. We finally stopped when we ran up against a bush and the sled tipped over on its slide. We lay there laughing while catching our breath.

  Will still had his arms wrapped around my waist. “You OK, Tess?” he asked softly in my ear.

  “Yeah, I’m OK Will, how ‘bout you?”

  “At this particular moment, I’m doing fine,” Will whispered as he started to kiss the back of my neck.

  I was surprised at first, but then I decided to just relax. Will’s arms pulled me closer to him and he kissed me by my right ear. “Hope you don’t mind, Tess,” he murmured. “I’ve wanted to do this ever since that first day I met you.”

  “You have?” I breathed.

  “Yeah,” he responded, while continuing to move his lips on back of my neck.

  “Why don’t I join you?” I asked as I twisted my body around and caught his lips on mine. I think I took Will by surprise because he paused for a second and studied me. Then he went crazy. He kissed me all over, my lips, my ears, my eyes and my neck.

  “I love you, Tess.”

  “You DO?”

  “Yes, and you don’t have to say anything. This must be new to you, but I’ve known it since, well, since we first met.”

  I squinted my eyes at him. “You did? I figured you thought I was a dummy.”

  “NO,” he laughed. “My sarcasm was probably just a defense mechanism. I figured you’d think I was a geek.”

  “Yeah, but you’re a handsome geek,” I teased, then I became more serious. “Look, Will, I’ve gotten to know you since then. You are a bit of a geek and you’re also super smart, courageous and very funny. I like you. I mean, I really like you a lot.”

  “How about that other guy, Ian?” Will inquired.

  I shifted back a little and stared at Will. “I don’t know what’s going on with Ian. There’re things about him I’m just beginning to understand.”

  “Really? Care to explain?”

  “No,” I answered. Then, I smiled and kissed him again. Will sighed and kissed me back.

  Abruptly, I started feeling a weird buzzing vibration at the back of my neck that was very unpleasant. Then I hear a voice, “So there you are!

  “Will, did you hear that?”

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “I’m speaking to you, GIRL. He can’t hear me ‘cause I’m directing this only to you. He’ll hear me only too soon.”

  I struggled to shift back from Will and prop myself up on my elbow. As I looked around, I couldn’t help but notice how isolated we were. Mercy and the guys were far away on the top of the hill. The only way I could see them was to lean over and look around a tree. The darkness was descending and the snow was piling on.

  I grabbed Will’s arm. “Will, we’ve gotta get out of here. Something doesn’t feel right to me.”

  “Well, well, look who’s here,” came a voice from behind the trees.

  I turned toward it to see a several people streaming in our direction through the trees. I immediately knew they had evil intentions because there was a large cloud of red and black churning all around them. Their aura was so stirred up that it was visible through the snow and the coming darkness. I tried standing but some guy was suddenly there, pushing on me with his big shoe. I turned to see two other guys stepping on Will. I looked closely at them. These guys were some of the ones I saw in the front of the school the other day; creepy, nasty, and UGLY.

  “So, it’s YOU again,” Tonya stalked up to Will, stepping on his neck with her high pointy boot. “I don’t like you. You’re always getting in my way and I’m sick of it.” Then, she turned her gaze at me, staring with her pale blue eyes. She turned her big fat red lips into a sneer. “It’s time, Tess. All this bad weather and then snow. Didn’t you wonder about it? Aren’t you getting sick of the pain and suffering? Well, I’m sick of you.” She pointed at me with her shiny dagger nails. “I want you and your kind to go away. I want you to leave us alone. We’ll be finishing things here today and you’ll be gone. Soon, all of your kind will be gone.”

  Tonya, along with some of the others seemed to be moving their fingers around in the air. Those movements seemed to coincide with an uptick in the wind. What were they doing?

  By that time, the entire group had surrounded us. I didn’t know most of them, but I thought I saw Ian’s brother, James and also Red. It was apparent they were all bad ones, the diaboles. I knew they would try to destroy us. That’s what they always try to do. They were all looking toward the sky, moving their fingers around. The wind was screaming and the air was turning white, white with blowing snow.

  I took that opportunity to bend my neck a little and look toward the hill. I saw Doug speeding down in that ridiculous chairski. He was actually veering toward us. I concentrated all my thoughts on Doug, “look at me Doug, look at me Doug”. He turned his head looked at me and for a split second I thought I heard a “What . . . . ?”

  WHAM!!!!! A blanket of white fell over me, snow up my nose and in my mouth. Heavy and cold. Tried to move my limbs but couldn’t. “Turn your head here, Tess,” Will whispered hoarsely. I turned my head toward Will. There was some space there to breathe.

  “Whaaaa . . . . ?” I tried to ask.

  “Snow wind,” he whispered. “They brought up snow wind to smother us. Can’t speak much ‘cause there’s not much air. I knew so I moved the sled above us. Wait. They’ll come.” I bent my head closer to Will and rested my forehead against his chin. Then, I closed my eyes and tried not to panic. Other than my head, I couldn’t move any other part of my body. Breathe in, breathe out. I couldn’t stop shaking from fear.

  “Shhhh, it’s OK. I know. Just wait.” I felt Will’s slight smile against my forehead. I closed my eyes and tried to zone out. It was impossible.

  “Tess, I hear something.”

  “What?”

  “Just listen.”

  There was a faint scraping sound that was getting louder.

  Next, muffled voices, scraping noises.

  Louder, “Tess, Will, you there?” And shoveling.

  Suddenly, light, air and voices.

  Mercy’s face appeared above us. “Tess, Will, are you alright? I can’t believe it.” Tears were streaming down her face.

  “Hey, Mercy, let’s get ‘em out of there before something else happens.” Sam appeared and grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Will scrambled up after me. It wa
s dark by then so Doug and Nathan led us through a tunnel cut into the snow. Once we got out we brushed ourselves off, and then we turned around.

  We just stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the huge mountain of snow that Will and I had been UNDER. It was a miracle we got out of there. Several people were there, some with snow shovels, others with saucers. You could see where they had been digging frantically trying to get us out in time.

  “Where’d all that snow come from?” Nathan asked, staring, his head cocked to one side.

  Doug answered, “It came from the evil ones, the diaboles. I caught a signal from you, Tess. I knew something was up so I came running over here. You had disappeared under that mountain of snow and I caught a glimpse of them running out of the woods.

  “How’d you know it was the diaboles?” Sam inquired.

  “Because they brought up the snow wind to bury you. This snow wind isn’t what I would call a natural phenomenon. It just doesn’t just happen out of the blue,” Doug asserted, pressing his lips together.

  Will grimly nodded. “Snowwind typically occurs in very particular circumstances, such as sudden extreme snowfall of light, dry snow and a landscape with tunnel-like conditions that enable high winds. The only condition this situation met was the sudden extreme snow fall. The diaboles definitely brought this on.”

  “What is snow wind?” I asked, looking between Doug and Will.

  “It’s when very strong winds take snow from the air and the ground and deposit it elsewhere. It’s not what’s referred to as common snow drifts. It’s way beyond that. Snow wind has been known to deposit up to 25 feet of snow in one area.”

  Nathan said, “We were darn lucky that there was a snow plow across the street with three shovels in his truck.”

  Will put his arm around me. “You’re shaking. Are you OK? Why don’t I take you to home?”

  “No, Will. I’ll be OK. I just want to find out what’s going on here with the weather. Did you hear what Tonya said about all the bad weather and the snow? You know there must be a connection.”

  Will quietly responded in my ear, “I know who we can talk to about this.” Then he turned to everyone else. “Thanks for your help, guys. I’d hate to think what would’ve happened if you didn’t dig us out of there in time.”

  “Will, can we have a ride in your jeep? I don’t think my car can get through all this snow.”

  54. Negative Polarity

  Between the blinding snow storm and the unlit roads, it took us forever to get the guys home. Will’s eyes were constantly focused on the narrow tunnel of the headlight beams through the swirling snow. I found it unnerving to be riding around in this weather.

  After the last drop off, Will turned to Mercy and me. “Tess, I think I know who can answer at least some of your questions.”

  “Who would that be?”

  Will smiled, “Why, our wonderful Mr. Kenney.”

  “Mr. Kenney? You mean that geeky robotics teacher?” asked Mercy, raising her eyebrows.

  “That’s exactly who I mean. Mr. Kenney knows his stuff. He’s also a crazy guy when it comes to weather. I’m sure he knows more than many professional weather forecasters.”

  I added, “And I can verify that he knows about witches.”

  Will glanced at Mercy before adding, “He’s one of us, you know.”

  “He’s a luminar?” Mercy asked, her voice rising.

  I nodded, “Yes, and he’s been around for a long time.”

  “Is it OK for us to show up to his house out of the blue?” Mercy asked Will.

  Will grimly stared at the road. “Stop thinking of him as a teacher. Mr. Kenney’s one of us. He’ll be OK about it. I also think our situation qualifies as an emergency.”

  Eventually, we pulled up to an ancient looking house that was overwhelmed by large bushes drooping with snow. The house had a forbidden look about it due to the total darkness and the obstruction of the front walk from hanging tree branches. “It doesn’t appear that anyone’s home,” I remarked.

  “He’s gotta be there,” Will maintained. “Where else would he be? There aren’t any lights on because of the power outage. I’ll go check it out.” Will climbed out of the jeep and made his way to the front. We couldn’t hear Will pounding on the front door, probably because of the noise of the wind, but he finally emerged from the snow laden foliage.

  “Yeah, Mr. Kenney’s here. He’s in his kitchen in the back side of his house where he has a fireplace. He said that he lost power two days ago.”

  I asked, “He doesn’t mind us coming in the middle of a storm?”

  Will frowned. “No, not at all. I know it sounds weird but he didn’t act surprised to see me. You’d almost think he was expecting us.”

  Mr. Kenney was standing at his front door, holding it wide open with a big smile across his face. “Well, hello, hello, so nice to see you all. I’ve been holed up in this house alone for two whole days. It’s been just me, and Miss America, my cat.” As we stepped into his front hall, Mr. Kenney got a better look at us and his eyes widened. “My goodness! You look frozen. What were you kids doing today?”

  “Believe it or not, Mr. Kenney, we went sliding,” Will answered.

  “Sliding, today? No wonder you look like Frosty the Snow Man. Come on in and make yourselves comfortable. Since I don’t have electricity, I’ve been using my kitchen fireplace. This house was built in 1688, so it adapts to the old ways quite well. Sit yourselves down on the cushions by the hearth.”

  We made our way through the dark living room which led into a dimly lit, narrow hallway. As we entered the kitchen, we experienced a blast of warmth that was obviously from the giant fireplace. A delicious meat smell came from that direction, probably from the iron kettle hanging near the roaring fire. I felt like I crossed back to the 1600’s.

  Mr. Kenney reminded me a bit of my great uncle Jimmy, a cheerful type of guy that always wore those knit sweater vests over his round belly. Mr. Kenney walked over to stir the contents of the pot. “Are any of you hungry? As you can see, I have a big pot of beef stew and some hot chocolate brewing. The beef stew is delicious, a recipe of my late wife. Please, just help yourself.”

  “Oh, God, this is heaven,” moaned Mercy as she settled down by the fire with some stew.

  I sat myself down as close to the warmth as I could and took a few bites before I turned to him. “Sorry to come barging in on you like this, Mr. Kenney, but we have to ask you some questions.”

  “Oh, here comes Miss America. Here Missy . . . ,” Mr. Kenney called out in a singsong voice while stretching his hand toward a large cat with turquoise eyes and pure white fur. Missy strolled into the room and completely ignored Mr. Kenney. Instead, she strutted right over to me and proceeded to purr loudly and rub against my leg.

  “She’s so beautiful!” cried Mercy. “I’ve never seen such a white cat.”

  “She’s white because she’s an albino Siamese,” explained Mr. Kenney. “They’re quite rare. She was very attached to Mrs. Kenney when she was alive. Sometimes I wonder if she even likes me.”

  Will cleared his throat. “Mr. Kenney, as we were saying earlier, we would like to ask you some questions, if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, Will, of course. I’d be happy to answer whatever I can.”

  Will glanced to Mercy and Tess before asking him, “Do you have any idea why we’re having such crazy weather here in October?”

  “Hummmmm . . . . I have my suspicions.” Mr. Kenney looked uneasy as if he knew something that we didn’t, but he wasn’t quite sure how to say it. He turned it back to us. “What do you think?”

  Will shrugged. “I was thinking it had something to do with a change in the atmospheric conditions around here. It’s been stormy for a number of days and it keeps on getting worse. Before the power went out, I saw the weather radar on TV. It looked like all the clouds were circulating around New England and New York, just sitting in one spot. The weather reporter said it couldn’t be explained because it wasn’
t part of any other weather system like a hurricane would be. Something was creating those conditions, with all the wind and the precipitation. Of course, now it’s coming down as snow because the temperatures have gotten colder”.

  “That’s very good, Will, very astute”, said Mr. Kenney, “but let me say that I think it’s a bit more than that.” Mr. Kenney scratched his head. “OK, let’s see if I can shed some other light on a rather complicated subject, but before I go on, I would like to bring something out in the open. I’m not sure if you’re aware of what I am.”

  I spoke up, “Actually, Mr. Kenney, we know that you’re a luminar, and that you’ve been one for a very long time.”

  Mercy raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Perhaps as long as hundreds of years.”

  “We also presume that you know about the imminent trouble brewing between the luminars and the bad ones, the diaboles,” Will added.

  Mr. Kenney looked taken aback. “Well, I won’t ask you how you figured all that out. I’ve always made an effort to keep my witch identity a secret due to my responsibilities as a member of the teaching profession. I have to say, I’m truly impressed by your abilities of perception.” Mr. Kenney looked deliberatively at us before asserting, “Of course, I am also fully aware of each one of your true identities as luminars.” We just looked back at Mr. Kenney and nodded our assent. What else was there to say?

  Mr. Kenney finally cleared his throat and continued, “Well, I’m glad we’ve gotten that issue off of the table. As it turns out, I’ve been studying this weather phenomenon for a very long time. You suspect what I know, that this weather is associated with the arrival of the diaboles. It has to do with the makeup of their inner being. Over many centuries and lifetimes of their evil thoughts and negative actions, the energy levels of the evil witches, the diaboles, have become negatively polarized, and to a very high degree, at that. Under normal conditions, this polarization wouldn’t be noticed, other than the sense of a negative vibration they convey. However, when large numbers of diaboles congregate in one area, the effect can magnify, exponentially.”