A Girl Between

by Marjorie Weismantel

  She stared back, eyes like a blank. Maybe she was just tired. “I think there was an older lady in the back seat but it was hard to see. We stopped to try to give them a push. We couldn’t get them out of the snow, so your aunt asked me to look for you here.”

  “She did?” Would my aunt think I was here?

  Ruby’s eyes turned cold and seemed to drill right into my conscience. “You better go and pick them up right away or they’ll freeze to death.”

  Freeze to death! Could they freeze to death out there? My heart dropped, thinking about my family surrounded by darkness and snow. “Thank you for finding me. Did you say they’re on Capen Street?”

  I immediately looked for Will and found him talking to some guys in the kitchen. “Will, my family was trying to get here and they got stuck on Capen Street. Do you mind helping me out? I have to find them!”

  He came over, eyes very serious. “Are you sure it’s your aunt and cousins, Tess? Who told you that?”

  “It was some girl.” I pointed toward the open room. “She’s right in there. But it doesn’t matter, she knew all about them. Can you take me, Will?”

  He looked really uneasy. I didn’t like asking him, but who else? He’s the fixer. “I’ll take you, Tess, but I’m uncomfortable. Can you trust this girl?”

  “What’re you talking about, Will? Why would someone lie to me about my family? I’ve been worried sick about them, and now I know how to help them,” I answered, wringing my hands. I deliberately crossed my arms to stop myself.

  Will was really fidgety, like he was nervous. “Tess, I certainly don’t mind helping out your family, but you know there’s been all this weird stuff going on around you. You have to be extra careful.”

  “I know, Will, but I don’t care. This is the only family I’ve got and all I can think about is how awful they must feel out there in that blizzard,” I choked. To my horror, I could feel myself tear up. I quickly brushed my eyes with the back of my sleeve.

  Will stepped up and put his arms around me. “OK, OK, let’s go check it out. Before we go I just want to set up a backup plan in case something happens. Just give me a few minutes.”

  “That’s OK. I have to tell Mercy what’s going on.”

  Five minutes later, Will and I were heading out to his jeep. Mercy was pretty freaked out when I told her she couldn’t come, but there just wouldn’t be enough room once I squeezed my family in. She hugged me hard and said she was sure that she’d be seeing me soon. What does she mean by that? Of course, I’ll be seeing her soon.

  When we pulled away from the armory, that Ruby girl was standing in the doorway, staring intently at me. I noticed an odd black/gray mist around her head. Was that her shadow? For a minute, I had that feeling you get when a spider is creeping up your arm. Suddenly, I had to stifle a scream, cause then I knew. That wasn’t her shadow. It was the foul nature of her aural essence.

  60. Icy Fear

  I knew I couldn’t trust that girl, but she managed to instill this picture in my head of Auntie, Annie, Eve and Grandma shivering to death in Grandma’s station wagon. Until I saw them alive and well, I knew that picture would be front and center in my overactive imagination. Will glanced over at me and patted my hand. “Tess, you look freaked out. Don’t worry. With a little luck we’ll have them all squeezed in here soon.”

  After leaving the generated lights of the armory, we were back in the eerie snow tunnel, heading toward Capen Street. With the downed trees, and the heavy snow, it was hard to make out where we really were.

  Will glanced over and saw my anxious look. “Don’t worry. I’m relying on the GPS this time. I didn’t want to tell you guys before, but between the lack of visibility and all the fallen trees, I almost got lost driving to the armory. I mean, I grew UP here and I’ve driven down these roads hundreds of time.

  “I had no idea you almost got lost. How come you didn’t say anything?”

  “And make everyone freak out? Anyway, it worked out fine.”

  “By the way, when we were in the armory, you said something about special arrangements?” I asked.

  “Oh, yeah, I bumped into Sam and Doug right after we got there. They have use of a four wheel drive so I asked them to head over to Capen if we didn’t get back within the hour.”

  “I’m glad you’re so careful, Will, but I think we’ll be fine. Hey, isn’t that Capen Street up ahead?”

  “Yeah, and the GPS agrees,” Will said while peering through the windshield. “The snow is so thick I can’t see if there any cars around here. Let’s open the front windows to get a better view.”

  My heart was pounding as we traveled up the street. There wasn’t one car in sight, never mind Grandma’s old station wagon. “Will, let’s just go around the block. Maybe they managed to get out of the snow, or maybe that Ruby girl didn’t get the right street name.”

  Will looked over at me and touched my arm. “Tess, I’ve been thinking about it. I have a strong suspicion that your family’s all back at Grandma’s house, sitting in front of a roaring fire in her gigantic fireplace. In fact, I don’t picture your grandma ever going to a shelter. She’s very independent. She’s the type that could survive a blizzard if she was in the woods by herself for a week.”

  “You think so?”

  Will nodded, “Yeah, definitely! You know how she is. If you want, I can take you around the block, but then we have to go. Something here doesn’t feel right,” Will asserted, peering through the front windshield.

  I thought I saw an odd flash so I leaned forward to get a closer look.

  CRASH!!!!

  “What was that?”

  Will was sitting up brushing something off his seat. “It was a huge icicle! Didn’t you see it? It came blasting in through your open window, brushed against the back of my neck and smashed against my window.” Will ran his hand over a crack in the window. “It even caused it to crack.”

  “What?” I leaned in to look at his neck. There was a red streak along the back. Then, I noticed the pieces of ice on his seat and all over the floor. I quickly rolled up my window before looking out. I couldn’t really see anything through the mist and the snow. “It’s lucky we were leaning toward the front windshield because it just missed us. Let’s just get away from here.”

  Will shifted into gear and we headed back down Capen Street toward the armory. Suddenly we saw a mob of people, their long coats flapping, striding rapidly through the mist and snow in our direction. They were spread across the street, completely blocking it off. Something told me they weren’t our friends. Will immediately reversed the jeep and headed down another street that crossed Capen. Oh, God! Another mob, purposely striding toward us, waving something high. What was it?

  “Will, what are they waving around? It looks like javelins, or some kind of spear.”

  “It is. They’re spears made of ice. That was what was thrown into the jeep. They’re trying to threaten us.”

  The jeep screeched and whined in protest while Will backed it up and turned around again, heading in the opposite direction. As we passed Capen Street, we saw that the mob was getting closer. They were also carrying the huge frozen daggers of ice. A couple of them were thrown at the jeep and hit the back window. When it hit, it sounded like breaking glass and I turned around to see that another crack had formed. I also felt the jeep swerving around.

  “What’s wrong? Is it getting harder to control the jeep in the snow?”

  Will answered through gritted teeth, hanging onto the steering wheel with both hands. “No, that’s not it. It’s the wind. It got really bad when we were near that mob. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were doing something. They seem to be able to affect weather and after all, wind is weather related.”

  Heading down this street, we could see another line of people trying to block it, but it wasn’t as many. I could only see seven of them.

  “I’m gonna go for it. I’ll try to plow right through them. We really have no choice.”

  “But I thoug
ht this was a dead end road, Will. Won’t we get stuck here?” I shuddered, thinking about that.

  “Here, take this.” Will bent down and reached under his seat. It was a gun!!

  “What, are you crazy?”

  He undid the safety. “You just point toward them, aim over their heads and pull the trigger. As soon as they hear a gun, they’ll back off.”

  “Actually, I do know a little about how to shoot. Uncle Frank made us take lessons. Where’d you get this thing, anyway?”

  “It’s my dad’s and it’s registered, and I know how to use it. I put it in the jeep yesterday when I thought stuff might start happening.”

  We were getting closer to them. I knew they were diaboles, because even through the snow I could see a cloud of black and dark red whirling around their heads in the headlights. That signaled hatred, evil intent. The closer we got, the more they waved their long, glittering spears of ice.

  “Get ready,” Will shouted. I could tell he was having trouble controlling the jeep because both of his hands gripped the steering wheel and he wouldn’t take his eyes off the road for a second. The wind was howling so loudly it sounded like a wounded animal and the back of the car started jerking around. Will suddenly shifted into high gear and sped forward, aiming at the side of the group where there was a small gap between them.

  “OK, Tess, time to start shooting.”

  I stuck the gun out the window and aimed toward them but a little up. I squeezed the trigger. BANG! It didn’t seem to faze them because they didn’t even break stride. Maybe they thought it was a tree cracking. Suddenly, a large dagger of ice nailed the front windshield. It didn’t break through, but a huge crack formed with many smaller cracks radiating from the center. The windshield resembled a giant spider web. They were really pissing me off.

  I leaned out the window again and aimed. Only this time I didn’t raise the gun. BANG . . . BANG . . . BANG . . . BANG. “Do you think they heard it THAT time?”

  Will answered, while staring grimly ahead, “Yep, I believe they did.”

  Will suddenly swerved to the left and sped through a gap in the line. By then, I realized that some of them were on the ground, obviously shot. I couldn’t make myself feel bad about it. I didn’t ask for this fight! I couldn’t afford to dwell on those bodies on the ground right now. We just had to survive this.

  Will turned onto someone’s driveway that merged into a narrow bumpy road.

  “Where’re we going?”

  “I know the guy that lives here. We’re both volunteer fireman for Woodley. This dirt road takes you to a branch fire station. He’s also the caretaker of the place. The road is partially paved because of the emergency status of the fire station.

  “Do you think the place is open now?”

  “I highly doubt it. The firemen on staff tonight are probably up at the main station.”

  “So, what good does it do us? How do we get in?”

  Will picked up a giant set of keys and held it up. “All the volunteers have keys to the three stations in town. We have to be able to get in at all hours.” He glanced over at me before adding, “It’ll be a good place to hole up until we can get some help. I think it would be too risky to try and get back to the armory right now. Too many of those creeps are around here. There could be hundreds of them for all we know.”

  “Will, I have to say. You’re unbelievable. You always have a back-up plan.”

  He looked over at me with a wry grin. “Yeah, I know.”

  61. Thunder Snow

  When we got to the fire station, Will was able to open the garage door and drive the jeep right in. Then, we immediately went around and locked everything up tight.

  “What should we do now? I think those diaboles will eventually find us,” I asked.

  “We need help. We have to alert our friends and fellow luminars that things are starting up, although I have a feeling that most of them already know. The diaboles won’t stop until they get the fight they’re asking for. That’s the only way to end this,” Will stated grimly.

  “I think I know how to do that,” I asserted.

  “How’s that?” Will asked, frowning.

  “Have you ever heard of thunder snow?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I thought I heard some on the way here, although it was a little hard to tell with all the wind noise. Anyway, I want to attract the lightning here. The good ones will know what’s up if they see a show of lightning.”

  Will’s eyebrows rose. “So you’re a lightning spinner? I’ve heard about witches that can control lightning.”

  I nodded. “I discovered it by accident only recently. It can be a mighty fine weapon. Did you know that good witches have a natural affinity to lightning because of their positive ionic nature?”

  “Really?” Will scratched his head. “You know, I’ve been struck by lightning twice in my life and I’ve never suffered any negative after affects. In fact, I felt as if it increased my special abilities afterward. At the time, I figured I was just darn lucky.”

  “It wasn’t in your head Will. Let’s see what you can do.”

  We got onto the roof by climbing up a fire ladder through a high window. Once we were up, I took a moment to view my surroundings. The strangeness of it all was unnerving; the endless falling snow and the beautiful trees covered in the deadly blanket of whiteness. Will grabbed my hand and pointed toward distant flashing lights in the sky.

  I tried to sound confidant, even though I wasn’t feeling it. “The lightning’s not very close so it may take some concentration and a little time, but I know we can get it to come. We just have to stand back to back, and lean against each other.”

  I went to back up against Will but he quickly grabbed me, swung me around and held my face. “Tess, let me say something before we go on. I know there’s hardly any time, but I just want to tell you that this will come out all right for us. I can feel it. There’s so much at stake here.” Then, he pulled me against him. I rested my head against his neck, and then I leaned in and kissed him just under his ear. He bent over to kiss me on my lips but, suddenly, we heard the sound of thunder. It was getting closer. That shook us out of our reverie. I cleared my throat and we quickly scrambled to lean back to back. “Now, rub your hands together rapidly as if you’re trying to stay warm, close your eyes, and concentrate on your inner light.”

  We stood there for a quite a while, rubbing our hands and focusing. I could gradually feel the heat building. At one point, I glanced down and saw sparks flying off my hands. Then, I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye followed by a loud . . . . BANG.

  “Will, look up. It’s almost here!” I held out my hand and a streak of lightning touched my palm. A jolt of heat moved up my arm. It was a good heat, like sitting in the hot sun heat.

  At first, Will looked surprised. Then, he held out his hand and lightning shot across the sky and touched his fingertips. I could tell he found it to be a comfortable sensation because he just smiled. You could say that a shot of heat would be welcome on a day like today.

  I shouted over the wind, “We have to continue drawing in the lightning. Our main goal is to put on a real show so that the luminars know that it is time. Just keep it up.” So we continued rubbing our hands together and pointing toward the sky. In short order, the thunder was booming and the lightning was flashing and arcing all around. We were conductors of a crazy light show dancing all over the sky.

  After several minutes, Will touched my arm, “I know you’re having fun but we have to stop this. We’re alerting the luminars, but we’re also telling the bad ones where we are. We’re sitting ducks up here. We’ve have to leave.”

  I rolled my eyes at him, “I guess.” I flicked my wrist to watch one more flash and then I stopped. Will nodded toward the ladder and we climbed down.

  “I hate to say this, but I don’t think we should take the jeep, neither should we head for the armory. They’ll be looking for the jeep and they’ll figure that we’re heading for the arm
ory.”

  “I have something else in mind anyway,” I tell Will.

  “What’s that?” Will said, head tilted to the side.

  “We’re going to the tree, you know, the old hanging tree.”

  “You mean Old Kiley’s Meadow, where they hung the witches in the 1600s? Why are we going there?

  I took Will by the wrist. “You have to trust me on this. I just know that we have to go there. It’s the only place that we can have some protection from the diaboles and the other luminars will be drawn there.”

  Will stared at me for a moment and then nodded, “I believe you, Tess. By the way, do you know what they call that tree?”

  I shrugged, “No, what?”

  “The Tree of the Living Spirits. Just follow me.”

  62. Fire and Ice

  As we struggled through the deep snow, I saw those strange flashes of lights again. “Did you see that?”

  “Yeah. What do you think?”

  “I have a bad feeling about them. They remind me of electric sparks. Let’s see what it is.” Something about it was giving me a sick feeling.

  We floundered toward the place where we had last seen the lights; seemed like it took forever to get there. “Wasn’t it around here someplace?”

  Will took out his flashlight and waved it around. “What’s that?” He flashed it at a shiny spot. Snow had been cleared off some ice. “I think that’s Fisher Pond.”

  “What’s in there? Is that a face? Will, someone is IN that ice. How could this happen?” I cried.

  Will paused and said quietly, “The diaboles. That’s what makes sense with their cold and their snow.”

  “Yeah, and think about it. We saw sparks earlier. I bet it was a fight,” I gasped.

  “A fight with sparks?”

  “Yeah, Will, someone was trying to raise the lightning and they weren’t successful. Either they were overpowered, or they just didn’t have enough time.”