Black Moon Rising

by D. J. MacHale

  “Nah, everybody loves me,” he said with a twisted grin. “What about you? Maybe you’re the one who should be worried.”

  “I think we all have to worry a little,” I said. “Be careful, chief. People are watching.”

  I turned my back on the guy and walked away. I wanted to make him nervous. If he thought people were circling him and about to close in, he might make a mistake that would tip his hand. It was the only thing I could think of doing.

  I looked around for Lu and Theo and saw that they were with Ainsley and Kayla. Those guys were good. I knew I could rely on them. Later, I read about the details of their encounters.

  * * *

  WHILE MARCUS WAS SPEAKING with Nate, Lu marched right up to Ainsley and stood over her.

  “Hi, my name’s Annabella. Marcus O’Mara says you’re the one who knows everything about this school.”

  Lu always got right to the point.

  Ainsley looked up at her with a big, welcoming smile.

  “Well, I don’t know if I know everything, but pretty darn close. You have a pretty name. Are you new too?”

  Lu sat down across from her.

  “Yup. What’re you working on?”

  “The Halloween dance is tomorrow night. Fright Night. I’ve got to keep track of all the decoration and food bills for the PTA.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty…adult of you,” Lu said with genuine awe. “That’s a lot of work.”

  “You have no idea,” Ainsley said with a sigh. “Nobody volunteers to do anything, so I end up doing it all.”

  “And you still have time for schoolwork?” Lu asked.

  “Sure. Late at night. If I don’t keep getting perfect grades, my parents will make me give everything else up, and I don’t want that to happen. The school would fall apart.”

  “My parents are the same way!” Lu exclaimed. “I’m getting a C in science and I’m afraid to tell them because they’ll freak.”

  “I hear you, but you have to tell them,” Ainsley said. “Hiding stuff makes it so much worse.”

  “I’m not so sure about that. Have you ever told your parents when you messed something up?”

  “Sure. Not that it happens a lot, to be honest, but I tell them. They get it. Truth is, they give me a harder time when I’m doing okay. That’s when they really push for me to do more. But when something doesn’t work out, they back off and give me a little slack.”

  Lu let the words sink in. “That’s pretty cool.”

  “The pressure can get intense, but I’m on top of everything. Most of the time.” The two chuckled like they were old friends.

  “I heard there have been a lot of accidents around school,” Lu said. “What’s going on?”

  Ainsley’s expression turned cold.

  “Nate Christmas, that’s what’s going on,” she said.

  “Really? How can one kid do all that stuff?”

  “Who knows? But he’s got a whole posse to help him,” Ainsley said with disdain. “He’s bound to mess up eventually. He’ll get caught. I’d love to be the one to catch him.”

  “I hope you do,” Lu said.

  Lu had no trouble getting to know her subject.

  Theo, on the other hand, was having a harder time. For a few minutes, he watched Kayla work on her iPad as she sat alone on the end of the bench. No other kid went near her. It was like she was radioactive. Theo braced himself, gathered his nerve, and stepped up to her.

  “Hi,” he said brightly. “Mind if I sit here?”

  Kayla looked up at him with no expression, then went back to her iPad.

  Theo sat down a safe distance away, putting his backpack on the ground next to the bench.

  “My name’s Theo,” he said. “I’m new here.”

  Kayla didn’t look at him. Or respond.

  “What’s your name?”

  Still no response.

  “Wait, I know who you are. Kayla, right?”

  Kayla stiffened but didn’t look up.

  “My friend Marcus told me about you. He’s new too. But it’s not like we knew each other before or came from the same school. Oh no, we’ve never met. I’m not even sure why I remember his name. He’s not really a friend. I’m not even sure if his name is Marcus. Is it?”

  Theo was running off at the mouth and getting zero reaction from Kayla. Desperate to come up with another way to break through Kayla’s shell, he forced himself to shut up and sit in silence for a few seconds.

  “It’s not fun being new,” he finally said. “Everything’s so strange. I feel like everybody’s sizing me up. Doesn’t help being black either. Just makes me stand out even more. It’s weird being in such a huge group of people and feeling totally alone. Makes me want to go hide somewhere.”

  Kayla looked up and they made eye contact. Theo gave her a smile and a shrug. Kayla looked back at her iPad.

  Her slight thaw gave Theo the confidence to try again.

  “I don’t have a lot of friends at my school,” Theo said. “My old school, I mean. Kids think I’m a little strange. I don’t think I am, but what I think doesn’t count. I do have two good friends, though. That’s all you need. One or two people who watch out for you and don’t try to make you into something you’re not. The trick is to find friends like that.”

  Kayla kept her eyes on her iPad.

  Theo waited, hoping she would give him a clue that she had actually heard him.

  “Well, thanks for listening,” he said with another shrug. “Sorry to lay all of that on you.”

  He moved to get up, but Kayla’s hand shot out and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

  Theo’s heart raced. Was she going to say something? He looked down at her as she held out her iPad for him to look at. She had typed something using the Notebook app.

  Theo read aloud: “ ‘What you think counts for a lot. I hope you make new friends here.’ ”

  Kayla offered Theo a small smile.

  Theo beamed.

  “Thanks, Kayla. I appreciate that.”

  Kayla pulled the iPad back and looked down at it again. Interaction over.

  “Hopefully I’ll see you around,” Theo said, then got up and strolled away.

  * * *

  We hadn’t solved anything yet, but at least we were making ourselves part of this school and learning more of its secrets. But was that enough? Didn’t seem so. The bell was about to ring and the three of us were going to have to figure out where to go until lunchtime, when we could blend in again.

  “Hi, Ainsley,” I said as I stepped up to the table where she sat with Lu. “I see you met my friend Lu—I mean, Annabella.”

  “She’s great,” Ainsley said in such a perky way I think she really meant it and wasn’t just being nice. “I wish she had gotten here sooner—I could have really used the help. What do you say, Lu? Would you give me a hand sometimes? It’ll be fun!”

  Ainsley looked to Lu hopefully, waiting for an answer.

  “Uh, sure,” Lu said tentatively. “I need to get registered and set up first, though.”

  “No problem!” Ainsley exclaimed. “You can still help me with the dance tomorrow night. There are a million things I haven’t even gotten to yet.”

  Lu gave me a helpless look, and was rescued by Theo, who ran up to join us.

  “Success!” he exclaimed. “I made contact and actually got her to—”

  “Uh, Theo, this is Ainsley.”

  Theo was confused that I had cut him off, then focused on Ainsley and realized he had to be careful about what he said.

  “Oh! Hi, I’m Theo.”

  “You’re transferring too?” Ainsley asked. “Coppell is suddenly getting very popular.”

  “Hey, look,” Lu said.

  We all looked at where she was pointing to see Kayla headed our way, carrying Theo’s backpack.

  “Oh man! I forgot it,” Theo said.

  “Kayla’s bringing it to you?” Ainsley asked with surprise. “I…I…wow.”

  Theo shot me a smug look.r />
  Kayla made her way through the crowd, headed straight for Theo.

  Theo moved to meet her and…

  …Nate appeared from behind Kayla, pushing his way through a crowd of kids to get to her.

  “Uh-oh,” I said. “Here we go again.”

  Nate had his eyes locked on Kayla, no doubt ready to harass her again to try and get her to say a few words so he could win his cruel bet.

  “Hey, Kayla!” Nate yelled.

  Kayla froze. A moment before she had appeared relaxed and almost happy to be bringing the backpack to Theo. Now it was like she had been hit with a jolt of electricity. She tensed up, her shoulders hunched, and her face fell.

  “Not this time,” I said, and started forward to head Nate off.

  I had barely taken a step when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It was subtle and quick, but I was in a perfect position to see it.

  Ainsley was sitting at the table next to me. Her hand flashed up as if to gesture Stop!

  An instant later, a large metal trash can flipped over and fell directly in front of Nate. It happened so fast that Nate didn’t have time to dodge it. He tripped over the heavy container and somersaulted forward, landing on his head.

  Everyone laughed as Nate tumbled to the ground and the can rolled over him. I would have laughed too, if not for what I had seen a second before.

  Kayla started moving again. She dropped the backpack at Theo’s feet, then hurried past him, headed for the school.

  “Uh, thanks,” Theo said.

  The bell rang. The show was over. Everyone started for the front doors.

  Ainsley quickly gathered her papers.

  “What just happened?” Lu asked, stunned.

  I kept watching Ainsley. She didn’t even bother to put her papers in her pack, just jammed them under one arm. She wanted to be out of there. Fast.

  I was the only one who had seen what she did.

  “Ainsley?” was all I could manage to get out.

  She ignored me and took off.

  Nate got to his feet, acting all cool as if he had meant to trip and fall down like a fool. He brushed himself off and looked around to see who was watching.

  Nobody was. Nobody cared that he had taken a fall or whether he was okay.

  He headed for the school, glaring at the kids he walked past as if daring them to laugh.

  “That was…odd,” Theo said.

  “Tell me about it,” I said. “Change of plans. Let’s get back to the Library.”

  “The trash can flew out of nowhere!” Lu exclaimed. “Like it had a mind of its own.”

  “I saw it too,” Theo added. “I’m having trouble believing it, but I saw it.”

  I felt the heat of Everett’s thoughtful gaze on me. He was trying to make sense of what had happened, the same as we were. He looked at the book in his hand and read:

  With a wave of her hand, a small gesture that went unnoticed by most everyone there, Ainsley seemed to command the metal container to fall to the ground directly in the path of the oncoming Nate, causing him to stumble over it, which allowed the Eggers girl to escape.

  Everett looked back to me and said, “Is that how you saw it?”

  I paced, trying to put my mind back in the moment to remember exactly what had happened.

  “I think so,” I said. “I mean, her hand came up like she was waving at Nate or something. A second later, the garbage can flipped over right in front of him. It could have been a coincidence.”

  “Sure,” Lu shot back sarcastically. “A mini-tornado could have whipped through at that exact moment. I totally get that.”

  “So what really happened?” Theo asked. “Did Ainsley do it?”

  All eyes went to Everett. He had been intently reading the account of what had happened like a scholar working through a complicated math problem. He glanced back at a few pages, then took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

  “Did Ainsley do it?” Everett repeated. “Could be. But if so, the more important question is why did she do it? Let’s suppose this is Ainsley’s story. That gives us two possibilities. If she’s intentionally causing all this mayhem, it must be for a reason. You don’t often see mischief being done just for mischief’s sake.”

  “She doesn’t seem like somebody who causes problems,” I said. “She’s more of a fixer.”

  “Maybe she’s a really good actress,” Theo offered. “She could be fooling everybody.”

  “What’s the second possibility?” Lu asked.

  “She may be causing all the trouble…and not know it,” Everett said.

  “Uh…what?” Lu said, befuddled.

  Everett motioned to the aisles of books. “These shelves are filled with stories about people caught in supernatural dilemmas. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred they brought it on themselves and didn’t realize what they’d done until it was too late. Ainsley may be hiding something, or she may have no idea why it’s happening. Either way, we have to find the reason for it. It’s the only way to finish the story before something truly horrible happens.”

  “So what do we do?” Lu asked.

  There was a long silence that I hoped Everett would fill with some wise advice.

  He didn’t.

  So I did.

  “Go to school,” I said to Lu and Theo. “Our school. Both of you.”

  “What about you?” Theo asked.

  “I’m going back to Coppell.”

  “No,” Lu commanded. “Not by yourself. We want to help.”

  “You will,” I said. “As soon as you leave the Library, I’ll be right behind you. The only difference is I’ll have gone back to Coppell for a while.”

  “I don’t follow that,” Theo said.

  “It’s true,” Everett said. “When you step out of the Library, you’ll be returning home at the exact second you left. Since you all came here at the same time, that means Marcus will as well, even if he goes back into the story first.”

  “This is making my head hurt,” Lu said.

  “It’s easier for one of us to blend in at that school than all three,” I said. “I’ll talk to Ainsley and try to figure out what she knows. Or doesn’t know. If I need you I’ll come back and get you. Either way I’ll be right behind you.”

  Theo and Lu didn’t look too happy about leaving me alone.

  “Go ahead, you two,” Everett said. “Marcus will be right behind you…after a fashion.”

  “You better be,” Lu said with authority.

  She spun and headed for the exit.

  Theo didn’t move.

  “You shouldn’t go back there by yourself,” he said.

  “It’s okay. This makes sense.”

  “None of this makes sense,” he said with frustration. “Whether Ainsley is meaning to do these things or not, it’s dangerous. You have to be careful.”

  “You know I will.”

  “I don’t know that at all,” Theo said.

  He gave up arguing and followed Lu toward the exit.

  “See you in a couple of seconds,” I called after them.

  Lu shook her head, bewildered. “Yeah, and how odd is that?”

  She pushed the door open, and after one last worried look back at me, the two left.

  “He’s right, you know,” Everett said. “Things are getting worse. I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before something tragic happens.”

  “So I shouldn’t be hanging around here talking to you,” I said, and started for the door that led into the story.

  “Wait, there’s something you haven’t considered.”

  “Do I want to know what it is?” I asked.

  “Probably not. I’m not saying there’s a connection, mind you. We don’t know yet, but it seems a wee bit of a coincidence that tomorrow night is Samhain.”

  “Sow-what?”

  “The correct pronunciation is ‘Sow-en.’ It’s one of the oldest sabbats, or holy days, on the calendar. It marks the changing of the seasons from light to dark. The a
ncient Celts looked upon it as the day when winter began. It’s also the moment when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest.”

  “Never heard of it,” I said.

  “Why, sure you have. You just call it something else entirely: Halloween.”

  My stomach sank. “Oh jeez, that’s right. But that’s just folklore, right?”

  “Sure it is,” Everett said. “Just like the Boggin.”

  “So what does Halloween have to do with any of this?”

  “Can’t say that I know,” Everett said. “I’ll keep searching through the books. But like I said, disruptions happen for a reason. To think it’s a coincidence that all this is happening during the run-up to All Hallows’ Eve could be a dangerous mistake.”

  I wanted to scream.

  “Swell,” I said with true frustration. “First the boogeyman, now spooky-dooky Halloween. Are any of these unfinished stories not about ancient myths?”

  Everett chuckled. “Stop your bellyaching. The beauty of these so-called myths is they give us some history to refer to. Otherwise we’d be relying on nothing but guesswork. The stories with no history are far tougher to crack.”

  “I guess,” I said. “But I’d rather not be dealing with a disruption on the spookiest day of the year.”

  “I hear ya. Theo gave you wise advice, lad. Be careful.”

  I headed toward the exit. Or the entrance. Or whatever the heck it was that would get me back into the story.

  “And be wary of that Ainsley girl,” Everett called out. “She may not be what she seems.”

  With too many mysteries flying around in my head, I left the Library and made my way back to Coppell Middle School through the usual route…the janitor’s closet in the boys’ room. A quick glance at a clock in the hall showed me it was still first period. Ainsley was in social studies class. I hurried through the empty corridors of the old school, hoping I wouldn’t be stopped by a teacher demanding to see a hall pass. I got to the classroom and looked through the window of the closed door to see two things:

  Mr. Martin was lecturing.

  And Ainsley’s desk was empty.

  That was bad. Ainsley wasn’t the type to miss class. A slight tickle of a warning nudged the most paranoid corner of my brain. Where was she? I decided to be bold and go to the school office. Why not? The worst thing they could do was kick me out for trespassing. I marched right up to the desk like I belonged and waved to a lady wearing an old-fashioned green tracksuit who looked like she’d worked there forever. Her permanent scowl said she wasn’t particularly happy about it either.