The Chardon Chronicles: Season Two --- The Winter

by Kevin Kimmich

  Chapter Eight

  The driver dropped Bethany off at the end of the driveway of the Wells Farm. She was too embarrassed to be taken to the front door. She walked down the driveway with a backpack slung over her shoulder. Tracy jogged out to meet her and gave her a big hug, which she welcomed. Their cold breath mingled in the air.

  Bethany broke down in tears. She sniffled, “Sorry to show up like this after years of not saying a peep.”

  Tracy waved it off, “No problem! I’m really glad to see you. I was going to ask you what’s going on, but you can tell me or not, or whatever. You can stay as long as you want it’s no trouble.”

  “That’s really kind of you. I need to get my shit together then decide where to go more permanently, I guess.” She sighed.

  “Alright. That sounds good, but don’t feel rushed on our account. It will be nice to have you around!” She studied Bethany’s face to see if there was anything different about her, but it was just her same old roommate, just matured. Her face favored her mother, but the lines were softer and her eyes were kinder. Bethany took to coloring her hair, and now it was a shocking white electric blonde.

  Bethany raised an eyebrow, “You’re staring, Tracy! Let me look at you.” She checked Tracy out. Her transformation from a wispy girl to a woman was remarkable. “You’re hot! I like your hair. I was always jealous of your red hair.”

  Tracy said, “I like the blonde hair. It’s very stylish. It suits you. How is Tweedy these days?”

  She sighed, “Same old same old. I barely go to class anymore. I have an ‘independent study’ in art. I actually like painting. I’ve been painting and photographing ancient trees. I’ve travelled around the world doing it.”

  Tracy enthused, “That sounds really cool! Wow.”

  Bethany stopped walking and said, “It is really cool, but you know what, the fucking money pile sort of ruins it--casts a shadow on the purity of it. It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s almost like the money gets into the paint and contaminates it. I feel it all the time.”

  Tracy smiled broadly. She asked, “Can I do something a little weird?”

  Bethany eyed her suspiciously, “What weird?”

  Tracy put her hand on Bethany’s chest and closed her eyes. Bethany did a double take. Tracy chuckled and said, “I promise, I’m not feeling you up, although I might do that later.” She winked.

  Bethany laughed, “Good lord, OK, what are you doing?”

  Tracy gasped, “Dude, yeah, there are shadows that follow you around, but you are like a bright white and beautiful thing, but you’re just wandering. Well, you’ve come to the right place for sure.”

  Bethany was extremely skeptical, “Are you like a psychic medium or some shit?”

  Tracy spoke matter of factly, “I can see you. That is, I see your soul or whatever you want to call it. You can make choices that nurture it, bring it to life and make it strong, or not.”

  Tracy had been a really rational, practical and really science and math oriented person at Tweedy. Bethany was surprised. She said, “Tracy, I remember when we went for a tarot reading one time and you were so sarcastic and annoyed with the lady you could barely stand to sit through it.”

  Tracy shrugged and said, “What can I say? Lots of things happened since then! I think it’s really great that you decided to come here. I think we can help you figure it out.”

  They walked to the house which was buzzing with conversation and laughter. Bethany seemed slightly overwhelmed. Tracy picked up on her unease and said, “I’ll introduce you, but if you want, we can go hang out upstairs or outside or whatever and avoid the crowd.”

  They walked into the library. Tracy announced, “Everyone, this is Bethany Madher, my Tweedy Pines roommate.”

  Dana’s mouth was open in admiration of Bethany’s hair. “Oh I love that color!” She gave Bethany a huge hug and rubbed her back. “I’m Dana. That’s Johnny, my man.” Johnny smiled and waved.

  Robbie waved, “Hi Bethany! It’s good to see you again.”

  David said, “It’s always a pleasure to meet friends of Tracy.”

  Tracy introduced Chloe. “This is my great friend Chloe Marte.”

  Chloe smiled and gave Bethany a hug. “Nice to meet you. Tracy’s told me some good Tweedy Pines stories.”

  “I’m Keith, Chloe’s dad.” Keith shook her hand and gave her a quick squeeze around the shoulders.

  Bethany smiled and was hugely relieved. The gathering of people seemed extremely natural and inviting. She said, “Let me go drop off my bag and I’d love to hang out with you all.”

  Tracy led her upstairs and showed her a room. She said, “I know they can be a little overwhelming, but if you sort of go with the flow, it’s really fun and interesting.”

  Bethany joined them again and took a glass of wine from Tracy. Dana started to brain her long hair. She was happy just to sit quietly and sip her wine and listen to their freewheeling conversation.

  Dana rubbed her shoulders and said to Bethany, “Girl, you are very troubled. What’s going on with you?”

  They all paused in their conversation. Bethany felt the moment was ripe to unburden herself. She said, “I am, you’re totally right.” She took a gulp of wine. “My mom and dad are doing this weird project. Actually, it’s based on work Tracy’s dad was doing back when she was at Tweedy. So…” she sighed and felt slightly uncomfortable talking about it, but pressed ahead, “so, anyway, they built this contraption, and I used it one time. I like hallucinated and saw my great-great whatever grandfather and a few other men. That was OK. It was weird, but nothing too bad.”

  Robbie said, “Yeah, that’s what my brother was researching. That’s very interesting, so what happened that bothers you?”

  Bethany sighed heavily. She felt a tension, like a cord holding her back, but decided to break it. She drained the wine glass and said, “Fuck it… Here’s what happened. They roofied our seventeen year old maid and put her in that machine and it did something weird to her… She was like someone else after. They said it was a way to learn English, but I don’t think so.”

  Dana patted her shoulder and just said, “Wow. Can you climb up here?” She patted the sofa. Bethany sat next to her. Dana put her hand on Bethany’s heart.

  Bethany smiled, “You too? Is this a psychic convention.”

  “Shhh…” Dana insisted. The room was quiet. Dana’s eyes were closed and she was concentrating hard. “Whoa! What the fuck!?” Dana sat back. “Holy shit.”

  Bethany was anxious. Dana’s eyes were wide open she was staring at Bethany. Bethany asked, “What is it?”

  Dana said, “Normally when I do that, I see the person, the real them, or sometimes just nothing, like the lights are on but nobody's home. I do see you, a nice bright young woman sort of in a maze, but shadows are all around you, and I saw a face looking at me. I’ve actually seen him before in books. He’s like a philosopher or something.”

  “Hobbes.” Bethany said. She swiped her phone open. “I looked him up after I used the machine.” She held up the phone.

  “Fuck me!” Dana said. She announced, “I saw this face looking at me through her.”

  Johnny said, “I think we just crossed a metaphysical Rubicon.”

  Robbie nodded thoughtfully and said, “Yep… Bethany, it’s been a pleasure to catch up with you again. I wish we had more time to hang out, but we’ve got some business to take care of. Tracy and Chloe, why don’t you guys hang out in here, and we’ll adjourn to my shop?”

  After the flurry of activity passed, Tracy and Chloe and Bethany moved to the den and sat by the fire. Bethany asked, “What was all that?” she pointed a thumb over her shoulder.

  Tracy said, “I think your parents are using the machine to spy on you, or maybe us? So all those guys went off to talk out of earshot.”

  Bethany was horrified. “What?! Use me to spy?! How’s that even possible?”

  Chloe patted Bethany on the back, “Don’t worry. Everything will be alright.”


  Tracy tried to explain, “Remember how I was all skeptical of that tarot lady? Well, the world really is more like that than I ever realized. So if a ouija board is like a wind-up phonograph, then that machine your parents made, we call it a reflector, is like a 3D ultra high definition TV.”

  Bethany took Chloe’s wine glass and drained it.

  Chloe chuckled, “I think we need a refill!” She trotted off to the kitchen for another bottle.

  “So who is Hobbes? Why is my grandfather with them? It seemed very, very creepy. It wasn’t like I was happy to be reunited with an ancestor, it was really just unsettling.” Bethany’s face darkened.

  Chloe refilled their glasses. They were all pleasantly buzzed. Tracy put her arm around Bethany, who was finally starting to feel relaxed.

  Tracy said resolutely, “I think they believe they can spy on us, or manipulate us through you, but frankly, it’s a two way street, sister. I think they decided to mess with the wrong people. C’mon.” She stood up and pulled Bethany up by the hand. “Grab your coats, let’s go down by the spring.”

  They walked down to the spring. Bethany was very happy to be out in the woods. “Guys, this place is so awesome. I am completely relaxed. And there are some great trees back here!”

  Thin lines of ice clung to the edges of the stream that ran from the spring, but the winter’s chill still hadn’t enclosed the water in an icy sheet. The wan afternoon sun still warmed the rocks. Bethany exhaled and looked up at the sky and held her arms out. She said, “Oh man, that feels so good.”

  Tracy put her hand on the wall. She felt the flow of energy through the place and the warm power of the sun on her back, and she was soon in the meadow. Stephanie greeted her. Tracy smiled and hugged her. “It’s still very weird to see you and think of Demetria, but know you’re really you.”

  Stephanie laughed, “It takes some getting used to, and now you’re sort of woven into that fabric also.”

  Tracy said, “We really need Samantha today.” They both focused on her and Samantha stepped out of the woods. She was returning to her full radiance and health. They all embraced. Tracy felt the charge of energy racing through her body.

  Tracy gave her the update on the Madher’s and the reflector. She said, “I’d like to just crash their crypt party. Can we do that?”

  Samantha smirked. “Yes, yes we can. There are some risks. I am not sure how adept they are at using the reflector. It really depends so much on those on the Earth-side. Let’s find out!”

  Bethany felt an electric ripple through her body, and warmth that she attributed to the sun. Her skin tingled as they flowed through her. “Oh!” She did a little tap dance on the stone and shoved her hands in her jacket pockets.

  Tracy, Samantha and Stephanie were in the stone room, and they glowed like torches in a cave. Dozens of shadows scuttled away from them.

  Stephanie looked at the pool. “What is that?” It’s dark surface rippled.

  Samantha sat on the edge of the pool and looked into the water. “Aha. So that’s what it is. If you wondered where all the souls go when they’re consumed by the Beast, this is it. Can you feel the power emanating from the water?”

  Tracy held her hand near the surface. “Yes. I’m pretty sure they don’t like being in there.”

  Samantha stared at the water in stunned amazement, “The souls in here are those of living people. When your father and I battled with the Beast, somehow we set some free.”

  “Samantha! It’s been ages.” a voice said. Hobbes joined them. Their light bothered him and he held a hand up to block it from his eyes. “I see you brought Stephanie here, too. We’ve been looking for her.” he growled.

  “What for?” Stephanie asked.

  “You’re ours, Demetria is ours. There’s a contractual agreement.” Hobbes said. “We never got Samantha on side. Maybe she’ll reconsider?”

  Tracy felt a powerful wave of energy ripple through her body. She recognized the song of the Sun and she embraced it and brought it through her being. Tracy started to glow. Yellow light emanated from her skin and eyes. Tracy spoke in the ancient language, “Your contract is void, snake fucker.”

  Samantha was pleased by Tracy’s reaction, and her skin started to glow, too. “Well, this is a surprise!” She said to Hobbes. “No more deals, Thomas.”

  He looked sick. His shoulders slumped forward. He said, “Well, I admit, this changes things, but…” Suddenly, he lunged at Stephanie and they both fell into the pool. Samantha tried to grab them but they were gone.

  “No!” Tracy shouted. She started to climb into the pool, but Samantha stopped her, and the light emanating from them faded to a dim glow.

  Samantha said, “We don’t know how this all works.” She waved her hand over the pool’s surface. “If we go in, we might not come back out.”

  Tracy sighed heavily. “You’re right… I wonder what this thing is. I wonder if Bethany is in there, too. When I studied her, I saw that she was a bright light in a maze of shadows. Could the maze be that thing?” She tapped the stone wall of the pool with her foot.

  “That’s really quite possible.” Samantha gazed into the water. Then she turned and faced Tracy. She studied her face and asked, “How did you do that? How did you tap into the power of the Sun?”

  Tracy shrugged. “I think it wanted to be here. It spoke to me.”

  Samantha considered a moment and smiled slightly. She asked, “Can you do it again?”

  Tracy shook her head, no. “I don’t think so. I’m not sure I really did anything, well, intentionally anyway.”

  “That’s very interesting.” Samantha said. Tracy could tell Samantha’s mind was buzzing. Samantha pointed at the water, “I think it’s where your father went, too.”

  Tracy sat on the stone and gazed into the water, then looked at Samantha. She asked, “Where’s Mom?”

  Samantha smiled, “She’s been in hiding. It’s a rather long story.”

  Tracy said resolutely, “It’s time for them to come home.”

  Samantha nodded, “You are right, there’s no more hiding. Things will happen very quickly, now.” She took Tracy’s hands and they stood up. “Tracy, you’ve got a baby brother and a sister! You’ll finally meet them!”

  Tracy snapped back to normal reality and spun around on her heel. Bethany and Chloe were staring at her. Tracy laughed and grabbed them both in a hug. “I’ve got a baby brother and sister! Mom’s finally coming home!”

  Chloe hugged her hard and kissed the side of her face. “That’s completely amazing!”

  Bethany was buoyed by their happiness but was confused. She asked, “What just happened?”

  Tracy took Bethany’s face in her hands and kissed her. She laughed at Bethany’s amazed reaction and said, “I found you, too, Bethany!”

  “Huh? What do you mean?” Bethany was completely confused.

  “No time to explain, anyway, we’re going to drive to Elysium Farms, and you’re coming.” Tracy took her hand and they started back up the hill.