Kitewell

by Fallton Havenstonne

  On the table, the sapphire pulsed like a beating heart. Linda smiled. Then she noticed Stanley was gone. She looked around for him and found him crouched underneath the table.

  “Did you see it?” she said.

  He crawled out from under the table and nodded. “I told you it would work.”

  He carefully took the sapphire pendant from the table and handed it to her. She put it on and it glowed even brighter.

  “What went through your mind before I dropped the dagger?” he asked.

  “I knew it was my last chance to save Kitewell,” she said. “I wanted to protect the spirit-gem—to use it to save the people there.”

  “Yes! That’s it!” he exclaimed. “You wanted to protect the people. It acts as a defense mechanism!”

  “How would I use it if I’m not defending myself?” she asked.

  “Think about how your life depends on it. See if that works.”

  “I’ll try,” she said.

  “Practice on those flasks over there.”

  He moved out of the way.

  She narrowed her eyes at the flasks on the table, and then a blue stream shot out from the sapphire and struck each flask. They burst apart with glass shattering across the table and onto the floor.

  “Amazing,” Stanley said. “Truly amazing.”

  Linda walked over and picked up the dagger off the floor. She dusted it off, then grabbed the sheath from the table and slid the dagger inside it.

  “Mind if I borrow this?” she said.

  “No, actually I—”

  “Thanks. Sorry about the mess, Dr. Birnbaum. Thank you again.”

  She hustled out of the laboratory without looking at him. He raced out to the doorway and said, “Just bring it back in one piece. Corbin will kill me if it’s damaged.”

  After she was gone, Stanley went over to the glass box of the machine. He opened the lid and gazed at the cracked sapphire inside of it …

  Chapter 34

  The portal flashed open and Linda stepped through to the other side. It closed immediately behind her after she set both feet on the ground.

  She stood in the center of the town square of Kitewell. Streetlamps lit the night with a soft orangey glow. The wind blew dust and debris like crumbled newspapers and trash across the asphalt. There were no cars on the street. The crows were gone. There wasn’t a soul in sight. It looked as if the town had been deserted.

  Linda clasped the sapphire on her neck. It glowed with the touch of her hand.

  “There you are,” Malik said.

  Linda turned around and saw him standing in the middle of the road. He gazed at her with his bright yellow eyes, hissing his thin tongue sadistically. His tattered cloak rippled against the wind. He removed his hood, and his head was covered in thick green scales that shimmered under the lamppost.

  “I’ve been wondering when you’d return. I need that spirit-gem around your neck. It’s lonely here without any more souls to feed on.” He licked his mouth.

  “Where is everyone?”

  He chuckled, then rubbed his stomach. “I have them inside me now.”

  “You’re disgusting,” she said.

  “Give me your sapphire, and I promise I won’t eat you.”

  “No.”

  He made a fist and aimed his ruby ring at her. It burned red like fire. “If you don’t give it to me, I’ll incinerate you where you stand.”

  Linda started to backpedal.

  “Have it your way,” he hissed.

  A great fireball shot out from the ruby. Linda looked in horror as it sped at her like a missile. The sapphire discharged a blue shield that blocked the fireball’s impact. The fireball exploded around it, fizzling to smoke.

  Malik nodded. “Impressive. But can it block this … ”

  He fired molten lava in her direction. The shield discharged at once from the sapphire, barely protecting her as the lava melted it down. Linda began to cower as Malik marched forward. The heat became hotter the closer he came. Beads of sweat rolled down her face. The blue shield shrank, now encompassing the size of her body.

  “It can’t protect you forever,” Malik said.

  The lava was just inches from her face. She opened one eye and strained it on the ruby in his hand. She zapped the ruby with a thin blue arrow. The ruby cracked. The stream of lava dissipated, leaving a crater of smoke around her faded shield.

  Malik observed the cracked ruby on his ring and roared with anger.

  “You’ll pay for that!”

  He morphed into a forty-foot long anaconda. He began slithering toward her when she shot a blue beam at him. He dodged the blast, then whipped his tail at her chest. It connected and sent her flying through the air, landing on her back against the asphalt. She skidded across the ground like a rock skipping water.

  Linda gasped for air after having the wind knocked out of her. She coughed violently as he dashed for her, weaving his body around the debris on the street. She stumbled to her feet, then bolted for an empty diner. She jiggled the door handle, but it wouldn’t open.

  Malik was just twenty feet away. “You can’t escape,” he said.

  She focused her sapphire on the lock, then shot a beam of light at it. It split in half as if she had torched it. She immediately pushed the door open and dashed toward the far end of the restaurant. She hid underneath a table booth, then cupped her mouth so she wouldn’t scream.

  Malik crept inside, his shadow yawning across the floor like a stream of black oil.

  “Enough hiding. Come out.”

  Linda craned her neck ever so slightly. She saw him slithering slowly down the aisle. Chairs fell over sideways. Tables rattled as he brushed passed them. Salt and pepper shakers rolled off the tables and wobbled onto the wooden floor.

  “I can sense your fear,” he hissed. “I can taste it on my tongue.”

  He was one booth away. Linda couldn’t stop shaking. The booth beside her thumped as Malik banged against the seats.

  Linda’s heart pounded. She waited in silence, holding her breath.

  “Found you!” he said from above the booth.

  Linda closed her eyes and the sapphire released a sphere of blinding light. Malik winced, flailing his head left and right. Linda crawled out from under the table and sprinted for the front door. Even though Malik couldn’t see, he listened to her footsteps. Like a whip, he lashed his tail and tripped her. She fell forward and hit a chair on the way down.

  Malik lunged at her with his venomous fangs. Her eyes widened and she rolled instantly. The fangs pierced the wooden floor like nails. He quickly pulled his fangs out with his long neck and sneered at her. Linda grabbed a wooden chair and he came down on it with full force. He sank his fangs through the seat of the chair. Venom oozed through the wood like acid.

  Horrified, Linda sprang to her feet, pushed the door open, and ran outside. Malik trailed behind her, slithering across the empty street.

  “There’s nowhere to run,” he taunted. “There’s no escape in this world. Just hand over the spirit-gem and I’ll spare you.”

  Linda ducked in a dark alley. She clutched the sapphire pendant, panting. She removed it from her neck, and then said, “All right, you win.”

  Malik halted in the middle of the street. He morphed back into his two-legged form, looking around for her.

  “Show yourself.”

  Linda came out from the alley and approached him. She stopped five feet away, holding the sapphire pendant in her hand.

  “Hand it over,” he said.

  She observed the sapphire pendant one more time. It pulsed a blue light like it was waiting for her to use it.

  “You want it? You can have it!” she cried.

  She chucked the sapphire down on the ground beside him and it exploded into streaks of blue light. They spiraled in the air like
rockets and hit him every which way, disorienting him completely.

  Linda drew out the dagger from behind her and stabbed Malik in the stomach with it. Malik writhed in pain, falling on his knees. Linda picked up the sapphire pendant, and then put it on.

  Malik’s wound started to rot, turning pale gray. He fell sideways as the rot spread across his stomach and up his torso. The scaly skin on his body started to crumble. Underneath it, his true form was exposed. His skeletal ribcage showed with no flesh or organs in his body. He was hollow inside like a breathing, living skeleton.

  The rot from the blade stopped short of his neck. Malik couldn’t get up any longer. He was paralyzed by the dagger’s effect.

  “W-w-what kind of dagger is that?” he stuttered.

  “It’s the kind that destroys anything it touches.”

  “Impressive,” he said, smiling slyly.

  In a blink of an eye, he drew out his wand from his cloak and cast a spell. The dagger invisibly yanked from her hand and leaped into his. Malik got up slowly.

  “Now let’s see what it does to flesh.”

  As soon he took a step forward, an arrow flew in his direction and knocked the dagger from his hand. Linda craned her neck, and from the alley, she saw a thin man wearing a hat and a gray suit aiming a crossbow at Malik.

  “I suggest you duck,” he said.

  Linda dropped to the ground, and the man shot another arrow at Malik. The arrowed connected with Malik’s wand and broke it in half. Malik snarled, then morphed into an anaconda. As the man reloaded his crossbow, Malik moved in to bite him.

  Linda discharged a shield from the sapphire, blocking Malik’s attack.

  “You can let go now,” the man said to Linda.

  She looked at him confusedly before making the shield disappear. Malik coiled around the man, who seemed unfazed. Just before Malik sank his fangs into him, the man stabbed an arrow into Malik’s neck. Malik writhed, flailing his head. The man rolled away and suddenly, the arrow sent a surge of electricity through Malik’s body. After a couple of seconds, Malik dropped to the ground, limp. His body immediately morphed back into his two-legged form.

  The man in the suit flung the crossbow over his shoulder, wearing it with a strap. He went over to Malik, pulled the arrow out, and then put iron shackles around his wrists, tightening them.

  The man said, “I would’ve come sooner, but a giant Latrodectus kept me busy.”

  “Who are you?” Linda said.

  “I’m Tim. Tim McCarthy. My sister Ester was here. Have you seen her?”

  Linda shook her head. She picked up the dagger off the floor and put it back in the sheath.

  “That’s a fine dagger you have there, Miss. Mind telling me where you got it from?”

  “A friend,” Linda answered.

  “Tell your friend I’d like one—if they have more.”

  Linda looked around at the empty street. “I’m too late.”

  “You’re not too late, actually,” Tim said.

  “What do you mean?”

  He got up after securing the shackles and approached Linda.

  “A hundred years ago, my grandfather imprisoned Malik in stone. But a foolish wizard by the name of Marquee Lemay set him loose. I recently caught up with him and put him away. As soon as I did, I came here to help my sister.

  “We hunt warlocks and witches that break the ancient laws of magic. Sometimes, they open up dimensions so that they can rule their subjects like tyrants. Malik Schmidt is no different. They kidnap people from our world and bring them to theirs. But the upside is that no one ever really dies in these worlds.”

  A glimmer of hope reflected in her eyes. “They’re not dead?”

  “No. But it would take days—maybe even weeks to find them here.”

  “I … I don’t understand.”

  “As we stand here, we exist as spirits. In this world, when something dies, their spirit gravitates toward a haven—a safe place where they can rest until they’re freed from this prison.”

  “Where could that be?”

  “The spirit-gem, may I see it please?”

  She handed the sapphire pendant to him reluctantly. He felt it between his thumb and finger, then returned it to her.

  “This was my grandfather’s spirit-gem. Did my sister give it to you?”

  Linda shook her head. “A girl named Ariel did.”

  “Hmm. That must be the phantom Ester mentioned in the letter,” he said thoughtfully. “This is called a walker’s gem.”

  “What’s a walker gem?” she said.

  “A spirit-walker. Somebody that can move between different realms.”

  “Oh, you mean like through portals?”

  “Yes. But it also has the power to … I have an idea! Use your spirit-gem to cast the brightest beam of light possible. Like a beacon. Everyone’s souls will come out, and when they do, we’ll take them back to our world.”

  “Will they be the same?”

  “Human you mean? Yes. Now when you cast the beam, don’t look at the light. It’s so strong that it’ll blind you.”

  Tim scuttled up into the dark alley, hiding behind the corner of the brick building. He put on a pair of shades. “Ready when you are.”

  “Here goes nothing,” Linda said under her breath.

  She closed her eyes and made a bright beam of light shine up into the sky from the sapphire. It intensified and expanded like a tower that stretched infinitely into space. It was so bright that Linda could see white light through her closed eyelids.

  “How long do I have to do this for?”

  “Just for a few seconds,” Tim said. “I’ll let you know when.”

  From the recesses of the forest, hundreds of fireflies hurled across the dark sky like a sea of stars. They fluttered and moved like a flock toward the tower of light that shone from the town square. They gathered around it, passing through the light as if they wanted to swim in it.

  “You can stop now,” Tim said.

  Linda unfocused on the sapphire and the beam of light retracted back into it. The fireflies flew down to the ground, circling Linda like a swarm. Tim returned from the alley to Linda, smiling.

  “They’re all here now,” Tim said. “Now you have to open the portal before any of them leave.”

  “What about Malik?” she said.

  “Without a spirit-gem, he’s stuck in this world. His prison will be his creation. We better go before he wakes up. Those cuffs will only hold him for so long.”

  Malik began to stir, regaining consciousness.

  Linda focused one last time on the sapphire, and opened a portal as big and wide as a castle gate.

  “Let’s go,” Tim said.

  Linda and Tim dashed to the portal with the fireflies staying close behind her. Malik stumbled to his feet, then started running for the bright portal. Linda, Tim, and the fireflies passed through the portal with Malik trailing behind them. He outstretched his shackled arms and cried out as the portal started to close. His snake-like hand was just an inch away when it vanished.

  He sank down to his knees and screamed.

  Chapter 35

  The sun crept up just above the horizon, casting a faint band of yellow light. The road lit up like a pastel painting with soft and muted colors decorating the disheveled buildings.

  Linda lay flat on the ground and groaned. She opened one eye and saw people lying within the ruins of the town square. She remembered Stanley telling her about the supercell that had ripped through Kitewell a year ago. This was the same place. It wasn’t Malik’s world anymore. This was theirs.

  People got up almost at once. They dusted off their pants and shirts from the dirt and debris on the road.

  Everyone looked at each other and saw familiar faces. Beanie, Ariel, Mark, Hemlock, Bram, Ester, Mrs. Somerset, Georges Bu
ckley, and the other missing people of Kitewell moved through the crowd to find their loved ones. They embraced each other with uncontainable joy and happiness.

  Tim wrapped his arms around his sister, Ester, grateful to see her alive. Beanie’s family hugged each other, shedding tears of joy, and so did Ariel’s family. They migrated, moving to their friends and neighbors, so grateful and happy to see everyone alive.

  Linda watched with overwhelming emotion and shed tears of joy as well. Ariel and Beanie strode up to Linda and gave her a big warm hug. Linda wept, then bent down and hugged them in return. She noticed the sapphire around her neck, and it glinted with a blue wink as if to say you did it.

  Then Beanie saw Ester, and her jaw dropped.

  “Mrs. Kantor!”

  Beanie and Ariel ran up to Ester like they couldn’t wait to see her. They jumped into Ester’s arms and embraced her heartwarmingly. Beanie choked up with tears as she hugged her, squeezing tightly. All the sadness and guilt she had felt washed away.

  She felt new and reborn. And as she looked up into Ester’s dark brown eyes, she thought that despite the pains and tribulations she went through, things always worked out in the end.

  THE END

  Afterword

  Thank you for reading Kitewell. It took me over 3 years to complete it. It started off as a collection of short stories that took place in the same town (Kitewell, of course), but shortly after, they all came together into a singular novel.

  The scope of the novel expanded beyond what I had originally planned. It ended up being twice as long than what you have just read. There were numerous side stories, and the latter half of the novel focused on an investigation conducted by a sheriff and deputy.

  But when I took a step back from the novel, it felt like I was reading two different stories. The first half was magical and whimsical, whereas the second half was serious and darker—kind of like a noir mystery. The tone and style didn’t match.

  I had trouble bridging the two halves together. In fact, I gave up on the novel for quite some time. I had difficulty reconciling the incongruities of tone and style. Either I remove one half of the story or the other, or I completely rewrite Kitewell.