A Girl Between (28 page)

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.”

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.”

I quickly jumped in with a question.  I was getting lost. 
“Mr. Kenney, before you continue, you have to explain something to me.  What is
‘negative polarity’?”

“Well, let me see how I can explain this.  There are some
rather abstract scientific principles involved.”  Mr. Kenney scratched his chin
and looked at me before answering, “To put it in simple terms, all substances
are made out of atoms, which are built out of electrons and protons.  The
electrons have a negative charge, spinning around the atom’s nucleus, which is
made up of positively charged protons.  When there are more electrons than
protons, the atom is out of balance - making it more unstable - and it becomes
negatively charged, creating a ‘negative polarity’.

“That negative polarity is a more unstable characteristic
that diaboles have acquired, and is the reason why you get uneasy and more
uncertain feelings or what some call ‘negative vibrations’, when diaboles are
around.  These negative vibes - the negative polarity – are what make diaboles
nasty and evil minded.  On the other hand, luminars are very stable because
they have an abundance of protons.  Their resulting ‘positive polarity’ is why
they have acquired a very positive nature and outlook.  The luminars’ healing
abilities come from this positive polarity.”

Mr. Kenney continued, “Now, as I was explaining before, the
negative polarity becomes an issue when it is highly concentrated in one area. 
That has been happening around here.  Have any of you noticed?”

Will exclaimed, “Yeah, I’ve noticed all these new kids
showing up at school.”

Mr. Kenney nodded at Will. “Not only has there been a large
influx of new students at Woodley High, but also in the surrounding schools. 
Furthermore, I’ve been making phone calls and I’ve discovered that there’ve
been new kids arriving at schools throughout the whole state and even in
western Massachusetts and New York over the last few weeks.  In fact, the
numbers have really been unbelievable.”

“Aren’t ANY of the new students luminars?”  Mercy asked in a
panicky voice.

“Yes, some of them are luminars, but it is apparent to me
that the vast majority of the newcomers are diaboles.  Have you noticed who has
been showing up at Woodley?”  Mr. Kenney asked me, his eyebrows raised.

“Yes, most of them have definitely been diaboles,” I
grimaced. 

Mercy added, rolling her eyes, “That’s for sure!”

Will asked, “Can’t you also tell by the strange turn of the
weather?”

Mr. Kenney nodded.  “Yes, I would agree.  There are so many
diaboles gathering that I believe a zone of concentrated negative polarity has
built up.  The result is more negative electrons creating a general instability
in the atmosphere which translates into more unstable weather conditions.”

“How bad do you think the weather can get?”  Will asked.

“Well, I’ve done many detailed calculations, and determined
that with enough negative polarity, the earth’s magnetic poles can become
destabilized.  Look at this.”

Mr. Kenney pulled out a compass and placed it on the floor. 
We all stood around, including Miss America, and watched the needle, but it
didn’t settle on the expected position pointing to the north.  Instead, it went
around one way, then the other, and kept at it erratically, round and round, as
if it were searching but couldn’t find north.  “What the…. Wow,” shouted Will,
“What’s going on?”

“Well, as you can see, the compass doesn’t know where north
is”, explained Mr. Kenney.  “That’s because there’s so much negative polarity
that has collected in this area, the compass doesn’t automatically go right to
the North Pole.  It’s as if it doesn’t know where to go.”

“Are you saying the earth’s magnetic pole has actually
shifted?” asked Will.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that it’s shifted, but I would say
that it is in the process of shifting.  I have been keeping an eye on the
changing dynamics of the magnetic pole over the last few weeks and it is moving
in this direction.  I would go so far as saying that we are in the center of
where the negative polarity is building.  That is why the needle is going round
and round right here as we stand, in Woodley, Connecticut.

Mr. Kenney went on.  “As small as our state of Connecticut
is compared to the United States, not to mention the globe we call earth, it’s
still a large enough area to become an influence due to the large number of
diaboles and all of their negative polarity.

Mr. Kenney continued, “This shift in the poles is a sign
that the earth’s magnetic field has weakened.  This is important to understand,
because the magnetic field is, effectively, a shield that protects the earth
from the bombardment of cosmic radiation that rains on our planet from outer
space.  When that shield weakens, more cosmic rays, which are really very tiny
subatomic particles, make it into the earth’s atmosphere.  These particles then
become the catalyst for cloud formation.  Basically, cosmic rays are a
fundamental ingredient for clouds to form.”

Will scratched his head, “I never thought about it in that
way”.

“Well, it’s an emerging science that we are just beginning
to understand.  But, there’s more.” Mr. Kenney said.  “This phenomenon of
cosmic rays creating clouds goes on all the time.  The sun goes through cycles
of magnetic storms that vary in strength.  These so-called ‘solar storms’ send
out particles, called the solar wind, that also protects the earth from cosmic
rays, just like the earth’s magnetic field is protection.