A Girl Between (30 page)

‘Yes, there’s an ancient tree in town where witches were
hung in the 17
^th
century,’ from me.

‘If there is to be a conflict with the diaboles, you must
draw them there.  By now, the spirit of the dead witches has afflicted that
place.  It will offer you protection,’ from the blue/silver light.

‘I still don’t understand why they are going after us.  Even
if they kill us all, the luminars will be reborn again.  This feud will go on
forever,’ from me.

‘Don’t you see?  Every time the luminars endure another life
of torment and persecution, they lose more of their soul memory.  With each
incarnation, more will be forgotten until, eventually, they cannot remember
their true identity. The goal of the diaboles is to erase our very existence,’
from Agnee.

‘Maybe that’s for the best.  Common man doesn’t need us for
their survival.  We could avoid all this trouble, ‘from me.

‘When we are afraid to live freely as ourselves, we shrink
into nothingness.  We have learned from past experience that when the diaboles
take control, terrible things happen on earth.  If we disappear, the power of
the diaboles will be unlimited.  That would be a disaster for luminars and
common man alike,’ from the yellow/gold light.

From Agnee, ‘It is time for you to go.  We will send you
back through
The Between
to the portal.  From there you can reach the
earth’s astral plane.

‘Before she goes, we should tell her about her step-uncle,
Frank,’ from the blue/silver light.

‘Frank?  What about him?’ from me.

‘Regarding Frank, we chose to interfere in his life and
death sequence. That is something we seldom do for it is usually better to let
things run their natural course.’

‘You had something to do with his death?’ from me.

‘Frank was an evil diabole who was intent on destroying your
spirit.  He didn’t want you to learn who you really were.  Your instinct told
you to be rid of him.  We were watching and waiting to see what would happen. 
We eventually stepped in and helped things along,’ from Agnee.

‘So, that was how it happened.  I couldn’t believe it at the
time.  I started learning about myself right after he died,’ from me.

‘Yes, and he’s not in a very good place right now, a sort of
purgatory you might say,’ from blue/silver light. 

Suddenly, I felt a strange but wonderful infusion of warmth,
holiness, sweetness.  One of the souls was touching me, than the rest joined
in.  A kind of electric current of feeling radiated through me.  I could hear
their cumulative thoughts, ‘We give you our love.  Bring the light and the joy
to earth and guard it from falling into eternal darkness.’

Wham!  Before I knew it I was streaming down the electric
highway of sparkling lights, through the brilliant mist.  Then, I felt a
blinding flash of light.

I was shaking.  Who was shaking me?  “Tessie, Tessie, wake
up.  Are you OK?”  I looked up to see Will’s concerned eyes staring down at me.

I pushed myself up and looked around.  “Where’s Miss
Cassie?”

Will tilted his head and studied me. “Miss Cassie?  What’re
you talking about?  Why would Miss Cassie be here during a blizzard in the
middle of the night?”

“Why she was . . . . ,” I stopped.  I know Miss Cassie was
here.  She must have been.  She sent me to
The Between
.

“Tess, how about some hot tea?  I can put the kettle back on
and it’ll be ready in a minute.”

“Thanks, Will.  Hot tea is just what I need.”

“Hey, you guys.  What’s going on?” yawned Mercy.

CRASH!!!!!!!

“What the . . . . ???”  Will got up.

Mr. Kenney came running while tying his bathrobe.  “What the
heck was that?  It sounded like something crashed into the house.”

“It’s gotta be a tree.  I noticed all the trees sagging on
the power lines when we were driving here.  They’re really weighed down with
the snow,” exclaimed Will.

Mr. Kenney went to the back of the kitchen and opened the
door.  CRACK . . CRACK . .

”What was THAT?” asked Mercy, her eyes wide.

“It’s the trees.  They’re cracking and breaking all over the
place from the heavy snow on the leaves that are still on the tree branches. 
I’m a pretty old guy and I’ve never seen anything like it.  We’ve never had a
snowfall this early with all the leaves still on the trees,” answered Mr.
Kenney.

Will was pulling on his boots.  “Mr. Kenney, let’s go check
out what happened to your house.”

A few minutes later, Will and Mr. Kenney emerged from the
back door, stomping their feet.  Mr. Kenney looked shell-shocked.  “My God,
that tree came right into the front window upstairs and left a gaping hole. 
Cold air and snow are blowing right in.  We planted that maple tree the year we
moved in.  I can’t believe it.  The trunk of that old tree split right in half
from the weight of the snow on the leaves.”

“Mr. Kenney, there’s no way we can stay here.  You saw the
tree in the back hanging over the kitchen.  It’s pulling all the house lines
down with it,” exclaimed Will.

“Where can we go?” asked Mercy, anxiously.

Will glanced at his watch, “It’s only 2:00 am, but something
should be open.  Let me check the radio in the jeep to hear what the town’s
doing about an emergency shelter.”

Mr. Kenney asked, “Wouldn’t it be at the high school?”

“I bet they’ve established it at the old armory.  In fact,
I’ve worked that shelter before during the flood two springs ago.  I’ll go find
out,” Will remarked while getting out his keys.

A few minutes later, Will emerged from the dark abyss. 
“Yeah, it’s at the armory. Let’s gather our stuff and get out of here.  I heard
a snowplow go by a few minutes ago so this would be a good time to leave.  Just
give me a few minutes to put the chains on my tires.”

We managed to pack our stuff in the back with Mercy and Mr.
Kenney while I sat in the front with Will.  The ride ended up being a total
nightmare.  We were driving through a tunnel of snow, streaming at us in the
headlights, heavier than ever.  At the same time, there were no street lights
so we were entombed in an eerie blackness.  The sound of the constant howling
wind was only broken by the thunderous cracks of breaking branches all around
us.  We saw flashes of whole trees that had been snapped in half, falling over
parts of the road.  On two occasions, we had to get out and move branches out
of the way.  Loose power lines were dangling all over the place.  I breathed a
sigh of relief when we, finally, pulled up to the armory. 

It was a shock to walk into its brightly lit interior.  We
hauled our stuff in and piled it onto cots in the corner of a large open room. 
The heavenly smell of fresh coffee drifted in.  I walked over to get myself a
cup when an unfamiliar girl with pale skin and limp blond hair approached me. 
Her eyes were cast down and her arms were crossed over her chest as if she were
trying to hold something in.  I automatically searched for any sign of her aura
but there was nothing. 

She grabbed my arm.  I wanted to pull it away, but I
hesitated.  She looked at me with guarded eyes as she asked, “Are you Tessie
Littleton?”

“Yes, who are you?”  I asked.

“My name is Ruby.  I wanted to let you know that I passed
your aunt and your cousins on the way to the armory.  They were trying to get
to here and their car got stuck over on Capen Street.” 

I pulled my arm away.  “How do you know they were my aunt
and cousins?  Was there anyone else with them?” 

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.

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 thought 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.”