15

The rain had ceased a while ago, but the forest was still dripping. Thick, low hanging clouds formed a roof over Sweet Lake that threatened its inhabitants with snow.

The change of weather conditions wasn’t unexpected. The snow on the mountaintops had been creeping up on the town for a few weeks now. It was bound to reach them soon.

Several roads trailed across the Pine family’s property. This afternoon Marith didn’t take the cul-de-sac that arched alongside the terrace at the front of the mansion. Instead she entered the gravel road that curved to the right, before the white manor came entirely into view. It brought her around the house, to the back, where the garages were.

Nick’s small armada of vehicles was stored in a part of the building that could better be described as a dealership of big-boy-toys than a garage. It included the shiny black sports car, the company truck Marith had used before, but also some quads, a spiffy looking boat and a glider plane. At least that is what she had been told it was. It’s wings were detached and it had been crumpled and folded into something that resembled a long, but low trailer.

Except for the cars, none of those means of transportation had been used in the past seven or eight years or so.

To Marith’s surprise the giant steel doors were rolled up already, leaving gaping openings in the rear wall of the estate. Nick’s car was jacked up and several sets of tires adorned the immaculately clean, light grey floors. He seemed to be putting winter tires on his German wonder-wagon.

Marith rolled her window down as she parked Gene’s car next to Nick’s.

“Don’t you have personnel for that?” She asked jokingly, hanging slightly over the door.

Nick wiped some smear from his hands with a handkerchief that had probably been white before he had embarked on his endeavour. “For your interest, I happen to like working with my hands,” he answered her, equally sassy.

He wanted to add ‘every once in a while’, but that would prove her point, so he left that out.

The echo of the engine roared like a lion in the kempt garage before Marith turned it off.

“Where did you even get that?” He asked, referring to her bright red bolide.

She stepped out of the vehicle, guessing it could probably measure up to Nick’s on the road, while lacking any inclination to test that theory.

“I invite you to make an educated guess.”

Nick smirked. Of course he remembered the car. He had driven several rallies with it, next to Gene, before Sweet Lake and its diverse inhabitants had taken several bad turns, to get stuck in a downwards spiral.

He looked at her with confusion and admiration in his eyes, as she stood there talking to him. It could be the picture of a slim, young woman surrounded by all that horsepower, which was a combination much appreciated by most men, but still he wondered. Was Marith hot? Why had he never noticed this before?

“What happened to you? You’re so... different,” he asked, getting up.

Marith sighed. “I realized life is short and often overrated. I figured I might as well have some fun while I am at it. Hang these, will you?”

She tossed the car keys in Nick’s direction with a flawless arch as she started walking towards the door in the back.

“Sure,” he answered breathless, after he caught them with ease.

She could feel his eyes on her back and her behind as she glided out of the garage into the hallway that led to the house. She slightly swayed her hips, so he had something to look at.

She was finally in possession of what Lieke and Vanessa had always had. Looks that could kill and she was currently learning how to use them. She seemed to move in slow motion as her hair danced around her flawless face while she walked. She felt empowered, until she almost broke her neck tripping over Olive.

The little dog had likely heard them talk and had come pattering over the black and white flooring that led to the kitchen. Marith hadn’t notice her, too busy looking straight ahead, attempting to be elegant.

Even though she wasn’t even into Nick it was still nice to be admired. She suspected Nick wasn’t into her either, but like most healthy, young men he enjoyed looking at women.

Like a true gentleman he did speed towards her and helped her up, ignoring her embarrassing nosedive by making idle conversation. The dog was wagging her tail with unimpeded passion, not at all bothered by the fact that Marith could have sustained an injury. Olive was actually quite disappointed she got up again, just when they were at the same depth.

“I almost forgot to tell ya. It’s a good thing you picked up the car this morning. We’ve got a tenant!”

He sounded relieved and so was Marith. Renting out the lake house meant the return of a steady income for Gene.

“Oh, that’s great,” Marith said, equally ignoring her plunge. “Is it a nice family?” She informed.

“Just a young lad, actually. Said he’s in IT or software development, or something along that line of work.”

“Why on Earth would he come to Sweet Lake for that?”

Nick chuckled. “No clue, maybe he is working on a big project and needs to be by himself for a while. He only signed for six months.” Nick shrugged. He wasn’t really interested in the how or why and neither was Marith.

“I was just about to take Olive for a walk. Would you like to join?”

“Yes, I would. Just let me change my shoes.”

The sun was setting and Marith had accompanied them every time they had gone out in the dusk or dark. Not that she knew what she would do if she would come across the Birdman again, but she refused to let Nick face him alone, would those unfortunate circumstances arise.

“Did you start wearing lenses? Is that it?” Nick asked a little while later. He smiled at her fair face as they descended into the soaked woods.

“No.” Marith blushed at his attentiveness. He clearly wasn’t dropping it.

“I haven’t seen you wear your glasses in a while.”

“I believe I don’t need them any longer. Maybe I’ve grown over it, so to speak… which happens.” She hastily added the last part of that sentence.

“That’s a shame.”

“Why?” Marith asked surprised.

“They looked distinguished on you. Now you have to tell people you play the cello, before they’ll know you’re bright and cultured.”

“You’re too kind,” Marith giggled, a little worried.

In the wilderness Olive rarely walked on a leash. The little dog waddled ahead of them, occasionally sniffing things or carrying a pine cone, exchanging it for a bigger model, when she came across one.

Marith realised her behind looked like a mouldy loaf of bread that had sprung to life. For a brief while she was content with her own thoughts, like so often in her reclusive existence, but Nick wasn’t the silent or dreamy type and he had swiftly found something new to discuss.

“Do you enjoy having your sister around?”

Marith snickered. Lieke brought a certain flair and atmosphere to the house. A lifelines that had lacked before. “Do you?”

“Well, yes, but I mean, she’s not related to me. I know how family dynamics can be… tricky… and sometimes even deceptive to outsiders.” He seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

Marith nodded. That sure was true when it came to their mother always pretending to be a perfect stay-at-home-mother, even though the rest of the family was mortified having her at home all day, only to criticize every breath of air her children would dare to take, claiming she had the most important and difficult job in the world after a tough day being draped over the couch.

Lieke and Marith had never understood where their mother had gotten the idea that it was okay to push her children to the point of mental problems, while not even giving the right example herself. Apparently, they had to do as she said, not as she did.

When it came to Lieke and Gene, however, Marith assumed that her relationship to them was quite obvious.

“I won’t deny that I was worried briefly when she arrived here with all those suitcases, ready to stay, without even announcing herself, but I understand her struggle with our mother, especially now that she’s pregnant with another man.”

Unbeknownst to Marith, her answer segued nicely into what Nick actually wanted to discuss.

“Yeah, misunderstandings happen…” Nick nodded thoughtfully. “Like between me and Nate.”

He let an icy silence creep up on Marith and when she understood he had set her up with this whole conversation her stomach plummeted to her feet.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Marith invited as nonchalantly as possible, not to let him notice how a silent panic was playing with her insides.

“I know he is still alive. When the police and my private investigators couldn’t find him I didn’t just stop looking. I… I figured he was one of them.”

“One of them?”

“One of you.”

Marith stared at him with big eyes and initially had no clue how to react.

This was a horrible mistake, she thought.

He stoically kept looking at the forest ahead of them, as they continued their walk with Olive.

So much for that Mountain Dew, Marith grumbled internally.

“W-what do you mean?” She asked instead.

Marith had learned that sometimes it is hard to communicate with people who haven’t had the same experiences. To her surprise Nick was not one of those people.

“You know what I mean, like those really old people who live in the Bellevue… Vanessa, Brad, you’re into something together.”

Marith felt deeply guilty that she couldn’t share what she knew about his younger brother, while living under his roof, but unfortunately it wasn’t her secret to share.

“Nick, I won’t deny that, but I cannot explain to you anymore than you’ve already guessed. I hope you understand.”

She knew he wasn’t born yesterday, but she never would have guessed he was that perceptive.

“I think I do,” Nick answered bitter. “Not too long after the private detectives stopped searching I noticed the Air Stream missing from the storage of the beach house and some activity on his bank account. I assumed he was going to be alright and that he would contact me if he was ready for it.”

Marith was full of confusion on how to handle this, but she was captured by sympathy when she saw a shining tear dangling on his jawline.

“He never did,” ended Nick.

It was dawning on her that the inhabitants of Sweet Lake were not as naïve as they seemed. Many of them had experienced strange and unusual things at some point in their lives. They might have accepted it as a part of living between these mountains and they might have been dosed with Mountain Dew at certain points over time, but they were very much aware of the area they lived in.

That very evening they – meaning Juliette, Vanessa, Brad and Kyle – had organized a surprise party for Jonathan’s 21st birthday. Juliette had made the reservations at the Drunken Den, Vanessa had been in charge of the invitations and Brad and Kyle would take care of the rest, so to speak.

Vanessa had implored Marith to come. Marith was yet to find out why exactly. She would have attended anyway, because most of their Chain would be there, but there had been this shady undertone that Marith couldn’t quite place in the grander scheme of things.

She showed up at the arranged time, about half an hour before Jonathan and miss Parker were expected. She was wearing a bright blue dress and suede black, high heeled ankle boots, paired with an expensive looking black, leather purse she had lend from Lieke. She was also violently wishing Nate could see her like that.

Juliette had reserved a backroom of the Drunken Den, designated for such events. To the horror of the owner of the pub Kyle and Brad had stapled colourful garlands to the wooden beams and had let helium filled balloons float to the dark brown ceiling.

Earlier that day he had checked on them and told them they would have to ‘clean that up’ at the end of the night or else they’d lose their deposit. Brad and Kyle, slightly high on helium, had answered with ‘most certainly, dear dude’ in squeaky voices, before he had left again, eyes rolling in their sockets.

Marith placed her present on the intended gift table, which she then remembered was a thing in the United States, before receiving compliments about her outfit. All the credits belonged to Lieke really, who had been happy to dress her monumentally dull sister for an evening out. One she unfortunately wasn’t invited to attend, but second-hand fun was still fun.

When everyone was there the nine present Pupils made an actual chain, by making hand-wrist contact. She stood in between Kyle and one of the new guys. Both had come in late and joined the group at the last moment, so Marith hadn’t caught their names yet.

At first she felt nothing, except a regular touch to the skin. Then it hit her, like somewhere somehow a sluice was opened. A wave rolled through the Chain and just like that they were connected. A tsunami of fresh sensations, visions and talents, she couldn’t humanly sort out, followed. In the circle they formed any Pupil could share what was thought, saw or explored.

Brad showed the group how he searched for Jonathan. He seemed to be able to use a part of his brain Marith knew she would never be able to access. That was his sixth sense.

He soon found Jonathan, strolling patiently on a sidewalk in the centre of town towards the pub, next to miss Parker and her walking aid.

In an electric current Brad felt how the subject moved through a three dimensional map. He zoomed in to verify and a clear image of the how and where followed.

His hand is on the knob! Lisa shared a little while later in a vision that she received and immediately spread, seemingly with the speed of light.

One of the new Runners broke the Chain, sped to the light switch with a swiftness that was hard to follow, even for Marith’s enhanced eye-sight, and turned the lights off. They patiently awaited Jonathan and miss Parker.

Although there were other customers in the pub she could hear both of them advancing when she focused solely on their footsteps. Especially when they arrived in the little hallway that led to the restrooms, the stairs and the area they were in.

She tried to focus on the heartbeats again, but she wasn’t practiced enough yet to single people out in a crowded building. Heartbeats head been one of the first things she had been able to perceive when she had woken up, or, better yet, returned, from her Rebirth, so she had been attempting to revive that sensation. Sometimes successful, often not.

Being proper Runner material Jonathan had already suspected something like this to cross his path, not in the least because Kyle and Brad had shamelessly gone by his store earlier to buy party items. Fortunately it didn’t make him appreciate the gesture any less.

“Almost,” Amber hissed, just before Jonathan was about to open the door to the backroom.

Marith felt some air move past her in an unusual fashion and didn’t realize what had happened, until the lights went on again and she saw one of the Runners over at the light switch.

“Surprise!” They yelled so loud that Marith could see some of the older men sitting at the bar in the main area of the pub stare in their direction.

“Wow, guys! This is amazing!” Jonathan beamed with a wide smile, his great-great-grandmother by his side. “Are you all here for me?”

“Of course! You’re one of us now.”

Almost, at least, Vanessa thought, amusing herself immensely with the prospect of giving him the Push.

He went on to hug all of them, starting with miss Parker, then proceeding with the Pupils.

Several waitresses had entered the room now and were serving bubbling drinks. When everybody was provided with a glass one of the faces that was new to Marith started demanding a speech. It wasn’t long before Kyle and Brad joined him.

“Speech! Speech! Speech!”

The women, William and the other Runner, an equally quiet guy, just awaited the outcome of the request.

Jonathan cleared his throat, searching for words, stammering a little bit. He was lured to the Drunken Den under the pretence of going out to dinner for his birthday with Lucille. With a bright white dress shirt and a starched black pants he was surely dressed for that occasion. Marith recognized his clockwork as a lump in one of his pockets. He would soon be fitted with another one. She was happy and anxious for what he was about to live through.

“When I returned to Sweet Lake to take over my parents’ store I was really alone,” he started uncomfortable. So uncomfortable in fact, it gave Marith sweaty palms.

They all knew by ‘alone’ he meant lonely. They had all experienced it, yet it was still a difficult thing to discuss out loud. Jonathan swallowed and nodded to himself, before continuing.

“I am not going to lie. It was tough. I had to give up some of my biggest dreams when my parents fell ill. But when I met you guys, I realised that we have more in common than meets the eye, we’re all in the same boat so to speak, and I have started to believe things might work out after all. I got a lot of support, especially after the break in…” He was rambling, but let a meaningful silence linger after that last part. There was a genuine message he wanted to unpack.

“I know it sounds corny, but you guys really proved that the term family is undefined. You made me feel like part of your gang from the get go. I’ve gotten such a warm welcome back and now this party…” He gestured around him, at the company and the decorations and the cake and the table with presents.

“It’s honestly more than I could have ever asked for, so thank you.”

He raised his glass and everyone followed with a cheer.

Vanessa almost felt a sliver of remorse for their plan, that included drugging him and tossing him off a very specific, nearby cliff at the end of the night.

Marith felt what he was saying and she knew Nate would too. She missed him already. The fact that he would never be able to join them during events in town supremely sucked.

She wished they had childhood memories together, since they had both lived for a significant amount of their lives in Sweet Lake, but he was three years older and she had been taken back to the Netherlands before she had even had the chance to hit puberty. He had always been in different years in school and by the time she started returning to Oregon for summers and had begun to notice boys he had had his Rebirth and had fled the area in a quest for mental freedom.

After all the surprise and the loudness had ebbed away Marith was soon introduced to the Runners that had recently returned. Anton, a sinewy, introverted Slav, and James, a skimpy, but tall, smooth chattering Brit.

After exchanging short stories about how European Europe was and how American America still was they found themselves in an awkward triangle wrecking their minds for new topics, avoiding directly looking at each other, holding their drinks. It was the story of Marith’s life and she always hated herself for her lack of social skills during moments like that. Luckily James never let a decent moment of silence go to waste.

“What do you think he’s going to look like?” He invited the other two to share theories about their adversary.

“Like a guy,” Anton answered dryly.

“No, but do you think we’re going to see pure evil flashing in his eyes, hatred dripping off his face...”

“Flames on his head, extra-long, sharp teeth and cute, death forest animals in the trunk of his car,” Marith finished for him with a playful tone.

“Exactly!” James looked grateful she joined in, even if sarcastically.

“I do think he probably changed his appearance as much as possible,” Anton figured, “since he, well, you know…” he glanced shyly at Marith.

They had obviously been filled in about the recent developments and knew what had happened to Lieke and what she had seen.

“We don’t know his exact age, do we?” James mused along.

“No,” said Marith. “Lieke said he looked old, but I think that’s questionable, since he was the child of the First Runner and First Oracle. He might be our age, actually, in his twenties, maybe thirties.”

“Or an older teenager,” Anton supplemented.

James nodded to himself. “That narrows it down somewhat, even if barely. And he’s probably still in the area. Spying on us from some dirty motel room, no doubt.”

“I would leave,” Anton brought in.

“Yeah, I would too,” Marith said, with a slight frown, “but then these towns are so remote he would have to travel great distances daily to keep an eye on us.”

She was stared at by the two male Pupils.

“He’s a Runner.”

“Right.”

“You haven’t seen any of us in action yet, I presume?” James asked delighted.

Marith shook her head.

“Let’s just say that the distance to the nearest town or even the nearest city won’t be an issue for our new friend.”

A waiter came by with another platter of drinks. The guys each took a beer, but Marith wanted to stay reasonably sober for what was about to come, so she grabbed a glass of water.

“Maybe it’s a woman,” James tested his company.

“Sure,” Anton snorted. “With a beard?”

“She could have put on a fake one, like Santa Claus. Would be the ultimate troll.”

Marith and Anton made critical faces at him.

“What are you guys talking about?” Kyle inquired, joining their little brain storming session with Amber in his wake.

“Whether the Kid could be a woman.”

“No,” Kyle shook his head wisely, once more stepping up to his role of their history expert, “the prophecies in the rolls clearly said he was going to awaken a man. Always has been a dude, always will be.”

“What prophecies? What rolls?” Marith wondered, against all the hubbub around them.

“Done by Elders and Oracles,” Amber helped.

“Can’t we just ask them then?”

“No, not these Elders. Elders from some of the first Chains, the oldest Elders.”

“Those that are not among us anymore,” Kyle informed, ominously and otiose.

“How reliable are these prophecies?” Marith asked the two Prophets.

“About as reliable as the people that wrote the Holy Bible,” James attempted to fortify his position on the gender.

“If I was the Kid and I wanted to stick around without drawing attention I would mix with the homeless. Merge with the group, so to say,” Amber brought in a fresh suggestion of her own, leaving the gender debate behind. She had either overheard the first part of their conversation or her psychic abilities were helping her a little bit.

“Brilliant!” James wove a surprised finger through the air as if it was attached to a lightbulb over Ambers head.

Amber smiled gleefully at his enthusiasm.

“We should share this hypothesis with Juliette,” Anton tried to be practical.

“She’s working her shift at the shelter now.”

“Nope,” James brought in merrily, “she just walked in. Jules! Hey, Juliette. Joehoe!” He tried to get her attention over the music. It was EDM and Marith could only guess who had forced that on the eardrums of the group.

Juliette waved at him, mostly to make him stop, and went on to congratulate Jonathan first, who was talking to William and Lisa.

Marith had ceased her active contribution to the conversation. She had noticed miss Parker shuffling towards the wardrobe. For a change this was not due to her heightened senses. Miss Parker was wearing a fluorescent purple sweater that was hard to miss.

With Kyle and Amber taking her place she figured they wouldn’t miss her very much.

In the hallway miss Parker was putting on an equally fluorescent, but pink coat, and Marith hurried towards her.

“Miss Parker?”

“Please, call me Lucille. Miss Parker makes me feel old.”

“O-okay,” Marith stammered, trying to wrap her mind around Lucille’s actual age. “I just wanted to discuss the music for the Christmas recital with you some more, if you’ve got the time.”

“I have found you a pianist,” Lucille ignored her request.

“I-it won’t be a solo recital?” She stuttered. Marith was secretly happy about this, but it would involve practicing with the pianist.

“We want you to have a dialogue on stage. The birth of Christ is a joyful occasion that shouldn’t be celebrated with just one instrument.”

“Would you like help with that?” Marith dared to ask after she’d been watching Lucille trying to get her right arm through the wrong sleeve for almost a minute.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25) She chanted.

To Marith this came from out of nowhere, but she accepted the Elder in her quirkiness, assuming it related to the Christmas concert.

Marith held the coat open for Lucille, once again without having had an answer to her question, so she could put the coat on properly.

She contemplated briefly if she was going to regret asking for context, before doing so.

“What does that mean?” She politely informed, while Lucille put her arms through the designated sleeves.

“The more the merrier… of course. It is about the Second Coming.”

Marith could detect the hint of a snippy tone regarding her biblical ignorance, but then wondered about how the Second Coming had anything to do with the birth of Christ. Wasn’t that technically the First Coming?

“Of course.” She nodded to let it rest.

Lucille had placed her purse on the walker and was buttoning up her coat.

“Who is the pianist, if I may ask?” Marith hesitantly wondered after that plea for community, solidarity and togetherness.

“The music teacher from Spectre Lake High. He has seen your adds and he’ll be in touch with you. You won’t have to do anything.” She finished with a faint gesture of a wrinkled hand that shimmered with pearl jewellery.

They proceeded through the main pub, walking past the bar. It was a dimly lit space, but both Marith and Lucille had no trouble with a lack of light.

“Tell Vanessa to use all the Mist. The bottle needs to be emptied. When my late husband got the Push there was no restraining him. Jonathan takes after him in a lot of aspects.” She winked, before she stepped wobbly over the threshold with her walking aid.

Marith chuckled. “I will.”

“Does someone need to walk you home?” She asked worried, holding the front door as wide open as possible.

Sweet Lake had turned into one of the least safe places in the world as of recently. Who knew what use the Kid could find for the Elders?

“Oh, I am not going home, dear. I am meeting an old friend. You kids have enough to worry about.”

“Lucille,” a voice as brittle as parchment paper sounded from the scarcely lit and deserted town’s square.

Marith recognized it instantly. She turned around and the yellowness of the windbreaker was the first thing that caught her retina’s. Pavan was standing on the grass of the bedding on the opposite side of the road and walked towards them. He had added a yellow and dark blue striped scarf and matching mittens to his signature outfit to keep the cold out.

Pavan and Lucille greeted each other with a kiss on the cheek. All three of them stood breathing out misty clouds of air.

The chill of the night ran over Marith’s spine. She shivered, being the only one not wearing a coat.

“Quick, go back inside. Have a good time,” both Elders urged.

Marith did as she was told, before more biblical quotes would come her way.

Samuel was happy to find the house was furnished. It wasn’t one of the main reasons he had chosen to rent it, but it saved him some trouble. He was also pleased to learn most of the girl’s belongings were still in their rooms. They would need something sooner or later and come for it. That would be his way in.

For now he took the master bedroom. A loveless place, filled with frustration, misunderstanding and hopelessness. Just the way he liked it. Maybe he could even use the negative energy for some fresh inspiration. It was just hanging around anyway, between those six material planes.

Minds that return from the Empty couldn’t actually enter the NREM-stage of sleeping anymore, their consciousness being incapable of delta-waves, but it would be a formidable place to rest and contemplate dark matters after a heavy day of plotting, scheming and sucking the life out of people.

It had taken a couple of days to get himself some decent clothes, a haircut, an ID and a permanent residency. He was the sum of all Runners, so being fast and cunning came natural to him. He had known up front that stealing, fooling and orienting wouldn’t be the hardest aspects of residing in this dimension.

He would have to get reacquainted with this world. Despite its rampant bureaucracy it looked way more comfortable now than when he had been forced to leave. Of course he had taken a peek at the advancement of humanity every now and then. He surely would have done certain things differently, but these creatures were creative. He had to give them that.

The internet, for instance, was pretty neat. Even neater was the dark web, or so he fancied. Technology in general could turn out to be a comrade. Earlier that day he had lied about working as a software developer, to the jock that was giving him a tour of the house. The prick kept asking and he had heard one of the men in the Sound Lake Barbershop mentioning ICT, so it was still fresh on his mind. He might have to look into those computers some more.

He wanted to truly merge with them this round. Make himself look natural and practiced in this world. What better place to start then at a spacious lake house diagonally above his temporal resting place?

Samuel was very ready to leave the boredom of his past behind and get some - no, create some - excitement in this little world. It was long overdue.

Standing at the end of the jetty, staring at the packing clouds in the dark, moonlit mirror that lay at his feet, he could feel all the malicious particles of the universe gathering euphorically within him. They were buzzing with gleeful anticipation. Finally he had come to reunite with them.

Behind him his now dragon sized anchor sat perched on the roof of the Norwegian style lake house. He had told his master some fresh gossip and was jumpy with anticipation. They were having some kind of gathering in town.

The Kid turned around to look at his assistant. His eyes had no difficulty with the darkness. The tones and the colours of things were slightly different, but that was it. He could see the Birdman perfectly, despite the fact it was a black creature against a black background.

Samuel curtly shook his head at him. They needed to finish that goddamn Chain and find the Watchmaker for him. The Birdman obeyed the Kid, although it hurt him deeply in the core of his being. These orders went against anything the beast felt he existed for.

“Why me?!” Marith hissed. “I don’t even condone of this!”

“Because you’re so nice all the time.”

“Everybody trusts you,” added Kyle.

“Yes, and I would like to keep it that way!” Marith retorted in the same hushed tone everyone was using.

Vanessa shoved a cool, glass bottle, the shape of an elongated jam jar, in Marith’s hands.

“Can’t we do it without?” She asked, remembering very well what Lucille had told her earlier that evening.

“Without drugging him? How do you suggest we get him up that cliff then?”

“I am sooo not comfortable with this!” She spat, while shoving it in her borrowed purse, looking slightly paranoid over her shoulder, while doing so.

Jonathan’s other friends, acquaintances and village people of the same age in general had arrived as well and the backroom was getting so crowded that some of them had found their way into the pub itself and sat in the boots together. Most of the regular costumers had left anyway, since it was a weeknight, so the lord was only glad with the extra clientele.

Marith marched out of the hallway and ordered two drinks at the main bar. Two non-alcoholic drinks that was, since Jonathan was a sportsman and didn’t consume alcohol. She hoped the Mist would do its job mixed through the soda just as well.

Jonathan was just saying goodbye to some tittering girls in tight, revealing dresses. He was plenty distracted by their outfits. Marith took the opportunity to slide into the boot they had been seated in, unscrewed the glass bottle and tossed the swirl of fog into the designated drink.

The Mist formed an alarmingly thick layer atop of the glass, but refused to blend voluntarily. Jonathan was basically walking the girls out of the pub, which bought her some time, but her window was closing. She snatched a fork from a saucer that contained the remnants of a piece of cake.

She hastily cleaned it on a napkin and started to shovel, stir and push the two substances into each other like a maniac.

How had Vanessa done this the night of her Rebirth? Was the potion even going to mix with a non-alcoholic substance?

“No, not these,” she directed a member of the waiting staff that was cleaning the table, ignoring the confused glances the teenager threw at her violently stirring the soda.

She tossed the fork aside on the bench beside the table when she saw Jonathan returning. With an inviting smile she requested him to sit with her.

“Duchess,” he addressed her.

“I got us some drinks,” she shared invitingly.

“Thanks! And, really, thanks again for all this,” he gestured at the party.

“Oh, no need to thank me. Vanessa, Juliette, Kyle and Brad deserve most of the credit.”

Marith’s eyes sparkled as he took his first sip.

“So, how have you been holding up?”

He nodded to himself again, before taking another gulp. “Pretty good actually.”

“Your speech before really rang true to me.”

“It did?”

“I spend my whole life thinking - no, knowing - I was strange, an outcast. When I returned in Sweet Lake I realized I don’t even want to be normal. Fitting in with you guys is enough for me.”

“I know right? Apparently,” he raised his hands from the table like he was receiving some divine afflatus from above, “we don’t even have it in us to fit in with society, and you know what?”

“What?” She asked tricksy.

“That’s just fine!”

Marith wondered if the Mist was starting to do its job already. Her brain was rapidly spinning and turning behind her composed face. Lucille had instructed her to make sure he would drink everything, so she had to keep the conversation going at least until his drink would be finished.

“Before I returned I was so fed up with always standing out, always being the weirdest one in the room… I was down a lot and I wanted it to stop, but I never knew how to, you know?”

“I feel like we are drifting into more personal waters now,” he said, staring at his hands.

“I am dead serious,” Marith started to perspire. She had no clue were to go from here, how to handle this. She was ‘winging it’ and if there was one thing she was bad at when playing the cello it was improvising.

“Sure,” he answered.

“I was living a very isolated life before I returned to Sweet Lake.”

His broad, muscled shoulders tensed. He glanced at her and to Marith’s relief he drank so more.

“Everybody goes through an awkward phase, usually in high school, and it just seemed like I could not leave that chapter behind… I couldn’t shake it off.”

The faint sounds of the music from the backroom that had reached them diminished. That meant the party was coming to an end and Marith had to act faster.

“Since everything that happened I may be even weirder than before, but…” she shook her head, searching for the right words.

“You’ve embraced it.”

“Exactly,” Marith nodded, “and now I feel just fine. Healthier than ever!”

Jonathan nodded again and emptied the remains of his drink in one gulp.

“I left the awkward behind on top of that cliff.”

Jonathan frowned. “Wait? What?”

Marith stared at him from across the table with a suave smile.

“What cliff, Duchess? I thought we were talking about that train accident in Europe?”

“Do you trust me?” Marith asked.

“Well, yeah, I just don’t know what on Earth you’re talking about…”

“I may have drugged you.”

“WHAT?” His eyes widened and he looked angrier than Marith would have hoped. “Why? With what? In my drink?” He inanely peered into his empty glass, as if he was going to find remnants of a pill or powder in there, and was clearly panicking. Sparks started to fly from his motherboard.

“I am so, so sorry,” Marith pleaded, folding her hands on the table.

“This better not be some weird ass party drug from Amsterdam…” he threatened.

He tried to get up, but finally the Mist hit him and he lost a considerate part of his vision. Marith vaguely remembered what it had been like.

“What is all this f-f-fog?”

He shook his head ferocious in order to get it away from him.

Seemingly from out of nowhere Brad, James and Anton appeared to hoist him into Brad’s truck that had been conveniently parked out back. They clamped him in between them on their way to the rear exit to make it seem like he was slightly drunk and getting help to the wardrobe, instead of being roofied and getting kidnapped. Kyle and the others forced themselves into his mom’s van and the vehicles hasted off into the night.

Sense of direction and willpower to resist whatever was happening should disappear after a dosage of the Mist. They would soon learn that the potion didn’t quite have that effect on Jonathan.

“We are going in for the Rebirth, people!” Brad clapped his hands enthusiastically after parking his car at the end of the dirt road, between the evergreen conifers and pine trees.

During the drive Jonathan had slept like a toddler on the way home from spending the day at an amusement park. He had slightly stirred on the bumpy way up to the construction area and to Anton’s horror Brad’s zeal now started to wake him up. The soon-to-be Runner was quite a lot bigger than him or James. Only Brad could match his posture, though hardly.

Kyle parked the van next to the truck. Vanessa, Juliette, Marith, Amber, Lisa and William jumped out, into the freezing night.

“Do I sssmell trees? W-wheeere are we going?!” Jonathan demanded answers in his stupefaction.

He stood swaying on his feet in between Anton and James. His head bobbed from left to right, rolling over his neck, like it wasn’t correctly attached anymore.

“Is he waking up?” Lisa wondered shakily.

They nodded with warning eyes. James brought a raised index finger to his lips to command their silence.

“Let’s get to it then,” Kyle urged in a low tone of voice.

They shuffled uphill over the needle-filled forest floor to the construction site on the rocky plateau of the cliff. Jonathan could still walk, more or less, but was steered in the right direction by Anton and James. Brad walked up front. They were led by the faint light emanating from the construction lamps that enlightened the unfinished church around the clock.

“Guys, this isn’t fun anymore… Why did you drug me? And why can’t I see?” Jonathan demanded.

“It’s a big birthday surprise. You’re going to looove it,” Brad teased.

“Why are we outdoors then?”

He was no longer dragging his tongue through his mouth and sounded more and more sober with every new sentence that escaped his lips. Vanessa feared he would get his vision back soon and wished the guys would hurry.

“Why are you so scared of the forest?” Amber asked, to distract him somewhat.

“Because of every fairy tale and Disney movie EVAAHR!”

“Oh, now, most fairy tales end well, don’t they?” Juliette grinned.

Jonathan unexpectedly put his heels in the ground and wildly shook his shoulders to get away from the grip of the two Runners by his side. He tried to make a run for it, which he couldn’t. Despite the fact that the Mist didn’t have the same numbing effect on him as it did on the others, it had still etherized his muscles to a degree that didn’t allow taking a sprint.

Juliette tackled him in a heartbeat and restrained him until Anton and James could recuperate their handle on him.

“I know where this is,” Jonathan hissed, the air being pressed out of his lungs by the woman on top of him. “The cliff!” He was still heavily struggling and resisting his kidnappers.

He started to notice the eternal winds that plagued the sharp edges of the cliff and the bare construction of the church that remained unfinished as if it was cursed. When they left the tree line behind their clothing was fluttering around their trained bodies in the chilly current of the open air.

“WHY?! Why are we here? Give me ONE good reason?!” He started to yell over the whistling of the wind.

Anton and James had picked him up and completely lifted him off the ground, so he couldn’t use the flat rock bed for friction any longer. He squirmed in their arms like a rodent in the claws of a bird of prey.

“Congratulations! It’s your Rebirth!” Brad chimed in again.

“Screw that!” Jonathan still protested.

And just like that he regained his eye-sight. His man-handlers paused for a moment, while he blinked rapidly and looked around dazedly. His eyes rested on the construction lights that illuminated the skeleton of the church.

“You’re doing this in the presence of a house of GOD?! You guys LOST IT! LET ME GOOO!”

“Shouldn’t the Mist make people more easy to handle?” Lisa inquired, worried about the struggle she was witnessing, more and more repulsed by herself for turning a blind eye to what was certainly starting to seem like abuse.

Vanessa anxiously looked at Brad, Juliette and Anton fighting and struggling with Jonathan. Kyle and James had seized to bother after several punches that had landed painfully.

Jonathan was on the ground again. The kicking and clawing had forced the others to put him down for a second. A second in which Jonathan had started to frantically crawl back towards where the primordial part of his brain told him the cars had been parked.

“I have no clue why it doesn’t work on him… Maybe it was a bad bottle…” Vanessa almost sounded apologetic, an attitude that didn’t come natural to her.

“I will drag you guys with MEEE!” The screaming continued, while Brad climbed on top of him to relieve Juliette, like they were in a relay race.

“Are there any risks of avalanches up here?” Kyle wondered, holding a tissue, that Lisa had just handed to him, under a bloody nose. His ability to heal at an accelerated rate had already stopped the bleeding. He was simply wiping the blood off his upper lip with it, helped by some spit.

“If he doesn’t stop screaming we are going to end up feeding the entire town the Dew,” Anton remarked, unable to mask his Eastern-European accent under this kind of duress.

“Can’t we just give him a blow in the head? I mean, he’s getting Rebirthed and everything… He might just survive it,” Brad panted, attempting to keep Jonathan in a headlock and drag him closer to the edge.

Vanessa groaned with frustration. This wasn’t even remotely taking place according to plan.

“Aren’t you supposed to be stronger than him? Just give him the Push already!” Amber demanded impatiently. Brad was losing some infatuation-points to her tonight.

“At least we know he’s a true Runner now.” It was one of the first things William said, since they had left the Drunken Den.

“People under the influence of drugs or alcohol are often stronger than we can imagine, because they are temporarily immune to pain,” Marith informed.

Amber and Lisa nodded wisely, hoping she was right about the ‘immune to pain’ part. It eased their guilt to some extent.

Behind Marith Brad and Juliette had decided that enough was enough and she turned around just in time to witness the tail-end of their solution.

Basically, Brad stretched out a leg and Juliette kicked the direct object of their frustrations over it, causing him to be launched into the deep, dark depth. They had implicitly agreed that Anton didn’t have the right personality for that kind of violence against humans. He stood by with his hands in his hair.

Jonathan went down screaming his lungs out. Halfway down his fall the yelling disappeared. The group sped to the edge of the massive rock to peer over the edge. Far beneath them, halfway down, a floating, silvery, blue and purple, sinuous haze closed in a flash, like an old-fashioned television screen that was turned off.

“Yup, that was the Mailbox.” Brad sighed, while stepping back to recover his outfit, by rebuttoning his shirt and hoisting up his pants. He was relieved this was over.

“It worked.” Vanessa exhaled audibly.

Marith looked at her in astonishment.

“Making state of the art decisions all day every day is hard, okay?” Vanessa defended herself tensely.

“What would have happened if he wasn’t a Pupil?” Will informed, who had remained sheepishly at the edge of the forest with Lisa.

“He would have hit the water already,” Brad said.

“That would have surely killed him,” Anton added, shivering.

Some of them peeked over the rim some more. As far as the moonlight allowed them to see they couldn’t spot Jonathan anywhere.

“Has this ever gone wrong?”

“Not on my watch.” Vanessa shook her head, inadvertently locking eyes with William.

They descended from the plateau of the cliff into the thicker parts of the forest again in silence until Marith thought of something curious.

“Why did I get the Push before Jonathan did? You could have Rebirthed him on the night of the meteor shower instead of me,” she asked Vanessa in a reserved tone of voice.

“Because Oracle invited you before she did Jonathan,” Vanessa answered matter-of-factly.

This sounded very cryptic to Marith. “Why did she do that?”

“You needed it sooner.”

“What does that mean?” Marith frowned.

“You know what I mean. You needed it. To make a connection with Nate first, before your Runner would take over.”

Marith swallowed without answering. As the first snowflakes began to fall around them she learned that her new-found happiness was just as much orchestrated as her return to Sweet Lake.