Chapter 12
Jayson squinted up at the still leaves. There was something inhuman on the edge of that voice, almost metallic. He could see Ru’s head turning wildly out of the corner of his eye. She probably hadn’t considered it might have been a kazoo, or any number of toys designed to add a robotic sound to someone’s voice.
In any case, the next voice they heard was entirely different. It came from right behind Randy. “Boo.”
Randy sprang into the air, so high that Jayson almost laughed. Misty Elesti stood there, her arms crossed and her expression indifferent. “You,” Randy snarled, raising a fist.
“Hi,” Misty said.
While Jayson couldn’t help but grin, the sight of Misty made him uneasy. She’d floored his best friend with a single punch, and now she teased him in complete confidence, despite their being no adults around. Then again, a lot of people didn’t take Randy seriously until he knocked out a few of their teeth. The strangest thing was that Jayson felt Misty had no reason to fear Randy, or anyone from school for that matter. She carried herself like an adult, like someone in control without a second thought to it, like someone above the rules that dictated every moment of his life.
With that, he demanded, “What are you doing out here? Breckenridge girls aren’t supposed to leave the house on their own.”
Misty snorted. “I don’t care.”
Randy stepped towards her. Ru edged closer to Misty. “Back off, short stack,” she warned.
“Who you calling short, birdbrain? Ruster?”
Ru ignored him. “He’s right,” she said to Misty. “You can get kicked out or leaving without permission.”
“Good,” Misty snapped, wide-eyed in vehemence. “I hate it there. I never wanted to –”
“Whoa,” Randy interrupted. “Did you guys see that?”
He stared to the west, deeper into the forest. The trees were black against the fire of the sunset. In the distance, filtered heavily by branches, Jayson saw something flicker. It was distinctly not a trick of twilight, nor was it a flashlight. It looked like puckered steel, a twisted, bright reflection, and one he should not be able to see so far away. He blinked rapidly, trying to resolve the image.
Randy was already headed towards it, signaling for the rest of them to follow. Jayson frowned after him. Whatever they’d seen, Jayson didn’t like it, and didn’t care to find out what it was. Besides, it was getting dark, and cold on top of it. “We were supposed to go home after the arcade. It’s probably a camera or something.”
“Chicken?” Randy whispered. “Figures, your sister’s a Ruster.”
“Shut up,” Ru hissed.
Misty’s face had gone shockingly pale. For a second Jayson thought she might faint. That image of strength that normally backed her was gone. Her voice was wispy. “I think we should go back. You never know who could be out here at night. The four of us can’t take on an adult.”
“Says who?” Randy scoffed.
“You OK?” Jayson asked.
Misty only stared past him. Randy huffed impatiently. “Look, the Quarterstone’s right there. If you want to go back, go.”
With that, he took off into the woods. Jayson shook his head and followed. When Jayson caught up, Randy was crouched behind a dead bush, unusually still and silent. Jayson followed his gaze to the other side of a large clearing.
A man sat cross-legged on the ground, just barely visible among the tree trunks. He had pale hair swept over his left eye, hiding half of his thin, sharply angled face. Jayson squinted. He wasn’t sure due to the failing light, but he swore the man’s hair was blue. The stranger wore a long black overcoat that pooled around him on the ground, the rusty trim of it an uncrumpled, broken ring. “It’s just some guy,” Randy said, disappointed.
There was an open textbook in the man’s hands. Jayson spotted a stack of books nearby. “He shouldn’t read in the dark.”
The man looked up sharply. He was so still he didn’t even breathe. His one visible eye stood out, vivid, strange, as pale a blue as his hair. Jayson felt as if the entire world was focusing solely on him. Then, Randy stepped out from behind the bush.
Before Randy could open his mouth, the man was on his feet and rushing towards the two boys. There was a silver flickering in his hands and a metallic scrape. Jayson gasped and scrambled backwards.
The man had a sword. He was staring off at his own eye level, but when Randy finally had the sense to back off, the man locked onto the boys and confusion crossed his face. He rested the point of the sword on the ground. “You’re too young to be here at this time of day. Go home.”
He had a low, direct voice, and spoke with a slight accent Jayson couldn’t place. Jayson turned, but Randy piped up. “Hey, you can’t boss me around. You’re not my mom!”
Jayson was about to point out the stupidity of arguing with a swordsman when an odd vibration went through the air. His words died in his throat, every hair on his body lifted. He glanced at Randy, who had become a human thistle.
“I said leave!“
A white flash blinded Jayson, and the booming crackle that followed may well have deafened him. He rubbed furiously at his eyes. A rush of intense heat washed over him. When he looked up, his mind could make little sense of what he saw.
The man was bent down like a sprinter at the starting block. The ends of his overcoat tossed around him in rolling waves. Jayson could see him clearly now, due to the light that seemed to be radiating right from the man’s hand. No, not light — lightning. Thin bolts of lightning shimmered through the air, twining around his outstretched fingers.
The two boys tore back through the forest, screaming. Branches scraped through the arms of Jayson’s jacket, crackled under his stampeding shoes. They spilled out into the open and kept going. They didn’t stop until they spotted Ru and Misty, sitting at a picnic table by Cardinal Street. Randy slammed his hands on the bench and hunched, wheezing for breath. Jayson shook his head, fighting to clear the afterimages from his eyes so he could see the forest. It seemed dark.
Ru jumped up. “What happened?”
Instead of answering, Randy hollered at Jayson, “What was that?”
Jayson swallowed and wiped the sweat from his brow. “There had to be a broken power line.”
“What power lines?” Randy pointed at the woods. “There aren’t any past the Quarterstone. They’re not allowed.”
“A storm,” Jayson tried.
“The sky’s clear!” Randy’s finger trained on some violet cirrus clouds twirling off towards the horizon. “Unless you count those clouds. Yep. Real stormy-looking.”
“What are you talking about?” Ru asked.
“There was some guy in the woods with lightning coming out of his hands!”
“That’s not what happened!” Jayson said.
“Then what was it?”
Ru rolled her eyes. “In case you guys forgot, you already tried this prank on me once.”
Jayson was surprised Randy didn’t gloat about how she’d fallen for it, too. “We saw something, we just don’t know what it was. You saw part of it!”
Even with that prank in mind, Ru’s resolve softened rather easily. “Can we go back and see? There’s no storms around here. There won’t be for another nine days.”
“No way,” Randy said, “That guy had –”
“Wait, wait,” Misty cut in.
Jayson hardly noticed she was there. She had her head down on the table before. “The next nine days? How do you know that?” she challenged.
“She knows,” Randy said.
“The weather reports don’t even go that far,” Misty pointed out. “And they say it’ll storm on Thursday.”
Jayson wondered why Misty was questioning Ru about the weather of all things, when Randy had just come out of the woods claiming to have seen someone holding lightning. It made him even more uneasy. Ru gazed at the sky down Cardinal Street. “The system that’s supposed to make that storm is going to be pushed to the south. It’ll be sunny and cold here.”
“But how do you know?”
Ru shrugged. “It’s pretty obvious when you look at the weather maps.”
“She’s always right,” Jayson said. “We had a bet on it once.”
“I told you not to take that bet,” Randy said. “She’s obsessed. I think she’s got a crush on the weatherman.”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up once already?” Ru scowled, her face tinting red.
Misty stared in disbelief. “But not even meteorologists get it right every time.“
Ru gave her the same dark look she’d given Randy. “Seriously, you’re going to get in trouble if they notice you’re gone.”
“They said on the tour they chain runaways in the basement and feed them the mice they find in their traps,” Randy said with a malicious grin.
“If that was true,” Misty’s voice rose with every word, “Why would they tell a tour group?”
“Can we go now?” Jayson urged.
Whatever they’d seen in the woods, there had to be a rational explanation. What was clear enough was that a man with a sword was angry at the boys about being disturbed. A rational explanation did not mean they were safe.
