nealowrimo

Hee Hee, I got it

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:13:11 GMT

Chapter 26- Cat and Mouse part 2

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:59:19 GMT

Nearer to the enterance, the pilgrims were rounding up the bats of the underground at an astounding rate. They had managed to attract them with blood, which they always had in store. The pilgrims themselves only required a very small amount of blood to stay alive, and they had methods of duplicating whatever little quantity they had of original human blood. But they always made sure to have a backup store, just in case it was proving especially difficult to kill a human who had been bothering them lately and needed to be finished off.

The bats were killed with a simple break of the neck. They put up little resistance. In fact, it was almost as if they were honored to be killed for such an evil cause. They were martyrs. A quick explanation was given to each pilgrim who had a bat. The ratio was aroud one bat to six pilgrims, so that they would be able to hunt in packs.

“Sir.” A pilgrim approached the leader pilgim. “There is nobody guarding the wishbone, or the brother of that girl. Shall I send someone to the fortress?”

“There will be no need for that” the leader pilgrim said. “She will not escape. We have too many hunters too fail.”

“But sir, what about the wishbone?”

“That is very little concern to me. Beezlebub himself has told me there are certain protections in place to ensure it is not broken. In any event, I have serious doubts that she will even be able to find it. Now stop bothering me with pointless questioning and return to your place!”

The pilgrim did as he was told. The leader pilgrim then addressed his army comprised of over one thousand of the most foul creatures ever gathered in one spot.

“Brothers! Today, we have been threatened! We have been mocked! By a child! A child who wishes to destroy our way of life. But we are strong! We will not take this insult to the Great One without retaliation!”

The pilgrims let out their most ferocious battle cries, taking in the words of their leader. They beat their chests and waved their daggers in the sky, the buckles on their hats glowing bright red. They were then silent again to eagerly hear the final speech from the leader.

“Be ruthless! She has killed one of our brothers already! Show no mercy towards her or her human companions! Now go! Go, and kill!”

And they took off, fanning out and splitting up into hundereds of packs, looking for their prey.

Meanwhile, there had been a breakthrough in the mission of the three humans. A fortified area had appeared on the horizon and brightened the spirits of all of them.

“That’s gotta be it!” Jessie exclaimed.

“You think so?” asked Sam, but his voice was excited and hopeful.

“I know it!” The detector was pointing straight at it.

“Alright then” Sam said. “Let’s make sure we get a good look at it, scout out where the best place is to enter and everythin, just to be safe.”

The walls of the fortress were made of stone and very high. A moat surrounded the structure. They went to get a closer look at the water. It looked just like oil, pitch black. A single gray, wooden bridge crossed the moat and connected to the fortress. Jessie wondered why it wasn’t up. If this really is where the wishbone and my brother are, shouldn’t there be more security? I don’t even see lookouts or anybody. Another giant woods was behind the fortress. It seemed to be more dark and more foreboding than the others. But hopefully, this was the final stop before going back.

Remember, a nagging voice in the back of Jessie’s head said, even if you get in there and get to Donny and the wishbone, it’s only like a fifty fifty chance that you’ll destroy them forever. If it doesn’t work…..you know what’s going to happen. It will start all over again. It was a morose thought. But still, Chief Montachusa was optimistic. Either way, Jessie knew there was no use worrying about it. Fate will go as fate goes.

Then things took a turn for the worst.

“Look!” Ben cried out, in a sort of shouted whisper.

“Holy shit” Sam said in awed terror.

Jessie saw them. Just over the hill, the packs of pilgrims were coming, daggers out. But there was something else in their hands.

“Tree. Over there.” Sam whispered, gesturing to a nearby tree. There wasn’t much of a point to standing behind a tree, it didn’t make them any more or less safe. A simple comfort, if anything.

They pilgrims were getting closer, and seemingly coming right toward them. Dolphin started to growl softly. “No, no, no!” Jessie whispered authoritatively at her dog. He doesn’t stand a chance against all these things. Thankfully, he quickly became silent.

They were within fifty yards of them now. What are those things they are holding? Are those…bats? Indeed, that was what they appeared to be. The eyes glowed red, just like those of the pilgrims.

“I don’t like this” Sam whispered. “Let’s move a little.” As quietly as they could, they backed up, closer toward the moat behind them.

The pilgrims were closing in. The bats were pointed right at Jessie.

Dolphin barked.

“SPLIT UP!” Sam yelled. “GET OUT OF HERE!.” The pilgrims closest flinched and hesitated at the sound of the barking dog, while the ones behind them raiser their murderous daggers and moved in.

Jessie turned to run into the forest, the opposite direction that Sam and Ben were heading. But something caught her foot. It was Dolphin’s leash. She fell to the ground, letting go of the leash, cursing herself for her clumsyness. She prepared for the end. I hope it doesn’t hurt too much.

Someone grabbed her hand. It was Ben. He pulled her to her feet, and pushed her towards the forest, trailing right behind her. Jessie was soon running fully under her own power. She reached the edge of the forboding forest and turned around to see what had happened to Dolphin.

Instead, she saw what happened to Ben. And her world fell apart.

There was a dagger through his chest. Right near the heart. It cut the necklace right off. The blood began to bubble out. A pilgrim let out a sinister victory cry as he realized he had gotten one of them. But Jessie didn’t hear it. She only saw him, as his eyes locked with hers one last time.

“Jessie..” he whispered, struggling to get the words out. Then his eyes rolled back. He staggered for a moment as he lost his balance. And then he fell backwards into the black moat, instantly going beneath the surface.

Jessie’s heart was paralyzed. But her legs were still looking out for her, and they carried her into the woods. She did not stop running.

She kept running for at least thirty minutes straight. Her mind had temporarily shut down, and she could think of nothing. At last, Jessie could not run anymore. She collapsed beneath some sort of small rock overhang, out of sight. She mindlessly looked at the pilgrim detector, and it was still.

The shock lifted. Jessie took of her jacket and thrust it into her face, letting the sobs come out. They were muffled and didn’t make a noticeable sound to anyone that could be listening. But they were as loud as anything to her.

The incident replayed in her mind for what seemed like thousands of times. She saw the knife. The moat. The pilgrims. The blood. And Ben. His steel blue eyes were intense to the last moment.

She felt herself regretting her whole time that she had spent with Ben, especially the time spent together in the reservation and in the colony. Maybe he had loved her. Maybe he really meant every single part of “I love you”. But now she would never know. She had never even given him a chance to prove it. Who cares if it wasn’t the right time? He didn’t deserve to be rejected. HE SAVED MY LIFE!” And I couldn’t even say the words back to him. He deserved better.

She couldn’t stop thinking about him. She couldn’t stop crying over him. His eyes. Oh, those eyes. There was so much to regret, so many second guesses. Why did I drag him down here? Nobody should be here but me. Oh, what could have been. What would have been. But it was gone now. They had ruined it.

They had ruined it. THEY RUINED EVERYTHING!

The crying stopped. She clenched her fists. No. It’s not my fault. IT’S THEM. THOSE BASTARDS! THEY HAVE MY BROTHER. THEY’VE KILLED MY FRIENDS. I’M GOING TO KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM! If she didn’t have a shred of common sense left in her, she would’ve screamed. Would’ve marched right back to the scene and took out the stake and killed as many of those pilgrims as she could. So what if she died? They’d be dead too.

Then, Jessie heard another voice. She looked around everywhere, but she knew it was in her head. It was not Ben, but Donny. Donny. They have not gotten to all my loved ones yet.

“Jessie” the small voice said. “Take me home”

She heard something bounding around near her. Fear clutched her momentarily, as she fumbled to look at the pilgrim detector. Nothing, it was still and straight as an arrow. Then she heard the familiar panting.

“Dolphin!” she cried, holding her arms out. He leapt into her arms, tongue wagging. How did you find me? Jessie wondered. But it didn’t matter, she had someone now, someone on her side. She stroked his thick, black fur, and kissed him on his furry forehead. He licked her face. She continued to pet him and looked back in the direction of the fortress, where the pilgrims were wating for her.

“I’m coming Donny. It’s time to go home.”

Chapter 26- Cat and Mouse part 1

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:57:33 GMT

Who won? I won. Thursday Night. I'm da bomb.

Squanto had been watching the building where the pilgrims went into for some time now. He was very nervous, could it be the residence of Jessie or Ben’s family? He was positioned across the street from the building, hiding inside of an empty garbage can. It was getting to be very uncomfortable. Squanto didn’t dare get up, however, he did not wish to attract the attention of the pilgrims and their acute senses.

Then, he heard loud noises across the street as the small band of pilgrims that had gone into the building triumphantly marched out over the door they had kicked down. They did not appear to be possessing any kind of treasure or object, but looked extremely satisfied with their efforts. Squanto could smell the death from here.

They got back into their formation and marched on, only this time they stayed off the main street. Squanto hoped they would not be dropping by somebody else’s house for an unexpected and unpleasant visit. But, it seemed that now they were taking a direct path back to the bridge.

And one more time, Squanto saw the bridge on the horizon. It looked more menacing and formidable then Squanto ever remembered it to be. And this time, the pilgrims were heading straight for it. Squanto cursed himself for not thinking of another plan to distract the pilgrims and create another diversion. But there was a sense of inevitability now, he knew there was no stopping them. In a vain attempt at one more delay Squanto simply called out, “HEY! Over here!”.

Like one giant, living, breathing, organism the pilgrims turned around to face him, seemingly moving all at once. Squanto squeezed his eyes shut, and prepared to die. He wondered if heaven was anything like the reservation. That would more than suffice.

But death did not come for Squanto. He cracked open one eye. He might as well have died. The pilgrims just stared at him for a moment or two, with the most evil of all evil grins upon their faces. Grins that seemed to say, “I’m about to kill your loved ones. And there’s nothing you can do about it”. They materialized into the bridge, back to their lair.

It was going to be a long and painful wait.

Miles away from the pilgrim army, Jessie was still trying to make sense of whole dog eating dead body incident. She still found the fact that her dog was trying to eat something dead to be more than just a little revolting. More like a whole lot revolting. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized there was a very bright silver lining to the gross occurrence. It proved her little angel of a puppy could be a fighting dog. She looked down at Dolphin. Who would’ve thought? Never harmed a fly his entire life, and now he’s ready to kick some butt. Truthfully, she didn’t believe Chief Montachusa when he told her Dolphin would actually be useful in a capacity that involves mauling another creature. But the proof was in the pudding, and now that Jessie had seen it, she believed it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jessie thought she saw something in the sky. She looked up. Something was indeed up there, flying around, at very high altitudes.

“Look” she whispered to the guys, “up there.”

Sam and Ben tilted their heads upward and studied the creature that was flapping its wings above them.

“What the heck is that thing?” Sam wondered aloud.

“Looks like a bat” Ben said.

“I thought only pilgrims were down here” Jessie said. The idea of other evil creatures made her very uneasy. Pilgrims were difficult enough to handle.

“Well, there’s some debate about that, from what I’ve heard.” Sam said. “A lot of people who studied the colony think that no other things could live in this place. Just too evil or something. Al was one of the few who thought othawise though. He always believed some other things might flock to evil.”

“Do you think it can see us?” Jessie asked.

“Nah….” Sam said, although he didn’t sound very convinced. “If they could, wouldn’t the pilgrim guys be using them by now?”

I guess that makes sense. The bird/bat/hawk, whatever it was, was flying away from them now and was soon out of sight.

A loud noise shattered the silence and startled the three of them. Jessie was hyperventalitating again. “O god o god o god” She was incredibly tense.

“Take it easy kid, have your meds.” Sam said, putting his hand on her shoulder. Ben looked like he was coming over to help steady her, but awkwardly backed away at the last second.

Jessie took the inhaler out of her pocket with a shaky hand and administered the medicine to herself. It had been quiet for so long, and the feelings of relative calm had been replaced with intense terror.

Again, the sound came. It definitely came from a pilgrim, but at the same time Jessie found it hard to believe a living thing could produce such a noise. She was a bit more prepared this time, but it frightened her still. It reminded her of the dreadful howl a pilgrim had let out when it came to the bookstore window yesterday, to throw a scare into her and Sam. It seemed like an eternity ago.

But this roar was not nearly as threatening. It was more like an “all call” or something. To round up the masses. I think that’s pretty scary in itself. A call to action…

“I don’t like this guys” Sam said. Jessie could easily detect the fear in his voice. “We better lay low for a little bit, see what happens.”

“No, we can’t. We need to get moving, now more than ever.” Jessie was shocked to hear these words coming out of her own mouth. Her brain was screaming at her to follow Sam’s advice and just hide out for a while. Maybe for forever. But she could feel Donny calling her. “I think they are coming for us. They’re getting together.”

“Okay then” Sam sighed. “You are the boss.”

She started to pick up the pace, but realized Sam wasn’t following her.

“Come on kid, let’s go.” Sam was talking to Ben, who was pushing his face into the trunk of a large gray tree. “Awww don’t be like that. It’s gonna be fine, I promise.”

“Ben?” Jessie asked, slowly walking over to him.

There were tears in his eyes. He was obviously ashamed of himself, looking so pathetic in front of a girl two years younger than him.

“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked, touching her hand to his shoulder. “Tell me.”

“I hate this” Ben said, not looking at her. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

“I’m sorry.” Jessie said. “But everything is gonna be fine. They can’t see us. We just have to get my brother and break that wishbone. The detector will tell us where to go. Don’t worry.”

“Yeah…” said Ben, looking a little better.

“We’ll be outta here before you know it kid.” Sam said. “Think of it as an adventure or something. We’ll be makin history!”

Ben breathed in loudly and started walking with the other two once again. Jessie took his silence as a sign he was going to keep on going for now. That’s all I ask.

A few more steps, and then they were stopped again.

“Woah woah” Sam whispered. “The meat thermometer thing is goin crazy”.

Jessie looked down at the pilgrim detector in her hand that she had previously been neglecting. Sure enough, it was spinning around quickly, not quite crazy like Sam described, but quickly enough to warrant concern that a pilgrim was indeed close by.

The three of them froze without anyone ordering it, they didn’t need telling. For a minute, Jessie heard nothing. Maybe it was a false alarm. Then she saw them. At first it was just one pilgrim, running in the direction Jessie and her companions had come from, like it was stalking prey. Another one followed soon after. Soon, it was dozens, in a race to the far away distance where the call had originated. The trampling had caused quite a racket, and Jessie decided to take advantage of the situation.

“Let’s keep going” Jessie said quietly. “They’re in too much of a hurry, they won’t be able to hear us right now anyways.” The flood of pilgrims seemed to have ceased, save for a few stragglers. The whirring of the pilgrim detector grew less frantic.

The detector finally stopped moving and pointed straight ahead once again. They marched on.

Chapter 25- Revisited

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:39:14 GMT

Final sprint to the finish- letsssss gooooooo
It looks like there will be enough plot in denmark for 50k :D

Squanto turned around, out of breath. He had not dared look behind him for several minutes, as he was literally running for his life. To his dismay, he realized the pilgrims were gone.

It wasn’t much of a plan in the first place. He knew the pilgrim’s were not able to read the mind of an Indian, but he figured they would soon realize Jessie was not there. At least it gave Jessie a little more time, and thrown them off the trail, if only for a little while.

Squanto decided to follow the pilgrims back into the colony, but this time he would be more careful and stay hidden. He was out of tricks for now.

He darted from tree to tree, keeping about 200 yards between himself and the back of the pilgrim pack. It was getting hard to keep up with them, their strides were long and the marching was continuing at a torrid pace. He could just barely make out the bridge in the distance, and found a bunch of rocks where he could sit and wait for Jessie to hopefully come out of the colony successfully. He had done all he could do for her.

But something went terribly wrong. The pilgrims marched on right past the bridge. Squanto thought maybe they were going to turn around and get into some elaborate formation, but it didn’t happen. They got onto the main path that led back into town.

For just a second, Squanto was ecstatic. He thought it was possible that perhaps they would waste even more time searching for Jessie in the mortal world. But then he thought of all the horrible possibilities, and there were many. They could be going for Jessie’s family, or even begin a full scale assault on the town of Milford. He hoped he was wrong.

Soon the pilgrims had cleared the wooded area and were on the main road that went straight through the downtown area. It was relatively empty, being Thanksgiving Day afternoon. They flooded the street, and a few shocked onlookers stared. The pilgrims threw their daggers at them. They stopped staring.

Meanwhile, Madame Polaski was climbing the stairs up to her home on the third floor of the apartment building she lived in. She was singing a Russian song to herself that her grandmother used to sing to her when she was a little girl. It was a nonsensical tune about a horse that always wanted to fly and tried to befriend all kinds of birds in hopes that they could somehow help him achieve his goal. The neighbors thought it was loony.

The pilgrims came to the door of the apartment building. The leader pilgrim decided to have only a few trusted advisors accompany it to pay this woman a visit, and the others would reconvene in the forest behind the building, so as to remain hidden. A confrontation with the mortal law enforcers was not in their best interest at the moment.

The pilgrims were not very familiar with the way human residences worked. The apartment door was locked as usual. Naturally, they kicked it down without a second thought.

The hallways of the apartment had lime green walls and ceilings, which fit appropriately with the turquoise carpeting. Some pilgrims had to shield their eyes from the instensely vivid colors. None of them were familiar with the concept of an apartment building. At first, the leader pilgrim had them door after door, only to find a feasting family that they were forced to dispose of. It was tedious work, and they quickly realized she was only in one of these rooms. The leader pilgrim was able to recognize her location now, and directed his followers up the stairs toward her home. Her mind was still too cluttered and chaotic to decipher anything useful.

This time, the pilgrim knocked on her door. It gave them to pleasure to mislead people with pleasantries. Madame Polaski majestically made her way across her apartment to her door. She took a careful look inside the peep hole, she would admit she was slightly paranoid about strangers. She took one look at the red eye that was staring back at her and screamed her head off, fleeing the door and getting as far away from these things as possible. Incidentally, that location happened to be the séance room.

Obviously, this woman was not going to answer the door and welcome them inside. Her door then came down with a thud as the pilgrims bashed it open.

“Madame Polaski, as they refer to you!” the leader pilgrim called out. “We require your most helpful services and your infinite wisdom.”

But even she was not foolish enough to believe them and curled herself up in the corner of the séance room, shaking with horror as she realized the pilgrim tales were true. She tried to calm herself by humming another Russian tune, but it didn’t work. It only hurt her ears.

The pilgrims found her in a little less than a minute. “Oh Madame. Excuse me for our rude interruption. We know how much you value manners and niceities” the leader pilgrim said mockingly.

“Leave me alone!” she tried to shout, but came off very meekly. “I have nothing for you, go bother someone else.”

“Ah Madame Polaski, but you do have something for me” it said, eyeing the crystal ball in the middle of the table. “I understand you pride yourself on your ability to communicate with those who have passed on. Won’t you enlighten me on this magnificent skill of yours?”

“It is not true, I tell you! Dreadful lies, told by those who have something against me!”

“You cannot fool me Madame Polaski, so I would not advise wasting your time trying to do so. Now would you please give us the connection?”

“Never! Not on my life!”

“Is that so? Do you truly believe that?” the pilgrim asked, flashing his dagger as the others did the same.

“No! Don’t hurt me, please! I beg of you!” She was on her hands and knees now, pleadig with them for mercy. Even the pilgrim was somewhat surprised by this weak, pathetic display.

“Nobody is going to hurt you. As long as we have your full cooperation, everything will be just fine. I promise you.”

The leader pilgrim picked up the crystal ball. “Now I know that you learned of some kind of magic trick to conceal that silly girl and her friends my mind’s eye. You got it from the spirit world. If you conjure up the spirit who explained this to you, then we shall have no more problems.”

The leader pilgrim leaned into her ear, “but if there is any shady business, or something I do not like” he hissed, “I shall destroy you, I think.”

“No…please…”

“THEN DO IT! DO IT NOW!”

Madame Polaski let out a squeal and ran to the table, hastily waving her hands over the crystal ball. The pilgrims crowded around the table, watching the cloudy ball intently. She went through the ritual and uttered the secret chants needed to start the process. Then a face began to materialize inside the crystal. The séance had begun.

When the pilgrim saw the head of the spirit he unleashed a huge grin. “My brothers” he said. “Look who we have here. Remember this old friend? It is none other than the famous Albert Kennington.” The other pilgrims let out terrible cackles, giddy with the memory of the hunt.

“Who the hell are you guys? Sam? Jessie? Madame Polaski?” Al asked. Then it hit him. “Get the hell away from me!” he yelled, trying to flee the scene. But the leader pilgrim reached out his claw like hand and put it around the crystal ball. Somehow, he managed to hold Al’s head in place, and quite painfully so, as the grimace on Al’s face indicated.

Madame Polaski was stunned, she had never seen anything like this before in all her years of conducting séances and having other connections with the spirit world. She did not know how this pilgrim could have possibly have broken the wall between mortal and spiritual.

“We’ve missed you so much Al” the pilgrim said wickedly. “But I understand you’ve taken an interest in us once again. I can understand that, you must get pretty bored, being dead and all. However I feel I must decry your poor choice of a hobby.”

“Leave me alone you bastards” Al said, still writhing in pain from the pilgrim’s touch. “I don’t want nothin to do with you guys anymore.”

“Well judging by your recent actions, it seems that you are lying to me right now. And I can’t tolerate that” the pilgrim said, an evil gleem in his red eyes. “But let me get right to the point. We know that you gave a certain girl some incredibly useful advice that has allowed her to ellude us for the time being. Give us the same information, and I shall spare you.”

“What do ya mean spare me? I’m not tellin you nothin. I’m already dead, there’s nothin you can do to me.”

“Are you so sure of that? Is that a chance you are really willing to take? You see, I have some very important connections, of the highest level in fact, and let me assure you that I can make your existence in whatever world you are in very unpleasant and extremely painful. But by all means, keep resisting me, if that’s what you think is best. After all, what could I do to you? You seem to be all nice and safe inside this beautiful crystal, a stupid pilgrim like me couldn’t do any harm. Right?” With that, the pilgrim tightened his grip on Al Kennington.

“AHHHHHH!” He screamed, so loud that the other pilgrims even covered there ears. Madame Polaski seized the moment, and fled the room more quickly than she ever had before. A pilgrim tried to reach out and grab her flowing attire, but missed. It got up to chase after her, but the leader pilgrim intervened.

“Just let her go. She is of no use to us anymore.”

The other pilgrim sat down, slightly disgruntled. It did not like missing opportunities for violence.

“Sorry about that little interruption” The leader pilgrim said to Al. “Now where were we? Oh, that’s right I was just about to prove my ability to make your existence far more painful that you ever imagined possible, seeing as you refuse to cooperate.”

“NO!” Al shouted. “Wait a minute, please. I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

“See, now that’s a good spirit. I just want to make a little conversation with you, a friendly chat, that’s all. Let’s start off the questioning nice and easy: How do you know this girl?”

“She is....well” he was stalling.

“ANSWER ME!”

“My granddaughter! She’s my granddaughter.”

“Oh! I did not know this. How interesting. Mischief runs in the family, I see. Now that wasn’t so hard. Let’s move on to another question. And before I ask it, let me make myself perfectly clear. I will not stand for any more and do not have the patience required to resist inflicting more pain on you. So let’s just make this easy and answer me promptly, hmm?

“Yes, of course” a defeated Al Kennington said.

“Very good, thank you so much. Now for the next question: What does this girl have that allows her to go about undected by us?”

“A necklace” Al replied, hoping that maybe that was all they needed to know. But no such luck.

“A necklace? What kind of necklace?” the pilgrim inquired.

“Just a regular old necklace”

“YOU know that I know it is no ordinary necklace. Now,” the leader pilgrim said, flashing his claws at Al Kennington’s spirit head, “tell me right now what the story is with the magic necklace.”

“Alright! Each necklace has a single turkey featha hangin off of it. That’s why you can’t see them.”

“Turkey feathers..” the pilgrim repeated thoughtfully, stroking his chin. “Of course.” There had been a legend about the usefulness of the turkey feather to those who wished to avoid pilgrims, but he had always thought that the story lacked any credibility. It was only on rare occasion that he was wrong.

“I think that shall be all for…” the leader pilgrim started to say, but then he noticed something in Al Kennington’s eyes, something that indicated he knew more than he was telling. “But perhaps I will ask one more thing from you. How does one counteract the effects of the turkey feather?”

“I don’t know!”

“LIAR!” the pilgrim screeched in Al’s ear. “YOU WILL ANSWER ME, AND YOU WILL DO IT NOW!” he curled his long fingers around Al’s skull.

“OKAY! Get off me!” Al was disgusted with himself. He might be dealing a fatal blow to Jessie. But he couldn’t refuse the pilgrim. He could not and would not die at the hands of this creature, again.

The pilgrim’s grip relented slightly. “Now, Al” he said quietly, yet cruelly.

“Well you won’t be able to see them, even with the things.”

“What things?”

“They’re sonar things. For detecting objects, specifically human ones, with sound waves.”

“And how does one accomplish this?”

“Bats”

“Bats? The creatures that fly in the air in the mortal world?”

“No, the ones you got down there.” The leader pilgrim knew what he was talking about. The only living things in the colony, besides the pilgrims of course, were winged creatures that resembled the bats in the human world. These bats looked menacing, but did not pose a threat to anyone. Nobody was quite sure what they ate, if they ate anything at all. The pilgrims hold the belief that the bats feed off their own evil. There was certaintly enough of that to go around.

“And what are we supposed to do with them?”

“You just need to kill one of them, or how ever many you need. Then ya take the corpse and point in whatever direction you want.” It must’ve sounded a lot easier that it was for Al Kennington to say this. But he felt it was out of his hands. “When the eyes turn red, it means you’re pointing in the right direction. When the whole thing turns red, you’re focused right on whatever it is you are looking for.”

“How very helpful of you.”

Al shuddered. The pilgrims all smiled wickedly. After the great deed Al had done by telling Madame Polaski what to make in order to keep his grandaughter and her friends safe, he was undoing it all. His feelings of pain and remorse were far more extreme than his previous elation at discovering a way to keep hidden from the pilgrims. Al wished he could end it all right here. He didn’t want to exist anymore.

The pilgrim granted his wish. Sickening irony. In one swift motion, he defied the boundaries of the spirit and mortal worlds and crushed Al Kennington’s head. Jessie’s grandfather didn’t even have time to utter a cry of pain or protest. Once again, Al Kennington had been eliminated at the hands of the pilgrims. But this time, nobody cried.

Ch. 24- The Dog Days of November

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:43:33 GMT

Ehhhhhhh, at least i have another plot story to go off

“Something is wrong.” the leader pilgrim said to one of its advisors.

“What is it siirrrr?” it hissed back.

“The girl. We do not know of her location.”

The pilgrims were currently back in the main sacred tree, traveling back down to earth and to their colony. They had ravaged the reservation, there were hardly any survivors. The area had been combed over in search of Jessie or any of her friends. There was no sign of her.

“Are you sure she has left the reserveration, master?”

“Quite. We have searched everywhere.” it said, red eyes glowing intensely. “Knowing this one, she is smart enough to realize her time is limited. It is likely she has entered the colony already.”

“Then shouldn’t we know about that?”

“Yes. That is the peculiar aspect of the situation. Our scouts should have been able to detect her by now. But there has been no reading of her, in the mortal word or in ours.”

Another pilgrim rushed up to the two that were talking. “Captain.”

“What is it?”

“The Indian, Squanto. He has been seen by the enterance.”

“You mean at the bottom of this tree?”

“No sir, the enterance to the colony.”

“Then say it right next time you fool”

“Sorry sir.”

The other pilgrim spoke to the leader. “What do you plan to do with him sir?”

“I am not sure. But he must not be killed for now. In fact, I would rather that he not know he is being watched.”

“Right.” The messenger pilgrim left the two pilgrims alone now.

“What we must figure out” the leader pilgrim said, “is how this girl is able to avoid us so easily. It does not make sense.”

“We will get her sir. We will.”

Down in the colony, the undiscovered trio were making their way back into the woods on the other side of the clearing. Sam expressed his disappointment, realizing that there was more woods ahead of them. He had hoped the wishbone and Donny would be closer.

Next to him, Jessie was in a fragile state of mind. The bulletin board too civil a term had shaken her and put her on an emotional roller coaster. She had gone from one extreme reaction to the other, from the joy of seeing that her brother was still alive, to the shock and sadness upon realizing her friends Chief Montachusa and the seer were gone. And I used to think Ben was my biggest problem.

Actually, he was starting to become a problem. The more they walked, the more Jessie thought of him. Maybe this would so much easier if I had a hand to hold. She had thought all along that he would be a distraction if they made it “official” or whatever you wanted to call it, but not having him was proving to be a distraction in itself.

But what could she do about it, it was too late now. What am I gonna do, just right in front of Sam and everything look him in the eye and say, “Oh hey Ben, I was totally wrong up there, I’ll be your boyfriend after all!” I wonder if he’d kiss me again…

“O God” Sam cried out. Even he couldn’t look at it. Jessie came close to throwing up. Ben just stared.

It was a rotting pilgrim carcass. In fact, there were a whole bunch of them, at least a dozen or so. There were some markings in the dirt above it. Is this there idea of a cemetery?

It was a gruesome sight. It had been left in the same pilgrim clothes that it most likely died in. There were open wounds on the exposed limps, and it stunk like mad. It really smells bad. I thought the air stunk in here before, but this is unbelievable.

“Come on” said Sam, just as he said before when Jessie was transfixed with the bulletin board, “we don’t need to see this right now.”

Jessie tugged on Dolphin’s leash. But he wouldn’t budge.

“Let’s go puppy”

She looked at her pet. He had a strange look to him, a greedy one. Suddenly, he darted his head towards the pilgrim carcass, and bit it.

“DOLPHIN!” Jessie shrieked. What the hell is he doing?

And it wasn’t just a bite. Dolphin began tearing the pieces of rotting gray flesh vigorously and started to chew on them.

“NO!” Jessie commanded, lowering her voice, but only slightly. She was repulsed. She tried to pull Dolphin away, but he kept going at the pilgrim. Finally, Sam reached down and grabbed Dolphin’s collar. In one movement, he was able to literally throw Dolphin off the pilgrim, bits of the pilgrim’s flesh and large amounts blood went in every direction. It was disgusting.

Dolphin landed a few feet away. Jessie ran to get the leash, he seemed to be alright. The greedy look was gone from his eyes, and the same old Dolphin that Jessie knew appeared to be back. That was freaky. Wait a minute.

“Hold this” Jessie said, thrusting the leash at Ben. Their hands touched awkwardly for a moment. She went back to inspect the carcass.

Jessie now saw what had caused the open wounds. There were teeth marks all over the pilgrim. From dogs. How did this happen? How did dogs get down here? I thought we were the first.

“Come over here Sam.” Jessie said. Ben started over a well. “Hey Ben, do you mind waiting over there? I don’t want Dolphin near this right now.”

Ben made some sort of inaudible grunt as Jessie explained her thoughts to Sam.

“Look at this” she said, pointing to the area around the flesh wounds. “I think those are dog bites.”

“I think yer right kid.” Sam said. “It makes sense.”

“How does it make sense?” Jessie asked.

“Don’t ya remember? The chief told us that dog bites are fatal to these guys.”

“I know that” Jessie said. “But what were dogs doing down here? How could they even get down here?”

“Well that’s what I was getting to.” Sam said. “Maybe I should’ve mentioned this earlier to you, maybe not. It didn’t really matter. But anyways, Al told me this a few weeks before he went out lookin for the colony. He said that a couple of years ago, that’s a lot of years ago for us but only a few when he said it, there was a guy who made it into the colony a decade or so before he did. I don’t remember his name, but that’s not important. Anyways he had a hunch that the bridge was the enterance and somehow he got in, I dunno how he figured it out, but he did all right. He had these two dogs with him because I guess he thought they might provide some extra protection. To Al’s knowledge, there was no record of anyone knowing about the use of dog’s against the pilgrims until then. So this guy is in the colony, walkin around and everything and of course he gets discovered. But when the pilgrim’s see the mutts, they go ballistic. They’d never seen these things up close before, they had no idea what to do. So the guy manages to escape because his dogs are goin around and actually do some real damange and even kill these pilgrims. Maybe it’s some kind of instinct dogs have, thou shall kill pilgrims, hell if I know. But the guy got out of there somehow, without the dogs though, the pilgrims must’ve finally gotten them one way or anotha, and he wrote all of this down in a journal. He was gonna go public with this information, but wouldn’t you know it, the pilgrims came and got him that very same night. That idiot, if I were him I would spent that night in an army base or something. He should’ve known.”

So that’s where the whole dog rumor came from. That’s why Dolphin went crazy when he was so close to that pilgrim.

The pilgrims finally reached the bottom of the long, winding stairway. The doors opened for them. They were back.

They made there way north/northeast towards their home, where they believed the girl and her friends had already entered. When they reached the bridge, the leader pilgrim removed a buckle from one of his pockets. Never the buckle from his hat. That must not be touched.

Suddenly an observant pilgrim cried out to the leader, “Sir! Over there!”

They had caught sight of Squanto, who was behind a tree a few hundered yards away. He had stuck his head out just a little too far in order to see what the pilgrims were doing.

“Get him!” the leader pilgrim ordered.

“RUN JESSIE, GET OUT OF HERE!” Squanto yelled, racing off into the woods as well.

The pilgrims pursued them, lurching after the Indian. But Squanto was quick, very quick. He led the pilgrims deep into the woods for over a mile.

Then realization hit. “STOP!” the leader pilgrim shrieked. The rest of the pilgrims halted the chase immediately.

“We have been TRICKED!” it screamed in frusturation.

“Why do you say this master” one asked.

“Because, you imbeciles” it said, “we know she wants to save her stupid brother. And this Indian could not enter the colony in any event. She must be in there.”

He thought deeply for a minute.

“But I am tired of playing this guessing game. And I know exactly the person we must see.”

“We are required to meet this person?”

“Unfortunately, we must take the time to do so. Their mind is very cloudy and impossible to read.”

“Her mind, that is.”

Chapter 23- New Terrain

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:07:37 GMT

Hoping for a good night of writing....idk where this thing is going

The colony reeked a horrible smell. But that was not what hit Jessie the hardest. It was the darkness. She had not imagined it would be so pervasively dark in here, she could barely make out her own hand in front of her face. She could sense the other two reacting adversely to the conditions inside the colony. She felt like she was done in her basement once again, but this time there was no light switch.

The three of them were quiet as they listened for any signs of nearby pilgrims. Then Sam spoke in a whisper.

“Give it a few minutes, yer eyes will adjust eventually”.

Sure enough, Jessie discovered that soon she was able to see a little bit better. She could make out a few shapes, and was able to see the ground for a few feet in front of her. But still, the darkness was unnerving. She hoped there were lighter parts of the colony.

“What should we do?” Ben asked.

“Let’s keep moving, I guess” said Jessie. They began to slowly walk down a well worn path.

“Wait a minute” Sam said. “Let’s try and get off this path. It looks like they use it a lot, and we don’t want to risk bumpin into any of them.”

It seemed unlikely to Jessie that they would actually hit somebody. But she supposed it would be safer to stay out of earshot, especially with Dolphin. He was being exceptionally quiet for now, but what if he saw something and started barking? They could be doomed.

As Jessie’s eyes continued to adjust to the darkness, she observed her surroundings. They had moved off the main path into a forest. But it wasn’t like the forests in the mortal world, or in the Indian reservation. The trees were as tall as skyscrapers, and none had leaves on them. They were the same ugly shade of gray as the skin of the pilgrims.

The sky was pitch black, there were no birds flying in the air. For that matter, Jessie couldn’t detect any sort of wildlife or even plant life. There wasn’t even grass to walk on, only dirt. The temperature did not differ too much from the real world’s temperature when they had first entered the colony, but as they moved deeper inside it seemed to be getting colder. I thought Hell was supposed to be hot.

Suddenly they saw one. It was their first real test, a pilgrim walking by about a hundered yards away. Jessie didn’t know if it was scarier if they roamed alone throughout the colony, or if they traveled in packs. It looked as fierce and terrifying as always. Its red eyes darted back and forth as it searched for any sign of humans in the colony. It looked especially angry. Perhaps it had gotten word from pilgrims at the reservation that Jessie was nowhere to be found. It was possible they were starting a full scale search.

The three of them held their breath, not daring to make even the slightest noise. Most importantly, Dolphin remained absolutely silent as well. Closer and closer the pilgrim came until it was no more than twenty feet away. Jessie wanted to scream, it was so close. She could hear its raspy breathing as it angrily scanned the area. She wondered if it could sense their prescense. Are we really relying on something Madame Polaski gave us to keep us safe?

She found herself gripping Ben’s hand tightly. It was a natural instinct for her, she hoped he wouldn’t take it the wrong way. She believed Ben would understand.

Thankfully, the pilgrim moved on after another minute. When Jessie was sure he was out of sight and earshot she took out her inhaler and breathed in the medicine. They could be anywhere. Then she remembered something. Stupid. She almost forgot about the pilgrim detector. Jessie pulled it out of the small bag Chief Montachusa gave her and waved it at the others. They too seemed to figuratively smack themselves on the forehead at the idea of forgetting they had such a valuable item at their disposal.

The dial on the pilgrim detector was spinning slightly, and came to a stop after a few seconds, presumably because the pilgrim they had just encountered was now out of range. Then the dial moved quickly once more to point north east. Chief Montachusa had said it would lead them in the direction of the wishbone. It also happened to be in the direction they were going in already. Jessie wondered if this was just coincidence or is something guiding us, bigger than ourselves?

After a while of walking through the eery, dead woods they came to a clearing. There didn’t seem to be any more woods aroud so that they could avoid the clearing, it was inevitable they were going to have to be out in the open.

Sam noticed the hesitation of Jessie and Ben as they approached the clearing at the edge of the woods. “What are ya guys worried about? They can’t see us anyways. No different than walkin in the woods.”

Jessie supposed Sam was right, they were gonna be invisible anyways so it really didn’t matter. But still, it didn’t feel right. I just feel so…exposed.

Another pilgrim came into view, passing the other way. This one didn’t look as intent on looking for anything in particular as the other pilgrim did. It was soon out of sight. As they went further into the clearing a few structures came into view in the darkness. Upon closer inspection, they turned to be crude shantys that Jessie assumed were houses of sorts for the pilgrims. None seemed to be occupied at this moment.

They encountered more pilgrims, but they were becoming increasingly desensitized to the danger. But they still didn’t dare speak in this vulnerable open area. Nobody was that complacent yet.

Then something different came into sight. A large slate of gray tree trunks had been assembled to function as some kind of bulletin board. On it there were posted pictures of a variety of different humans. Where did they get the paper? Jessie wondered.

“Oh geez” Sam said quietly. According to the pilgrim detector, the area was deserted, but the noise startled and worried Jessie nonetheless.

Jessie knewwhat is was immediately. They were photographs of all the humans that had been killed by the pilgrims over the years. There must have been dozens of them, and some looked like they were from a long time ago. Jessie was able to recognize some of them from faces that she saw in the newspapers back in the bookstore. The earliest ones were pilgrims, probably from other colonies, and definitely not evil ones. As she moved down the rows she came across her grandfather. There was also a little girl near the end. Jessie wondered if that was the girl who had gone missing, that Molly the diner waitress talked about. She looked at Ben, who was staring at the picture of what she assumed was his mother. She was beautiful.

Every picture had big red x’s across them in blood, what else? But a few didn’t.

“Oh no.” Jessie said.

At the end of the list, there were four pictures of Jessie, Ben, Sam, and Squanto. At least they aren’t out to get Dolphin. What was especially strange was that Jessie had never remembered having a picture taken like that. She was glad to see that Squanto had yet to have a red x on his picture.

A second later, Jessie saw her brother just to the left of her picture. She almost didn’t recognize him. She breathed a long sigh of relief. He was still alive. His smile invigorated her.

Then her spirits dampened considerably. To the left of Donny were two familiar faces. Chief Montachusa was one of them. Jessie was crushed. He had done so much for her, and put the whole reservation at risk for unselfish reasons. He had given her invaluable advice and the tools to succeed on this mission. There would have been no chance of saving her brother if she hadn’t met Chief Montachusa. She couldn’t believe he was really gone so soon.

The other name may not have had the same impact, but it was a devastating loss none the less. It was the seer. Jessie had hardly even said a word to him, or heard the seer really say anything back to her, but the time they spent together was special. It was him who showed Jessie her family and allowed her to refocus herself on saving her brother despite being so overwhelmed at being in an entirely new world.

“Let’s get moving” Sam said, interrupting her silent mourning. “We gotta make those guys proud and finish the job.”

Up above, Squanto was nervously pacing around the bridge. The pilgrims would be here soon, and he did not have much of a plan. There was so much pressure on his shoulders to throw a wrench in the plans of the pilgrims. Jessie’s life and her brother’s may depend on it.

He was feeling ridiculous looking in the undersized sweatpants and the oversized coat. He ditched them behind a tree and piled some leaves over them, so as to not give the pilgrims a clue that Jessie or her friends had been here.

Squanto was beginning to have concern for his own life. He had never felt it before and would never reveal it to anyone. From early on in his life, his parents and village elders have always taught him to selfless and put others above yourself. But he had never been in danger like this before.

He look around, observing the world of the mortals. To some, he was sure that the reservation and the human world looked very similar. But it wasn’t at all. The air had a certain grayness to it, it seemed to be without life or vitality. The seasons were more pronounced in the reservation as well. In the summer, everythings was as lush and green as could be. Fall brought about the brilliant colors of the changing leaves, and Squanto loved the feeling of the cool, crisp air. Even winter was beautiful as deer and rabbits would stand out as they bounded through the deep snowcover and children skated on the shimmering ice of the lakes and rivers. But spring was the most spectactular season of all. New life sprang up everywhere throughout the reservation, and the Squanto would feel as though he himself were reborn. The colors of the buds on the trees and the pleasant smell after a spring rain were his favorite feelings.

But down on this level, everything was dulled. Squanto had only been down to earth a few times since the reservation was created, and he found it less and less appealing each time. He was offended by the human’s treatment of the earth that had provided them with so much. A part of him almost thought that maybe some of them deserved this….

No. He could not allow himself to think that way. Nobody deserved to be tortured and have their lives tragically interrupted by these awful beasts. Especially the children. The innocent ones, who have done nothing wrong. They didn’t deserve it.

And so the waiting game continued.

Chapter 22- Last Minute

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:26:51 GMT

On a roll, hope it stays! And I promise this is the last chapter of stalling before they dive into the colony

Jessie saw Squanto shudder and hunch his shoulders suddenly. She turned to her right to face him, but kept walking.

“Squanto, what’s wrong?”

“Please. Do not worry.”

“What’s goin on Squanto?” Sam asked.

“I fear things are not going well at the Reservation. My people are suffering.”

“I’m so sorry Squanto.” Jessie said. Feelings of guilt returned, but her brain fought them. Don’t you dare blame yourself, girl. You didn’t ask for this, you didn’t want your brother to be kidnapped. You had no control over this. And you’re risking your life to save your brother and possibly the Indians as well. So don’t even think about feeling guilty. But still.. The idea of Indians, young and old, men and women, being slaughtered by the merciless pilgrims was something Jessie could not bear to think about right now. She had to concentrate on her own mission.

“Don’t worry buddy” Sam said. “Jessie’s gonna come through for you. I know she will”.

“Thank you” Squanto said, and marched on.

Ben had hardly said a word since they had left the reservation. He had taken on the responsibility of holding onto Dolphin’s leash for now. He simply stared at the dog, not joining in on conversation.

All this was fine with Jessie. Since her extremely awkward rejection of him back in Chief Montachusa’s office, she no longer felt walls of tension separating them at all. They didn’t seem to have anything between them, only silence. She had her goal clearly in mind, and thought maybe it was best she wasn’t currently having to deal with a romantic relationship. When the time was right, he would be there and come through for her. She could feel it.

They had been off the main road for several minutes now, and had entered the woods. Sam and Ben had their guns close at hand, in case the pilgrims were roaming the woods, hoping to catch any intruders before they entered the colony.

Jessie really didn’t know what they would do if they were actually attacked by the pilgrims. If they were outside of the colony the could try and escape to somebody’s house or a building or something, but what happens if they were caught inside the colony? There would be no place to hide. The only reason they were able to kill the other pilgrim back at the reservation was because he had been immobilized, it was an easy kill. She was sure they would not be so fortunate if they happened across another one who was looking to eliminate them.

But no pilgrims bothered them as they walked down the path that Al Kennington made his way down twenty years ago before meeting his demise. The bridge was soon in sight. The four of them came before the bridge. Jessie felt as though she should give some speech or something about how important this was and how much it meant to her that they were going through with this by her side, but no words came to mind.

“Well” she said. “Here goes nothing.” She removed the gold buckle from her pocket. It was glowing intensely. She checked the pilgrim detector. It was still. Houston, all systems go.

“Oh cousin Sam! Little girl! Little boy!”

“What the hell!” Sam said, wheeling around. Was that? Could it be?

“Madame Polaski?” Jessie said, stunned.

It was indeed Sam’s eccentric cousin. She was dressed in the same elaborate purple outfit that they had last seen her in this morning. Squanto had a look of utter confusion upon his face.

“Who is this savage looking person?” Madame Polaski asked.

“Never mind that” Sam said, “I wanna know what you are doing here!”

“I brought you three some presents that I thought you might like before you began your adventure.”

Presents? What was wrong with this woman? Did she have any sense of reality whatsoever?

“Presents?” Sam said. “What the hell are you talking about you crazy…I mean Madame Polaski?”

“After the three of you so rudely left the séance, I happened to have a very pleasant conversation with a Mr. Al Kennington.”

“You talked to my grandfather?” Jessie asked.

“Why yes I did indeed. Such a nice, caring man.”

Wasn’t she paying attention when I was talking to him? He was anything but caring, all he did was try to get me to doubt myself.

“Well, what did the guy say?” Sam asked.

“Oh we talked about this whole pilgrim situation for quite some time. I still happen to think it’s a load of rubbish, but it’s a nice story, if I do say so myself. Maybe I will tell it to one of my grandchildren one day.”

Inside, Jessie was laughing at the thought of Madame Polaski one day being married and ever having children. Imagine her, a mother!

“So what’s the deal with these presents?” Sam asked.

“You are so impatient cousin, I was just about to get to that.”

“We need to hurry up Madame Polaski.” Jessie said. “We really don’t have that much time to waste.”

“Alright, alright! You will hardly find these presents a waste of time, I can assure you that. But let me continue. As I talked with your grandfather, he expressed deep remorse that him and his granddaughter had left each other on such bad terms. He wanted to make it up to her. So he went about in the spirit world, talking to every soul who had ever obtained information on the pilgrims until he finally found a very helpful hint, provided by someone who claims to have been killed by the pilgrims many years back. I recall her name to be Campbell, just like the soup brand.”

“My mother!” Ben exclaimed, the first thing he had said in quite a while. Jessie was beginning to grow excited. “What did she say?” Ben asked.

Madame Polaski tried to ignore the interruption but still managed to show her displeasure by producing an ugly look on her face.

“Anyways children, she told Mr. Kennington that before her life was taken by the pilgrims, she had discovered a method that would render a person invisible to the eyes and minds of these creatures.”

Invisibility! And not having your thoughts read by those creeps! Jessie was starting to like this Madame Polaski character.

“This device is rather simple, really.” Madame Polaski took something out of her oversized purple handbag. “Turkey feathers!”

Turkey feathers? Wow. It just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

“I made them into adorable necklaces for each of you. I hope it will fit over your oversized head, cousin Sam.” He turned slightly red as Ben laughed.

“But oh dear. I’ve only brought four. I had only planned on making them for Sam, Jessica, Benjamin, and the dog, which was Mr. Kennington’s suggestion.” Jessie wondered if Ben’s name was really Benjamin, or if Madame Polaski was just once again trying to sound ridiculously over the top. “I’m afraid I don’t have one for you” she said, looking at Squanto.

“That is alright.” Squanto said. “I will not be able to go with the three of you into the colony regardless.”

“Oh no!” Jessie said. “We need you Squanto.” She vaguely remembered Chief Montachusa saying that Indians could not enter the colony, but still. It wasn’t fair. She was hoping this would be one of those cases where Good could bend the rules.

“I am sorry. But it is forbidden for any of us Native Americans to enter a land of such evil. I wish it did not have to be this way.”

Jessie was on the verge of tears. From the moment she had first met Squanto, at this very spot in fact, she had felt safer than before. When he was with them, no pilgrim would harm them. They couldn’t. And now he’s leaving me. Why!

“Please do not worry my friend. There was not much I could do anyway. Especially if I was unable to be invisible to the pilgrims. I would only have posed a danger to you and your companions.” He put a hand on Jessie’s shoulder. “I trust these men you are with. They will keep you safe. And I shall wait right ouside the enterance, and greet you upon your return. I will do my best to make sure the pilgrims do not return so easily.”

Jessie nodded, but was still crushed. Poor Squanto, he’s not going to have a chance if the army of pilgrims come back. He’ll be slaughtered. Just like the rest of them.

“There is one more thing I have yet to mention.” Madame Polaski said. “These feathers may keep you invisible, but you will not go unheard, according to Mr. Kennington. Therefore, he says, it is most important that you remain as quiet as possible.”

“Thank you very much Madame Polaski” Jessie said, and the other two guys chimed in their thank you’s as well. Madame Polaski basked in their gratitude.

“Well I’m sorry to say it Madame Polaski” Sam said, “but I think you should leave now. It may not be safe.”

“You think I would hang around here all day?” Madame Polaski said incredulously. “I have much better things to do with my time than to try and investigate ridiculous stories. Good riddance to you all!” With that, she headed back to her apartment to do whatever is crazy old psychic ladies do with their time.

The three of them put on their turkey feather necklaces, and Jessie put the last one around Dolphin’s neck. He had been surprisingly quiet through this whole ordeal. Perhaps he sensed his important role in this mission of great magnitude. She trusted her pet like never before.

There was no physical change that occurred when the necklaces were put on, at least none that any of the three humans or Squanto could observe. With Madame Polaski out of sight, they looked at each other. The time had come.

Ben and Sam went up to Squanto and shook hands. Jessie gave him a final hug as tears streamed down her face. She couldn’t help it. She could only hope that she would see him again when it was over.

This was it. No more distractions, no more delays. It was time to enter the colony. Jessie took out the buckle, and with a steady hand she pressed it firmly into the indention where a buckle was meant to be placed. The buckle glowed a bright scarlet red, and the whole inside of the bridge turned the same shade of red. The door was open. Jessie took one last look at the world she had lived in for nearly fifteen years. Then she entered another one.

Chapter 21- Meanwhile

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 07:23:36 GMT

An intense night of writing has brought me to 39,004 which gives me a head start on tomorrow. Wo-hoo!

Meanwhile, things were not going easier than hoped on the reservation. The seer was watching it all from his room inside the main tee pee. He had little concern for his own safety, but was serenely observing the events. His forehead was more wrinkled than ever. He turned his thoughts first to the enterance. It was a bloody, massacred scene. The pilgrims weren’t looking so great, they were howling in pain as arrows from the Indians pierced their bodies.

But the Indians had it far worse. Not one pilgrim had been killed yet, but there were countless dead Indians strewn about the battlefield. It was a gruesome sight for one to behold. The Indians had positioned themselves so they could blockade the tree and prevent the pilgrims from returning to earth. All for Jessie. All for Donny. All for humankind.

The seer then looked out upon the battle that was taking place just in front of the bridge, where the pilgrims had found the second enterance. It was a much larger battle than the one by the main enterance near the tree. At least a thousand pilgrims and Indians were there each, not combined. It was a vicious fight. Unlike the other battle, this one involved men, women, and even children. And the pilgrims certaintly did not discriminate between gender and age. Their daggers flew threw the air with deadly accuracy. The seer recognized that the pilgrims were advancing closer and closer to the main tee pee where he resided. He was not afraid. He did wonder though is there an afterlife? Or has the Great Being already given us a chance?

Chief Montachusa was atop his most beloved horse, Clarence. He was shouting commands to his warriors, telling them to fall back or take advantage of a week spot in the pilgrim’s lineup. More often then not he was giving retreat orders. But there was not much left to retreat to. Sooner or later the pilgrims would realize that the Indian army no longer posed a threat to them, and they could easily raid the main tee pee to ensure Jessie had left and then continue back to the main tree without too much resistance. It was only a matter of time. And Chief Montachusa needed to buy as much time as possible for Jessie and her friends. He had hoped she had reached the colony by now. She needed to have reached the colony by now. The pilgrim onslaught was far worse than he could have ever imagined. There was a silver lining however, perhaps this meant they had left fewer pilgrims back in the colony to guard Donny as well as the wishbone. One could only hope.

A wave of pain struck the seer. It burned his eyes and paralyzed his body. Then he saw it happen. Chief Montachusa was hit. A dagger, right to the chest. The pilgrim who had thrown it sneered an awful sneer, sneering with sick self satisfaction. Every single Indian in the battle paused for a brief moment to look at their leader. For some, this brief pause was fatal. But they couldn’t look away. For a moment, he remained sitting tall above his horse, face as stoic as always. Then, as a defiant gesture to the pilgrims and all that evil stands for, he ripped the dagger straight out of his chest. With a primal, warrior’s cry he took the dagger and jerked his muscular right arm forward, and let the dagger fly. It hit the pilgrim straight in the buckle of his hat. He crumbled to dust, vanquished. The dagger may not have been the wood from the sacred tree normally needed to kill a pilgrim, but it worked none the less. Sometimes Good can bend the rules as well.

However, it was time for the shadow of death to sweep over Montachusa, as it does over all things eventually. Blood began to bubble up into his throat and spewed out his mouth, onto his faithful steed Clarence. He toppled off the horse and fell with a loud thud onto the green grass of the reservation. The birds sang a sad song. Chief Montachusa was gone.

The scene was revolting to the Indians. It gave them the fire to fight even harder than before, determined to show the pilgrims what they were made of. This burning desire to overcome the insurmountable challenge placed before them only made their concrete resolve and steadfast motivation that much more powerful. They were able to hold their ground for longer than they deserved to, given their disadvantage in numbers, weapons, and mortality.

But inevitably resistancec was futile. The pilgrims’ march of death may have been slowed, but march on it did. They continued to slaughter the Indians by the hundereds, until someone of superior authority commanded that the remaining warriors retreat to the main exit to prepare for a final stand. The tee pee was theirs for the taking.

About thirty or so pilgrims cut themselves off from the main battle and flooded the tee pee, searching for any signs of the three humans. The seer watched as they went from room to room, tearing up everything in sight with their sharp, talon like claws, whether it was necessary or not. Every one of Chief Montachusa’s prized possessions were destroyed, and ones of any spiritual significance were disposed of first and most absolutely. The seer found it fitting that they should come upon his room last. He closed his eyes and tried to keep himself as peaceful as possible as he prepared for his final moments of life.

But death did not come, at least not yet. As one pilgrim raised his dagger to mutilate the seer, another cried out in a loud hiss, “Wait! We are not to kill this one. He has the power of sight and can see all on this reservation. We may require his services.” This particular pilgrim face seemed familiar to the seer. It occurred to him he was the leader that he had seen only hours before ascending the tree and finding the secret enterance.

Another pilgrim came up to the seer and breathed into his face. “Where are they Indian? Where have you hid them? Speak!”

But the seer said nothing, and only looked right through the pilgrims. He had no intention of ever revealing anything to Evil. Secrets were safe with him.

“Shall I kill him then?” a pilgrim said greedily, hungry for more death and carnage. “If he won’t talk, then what is the point of keeping him?”

“No.” The leader said. “I am under direct orders from Beezlebub to let this one live. We have ways of making him talk. Tell him to get up. We will bring him to our temporary headquarters, the common room of this god forsaken tee pee.”

“Get up.” A pilgrim hissed at the seer, but of course he would not budge. “I said move it!” He struck the seer on the shoulder with the blunt side of his dagger. The seer felt no pain. He had configured his mind into a trance like state, and felt little from the physical world. The voices were distant to him and their commands had little meaning. He wondered how death would change this.

“Pick him up then” the leader pilgrim ordered. “Get him to that common room and we will figure out what to do with them from here”.

It took three pilgrims to lift the seer, he was not a heavy set man, but his dead weight was very difficult to lift. They emitted several grunts at frequent intervals as they moved him down the long corridor to what once was the elegant main lobby of the tee pee. It had now been reduced to nothing more than rubble and a few damaged tables, with a couple of chairs still intact.

“Put him there” the leader pilgrim said, gesturing to one of the chairs, “I shall go check on how the battle is progressing and then I will return back here.”

The battle was going very well from the perspective of a pilgrim. A sea of black hats with gold buckles flooded the landscape and there were few Indians to be seen, and this number was growing fewer by the minute. Victory was at hand. But it would only be the first part of victory, as there was still much more to be accomplished. While on the reservation, they could not utilize their mind reading powers to tell where the stupid girl and her companions were. If she was hiding on the reservation, they needed to know from this disagreeable seer. It was key in determining their survival.

Back inside the tee pee, the seer was resting uncomfortably in what should have been a very comfortable chair. But the two pilgrims that were now guarding him had tied his hands behind his back and his legs were tied to the legs of the chair. He was virtually immobile and was not going anywhere. But the seer had no intention of escaping. This is where the Great Being intended him to be, this was his purpose. He also felt this was a test. And nothing in the world would keep him from passing.

The leader pilgrim came back into the tee pee. It appeared to be very satisfied with the current progress of the battle and had an evil grin of satisfaction on its face. It turned his attention to the seer in his bounded condition.

“Now the sooner you can inform us of the girl’s whereabouts, the sooner we will be able to free you. We promise you will not be harmed if your information leads to her prompt capture.” But the seer was silent. The pilgrim frowned. It had hoped the interrogation process would be quick and the old man would bend easily. Perhaps it would have been wiser to not have killed the Indian chief so quickly, he could have been used as a bribe of sorts on the seer. But it was too late to second guess. For anyone.

“My patience grows thin, old man” the pilgrim said, “I will not tolerate your uncooperation. If you do not tell me where the girl is this instant, more drastic measures will be taken.”

The seer remained silent, unwilling to divulge any more information no matter the consequence.

“You” the leader said, pointing at another pilgrim, “bring me an old women. This one is going to talk, and is going to do it soon.”

The seer mentally prepared himself. He knew what was going to happen. They would threaten to kill her unless he gave up the knowledge of Jessie’s whereabouts. But he would not succumb. Over the years his heart had hardened, familiar with loss as he had seen it so many times on earth. Sacrafices would have to be made if the pilgrims were going to be defeated. Jeopardizing the mission for the sake of saving an old woman was not going to help anything.

The pilgrim returned with an older Indian woman. The seer did not recognize her. She had been crying, but put on a brave face for the seer now. She did not beg him to save her life. She simply stood there, as silent as the seer was.

“Take a good look at this woman” the pilgrim said. “I’m sure somewhere out on your pathetic reservation she has a family that loves her, or had loved her anyway. They are probably already dead anyway as they futilely tried to resist us. But guess what? You can’t save her. In fact….”

The pilgrim took out its dagger and beheaded the woman with ruthless efficiency, splattering the seer with blood. He was shaken to the core of his foundation. He had not expected her death so suddenly. But he managed to show now display of emotion on the outside.

“…I’m not even giving you the option. That is how much I care about the lives of your precious Indian people. I will do this as many times as you want me to, just so you can get the picture. Perhaps next time you will be able to save one of them. Perhaps not.”

The seer focused all his thoughts on Jessie, and tried to visualize a successful mission, concentrating as hard as he could. This would be harder then he hoped it would be. But he knew he should have expected it. Evil never plays fair, and is constantly looking for new ways to push the limits of all that is good and decent.

The pilgrim stood right next to the seer and announced loudly to the whole room his plans “Hmm who shall we bring in next? Oh I know! It’s been so long since I’ve seen the smiling faces of children…”

NO the seer thought. Killing off the village elders were one thing, but he was unsure that he could handle the slaughter of innocent children. He had hoped the pilgrim would not resort to these measures so quickly.

“…so why don’t you bring me three of the most darling little children you can find my solider” the pilgrim requested of its comrade. “And since I’m in such a good mood my Indian friend, I am going to give you the choice this time. That’s right buddy, the choice is yours. You can let the kids live or let them die. It’s up to you. Whatever you think is the right thing to do.”

A pilgrim returned with the three children. The seer couldn’t bear to look at them and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Won’t look at them eh?” the pilgrim said, “Now we just can’t have that. I think you really need to see their darling faces.”

The pilgrim walked over to the seer and literally pried open his eyelids with his foul smelling gray hands. It only took one look at the innocent children for the seer’s heart to break. He could not take it. He had seen these children before. In fact, he had served as a mentor to them and had gotten to known each of them only a few years before. And now he might have to kill them.

“Say hello to the nice man kids” the pilgrim said. Of course, the children did not speak. They were crying themselves, having been torn away from their families. The horrific sight of the pilgrims only increased their cries. “What could possibly be the matter children? There really is nothing to fear. All this man has to do is tell us a tiny little secret and you three can go home and play with your mommies and daddies. Now is that really that hard for him? Of course not! So you see, my new little friends, you really have nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.”

The seer now grimaced, his vulnerability visible to all in the room.

“Well, what will it be old man? Just tell us what we need to know. That’s all we ask. You can walk the children straight home, if you’d like. And who knows, maybe we won’t even have to hurt young Jessie and her little friends. It could all work out very well.”

It was incredibly tempting.

The demeanor of the leader pilgrim suddenly changed. He gave the seer the most ugly and horrific look imaginable. “But if you do not tell us where she is in the next few moments, I will not only kill these three innocent children, but I will round up every single child on the entire reservation and dispose of them as well. And it won’t be any easy way out beheading stuff, such as the kind that was performed on the old lady, no sir, it will be slow and methodical, that I can promise you. So what will it be? Let these three live, or let every one of them die?”

The seer was shaking. He knew the pilgrims had no intention of letting anyone at all live on this reservation. It was their nature. He would have to resort to giving them false information. He had hoped to avoid this at all cost and remain silent, but that was no longer an option. It was old wisdom that dishonesty, no matter the circumstance, would come back to haunt you. But it was the only chance these children had.

The pilgrim raised his dagger and prepared to bring it down on one of the children.

“STOP!” the seer bellowed in a loud and powerful voice that stunned the pilgrims, and even the seer himself. “Do not harm them. I will give you the information.”

“Then what is it? And you had better tell the truth. You don’t want to know the consequences if it is a lie.”

The seer thought fast. He could not give them a location too far away, or they would be instantly suspicious. He came up with the perfect place.

“It is near the bridge where you entered the reservation. A statue of Canan, the hound of the Great Being lies. If you pull upon the snout of the dog, a door will open at the base of the statue. That is where the girl lies.”

Without giving a second thought to the matter, every one of the pilgrims rushed out of the tee pee towards the statue. The seer waited a minute to get them temporarily out of sight, and then spoke to the children.

“Children you must run deep into the forest right now. The pilgrims will be back shortly, and you cannot be here for that. Remain in the forest for at least a day before returning. Pray that your family will be waiting for you.”

The children nodded and dashed out of the tee pee into the woods. The seer held little hope that the families of the children were still alive. But it was something. They would have eachother, and sometimes, that was enough.

Even from all the way in the tee pee, at least five hundered yards away from the statue, the seer heard the humiliated howl of the leader pilgrim who discovered that there was no such things as a trap door beneath the dog statue. Within a minute the pilgrims had come sprinting back into the main tee pee. The leader pilgrim’s red eyes were filled with fury upon realizing he had been tricked and the children were gone. He pulled out his dagger. “YOU BASTARD!” Despite the cries of his fellow pilgrims to consider the matter for a moment, he hurled the dagger at the seer and it went straight into his heart.

The seer was at peace with himself. He had fulfilled his mission.

Chapter 20- Tugging at the Heartstrings

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 04:24:03 GMT

The going has gotten tough.

Just as Sam had suspected, they had found the enterance back to the human level. He lifted the hatch up just a crack and peeked outside. They were right below a church basement. Jessie had been down here a few times before, her grandmother brought them to a bake sale held in this basement last year the day before Thanksgiving.

“Looks like no one’s around” Sam commented. They were lucky it was mid-afternoon when everyone was home eating their turkey dinners. If they had come during the actual Thanksgiving Day service held that morning, they might have a hard time explaining how they happened to appear in the church’s basement out of nowhere, especially with a dog and a person clad in only a deerskin loincloth.

“Let us go quickly to the Colony enterance, our time may be short.”

They headed towards the door, but Jessie stopped them.

“Wait a minute Squanto, we can’t just walk around town with you looking like that.” she said, “It’s the middle of November, and it’s freezing out there. People will ask questions.”

“Here, take my coat” offered Sam. Squanto put it on, but still looked pretty ridiculous with a coat but bare legs.

Jessie looked around the room, searching for something for Squanto to wear as pants. Then she got an idea. “Hold on a second you guys, I’ll be right back.”

She went outside to the Salvation Army clothing dropoff dumpster. She ripped open a few plastic bags and combed through the clothing items until she found a pair of sweatpants that would be big enough to fit Squanto. Jessie figured he probably would be too uncomfortable in jeans.

This feels so wrong she thought to herself. But I don’t think God, or the Great Being or whatever will mind. This is for a good cause too.

Jessie walked back inside and gave the pants to Squanto. “Here put these on and then we can go.”

“Thank you my friend.” He looked pretty silly in normal clothes. “But I do not understand how your kind can wear all these clothes. They are so restricting”. The four of them laughed, and headed outside.

The sorry excuse for a downtown area was relatively quiet, even for Thanksgiving. Not a soul was on the streets. Jessie had hoped they might see at least some people walking by. It had felt like a long time had passed since she had seen a regular person besides Sam and Ben.

“Uh oh” they heard Sam say.

“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked, afraid that he might have seen a pilgrim already.

“My store. Look.”

Jessie spotted the small bookstore and noticed the damage. The side window, perpendicular from the main street, had been totally smashed. Glass was everywhere.

“I wonder who it could be?” Sam asked rhetorically. He seemed almost amused.

They approached the broken window carefully. Jessie held her bag close, afraid a pilgrim might jump out at any moment and draw his awful dagger upon them. But all seemed to be quiet for now.

On the white wall across from the window they had left a message, in what Jessie could only assume was more blood. A chill went up her spine as she wondered where they were getting it from.

wE warNEd YOu sAM it read.

“I guess that’s true” Sam said dryly.

The rest of the store was trashed. The bookshelves were pushed over, leaving a sea of books on the floor. The comfy chairs that Jessie had sat in only yesterday were slashed open and broken. The works of art that once decorated the walls were now ripped to shreds. The pilgrims really did a number on this one.

“I’m so sorry Sam” Jessie said.

“It’s okay, kid. I got insurance and everythin. It’ll just be a pain in the ass to clean up these books.”

“Should we call the police?” Ben asked.

“Nah, we don’t got that kinda time. I’ll do it after we save her brotha.” Sam said. Squanto nodded in agreement, he realized the value of a child’s life over these material items that could easily be replaced.

“One thing does kinda bother me though. I got nothin for them here, there’s nothin that they could want. So why did they go through all this trouble to mess everythin of mine up?”

“It is fear. They operate on it. They were trying to send a message, they don’t want us coming. But we are going to show them otherwise.”

The three others nodded confidently, determined not to be stopped by this flashy act of terror.

“Alright then, let’s get outta here.” Sam said.

“But shouldn’t you do something to cover up the window?” Jessie asked.

“Eh, who cares, I dunno how may people out there are looking to steal books. No real cash in here. Besides like I said, I got insurance.”

They all walked out of the front door onto the deserted streets. Jessie wondered how long it would take the pilgrims to come back down to earth. Hopefully a couple of hours, at least.

Suddenly Jessie heard her name being called. She was stunned for a few moments, wondering who even knew her in this town. Then she recognized the familiar voice. It was her mother.

“JESSIE!” Her mother repeated, coming around the corner with her husband in tow.

AHHH! What am I going to do? Jessie had certaintly not planned to run into her family on her way to the colony. She had to think fast.

“Hi guys” she said, as coolly as she could.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked, “Oh…hi Ben.” Her mom eyed Sam and Squanto suspiciously.

“Grandma sent me over to Ben’s house, she had her hands full with Denny. We’re just taking a walk. This is Ben’s uncle and his cousin.”

Jessie wasn’t entirely sure her mother would believe this. Squanto’s skin tone was entirely different from Ben’s and she hoped he wouldn’t have to talk.

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Kennington, Mr. Kennington” Sam said, shaking their hands.

“Uhh nice to meet you too” Jessie’s father said.

“Why on earth are you outside Jessie? Didn’t you tell them? That person could still be out here. It’s not safe!” Jessie’s mother said loudly.

“Do not worry, woman” Squanto said. “We are going to save your son.”

Crap.

“What? Jessie, what is he talking about? Tell me what’s going on right now young lady!” her frantic mother said.

Jessie took a deep breath. I might as well come clean she thought, she knows something is going on here. But what if I do tell her the truth? She’ll freak out even more. What if she insists on coming with me? I can’t let that happen. I’m not going to put them at risk too, for Denny’s sake.

Jessie decided to give her mother just a taste of the truth.

“He’s right mom, we are going to save Donny. His name is Squanto, and he’s here to help.” Jessie pointed at Sam, “This is Sam, he owns the bookstore in town. He’s really knowledgable and has been a lot of help.”

“But how are you going to save Donny? Do you know where he is? I’m going back to the police.” her mother said.

“Mom, wait a minute. I know it’s hard to believe, but Squanto knows where Donny is, and only the four of us can save him. We can’t have anyone else come with us, or it won’t work. I promise it will be fine.”

“Then why do Ben and this Sam guy have guns? I don’t like this, it sounds dangerous!”

“Just extra precautions ma’am” Sam said. “Just wanna make sure it’s as safe as possible. It’s gonna be fine”.

“Bill, maybe we should tell the police, I’d feel much better if there was some extra protection, who knows what we’re dealing with in this guy?”

“Karen,” Jessie’s dad said, “we have to let her go.”

Was that….understanding in his eyes? Did he know anything?

“Let her go? I’m already missing one child, how can you tell me to just let her go like that?”

“It might be our only chance Karen. Let’s go back to the house. We need to let her try.”

Jessie’s mother sighed and looked warily at the three men around Jessie.

“Do you promise to stay together, and come right home if there are any problems?”

“Yes mother, of course” Jessie responded.

“Are you sure you need to do this?”

“Yes. I love you mom”

“I love you too Jessie. Stay safe.” Jessie wished she could hear those words replayed in her head over and over again. It’s nice to hear it from someone who really means it.”

“Do you want me to take the dog home?” her mom asked.

“No” The three of them said at once. Jessie winced.

“Okay then…” she said.

“I think it’s a good idea” her dad said. “He might make them feel safer.”

Once again, he seems to know more than he lets on.

“Alright then. We’re going back to the house. Goodbye sweetie” her mother said, giving Jessie a big hug.

“Good luck honey” her dad said.

“Bye guys, I’ll see you in a few hours! With Donny too!” It’s either going to be both of us, or none at all.

Her parents walked down the street, and her mother couldn’t help looking back at Jessie every few seconds. Finally, her father put his arm around his wife and they disappeared around a corner.

Well that was easier then I hoped.

“Let’s do it.”

Chapter 19- The Escape

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 05:55:47 GMT

35,000 and beyond! Hope ya like it

A few hours had gone by since Ben had walked out of Chief Montachusa’s room. He was sitting on the edge of a river’s embankment, throwing rocks into the rushing water. Something was running toward him. He turned around.

Back at the Chief Montachusa’s tee pee, Jessie had gone back into the Chief’s room. Once more, she discovered she valued the privacy of this room over the bustle of the main lobby. She was looking over the items Chief Montachusa had given she hoped would be useful once they were down in the colony. Outside the room in a busier area, Sam was chatting with a few of the middle aged Indians. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Every once and a while he would walk by the Chief’s room and glance inside, making sure Jessie looked okay. She had not shown any signs of distress since he had found her crumpled on the floor a little while ago.

As she was admiring the beauty of the hand carved wood on the stake ironic that such beautiful things kill, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It was the pilgrim detector, or the “meat thermometer” as she and Sam had recognized it to be. It had ever so slightly begun to rotate counterclockwise. Has it been doing this the whole time? She wondered. No, it was definitely still when Chief Montachusa showed it to me the first time. Jessie knew what it meant, but she decided to stare at it for a few minutes. Her fears were confirmed as it started to spin at a slightly faster pace.

She got up, and went to find Chief Montachusa. “Excuse me?” she asked an Indian guy who was standing in front of a closed doorway. “Do you know where I can find Chief Montachusa?”

“He is in this room, but it is in a meeting of high importance. Is it urgent?”

“Yes, I need to see him right now.”

“Of course.” He knocked and opened the door.

“I am terribly sorry to interrupt Chief Montachusa, but the chosen one wishes to speak with you. She states it is a matter of urgency.”

“Please, send her in.” The Indian guard stepped aside and Jessie stepped meekly into the room. Chief Montachusa was talking to what appeared to be his generals, decorated in clothing almost as elaborate as his own, only armed with bow and arrows. “How can I be of assistance to you Jessie?”

“Chief Montachusa, the pilgrim detector. It’s moving.”

“Let me see it.”

A general spoke up. “Chief, there must be something defective with the pilgrim detector. They may very well be nearing the enterance in the tree, but that is over a mile away. The range of the detector is nowhere near that wide.”

“The pilgrim detector has never failed us before. It has always been correct.” Chief Montachusa said. “We cannot discount it as a simple mistake.”

“What are you implying, Chief?” another General asked. “Have the pilgrims already come onto our land.”

“No, no, that can’t be. We have warriors surrounding the enterance, and scouts as well that are to report to me as soon as they are sighted. I am sure they have not reached our level yet.”

But then Chief Montachusa’s stoic face broke into a very grim look. He rubbed his hands together nervously.

“There can only be one other explanation. And it is exactly as I had feared.”

“What is it?” Jessie asked.

“They have found another enterance.”

“Another enterance? Impossible!” a general to Chief Montachusa’s left exclaimed. “There is only one way to enter the reservation. They could not have possibly come through the exit.”

“They are not coming through the exit” Chief Montachusa replied. “Many years ago, the Great Being communicated to me through a vision of another enterance. It is the one figurative branch of the tree, besides the trunk, that leads onto our land. Nobody besides myself on this reservation has been told this information. But we should never have underestimated the far reaching cunningness of the master of evil. I have never told another soul for fear of the pilgrims finding out. But they always know. And it was foolish of me to not look more closely into guarding this enterance.”

“Where is this enterance? We must send forces to it immediately!” a general said.

“It is located underneath the oldest bridge on the reservation, near the river.” Chief Montachusa said. “Give the order at once to relocate a good deal of men to this area.”

Another bridge Jessie thought. It figures.

“Jessie, round up your two friends. You must be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.”

Jessie turned to head out the door but stopped on her heels. Ben.

“What is the matter?” Chief Montachusa asked.

“My friend. Ben. He is outside.”

“Where has he gone?”

“I don’t know.” o god o god o god o god

“SQUANTO!” Chief Montachusa’s voice bellowed and echoed throughout the tee pee. Moments later Squanto came running into the conference room.

“Yes chief?

“I fear the pilgrims may be hear sooner that we had thought. The plan must be moved into action as soon as possible. Jessie’s friend is currently missing. I need you to find him as soon as possible.”

“Right away sir” Squanto said, dashing out of the room.

Chief Montachusa then turned to Jessie. “Jessie, I have urgent things I must attend to. I am going to request that you remain here.”

“I can’t Chief. I have to find him.”

“Are you sure?” he said slowly, looking directly into her eyes.

“Yes.” Jessie said confidently.

“Then you must go. Please take your friend Sam with you and stay together. Be sure to take your bag with the items we discussed. And most importantly, the exit is directly behind this building, in a small koi pond. You will walk directly into the pond until you are completely submerged. As soon as the three of you and the dog are in, grasp the bright blue koi fish in your hand, and the exit will be sealed.”

“Thank you for everything Chief Montachusa.” Jessie said. And she really meant it. She had not met, and did not believe she would meet anyone who could possibly be as helpful as he was. He had prepared her more than anyone else had. He had given her a chance.”

“Good luck Jessie” he said, smiling warmly. “I have complete trust in you. One day, you and your brother will be able to come up to the reservation and have a proper vacation here. Farewell Jessie”. He walked out.

Wasting now time, Jessie rushed out of the room and called out to Sam who was craning his neck to see where Squanto was going and wondered if it happened to involve Jessie or Ben.

“SAM!” Jessie yelled.

“What’s wrong?”

“They’re close Sam, they’re really close.”

“Let’s get ready then. Where’s Ben?”

“I don’t know. We have to go find him. Squanto just went to look.”

“Alright let’s move it then” They left the tee pee and went outside, Sam doing the best he could to keep up with Jessie.

“Did he give you any clue where he was going?” Sam asked.

“No, he just left. He didn’t say anything.” Suddenly, the solution hit her.

“WAIT!” she yelled.

“What?”

“We don’t need to search for him, we can ask the seer!”

“Smart thinkin kid, why don’t you run back in there, let me catch my breath for a minute.”

Jessie ran back into the tee pee and flew down the corridors to where the seer’s room was. Almost out of breath she asked, “Where is..”

“River.”

“Thanks” and she went back out to get Sam, who had Dolphin with him.

“He’s down by the river.” Jessie said, taking a puff from her inhaler. “Let’s go.”

The river was several hundered yards away from the tee pee. On the way, they ran into Squanto, who was looking rather lost.

“Jessie,” Squanto said, “it is not safe here. You must go back inside.”

“Chief Montachusa told me to come out here” Jessie exaggerated. “And I know where Ben is, he’s somewhere by the river.”

“I was just on my way there, let’s go.”

As Jessie, Sam, and Squanto ran toward the river they hardly noticed the old bridge that was coming into view. They’re eyes were frantically scanning the horizon for the sight of Ben.

“There he is!” Jessie yelled. He was sitting right by the river, skipping stones into the water. He turned around as they approached him.

“Jessie?” he said.

“BEN!” Jessie called out, forgetting the feelings of awkwardness and confusion, “We have to go NOW!”

Ben seemed to be back to normal for the moment as well, getting up right away as Jessie, Sam, and Squanto stood by the river to catch their breath. “Are they close?”

“Too close. Chief Montachusa was saying there’s another enterance they might be using. He said they could get in through the, the…”

Her stomach dropped. She stared at the bridge, and knew it was the one.

“That bridge?” Sam asked.

“We need to go to the exit right away my friends” Squanto said, and they moved as quickly as they could back toward the tee pee.

Suddenly there was a loud CRACK. Jessie looked over her shoulder. A wall on the underside of the tunnel had been blown out. She saw a tall hat with a gold buckle.

“RUN, RUN!” Jessie screamed.

Pilgrims poured out of the bridge by the hundreds, not yet noticing Jessie. Instead, they saw a much smaller by comparison army of Indians coming down a hill to intercept them.

They’re going to be slaughtered. All of them. The reservation was doomed, whether or not she got the bigger piece of the wishbone.

Jesse, Sam, Ben, and Squanto continued to sprint toward the fountain that was just now coming into view.

“They see us!” Squanto yelled to the group.

Jessie checked behind her. Sure enough, several long, gray fingers were pointing at the three humans and the Indian that were running away from the battle, while most everyone else was running in to fight. She strugged to hold onto Dolphin’s leash and did not dare to look back until they were inside the exit.

“What do we do?” Ben yelled

“Just run right into the water!” Jessie yelled back.

Ben was first in, followed by Jessie. She was expecting to be soaked, but there was nothing wet about the water. It was nothing more than an illusion. Sam and Squanto were right behind her, entering the fountain that was more like a cave in actuality.

Jessie finally turned around. A small group of pilgrims was running towards them, about a hundered yards away, but it was nothing at all like running in the way that humans do. It was more of an extremely quick and repetive lunges, but it was effective. Their long legs allowed for enormous strides.

“How the hell do we close this thing!” said Sam.

“Oh! Right! We’re supposed to ummm..what did the chief say? Then she saw a flash of brilliant blue hovering right behind Ben.

“BEN! GRAB THE FISH!”

The pilgrims were only seconds from the exit.

“LOOK OUT!” Jessie yelled, diving for the fish and firmly grasping it, just as a pilgrim, dagger in hand, dove for the exit which was rapidly closing from each side towards the middle.

She closed her eyes in relief. When she opened them, she screamed.

The pilgrim’s head was lodged in the exit doorway, the walls had closed in on either side of its neck. Its red eyes were bulging from their sockets, and its mouth was wide open, exposing its fangs as it let out a wretched, tortured scream.

Somewhere in her mind she heard Sam say, “THE STAKE JESSIE, GIVE ME THE STAKE!” But there was nothing she could do about it, she was paralyzed with horror. Dolphin barked ferociously at the creature from Hell. Sam reached into the bag himself and pulled out the stake made with the wood from the most sacred tree on the reservation. He drove it directly into the pilgrim’s buckle. It let out one final gruesome howl and instantly disintegrated into dust. Only the dented gold buckle remained. Sam picked it up and put it into the bag, along with the wooden stake. “Come on” he said. “Let’s get outta here”.

Jessie need her inhaler, but was determined to get as far away from this area as quickly as possible. She was breathing heavily and leaning on Squanto for support. He lit a candle that he was carrying with a match and provided some illumination to the tunnel that was almost pitch black. Behind them, they could hear the pilgrims stomping and pounding on the exit, but they were confident the barrier would hold, and it did. Within minutes, they came to a dead end.

Jessie took advantage of the opportunity to use her inhaler, while the three guys tried to figure out where to go from here.

“What do ya think Squanto?” Sam asked.

“I do not know.” Squanto replied. “I have never been down into the exit. I was not planning to today, but I believe Chief Montachusa would want me to be here.”

I’m glad you’re here too Jessie thought.

“Wait a minute, look up” Ben said. Sure enough, there was a small latch on the roof of the cave. It reminded Jessie of her attic.

“Well I guess we go up then.” Sam said. “Welcome home everybody.”

Chapter 18- Jessie and Ben

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:56:20 GMT

I'm sure some of the end of this chapter will have to be revised in the editing process, but i really wanted to hit 32,000 :p

Chief Montachusa stood up from the table, and the three guests did as well, out of respect. “I apologize, but I need to talk with the commanders of our military in order to map out a strategy for the upcoming battle. I do not expect it to take place for another several hours, at the very least. Please feel free to use my personal office here to prepare yourselves and relax. Hopefully I will be able to meet with you all one last time before you leave for the mortal world. But if I do not, godspeed my friends.”

“Thank you Chief Montachusa” Jessie said, Ben and Sam echoing her. He exited the room and shut the door, leaving the three of them alone. For the next few minutes they concentrated on their own thoughts before Sam spoke up.

“You know Jessie, I think you’re Grandfather is feelin pretty proud of you right now.”

“You think?” Jessie replied. “He didn’t seem to like it back at your cousin’s house. He doesn’t think I can stop them.”

“That’s just the old man in him talkin. We don’t like to be shown up by people.” Sam grinned, “But you’re closer to doin it, killin those guys, than he or anyone else ever was. And there was a time when he thought he was gonna finish them off. He just doesn’t wanna believe this little girl is gonna do what he never could. But once you show him what ya got, he’ll come around. I know Al. He’ll come around. He always did.”

Jessie thought about it for a while, without replying. She understood what Sam was saying, but wasn’t ready to forgive her grandfather for being such a jerk to her when he knew it was the first, and very well may be the last, time they spoke to each other. She wished it didn’t have to end that way. He had spent so much of his life trying to do some good for the world by fighting the pilgrims through his research that he deserved her admiration.

“What if we die?” Ben asked, out of the blue. Both Sam and Jessie stared at him for a moment. The question was taboo, not to be considered.

“Uhhh..then we die kid, there’s not much to it”. Sam said. “You get a funeral, people are sad, they get over it, and that’s that. If you don’t like it, then don’t die.”

And Jessie didn’t like it. She had tried as hard as she could not to think about it. The idea of death scared her too much. Just like the dark, it was life’s greatest and final unknown. Not breathing, not thinking, not living, not existing. She was not one to especially worry about the effects on the people who loved her. Sure, they would be upset. For a long time probably, years. But eventually I would just be a memory and the pain would fade away. They would only be losing one person. But me? I’d be losing everything. She decided to follow Sam’s advice, “if you don’t like it, then don’t die.”

The room was silent for another few minutes as they brooded over death.

“Well, while you kids are being all dark and depressed with death and all that crap, I’m gonna go take a walk outside. Maybe take that damn dog with me. I’ll be back in a half hour or somethin, just yell for me if we gotta go or whateva.”

And with that, Sam left the room, leaving Ben and Jessie alone. She noticed that it was the first time they were really alone together, without the dog or Sam or anybody to break the tension between them. And right now Jessie felt she was drowning in the awkwardness. Maybe I’ll just pretend to take a nap.

But instead, Ben decided to strike up a conversation. “So are you enjoying your vacation?” They both laughed and Jessie felt much better. It did wonders for the awkward situation and she felt like they were just regular old buddies, for now.

“How do you like your school back home?” Ben asked.

“Oh you know, school sucks as it always does. But it’s ok, I guess.” Jessie responded. “How about you?”

“It’s wicked boring. Nothing ever happens in this town. All the kids at school are freakin losers”

“Ugh, that sucks” Jessie said. She never considered herself to be that good at small talk.

“So uhhh do you have a boyfriend or anything?”

What? Woah. Slow down buddy boy. I’m not prepared for this, what the hell should I say. Jessie was most surprised by the timing of this. Here she was, only hours away from risking their lives to save someone else’s life and possibly the whole world, and here he was talking like they were having some kind of after school chat.

“No.” Jessie said. She made an attempt to escape the situation. “I think I’m gonna go outside and check on Dolphin, he’s probably hungry or something, he’s used to being fed like all the time, or maybe Sam needs help with him, I’m not sure…

Ben cut her off, “Jessie.” He walked over to her.

“Yes?”

He stood face to face with her.

He kissed her. Right on the mouth. His lips were warm, and she felt like she was falling all the way down to earth and back up to this heaven in one breath. She was feeling everything and nothing at the same time.

He backed away.

“I love you” he said.

Jessie was stunned. Her senses were flooding back to her.

Her hormonal heart screamed at her, “Come on, SAY IT BACK, you idiot! This is what you’ve been waiting for this whole stupid vacation. You need him, and he needs you.”

But her mind was quick to reply. No. Donny needs you. And that is all that matters. She wouldn’t say it back to him. She liked him, and who knows, maybe it would be love someday. But this was not the time. I have a mission, and I can’t fail. This would be a distraction I can’t afford. Donny can’t afford it.

“I…I” she sputtered, her voice not completely caught up with her decisive and rational mind. “I can’t. I like you, but we can’t be together right now. It’s too much.”

“Why not?” Ben said in a rather demanding way. He was no longer playing cool as usual.

“Because…I just can’t.” He wasn’t going to understand. He didn’t have a brother out there who was currently at the mercy of those bloodthirsty monsters. “I’m sorry.”

“Fine.” He put his hands in his sweatshirt pocket and walked briskly out of the room.

She stared at the door for several more minutes. Who the hell does he think he is? This was just like the opening the door shirtless incident. She wondered if he intentionally did things like that for the sole purpose of making their relationship more awkward and less of a friendship. How could he love me anyway? We’ve barely known each other since this morning. A few hours ago! And now it’s love? How can you just throw a word like that around so lightly? She loved Donny, she loved Denny, she loved her Grandma, and she loved her parents. But to love Ben? No.

She withered to the floor. Just because she didn’t love him, didn’t mean his hold over her was more powerful than one she had ever felt. She sat up and rested her head against a chair, exhausted with emotion. Somebody walked into the room. She struggled to lift her chin and see who it was. Jessie prayed to God it wasn’t Ben.

Fortunately, it was Sam this time. He was concentrating on polishing his shotgun with a cloth at the moment, and didn’t immediately notice Jessie sitting on the floor with red, puffy eyes.

“It may not make em kick the bucket, but I guarantee it’ll blow their brains out.” He said, and then looked at Jessie. “Hey kid, what’s the matta?”

“I’m fine” she lied, “just tired.”

“Well geez, go back to the other room and take a nap on one of those nice chairs then.” He looked around the room. “Where’s Ben?”

“I don’t know” she sighed. “He went..somewhere I guess”.

Jessie wasn’t sure, but she thought there was a chance Sam knew what had happened between them. But he wasn’t the type to discuss such personal matters, especially love.

“I’m gonna go find a bathroom I think, do Indians even have bathrooms? I hope it’s not an outhouse, hmmm..” He left the room once more and wandered down a corridor.

At first Jessie was grateful that Sam got the hint and gave her some alone time. But soon she realized she was sick of being all by herself, and only her thoughts. She couldn’t think about Ben anymore, or she was going to breakdown. She decided to heed Sam’s earlier advice and relax in one of the big comfy chairs in the lobby area of the tee pee. She wanted to be around people at the moment.

Sitting down, watching hundreds of different Indians pass by her didn’t distract Jessie as much as she hoped it would. Thoughts of Ben would not be warded of that easily. She knew she couldn’t do this by herself. She needed Ben’s companionship, awkward situation or not. He may be frusturated now, but guys get over it real quick, she assumed. Jessie hoped that he would come to his senses soon enough and realize how inappropriate the timing of his “confession” was and that he might be able to reconcile before they had to leave the reservation. She wished she didn’t have to leave.

And neither did the creatures that were steadily making their way up, miles below the reservation. They may not have been able to use their mind reading powers on those inside the reservation, but they could sense their prey was near. It was only a matter of time before they would defeat the pesky Indians and seize their unaware subject. And then eliminate her. This mortal knew too much. She would not be allowed to survive.

One of the pilgrims marched up to the front of the line and spoke to the one that was leading the army.

“My lord” it hissed.

“What is it?” This leading pilgrim did not appear to like being questioned by others.

“Shall I give the order for the army to move into battle positions?”

“No.”

“I want you to divide them into two groups. One must be significantly greater in numbers than the other. Do it now.”

The pilgrim narrowed his glowing red eyes in confusion. “Two groups? I thought there was only one enterance to their reservation?”

“You are mistaken. I have spoken with Beelzebub. The Great one has informed me that there is another way to enter their reservation. The Indians are fools, they assume nobody knows of this other enterance. An insult to the great Beelzebub! I think they will be most surprised.”

At a point closer to hell than it was to heaven, Denny was crying. Time or no time.

Chapter 17- The Right Stuff

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:23:18 GMT

30,131 that's all I can say. I'm pleased with how this chapter turned out. Now it's just a question of can I slow down the story just enough to reach that 50,000 mark?

“I have go see Chief Montachusa right now” Jessie told the seer.

Upon this command, the swirling stopped, and before she knew it, Jessie was back in the room. The table returned to normal, and the seer was still sitting across from her, looking into her eyes. He nodded at her, and simply said, “Go.”

Jessie pushed out her chair and stood up. She turned around and walked a few steps toward the doorway before pausing for a couple of seconds. She felt as though she had forgotten something.

Then it hit her. “Donny” she said, “My other brother. Can I see him?” How could I have forgotten about him?

But the seer only shook his head.

“Why not? I really need to make sure he is okay.”

He shook his head again and stared back blankly.

Jessie walked unhappily out of the room. She had a lot to discuss with Chief Montachusa.

She found him sitting back in his “office” (she supposed), with a great look of concern upon his face. He was looking at some maps he had laid out in front of him on a table. “Chief?” she said, timidly standing in the doorway.

He looked up. “Jessie!” he said, as though happy to see her, “please, come in”.

She sat down across from him, visibly upset.

“How was your visit with the seer? I trust you saw what you needed to?”

“No, I did not.”

“He did not show you the army the pilgrims have assembled?”

“Well, yes, he did show me that. But I wanted to see my brother, Donny. I’m so worried about him. I had a dream that they were torturing him. I just wanted to make sure he was all right.”

“I’m sorry that you were unable to see him Jessie. Even the seer’s incredible vision is not able to penetrate the fortress of the Colony. But I do not believe that your brother has been done any harm.”

Jessie doubted how much he really believed this, but decided not to press him further on the matter. She had other things to discuss.

“Chief Montachusa, I saw them go into the tree. They figured out how to do the hatchet and everything.”

Chief Montachusa sighed. “It was only a matter of time. It will, however, take them a least a couple of hours to reach our level. They will not be able to put the stairs into motion and will be forced to climb them, which will take considerable time. I would hope that it might tire them out, but unfortunately I don’t think they are affected much by strenuous activitiy.”

Jessie was somewhat confused. “I don’t understand this at all, why was it that the pilgrims were in real time and on the move right now, while everyone else that I saw in there seems to be on hold right now.”

“You must remember Jessie that the pilgrims are not governed by the same laws of the Great Being that humans and ourselves must abide by. Yet another example of how evil eludes fairness.”

Chief Montachusa took a sip of a strange looking drink concoction on the table. He then motioned to a guard who was looking into the room from across the hall to come see him.

“My brother, would you please bring Jessie’s friends to me. I wish to speak with the three of them.”

“Yes Chief, right away” the Indian responded.

“Jessie,” said Chief Montachusa, “Time is running out on us. The pilgrims are approaching and when your friends I return, I shall tell you my plan for rescuing your brother and breaking the wishbone. Are you ready?”

Am I? Jessie wondered. “I’m terrified”, she admitted, “I’m not a brave person, I’ve never had to do anything like this before in my life.”

Chief Montachusa offered her a reassuring smile. “Have you ever heard the story of the Indian girl who saved her village by releasing the river?”

“No” responded Jessie who’s parents never told her tales or legends when she was little, they just gave her dumb picture books to look at. She was glad she was able to discover the joys of reading on her own as she grew older, despite the lack of encouragement on the part of her parents. But at this urget moment, Jessie was not sure how helpful storytime would be.

“I think you will enjoy it then.” Chief Montachusa said, and he began the story. “Many years ago, before the reservation, and well before pilgrims of any kind, good or bad, existed there was a village called Laelwanda, which translates into land of abundant water. The Comanache tribe lived there, and their way of life depended on the fish in the large lake, called Lake Ocheba, which also provided water for the crops that were grown in the village. The source of this lake was the Ocheba river, which flowed all the way to the Atlantic Ocean in the east.

One morning in the spring time, the villagers of Laelwanda awoke to find that their precious lake had completely dried up. There was no obvious reason for this to happen, so the villages went to investigate upstream. That’s where they discovered the problem. There was a huge beaver dam constructed, and it was so massive that it blocked the flow of the river. The people decided to consult the village oracle, who gave them insight on the beaver who built the dam. It was a very stubborn beaver, who could not be convinced through ordinary methods to move his house. But the oracle did tell them that if a special song was sung, the beaver could be reasoned with and possibly be convinced to unblock the river. With the song in their heads, the villagers went back to the dam. To their dismay, they realized the only enterance to the dam was a very small opening that only a child could fit into, and a very small child at that. This tribe was a peaceful tribe, and they would not be aggressive towards nature by destroying the dam and essentially throwing the beaver out of his own home.

Fortunately, the village people knew of a girl that they could trust to get the job done and sing the beaver the special song. Her name was Ithaca, and she was eight years old. She was the smartest of all the young ones, and also the smallest. She had always been overshadowed in her life by her strong older brothers who were destined to become great warriors one day. When the village people first approached Ithaca about going into the dam and talking to the beaver, she was very hesitant to accept. She was a courageous girl at heart, but this courage had never been tested in the real word before. She didn’t have the same friendship with animals as the other children did, a fox had bitten her when she was five years old, and she was wary of wild creatures ever since. But the villagers explained to Ithaca that without the lake, their way of life would be gone forever. There was no other way.

The next day, it was time for Ithaca to approach the beaver. As soon as dawn broke, she headed out for the dam, the rest of the village behind her to give her support. She was afraid, but calm as she crawled into the dam where the beaver resided. From the inside, Ithaca could see what a beautifully designed dam it was. The beaver was truly a master at his craft. Suddenly, the little girl was face to face with the beaver who had snuck up on her while she was admiriing the effort he put into constructing his house. He demanded to know why she was here and ordered her to get out of his house. As he bared his long teeth at her, memories of the fox’s sharp teeth came back to her, but she took a deep breath and sang the special song. She sang it beautifully, and the beaver was stunned at her performance. From them on, his demeanor was a complete reversal from what it was previously. He became a very agreeable and polite creature and they came to an agreement. The beaver would take down his home from where it was currently in order to let the river flow freely and replenish Lake Ocheba. The villagers would then allow the beaver to build his new home in the lake, and he could help himself to all the fish and resources he wanted. The arrangement worked out perfectly, and the beaver became one of the most highly respected creatures in Native American culture. And none of it would have been possible, if it were not for the bravery of this one little girl who was able to do what nobody else could and save the ones she loved.”

As he said the last line, Chief Montachusa looked Jessie directly in the eye, hoping it would provide the inspiration she needed before she embarked on her mission. It was a nice story, but Jessie found herself envious of the little girl. She only had to talk to a beaver, I have to deal with murderous pilgrims!

Just then the Indian guard escorted Sam and Ben into Chief Montachusa’s meeting room.

“You should’ve seen the stuff they got our there” Sam said loudly. “Best pumpkin pie you’ve ever had in your life!”

“Welcome back my friends” Chief Montachusa said warmly, disregarding Sam’s behavior that was most inappropriate for the serious circumstances that they were in. “I have called you all together because it is time to discuss our plan of action. As we speak, the pilgrims are making their way up the transport tree and an attack is looming. We may not have much time, and I need to prepare you all.”

“How did they get in here?” asked Ben. “I thought time was frozen down there or something.”

“As I explained to Jessie earlier,” Chief Montachusa said, without the slightest hint of impatience in his voice, “the pilgrims are not governed by the laws of time. They are free to move about despite whatever limitations the Great Being has placed on my people and on mortals.”

“That’s stupid” Sam said.

Jessie was growing increasingly annoyed by Sam’s comments, but the Chief continued on. “We must wait until the last possible moment transport you all back down to the mortal world. As soon as Jessie is back down, the pilgrims will notice this immediately, and will attempt to return as soon as possible. Our armies will do their best to hold them off, but we can only do so much.”

“How are we going to sneak back into the tree?” Jessie asked. “It seems like that would be awfully difficult, all the pilgrims are going to be right there.”

“There is another way to return to the mortal level.” Chief Montachusa said. “In fact the enterance to this secret transport is just behind the tee pee that we are currently in. So you will be staying here in the mean time.”

“Where does it come out?” Ben asked.

“There is a small church in your town. It is hundereds of years old, built around the same time that the colony was established. The exact location of the exit is in the basement of the church. I trust you will be able to leave the church unseen, lest you have much explaining to do.”

“That old congregational church?” Sam said, “That’s on the other side of town.”

Jessie was a little wary of the prospect of being in the open for so long, so vulnerable to an attack by pilgrims monitoring the area. Then she laughed to herself. You’re going into the colony, and you’re worried about not being safe in the middle of town?

“In order to keep you as safe as possible on your journey,” Chief Montachusa said, “I have some tools you may find very useful. I am going to entrust these to you Jessie, as your friends here seem to have protection of their own,” indicating the shotguns that Ben and Sam had. He pulled a small burlap sack from inside his deerskin robe. He pulled the first item out, a small whistle. “I’m sure you are familiar with this simple object”.

“It’s a dog whistle” Jessie said. It seemed like a sensible thing to have.

“This will call your dog to you should you two ever become separated. It also serves another purpose, it can sometimes be used to frighten the pilgrims, even if your dog was not with you. The bite of the canine is fatal to them, and they will go to great lengths to avoid dogs. This makes it all the more important you keep your pet safe.”

Jessie nodded. Dolphin could actually kill these things? She knew that Dolphin would be helpful in this quest to save her brother, but she had no idea he was going to be that valuable.

“Next,” Chief Montachusa said, “is something that I also hope will serve a useful purpose to you.” He pulled a long, pointy item out of the bag.

Is that a…meat thermometer? Jessie wondered. Do I need to cook turkeys just right or something in order to get to that wishbone?

“This is a pilgrim detector, for lack of a better term.” Chief Montachusa said as he displayed the shiny silver item to the three of them. He pointed to the circular dial at the top. “You must pay attention to this dial as often as you can. The faster it spins around, the closer the pilgrims are to you. Hopefully it will assist you in knowing when you need to hide when you are in the vicinity of the pilgrims.”

“Hey, isn’t that a meat thermometer, for turkeys and stuff” Sam asked.

“I am not familiar with the term” Chief Montachusa said, “this certaintly is no food preparation tool. I have not yet mentioned the other purpose of this tool. When it is not spinning to detect pilgrims, it will point in the direction of the wishbone location.”

“That is helpful,” Jessie said, “but can it also do anything to tell me where my brother is?”

“No I’m afraid, not specifically.” Chief Montachus replied. Noticing her downtrodden facial expression he said, “But I have reason to believe that he will be kept in the same area of the wishbone. It makes sense that he would kept in the area where the most protection can be provided, and that is where the wishbone lies. Hopefully you will be able to rescue your brother and break the wishbone at nearly the same time.”

“So what exactly is the plan here? Sam asked. “Just go in there and hope that somehow we can walk right in and save Donny and get that wishbone? Hope that they won’t notice three humans and a dog are going right for their wishbone? And can we really rely on that mutt to bite people? He’s probably afraid of squirrels.”

Chief Montachusa was unfazed. “It is a relatively simple plan, I admit. There are no guarentees it will work and much is left to chance. But I feel I have prepared you as best as I possibly can. You will not be without protection, with the dog and your guns, and I have faith that good will always prevail in the end. But to further your chances of success, I have included one more item that you may take with you.” He reached into the bag and pulled out a wooden stake.

Are we dealing with vampires here? Jessie wondered.

“If all else fails, use this wooden stake to defeat them. It is made from the wood of the first tree to be planted by the Great Being in the reservation, hundereds of years ago. By stabbing a pilgrim directly in the center of the buckle across his tall hat, he will be killed. Besides the bite of a dog, it is the only way to kill a pilgrim.”

“So are these guns good for nothing?” Sam asked.

“They will deter the pilgrims significantly and I imagine they would cause a good deal of pain, if they do feel pain at all.” Chief Montachusa said. “But they cannot be killed by man’s traditional methods.”

“I don’t know about this, kid.” Sam said, shifting uncomfortable in his seat. “We’re goin down to face these serial killin pilgrims and all we’re gonna have is a piece of wood, a meat thermometer, a whistle, and a mutt? Guns don’t even kill em for Christ’s sake. We gotta think about this Chief”.

The Chief opened his mouth to argue, but Jessie spoke first. “It’s our only hope Sam. We don’t have another choice. If we wait too long, they might just go ahead and kill my brother. I can’t let that happen. I’m going in there, and you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I don’t care.”

“The child speaks the truth my friend.” Chief Montachusa said. “We have no other plan. This may be the last chance for her family, my people, and all of humanity to avoid seeing the pilgrims soon take complete control of the world the Great Being has created.”

“Okay, okay kid, I hear ya.” Sam said, less reluctant than before. “I’ll stick with ya, through this whole damn thing. What else have I got to live for?”

He smiled at her, and Jessie smiled back. “Thanks Sam. I think I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

Chapter 16- The Seer

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:57:17 GMT

Doing a little catching up this weekend. Hopefully will hit 30,000 by Monday

Jessie entered the other room. She hoped she would be able to focus on her mission after seeing what the rest of her family was up to. She feared the emotional attachment might ake her just want to run back into the arms of her parents and let the adults handle this. But Jessie knew that she wanted to be able to see them before embarking on such a dangerous journey.

The room reminded her of Madame Polaski’s apartment. Many artifacts and art work filled the room, and there was a smokyness to the air. It was a much more pleasing smell though, and Jessie did not feel an inhaler was needed.

There was an old man bent over a table with a long deerskin blanket covering much of him. His skin and face looked very worn, even more so than Chief Montachusa. She had never seen so many wrinkles on a forehead.

He greeted her with a simple “Hello”, and Jessie responded with an equally short, “Hi”.

He did not seem to be as outgoing as the rest of the Indians, and Jessie realized she would have to do the talking if she wanted answers.

“Are you the seer?” she asked

“Yes” he replied stoically.

“Can you show me my family?”

“Yes. Sit.”

She took the chair across from him, separated by a very fancy and interesting looking table. It was a brilliant sea-blue with many swirls painted in. She wasn’t sure exactly where to look. He had no tacky crystal ball like Madame Polaski. She wondered if he would simply be telling her what was going on back home. She hoped not, she really wanted to see their faces.

But to her relief, he began to make elaborate hand movements over the surface of the table. After muttering a few barely audible incantations, the table began to cloud up and then clear. Jessie watched the table swirl and smoke, and suddenly felt ingulfed in it. She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she saw Denny. He was sitting on the floor in her grandmother’s living room, playing with two blocks. But he wasn’t really playing with them, he was squeezing them tightly in each hand, like they were stress balls. He wasn’t concentrating on the small castle that he had started to build, but rather looked distracted and upset. She could see the concern in his eyes. She didn’t know how much her grandmother had told him, but he must know something was wrong, since his brother had been missing all day.

Suddenly the image of her brother froze. Jessie was confused. Was this connection that the all-seer had like a radio station, going in and out of reception? As she pondered this, she saw the Indian look at her from across the table, which seemed rather far away in this mental fog she was now in. He looked at her as if to say, just think about it. And after a moments thought, Jessie did realize why she couldn’t see what her brother was doing anymore. She had forgotten that no time had passed since she entered the reservation, so that must have been what Denny was doing last. The seer had simply showed her a replay of what her brother had been up to in the past few hours since she had seen him.

The next figure Jessie concentrated on was her grandmother. She was sitting at the kitchen table by herself, silent, but sniffing as though she had been crying earlier. On the table she had two different photo albums, a green one and a light blue one. She opened the green one first. From what Jessie saw, it contained mostly pictures of her grandmother and her grandfather. All happy memories. Photographs from vacations, parties, and family events. No mention of image of pilgrims. When she was finished looking through his photo album, she picked up the next one and opened it. It was full of pictures of Jessie’s family, mostly of her and the twins. She wondered if her grandmother felt there were similarities between herself and her grandfather. After that meeting at Madame Polaski’s however, she wasn’t sure how similar the really were, despite the shared adventurous spirit. After a few more minutes of watching her grandmother, the image froze and vanished, just as the one of Denny had.

Her dad was next to come into view. He was sitting in a chair in the lobby of the police station, rubbing his face with his hands. He looked exhausted. He had a blank look in his eyes that suggested he wasn’t really thinking or caring about anything right now, except for Donny. She could hear her mother yelling frantically at a police officer who was trying to reason with her. Her mother’s eyes were wild and her brown hair was a mess.

“Where are the huge rescue teams for my son! Why isn’t anybody doing anything!” she demanded.

“Ma’am, we’re doing everything we can to find your son. There are six police units with crime dogs on the scene right now.” A female police station clerk responded.

“SIX? That’s it?! How do you expect to find him in these huge woods with only six people and their stupid dogs!”

“Ma’am these officers are highly trained in finding missing persons and we assure you that your son’s case is being treated with the highest priority. Now can you give me your son’s medical history?

“Medical history? What do you need that for?”

“This information could be vital. Did he have a mental illness of any kind? Autism? Anything that may have caused him to wander into the woods and become lost easily?”

“You think my son just got up and walked out of the house in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm? Are you serious? Somebody took him! I told you, there was a threat written on our window IN BLOOD! I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this!”

Jessie heard her father call out from the corner, “Honey they are just trying to help, please just listen to them and do what they tell you to do.”

She turned around and glared at her husband. “If they wanted to help, maybe they could actually make an effort to find my son” she said acidly, “you would think a cat was missing they way they are treating me.”

“Ma’am can you please take a seat. I promise you I will give you an update as soon as I am able to. We are doing everything in our power to bring your son home safely and we need you to cooperate with us in order to make it happen.”

Jessie’s mother stomped back to the seating area, infuriated. Once again, the image froze and Jessie wondered what to do next. Should I tell the seer “I’m all done!” or something? But she didn’t have to, as another image came into view. This time it was two cops talking to each other in a room just out of sight of the police station lobby. One was a large, older looking cop with gray hair and a big mustache. The officer he was talking to looked to be about in his thirties. He was rather short and thin with brown hair. They both had a coffee in their hands.

“That woman is goin crazy in there you know” the younger one said.

“Well what are we gonna tell her?” said his partner.

“Do we even have six officers looking for her?”

“Nope.”

“None at all?”

“Well, we got one. Steve’s goin down to the house to check out the scene. Maybe see if he can find the buckle.”

“Are we sure it’s them?”

“Course. It’s Thanksgiving day for Christ sake. Who else would it be?”

“Yeah you’re right.” He took a sip of coffee. “Was anything ever discovered with that little girl who went a couple of months ago?”

“Yep, just last week. It was pretty sick, they found her in the woods around where that old bridge is. They drained her body of blood entirely. Can you believe that? Sick bastards.”

“What are they, vampires or somethin?”

“Nah, I don’t think so.” He turned his head as he heard Jessie’s mother yelling at the clerk once again. “There was some blood though. Right across her stomach. They wrote out a warning that if people don’t mind their own business, there’s gonna be more trouble.”

“So what’s the story with this new kid’s family, Dylan or whatever his name is?

“Donny. It’s an interesting case, his family is just here on vacation to visit the grandmother but I figured out the connection pretty quickly. Guess who his grandfather was? Al Kennington.”

“Wasn’t that the guy who they found dead on the path a few years back?”

“Sure was. He was big into the pilgrim stuff. Says that he almost figured out where the hell they were and everything. But I guess the pilgrims have a problem with people who are too nosy.”

“So what are we gonna tell her parents about this kid?”

“Nothin right now. We don’t need someone else dead because they felt like they had to do some research and find out about these pilgrims. We already know what happens in those cases. The best case scenario is that in a few months we find the body, get an autopsy done, and our good friend the coroner will say that he had some kind of mental problem that would cause weird behavior, such as the kind that would make you climb out windows, write a message with your own blood, and get lost in the woods in the middle of a thundastorm. If that doesn’t work, we’ll just blame it on some homeless guy or something. Somebody from the DA’s office can always help us out on that one. They know the situation.”

The image ended, leaving Jessie frusturated and angry at the police. She knew their reasons and agreed there was not much to do, but she just hated all the lies and cover ups. The way the cops talked about, how they desensitized the value of an individual’s life, it made her mad. She looked at the seer, indicating that she was ready to leave these visions now. But he looked back at her and she realized as another image swirled in the table that there was something else she had to see.

Jessie did not want to see this one. She closed her eyes, but it would not go away. She found herself staring into the faces of hundereds of pilgrims. All of them appeared to be male. They were standing around the tree that Squanto had taken Jessie, Ben, and Sam into a few hours ago. One of them, who seemed to be the leader, bent down and scanned the trunk of the tree. He found what he was looking for, and it was the hatchet indention. He gestured to another pilgrim, who gave him a hatchet. Unlike the Indians, the pilgrims carried no tools. Only a jagged dagger in a belt around their waste. The leader took the hatchet into his grayish hands with long, yellow, fingernails, and drove it into the tree. It didn’t work. After studying the indention for a moment, the pilgrim figured out that it must be pressed into the indention, and not swung at it. Please don’t open Please don’t open Please don’t open. Jessie prayed that maybe there were some special kinds of holy protections around the tree, so that it would prevent any evil from entering. But there was no such luck. Jessie watched, paralyzed in fear as the tree separted for them, just as it had for Squanto and the three humans. The army of pilgrims held out their daggers, braced for an attack by the Indians. But they met only darkness and silence. A scout of sorts was sent into the tree, and he came back a minute later, silently gesturing to them that it was all clear. They marched slowly into the tree, and it closed behind them.

They were not coming for a fight with the Indians. They were coming for Jessie.

Chapter 15- Chief Montachusa

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:36:26 GMT

I have officially passed the halfway mark to 50,000....now up to 25,437....once again not a very exciting chapter but i need some words lol, plus there's important plot information

Chief Montachusa was a well dressed Indian of large build. He looked aged, but had a smile on his wrinkled face. He wore a headdress decorated with many colorful feathers.

“It is an honor to meet you and your friends chosen one”. Chief Montachusa spoke, in a booming voice that reverberated inside the small room they were meeting in.

“Thank you. I am honored to meet you too.” She hoped the polite formalities wouldn’t have to last long.

“I realize you are pressed for time, so I will begin quickly.”

Sam interrupted. “What do ya mean we’re pressed for time? I thought time didn’t matta up here”.

“You are correct” said Montachusa, “but I sense the urgency in Jessie’s spirit. She has much on her mind.”

Finally, someone who understands me. I hope this is a sign that he is actually going to be helpful to me.

“Jessie, I am sorry to tell you this, but the current situation is far more dire than I had previously feared.”

“What do you mean?”

“The pilgrims. My lookouts have informed that their armies are on the move. They may have found the sacred tree. There is reason to fear an invasion.”

“An invasion?” Jessie was stunned. Invade a place so beautiful and peaceful? It just seemed inpossible.

“How the hell are they gonna get up here?” Sam asked.

“As long as they know the earth transport site, it’s possible for them. They are incredibly intelligent creatures. They have spies of their own who watch our every move down on human world. We try to avoid going down to “your” level whenever possible, for fear that they may be watching and learn of the location.”

So it’s my fault. Jessie realized with sadness and frusturation. Squanto wouldn’t have had to come down if I had not been trying to rescue Donny. And I wouldn’t have had to save him if I had just stayed out of things that were not my business.

“I implore you child, do not feel you have caused this. It was not your decision to begin with. We would have come for you no matter what. You are the chosen one, the one who can put an end to all of this. Perhaps it is for the best that they are coming for us.”

“How can that possibly be?” Jessie asked.

“Because it gives you the window of opportunity you require. While they are all up here, you shall be down there. If you can accomplish your task, there need not be fighting, our kingdom may be spared.”

“A task?”

“Yes. I know it would bring you great joy to be able to rescue your brother. But we need you to go one step further, and destroy them once and for all. It will require more on your part, and could possibly put you in further danger, it is your choice whether to accept. We cannot force you to.”

“I’ll do it.” Jessie said, without even giving it a second thought. While her brother was going to be most important, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she knew this was only going to happen again, and another innocent family would lose a loved one. It had to end. “What is it that I have to do?”

“It is quite simple, my friend. But hidden deep inside the colony, where the pilgrims reside, there lies a giant wishbone. I’m sure you are familiar with the tradition of the wishbone at Thanksgiving time. But this wishbone holds much greater consequences. You must break this wishbone. If you come away with the larger portion, then the colony will be no more and your brother and yourself shall be safe. The alternative, of course, is very unpleasant. Our kingdom in the sky will be no more, and the pilgrims may move on to more of the human world. But we cannot worry about it. That part is up to chance, and chance alone. The Great Being, nor the Master of Evil has anything to do with it. For now, we must only concern ourselves with getting to that wishbone. It is worth the risk.”

“Why don’t the pilgrim guys just take a chance and pull the wishbone themselves?” Sam asked.

“The Pilgrims are fairly content with their current situation. They prefer to lurk in the shadows and do the Devil’s bidding. They do not wish to risk it. We have a much greater interest in taking the chance, to put an end to the countless atrocities they have committed against the humans. And regardless to whether or not you can succeed with the wishbone, we have reason to believe the pilgrims are planning a full scale assault on the mortal world.”

Sam spoke up again. “I got anotha question, how come this has to be Jessie? If you guys are so smart, why can’t one of you go down and do somethin about that wishbone?”

That’s the most sense you’ve made all night Sam Jessie thought. She wanted to know the answer to it herself, but was sure the chief had a good one.

“For reasons unknown to us, we cannot enter the colony. There is a barrier in place that no Indian can cross. It is for mortals and pilgrims to enter only.

“So they can come up here and attack, but you guys can’t go down there? That’s not fair.” Ben said.

“No it is not fair. But only goodness is known to be fair, there are no restrictions on evil in regard to fairness.”

Of course not. None of this is fair. It isn’t fair that my grandfather died, it isn’t fair Ben’s mother had to die, and it isn’t fair that Donny was taken.

“So what do we do now?” Jessie asked Chief Montachusa.

“As much as you would like to embark on your mission as soon as possible, I am afraid I must ask you to wait a while.” the chief stated.

“Wait?”

“Yes. It would be best for you to move when the pilgrims have fully entered the transport tree and are on their way. That way, most of their resources would be concentrated up here, and you can go down to the colony when their defenses are limited.”

“Why are they coming up here in the first place?” Jessie asked.

“Because they must have seen you come up here with Squanto. They want to get a hold of you so you will never get to that wishbone.”

“But I thought they were all knowing”

“On the colonial and mortal level. Your thoughts and plans are safe as long as you are up here”.

“But they will know as soon as I leave to return to the colony and catch me”

“That is true, but we hope to be able to contain them up here for at least a little while and give you a good head start. Our forces are very skilled and should be able to hold them off for as long as you need.”

Something occurred to Jessie at that moment. She realized how selfless the Indians were. They were willing to risk their lives, and their perfect utopia, all for the sake of humans, whom they had no connection to and no dependency on. They had almost nothing to gain and everything to lose by breaking the wishbone. It was an act of selflessness that Jessie didn’t think she would ever see back in her world.

She had one more question for Chief Montachusa. “Chief Montachusa?” she asked.

“Yes child?”

“Are the Native Americans all knowing, just as the pilgrims are? Are you?”

“I’m afraid were do not know all. Even the pilgrims cannot say that they know all there is to know. Only the Great Being does. We are an intuitive race, however, and take pride in knowing how others are feeling. And I sense, that right now, you feel the need to know about your family”.

Amazing, Jessie thought.

“There is someone in our village who is what we call an “all-seer”. He does not see into the future, or the past, only the current. I just spoke with him, and that is how we know the Pilgrims are approaching. He will be delighted to speak with you and share his vision.”

“Thank you so much Chief” Jessie said, shining with gratitude.

“I will be sure to see you before you go. If you are ready, the seer is ready for you in the adjacent room.”

Jessie headed out of the room, and Ben got up to follower her, but Sam stopped him.

“Hey kid, maybe we should let her do this personal kind of thing on her own, lets go check out if there’s dessert out there or something.”

Ben didn’t seem entirely warm to the idea of spending quality time with Sam, but he understood that Jessie may want to be alone for this. It may be the last time she would ever see her family again.

Chapter 14- The Feast

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:54:55 GMT

This one was difficult, man. Not to spoil it (and it really isn't a spoiler) but one part in particular around the end was especially sad and hard to write. Enjoy

But for now everything was perfect at the top. As they walked along a forest path, Jessie marveled at the wildlife. She had seen at least three giant buck deer stride by, and countless small creatures had dashed across the path, including cute little mice and rabbits. She wished Sam would stop asking Squanto so many questions, he was disturbing her peace.

“So where are you takin us chief?” Sam pestered.

“Actually,” the Indian chuckled, “we are going to see my chief”

“Chief who?” said Sam

“Chief Montachusa. The strongest, bravest, and wisest among our people. He has done a great deal to ensure our community in the realm of the Great Being has remained safe, prosperous, and clean for our children and their children” replied Squanto.

They approached a clearing in the path. “Chief Montachusa’s residence is right this way my friends” said Squanto, leading them into the clearing.

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM

For a split second, fear struck the hearts of the three travelers, but it quickly turned to relief upon comprehension of the sight. A welcoming party had been arranged for them. Hundereds of Native Americans were there, some of them banging on drums loudly. I wonder if it sounds like thunder down there. It was a very festive atmosphere. Men sang war songs and did tribal dances. The women were in their most showy and ornate attire, and proudly displaying a banquet of food. Indian children, wearing hardly anything, ran around in circles, thrilled by the excitement in the air. When the crowd spotted the three outsiders, they burst into cheers.

“Jesus Christ…” Sam whispered.

“Are they doing this..for us?” Ben asked Squanto.

“You are correct, child. We have waited so long for the chosen one to end the terror that these Pilgrims have caused. And she is standing right here before me.”

Me? The chosen one? What is this, star wars or something? In the back of her mind, Jessie knew that Squanto had come to help her for a reason, but she didn’t think she was special to this extent. But even with this new “title”, Jessie didn’t feel any added responsibility, for there could be no bigger burden than having to save her brother from the Pilgrims.

“Squanto, it’s very generous of your tribe to put all this together for us, but we can’t enjoy ourselves right now. I need to go back down to the real world soon and save my brother. We’re running out of time.”

But Squanto just smiled again. ‘You don’t understand child. There is no time up here. Time is a concept strictly for the moral world.”

“So nobody will even notice that we were gone?” asked Jessie, thinking about her parents and her grandmother. She would be relieved if it seemed to them like no time had passed at all.

“That is correct young one. So please, enjoy yourself now. Have a proper Thanksgiving.”

Jessie knew it wouldn’t be a proper Thanksgiving until she was with her entire family again, especially Donny, but she decided a break was necessary. She needed time to replenish and rejuvenate, and also, she realized she had not eaten since the night before. I wish I could stop time once in a while back down on earth, it would be so convenient.

The Thanksgiving feast was extravagant, unlike anything either Jessie, Ben, or Sam had ever seen before. Dozens of turkeys dominated the meal, spread out on a table the size of a football field. There were giant wooden bowls of stuffing too, as well as every vegetable Jessie had ever heard of displayed in elegant fashion inside of cornucopias.

The three of them filled their plates and waited for a few minutes, wondering if somebody was going to say grace. But everyone just dove right in to their meals and chatted happily with one another. It occurred to Jessie that the Indians lived their lives with an air of thankfulness, and there was no need to profess it aloud. Actions spoke louder than words.

A small Indian boy went up to Jessie. “Are you the daughter of the Great Being?” he asked, wide eyed.

Jessie laughed. “Not that I know of. My parents are down there” she pointed.

For some reason, this frightened the little boy. “You mean..down there? With the evil one?” he said, shuddering.

She realized that perhaps he thought she was saying that her parents were in Hell. “No” she giggled, “not that far down.”

“Oh” the boy answered, somewhat relieved. “Is that your brother?” he asked, pointing at Ben.

brother “Oh him? No, he’s just my neighbor.” Then she corrected herself, “actually we’re friends now.”

Ben smiled at her and the little boy. “Who’s that?” the little boy asked, pointing at Sam, who was looking pretty foolish as he stuffed butternut squash and turkey into his mouth.

“That’s just some grumpy old guy who decided to tag along with us” Sam answered, sarcastically. Although, Jessie was beginning to wonder what exact purpose Sam was serving them. But she wouldn’t abandon him, not yet anyways. They had already been through too much.

“Hey!” said Sam warningly through a mouthful of food, “I’ll show you grumpy old guy, and you’ll be beggin to have the friendly Sam back.”

The little boy lauged at the spectacle and ran back to his family. He had a handsome father and what looked to be a loving mother who picked him up her arms and nuzzled him. A little girl, probably his baby sister, clung on to her father’s legs as she observed with awe all the people around her.

Some other Indian children came to play with Dolphin, who was eager for the attention. They fed him bits of turkey and played fetch with turkey bones. Jessie felt like she had been neglecting her canine companion on this adventure, which probably was not a good idea. After all, he was supposedly going to provide some form of protection against the blood thirsty pilgrims, and he deserved to be treated well, only to return the favor later.

Jessie pushed back her chair, stuffed. Ugh I’m not even going to be able to move for hours, forget about some kind of action packed rescue effort for Donny. The other two seemed to be done eating as well. Noticing this, Squanto approached them.

“Did you find everything enjoyable, my friends and honored guests?”

“It was wonderful” said Jessie. “Thank you so much”.

“It is our pleasure to provide the chosen one there’s that title again and her companions with whatever they desire”.

“I think I could get used to livin like this” Sam said. Jessie sensed that Squanto was somewhat disconcerted by this. They were supposed to be heroes on a mission to save her innocent brother and end the evil reign of the pilgrims, not pigging out on the Indian’s food. She hoped Sam had not lost sight of the goal.

Jessie decided she would have to prove their intent to Squanto by herself. “Could you please take us to Chief Montachusa now?” she requested.

The Indian seemed pleased by her statement and perceived motivation. “Of course chosen one ahhhh! please come with me.”

They crossed a small field toward a tee pee that was much larger than the rest. In fact, as they got closer, Jessie realized it even had many rooms and two stories to it. The chief appeared to live in style. They entered an ornate waiting room of sorts, with huge chairs lined with bear fur. The Indian offered them all a seat, and they accepted.

Somebody from another room came in and whispered something in Squanto’s ear. He nodded and said, “I apologize, but there will be a slight delay in your meeting with the Chief. He is currently in an extremely important meeting of his own with the elders of the village. It should not be too much longer.”

What could be more important than seeing “the chosen one”? Jessie wondered. These chairs are sooo comfortable. She looked over at Sam and Ben, both who had already closed their eyes. What’s that thing in turkey that makes you tired? Trypto…something. I can’t fall asleep though. I need to meet with the chief. Gotta save Donny….I just need to think for a moment…..

Jessie looked around her. She didn’t seem to be inside of the Chief’s tee pee any longer. Where is Sam? Where is Ben? Where am I? It was fairly dark down here, wherever she was, an eery glow in the sky. Her surroundings were very peculiar indeed, she was propped up against a large black rock, facing a forest. She thought she heard footsteps. Carefully and quietly, she turned around and peeked over the rock.

A tall hat with a buckle wrapped around it passed by. She didn’t dare look any lower, and ducked back behind the rock. After taking a few minutes to catch her breath, she checked back around the rock. The Pilgrim was approximately 50 yards away, pacing back and forth. He was guarding something. Then Jessie heard a different noise that made her heart jump. It was Donny’s screams.

“GO AWAY!”

“Be silent” a voice hissed.

“NO I WANNA GO HOME I HATE YOU GUYS”

“Child, if you do not silence yourself, we are going to hurt you”

“really?” Donny asked, a little scared. It made Jessie want to cry.

“yesss” a pilgrim hissed back.

Donny started to wail loudly. “MOMMMMYY DADDDY DENNNY JESSSIE!”

“We warned you!”

Jessie watched in horror as a pilgrim took something out of a fire pit. It looked to a long iron rod, with a buckle at the end of it. The buckle glowed a bright red from being in the coals.

Oh my God. Are they going to, to….she didn’t want to even imagine the words.

Brand him?

The very thought made her scream out. The pilgrims slowly turned their heads to face her, but she never saw their faces.

Instead, she felt Ben shaking her out of her sleep.

“Jessie! Jessie! Are you okay?” he asked. Jessie was breathing heavily, and shaking uncontrollably. Somehow she managed to reach into her pocket and inhale the medication from her inhaler.

Indians that had been in other parts of the tee pee now came into the waiting room to see what had happened. They looked with curiousity at the device Jessie had put into her mouth and were surprised at the almost instant relief it provided her.

“We heard you yelling in your sleep” Ben said, “what happened?”

“A bad dream.” Jessie said. She hoped that was all it was. I don’t think I could handle it being anything more.

Squanto had entered the room now. “Is everything all right?” he asked.

“Yes.” Jessie said, as confident as she could. “Just a bad dream”

“A vision?” Squanto asked.

“No.” Jessie said flatly. “It was only a dream”.

“Very well then. The Chief is ready to see you now.” He ushered them into another room, and the three mortals followed.

For Jessie, the feelings of complacency were through. Time may not have an affect up here, but she could no longer bear to think the horrors that Donny was experiencing. She needed answers from Chief Montachusa, or she was going into the Colony to save Donny, with or without the help of the Indians.

Chapter 13- Squanto

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:32:00 GMT

A noticably different style of writing, yes? I like the sharp contrast at the end though

“Squanto?” said Sam, confused. “Isn’t Squanto that Indian guy from like tons of years ago?”

“Yeah” agreed Ben, “he helped the pilgrims survive the harsh New England winters.”

“That is true” Squanto answered. He looked like he had walked right out a history book. He wore a dark brown deer skins that looked as though it would be more appropriate for summer, and not this cold November air. Around his waist was a belt containing a few tools.

Sam held his shotgun up, menacingly. “So how do we know that you’re not here to help them now?”

“Please. I am a friend. I never helped the evil worshippers, only the Puritans, who were good at heart. I have been sent here by the Great Being, to put an end to the evil ways of these pilgrims.” the Indian insisted.

“Great Being huh?” Sam said. “Well that’s good enough for me. So what do we do now then?”

“Come with me.” Squanto said, “and I shall help you.” He turned around headed away from the bridge. The three of them followed the Indian, Jessie just as eager as the others. Her sense of urgency was significantly softened, she believed that God really had sent an answer to her prayers, and he was going to provide the assistance they needed to rescue Donny.

Dolphin ran up to Squanto and playfully jumped around him. Putting a high degree of trust in her dog, Jessie unleashed him, and he happily trotted along next to the Indian. Squanto picked up a stick and played fetch with Dolphin as they continued on their way. It made sense to Jessie that Squanto was so friendly with the dog, after all, the pilgrims of Milford hated them.

Soon, they came to a large oak tree. Squanto removed a hatchet from his belt and pressed the side of it firmly against the tree trunk. To everyone’s astonishment, the large mahogany tree trunk began to separate just enough for the four of them to slip inside. It was pitch black inside, and the feelings of comfort Jessie had been experiencing slipped away. But only for a moment. Squanto used a flint from his belt to provide a small light on the inside.

It smelled terrible in the tree. “Sorry” Sam said, “Left over Mexican food this morning.” Jessie groaned silently, but smirked.

“Would you all kindly stay against this back wall? The Indian requeted as he closed his eyes and muttered some sort of incantation.

Far above her, Jessie heard a kind of whooshing noise. She then immediately felt a draft. She looked up, but didn’t see much of anything. Sensing that Jessie and Ben were curious as to what was happening the pilgrim smiled and held up the makeshift torch. Jessie was awestruck as she looked upwards. A huge wooden staircase was extending downward towards the group, spiraling from the unlimited ceiling. It was the most majestic thing Jessie had ever seen, despite the fact that it was just a simple wooden staircase. The amazing thing was its dramatic height. How are we gonna get to the top? Jessie wondered, it seems to go on forever. Humans could never create something this amazing.

With a brilliant thud, the staircase reached the ground.

“Holy crap!” Sam exclaimed, also in awe of the staircase, “are we supposed to climb up that thing?”

“Do not worry” Squanto said reassuringly, “It is enchanted by the Great Being. You will find the experience most enjoyable I think.”

Ben was the first to step onto the staircase. “It’s fine guys, it feels just like normal stairs.” Jessie followed him on next, followed by Sam. The Indian climbed on last, and looked up into the sky, chanting more incantations.

“Please hold on tightly to the railing” said a smiling Squanto.

“Uh-oh is this gonna be one of those fast spinny things?” asked Sam worriedly, “I get cah sick and all that, it won’t be pretty.”

Nobody paid much attention to Sam at the moment.

Suddenly, the stairs began to wind slowly, and Jessie gripped tightly onto the railing. But instead of a rapid ascension, the trip upwards was slow, with the staircase gently revolving. For the first thirty seconds or so, they went upward in relative darkness, the only light being emitted by Squanto’s small torch, that somehow was not affected by the rush of air. But soon, something amazing and inspiring happened. The mystical tree around them became transparent. Jessie and Ben gasped simotaneously. They could see for hundereds of miles around them, and the view was spectactular on this clear, crisp, autumn day. It was similar to taking off in an airplane, only dramatically faster. For a few seconds, Jessie located her Grandma’s house. But quickly, the house and Sam’s bookstore became unrecognizable as they soared higher into the air. As they rose higher, Jessie wondered why her ears weren’t popping from the altitude change. It probably had to do with remaining inside the tree, or something. She could barely make out a faint, and mostly clear cylinder surrounding them.

“It’s like we’re on a ferris wheel or something” said Ben. Jessie laughed to herself. Ben could be so simple minded sometimes. A ferris wheel? Come one, this is breathtaking. And all you can compare it to is a stupid ride at an amusement park? But for fear of making an awkward relationship even more awkward, Jessie instead replied with a hollow, “yeah, it is”.

“We have almost reached our destination” Squanto said, “Please hold on to the railings very tightly.” Within seconds of this statement, the staircase came to an abrupt halt. To Jessie, Ben, and Sam, it still appeared as though they were suspended in thin air.

“I don’t see anythin” said Sam, “there’s nothin here”

“Patience, my friend” Squanto said as he recited the magic words once more to the sky. Where the wall of the tree trunk once stood, a curtain made of animal skin, similar to a tent opening, had appeared. The Indian stepped off the top step of the stairs and beckoned them inside.

Sam approached the top step of the stairs tentatively, afraid this was all some cruel joke and he would be plummeting back to earth soon. Squanto seemed to sense his uncertaintly and offered his arm. Sam grabbed the Indian’s wrist with his meaty paw and Squanto lifted him toward the curtain with ease. Dolphin, who had been mostly quiet and still the whole ride, now was eager to get his legs on terra firma. He leapt the small gap between the stairs and the platform where the enterance to Squanto’s world lay. Jessie took Squanot’s hand and hoisted herself up with help from a push from Ben who was behind her (did he just touch my butt?).

The three of them, along with Dolphin, stepped through the curtain. It was sunny up here. There were overlooking a forested area, but Jessie could see that some trees had been cut down to provide a clearing for teepees and farms. The word and the sensation of nature filled her mind.

“Welcome” Squanto said, with open arms, “to the Reservation”.

“The reservation?” said a confused Ben. “I thought that the Indians hated reservations.”

“It is true my people did not like to be forced onto smaller and less fertile land by the white man. However we have come here by our own choosing. You see, just as the Pilgrims you fear so made a deal with the master of evil, my tribe has made a deal with the Great Being. While they reside close to the Devil’s domain of Hell, we are forever here, close to the Great Being’s domain of Heaven.”

The three mortals were stunned by the natural beauty of the reservation. In the distance, a majestic river shone brilliantly in the sun. Eagles soared overhead, and children ran through golden fields. It seemed to be the exact opposite of the human world. It’s so peaceful, so serene, I wish I could stay here forever Jesse thought in wonderment.

“Come. Let us walk. There is someone you must meet if you wish to save your kin, young one.” spoke Squanto’s calm, confident, and soothing voice.

And Donny will be saved. At that moment, Jessie felt that there was no way such good could ever be overcome by evil. I will be unstoppable. I know it.

But all was not well. In her haze of supreme bliss and faith, Jessie forgot about the power of evil that has been entrenched and brooding for hundreds of years. For the Pilgrims knew. They always knew. And Squanto and his newfound posse had not gone into the magical tree unseen. Or unheard. They crept out of the bushes, poured out from underneath the bridge, and surrounded the tree. When the time was right, one of them would press the side of their own sharp, hatchet into the great oak tree. And then the harvest would begin.

Chapter 12- Bridges

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:49:08 GMT

Soooo I'm pretty much out of plot ideas, but hey I crossed 20,000!

Jessie stomped out of the apartment building and untied Dolphin from the railing. He had been barking impatiently for quite some time now. He too seemed to sense Jessie’s urgency to get her brother back safely. What a waste of time that was.

Ben followed her out the door, “Jessie, where are you going?”

“To the bridge. I’m not wasting any more time.”

“Wait a minute kid” she heard Sam say.

“What?” she said back, in a rough fashion.

“Slow down, we gotta think.”

“Yeah, well we tried that. And we’re no better off then we were hours ago. I’m sick of waiting around. I’m going.”

“Listen to what your saying. You think you can just waltz into that colony or whatever, and your brother is gonna be waiting to jump into yer arms? Ya think that the pilgrims are ready to throw a welcome party for you and tell you what a smart little girl you are for figuring out where they live?”

Jessie winced. Yeah I know it’s stupid, but what else am I gonna do? she thought to herself as she kept on walking.

“Don’t be so selfish” Sam called out.

Selfish? Selfish! Jessie spun on her heals and turned around to face Sam. “How the hell am I being selfish! I’m risking my life to go and save my little brother, and you’re calling me selfish?!”

“I’m not saying you don’t have good intentions and all, but think about what you’d do to your parents. And your grandmotha. And your other little brotha. They’ve already lost one of their family membas, do you want them to lose anotha?”

“Yeah,well…” Jessie started, but Sam interrupted her.

“And what about the kid you gotta save, Donny? Doesn’t he deserve betta? Wouldn’t he want somebody who actually has a plan to come save him, rather than someone who’s just gonna go in there willy nilly and get everyone killed? Don’t ya think?”

He was right, and Jessie knew it. In a few seconds, her shoulders began to shudder and she lost control of her emotions. The situation was too much for her. She leaned against a brick wall along side an apartment building and started to cry. She had failed her family and her brother by not being able to find anything useful out.

Ben came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s gonna be ok. We’ll get your brother. We’ll think of something”.

“Come on” said Sam, “Lets go back to the store, we’ll think of a plan.”

Back at the bookstore, the three of them sat in the main room, in a circle on the large armchairs and talked about the situation. The concept was simple enough, get Jessie’s brother, and get out of there. She had almost given up hope on finding a way to actually stop the pilgrims. Every path that started out with a promise of giving her clues on how to end their reign of terror had turned out to be a dead end. For now, her brother was all the mattered.

“So how are we gonna do this?” Ben asked.

Sam shrugged. “Well there’s not much to it. You and the girl are gonna take the dog and I’ll bring my shotgun. We got 2 walkie talkie things, you two can share one and I’ll have one. You guys sneak around all quietly and when you find the kid you call for me and I’ll see if I can take out a few of the pilgrims. We get the kid and we get the hell outta there.”

“You think the dog will be enough protection?” Ben asked.

“I think it will be. By all accounts, those things hate dogs. They’re terrified by them. You guys should be ok. But maybe you guys should carry a gun, just in case. I got a few, you guys know how to use them?”

Guns? Jessie thought nervously. She hated guns, and always felt uncomfortable around them. The thought of her and Ben having to use one made her shudder. “No…I don’t” she said.

“I do” piped in Ben. “I’ve been hunting with my dad a lot, I know how to handle one.”

“Ok then, lemme show you what I got.” Sam said, and Ben followed him into the back room.

This made Jessie feel a little better. At least he’s used them before and isn’t trying to impress me by being macho and pretending he can handle one.

In her solitude, she thought about her parents. What could they be going through right now? At least Jessie knew where Donny was. They probably figured some kidnapper had him tied down in a truck somewhere, driving as far away as possible, when in reality he was so close by. She wondered if they were worried about her. Would they really believe her grandmother’s explanation that she went over Ben’s house? Jessie wouldn’t have believed it herself. And what about Grandma? She must have it toughest of all, knowing that Jessie was in mortal danger. Not only that, she had to lie to her son and his wife, all the while keeping Denny happy and comforted.

We’re supposed to all be together this Thanksgiving Day Jessie thought, but we’ve never been so far apart.

The two guys walked back into the room, Ben now holding a shotgun similar to Sam’s, but smaller and sleeker. It looked recently polished, and was a brilliant silver with a smooth wood handle. Jessie found herself admiring it. She marveled at how something so beautiful could be so deadly.

“All right are we ready to go?” Sam asked.

“As ready as we’ll ever be” Jessie responded, and they walked out the door: guns, walkie talkies, and dog in hand.

As they made their way down the street and toward the bridge, Jessie thought of something that she had not considered until just now. If these pilgrims really did exist, which she had already visually confirmed, and they really did make a deal with the devil so that they could relocate to the colony, does this mean there was a God? Jessie had never considered herself a religious person, and her family had not gone to church in quite some time. But it seemed impossible to her that there would only be a devil, the supreme being of evil, and nothing to represent goodness in the world. So I guess this means that there is a God after all Jessie thought. It felt good to know that there was somebody else on their side.

They turned off the road and began to walk path that Jessie’s grandfather had walked years ago, in his own quest to enter the colony. Ben and Sam had their hands on the triggers of their respective guns, ready to shoot if they should be attacked. Jessie kept Dolphin close. They were almost there now. In a few seconds, the bridge came into view. It was an old, but relatively large wooden bridge, covered with leaves. It looked to be in good shape, but that was because hardly anyone ever crossed it.

“This is it” Sam said. They approached it carefully, as if expecting to see pilgrims hiding under it, ready to attack them. But there was nothing there. They scanned the underside of the bridge, which was lined with stones. After a few minutes, it was Ben who found the first clue.

“Come over here guys!” he exclaimed excitedly. “It’s a pilgrim hat!”

Sure enough, there was an imprint of a pilgrim’s hat on one of the stones. It was colored in black except for the buckle. Jessie immediately knew what to do.

“I know!” she said, “I just have to take one of the buckles and fit it on the hat painting. It must be like a key!” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the buckle.

She hovered it over the imprint, and that familiar feeling of fear and dread surged over her. Do I even realize what I’m doing here? Who knows what’s inside here. They could be waiting for me, we could all be dead in two seconds.

“Come on kid, do it!” Sam ordered, “your brotha’s waiting.”

Suddenly Dolphin started barking wildly at something behind them.

An unfamiliar voice spoke, “I would not do that if I were you”.

The three of them wheeled around, Sam and Ben ready to shoot.

It was an Indian.

“Please, do not harm me. I am here to help.”

Sam didn’t put down his gun. “Who the hell are you!” he demanded.

“My name is Squanto.”

Jessie stared at the Indian. To her, he looked like an angel.

Chapter 11- A Chat with Al Kennington

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:34:43 GMT

Just wait till you see the next chapter....18,787 now

“Hey there Al” Sam said, nodding to Jessie and Ben as if to say, see I told you so, “I’m doing alright. How bout you?”

“Ya know, for a dead guy, I’m not feelin all that bad” Jessie’s grandfather said. He had thin, but dark, brown hair and deep brown eyes. To Jessie, it didn’t seem like he had aged at all since his death.

“Who are all yer friends Sam?” the head of Jessie’s grandfather asked. His eyes were first drawn to the extravagantly dressed Madame Polaski, who was looking very pleased with herself.

“I, spirit, am the enlightened Madame Polaski, who has conjured your prescense to the human realm at this moment.”

“Errr..that’s good” said a confused Jessie’s grandfather. I hope he doesn’t think everyone in the future is like this Jessie thought. “What about these two” he asked, “Who are these kids?”

Sam first gestured towards Ben. “This is a kid who lives in town. Name’s Ben. His mom had a run in with the pilgrims a few years back, and she didn’t make it.”

“Sorry to hear that Ben, who’s yer girlfriend?”

Ben couldn’t seem to find words at the moment. The fact that they were actually communicating to a dead man had freaked him out to a point where he was completely speechless.

Sam butted in. “That’s your granddaughter, Jessie.”

“I have a grandaugther?” he said, in slight disbelief. “Your dad name’s Bill?”

Jessie nodded.

“Ha! I never thought that kid would actually get a girl. So what’s the deal-io Jessie? You doing a science project or something?” he said, snickering.

“Ummm..well no” Jessie said, unsure of herself. Sam decided to give her a little help.

“She wants to know about the pilgrims, Al. That’s why she’s here.”

“Pilgrims? Sweety, yer better off knowing nothing at all about those damn things. I wanted to know more about them, and look what happened to be. I’m just a floatin head in some crystal ball.”

“But Grandpa” woah that sounds weird, “I need to know.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you have grandsons too.”

“I do? Well where the heck are they? Ya should’ve brought them instead of your little sweatheart here”.

“I couldn’t. The pilgrims have one of them.”

Jessie’s grandfather’s mouth dropped open. Madame Polaski let out a small, “eeep!”.

Jessie continued. “That’s why I needed to talk to you Grandpa. They took my brother last night, and who knows what they are going to do to him. We might not have much time.”

“See, don’t you hate her style? Always savin the important stuff for last” Sam commented.

“Alright kid, tell me what you know” her grandfather said.

Jessie took a moment to collect her thoughts. “Well, until yesterday, I didn’t know anything at all about pilgrims. But while I was taking my dog on a walk yesterday, I ended up talking to Ben, and he told me the history of the pilgrims.”

Her grandfather interrupted her, “I wish I remembered to take my dog on my walk. Then maybe I would actually be talking to you in person, and not inside somebody’s attic with just my head floatin around”.

“This is not some common attic, spirit” Madame Polaski interjected, “It is a séance room where deep spiritual connections take place!”

“Whatever” said Sam, “finish up your story, kid, so we can get outta here”.

“Alright” Jessie said. “So as I was saying, Ben told me the history of the pilgrims. And then later..”

“Wait a minute, how much you know about their history is important. What did he tell you?”

Jessie did her best to remember what Ben told her. I don’t see why Ben can’t tell it, he’s right here. Whatever. I’ll just get on with it. “Well, I know that they came across the ocean from England because people didn’t like their Satanist religion.”

“Didn’t like them? They hated them! They were ready to kill them. They had to flee for their lives.”

“Alright Al” Sam said, “Just let the kid tell her story”.

“Sorry” her grandfather said.

Jessie continued on. “So they came to Massachusetts, and settled far west of where most of the pilgrims settled because they couldn’t live anywhere near each other with their religious differences. Then the Indians came along and started attacking them because they didn’t like their religion.”

“Course they didn’t like” her grandfather interrupted again, “it involved sacrificing young Indian girls to the devil!”

“I didn’t know that” Jessie said softly.

“I guess they don’t teach you that stuff in school” her grandfather said.

Sam cleared his throat. “Finish up your story Jessie.”

“Well then Ben told me that the pilgrims were afraid of being attacked by the Indians, since they knew there was no way they could possibly come up with enough soldiers to defeat them. So they made the deal with the devil, and they moved underground to that place near hell where they have been ever since.

“So ya know about the colony then huh?” her grandfather said.

“The colony? No, not at all. I just know it exists” Jessie replied.

“I spent my whole life searchin for the colony. It almost killed me. Oh wait, I guess it did kill me, ha!”

“It’s at the bridge isn’t it?” Jessie asked.

“How the hell do you know that! It took me years to figure that out!”

“I found it written on one of your papers” Jessie said, holding up the paper she was referring to.

Jessie’s grandfather grinned, “cheater” he said. Jessie could almost sense that he was proud of his granddaughter for having the same investigative spirit that he did when he was alive.

“So what do we do now?” Ben said.

“What do ya do?” Jessie’s grandfather repeated. “Ya go there, that’s what! Your wastin your time, talkin to me.”

“We are?” Jessie asked.

“Well that’s all I know! I would’ve went in there myself and did some more investigatin, but hey, funny story, they killed me first!”

“So what makes you think we will be more successful?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know, hopefully you guys will be more prepared. Bring a dog or something, and some guns. Kill as many of those bastards as you can, and get the hell outta there with your brother. No need to hang around, right?”

“But we need to put a stop to this! What if they attack again?” Jessie cried out.

“Hopefully you’ll have the commense sense to never look into this stuff again. You don’t owe anybody else nothin. Everybody’s gotta cover their own ass and hope the rest’ll do the same.”

Once again, that feeling of hopelessness overcame Jessie. She couldn’t believe that her grandfather had such little sense of helping out your fellow man. She pushed out her chair. “Thanks Grandpa. Bye.”

“Hey kid, where are you going?” Sam asked.

“To rescue my brother. And put an end to this.” Jessie said.

“Listen to me girlie, do what you gotta do to get your brother outta there, but don’t get yourself killed thinking that you’re doing some good for someone else. If I couldn’t do it, a little girl sure isn’t going to do any better.” her grandfather said.

“I don’t care what you think, I’m going to stop them!” Jessie yelled.

“Wait for me Jessie!” Ben yelped, following her down the stairs. Sam moved to get up as well.

“This is not the proper way to conduct a séance! Not proper at all!” Madame Polaski squeaked.

“You’re all idiots! Every one of ya!” her grandfather’s head yelled, as his face slowly swirled away into clouds of oblivion inside the crystal ball. Madame Polaski was soon the only one left in the attic.

“My word, evil pilgrims? What a bunch of crazies!”

Chapter 10- Madame Polaski's

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 06:27:06 GMT

I actually had fun writing this one. Over a third of the way to 50,000...now at 17,486!

Sam smirked at his suggestion while Ben and Jessie looked at each other with extreme confusion. Has he lost it? Jessie wondered.

“So what do you kids think? How bout it? Sam said.

“I think it’s a great idea.” Ben said. “There’s only one problem. Al Kennington is dead!”

“True, true” Sam said. “But why should that matter?”

Jessie was angry now. “Will you stop playing games with us?” She could almost feel her blood boiling. “In case you forgot, my brother is missing. Who knows what they’re doing to him right now. We might not have long. Now either tell us your plan or stop wasting our time.”

“Okay, okay sorry”.

And he did look genuinely sorry. “What I’m saying is I know this person who might be able to help us talk to Al. She’s my cousin, I’ve seen her do it before.”

“And how is she gonna do that?” Jessie asked.

“She’s one of those psychic people, ya know, someone who can talk to ghosts or dead guys or whateva”

“You mean a medium?” Ben said.

“Ya, ya, that’s it. I’ll go call her right now.”

Sam went back into the main room to call his cousin up on the telephone. Jessie sat down and rubbed her eyes.

“I don’t know about this guy, Ben”. Jessie said.

“Me neither, but what else can we do?” Ben replied.

“What if we’re just wasting our time? Maybe we should forget about this guy and just go find Donny”

“You know we can’t do that”

“Why not?”

“Because we have no idea what we’re doing. We can’t just waltz in to their hideout or whatever and expect your brother to be just sitting there, waiting to be rescued. They know you are gonna come after them. We need a plan, we need to be prepared for them.”

I know thought Jessie. But it’s so hard to wait. All my hopes are being put in the hands of this weird book store guy that I just met yesterday.

Jessie nodded in agreement with Ben. They sat quietly for a few minutes, consumed in their own thoughts until Jessie spoke up again.

“Ben?” she asked.

“Yes?”

“Why are you here? You don’t need to be.”

“I’ve got plenty of reasons to be here” Ben answered. “My whole life, I’ve hardly ever known anything about my mother, or how she died. Now I feel like, she’s right here with me, and she would want me to be an investigator, just like she was.”

“I know how you feel.” Jessie said. “Even though I never met him, I feel closer to my grandfather than ever. And if we do really get to talk to him, like Sam said, maybe he’ll get a chance to tell me that I remind him of himself. I think I would like that.”

Ben was quiet for a moment and then looked at Jessie. “You know, I’m here for you too. You shouldn’t have to go through this alone. I’ve only met that little guy once, but I sure wouldn’t want anything to happen to him.”

“Thanks” Jessie said. She smiled. It was amazing how the walls of tensions between them were slowly beginning to crumble. This adventure was only just beginning, but Jessie felt like she at least had a friend who would be there with her through the tough times. And she needed it now more than ever.

Jessie heard the sound of a telephone being put back into its cradle in the other room. Sam walked back in.

“Good news. My cousin said she’d be glad to see us. She lives just a few houses down, let’s getta move on.”

The three musketeers walked out of the bookstore and into the cold November air that is so common in New England. Jessie shivered as Sam slowed down to talk with them.

“Now there are a couple’a things you should know about my cousin. She’s a little bit, whadya call it, eccentric, so listen to me about make sure you do what I tell ya to do. First, you gotta make sure you always address her as Madame Polaski, and nuttin else. That’s most important, she’s big on titles. Make sure you neva question her skills or anything like that, or she’ll get real mad at ya. And also, don’t go touchin any of her things. She’ll freak if ya break anything, or even touch it for that matta. So be careful.”

Great. Just what my brother needs to be rescued faster, me dealing with another crazy person from this town. She sounds even more crazy than Sam here.

Leading the way, Sam turned a corner and walked up the stairs into what Jessie presumed was Madame Polaski’s building. It was wedged between two industrial mills, constructed entirely of bricks, with purple shades and window shutters. Sam hit a button underneath a speaker by the door.

“Cousin, is that you?” asked a voice that had a Eastern European accent to it, and a fake one at that.

“Yeah it’s me, Madame Polaski” said Sam. “Could you let us in please?”

“Why certaintly love, come right in!” the voice said.

Jessie giggled. “Even you have to call her Madame Polaski?”

“Shut up, I took you here, you ungrateful little jerk”

They walked up 3 flights of stairs before reaching her door.

“You two remember the rules?”

“Yep” said Jessie.

“Mhm” said Ben.

“Alright then.” Sam knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” the singsong voiced asked.

What is with this woman? This is ridiculous. Jessie thought, annoyed.

“It’s cousin Sam, Madame Polaski, remember?”

“Oh silly me, you and your friends can come right on in”.

Sam opened the door slowly.

“Woah” said Jessie outloud. A wave of incense hit her as soon as the door was opened. The smell was overpowering. Good thing I brought the inhaler, I’m gonna need it she thought.

“Hello cousin! Hello children!” Madame Polaski said. She was dressed in a purple shroud with a purple sorcerors hat on her bright red hair. Big, sparkly, blue and red brooches were scattered all over her clothes and atop her head. Inside the apartment were all sorts of items that you might find at curio shops. Crystal balls, candles, and tons of figurines filled the entire living room. It was organized chaos. All the shades were drawn tightly shut, and the lamps were covered with purple lampshades, creating a strange, violet glow that permeated the apartment.

“Hello Madame Polaski” Jessie and Ben said. Ben held out is hand so that she might shake his, but she simply ignored it.

“I just adore having people come to visit.” She reached down to small table and picked up a plate. “Here, when I heard you were coming over, I made some delicious gingersnaps for everybody.”

Jessie looked at the contents of the plate. It certaintly didn’t look as though they were freshly made. She took one, just to be polite. “Thank you” she said.

“How about you, young man, won’t you have one? she asked, batting her eyes at Ben.

“Oh, umm, no thanks, my dad told me not to eat anything….” Sam was glaring at him and Ben instantly realized that it would not be wise to displease Madame Polaski. “You know what, I think I’d love to have one.”

“I wish you could enjoy one cousin, but I know you have your bloodsugar problem.” Sam winked at Jessie. She had seen him eat a Hershey bar earlier, she knew he was just trying to escape eating Madame Polaski’s undoubtedly poor quality cuisine.

“Well what are you waiting for my dears, have a bite!”

Jessie took a bite. As she expected, it was as stale as could be. Did she mistake the salt for the sugar or something? “Mmmmm” she said, trying her best not to grimace in disgust. She thought about asking for something to drink, but decided that she didn’t want to know what Madame Polaski had to offer in the beverage department. She looked over at Ben, who was also trying to down his cookie without having it come back up. Jessie scanned the room for a trash can or other place that she could ditch the cookie, but Madame Polaski was staring at her with her big, purple eyes, and an overly wide smile that made her cheeks bulge out. This lady is creeping me out Jessie thought. She shoved the rest of it into her mouth and tried not to think about how dry and unflavorful it was.

“You have a very interesting house Madame Polaski” Ben said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence and get her to stop staring at both of them. He succeeded in breaking the silence, but the staring continued.

“Why thank you darling! What a lovely thing to say!” she said, clasping her hands together. “I get so many new and wonderful things from people all the time, and I always find room for them in my humble little house, don’t I cousin?”

“You know it, Madame Polaski” Sam said.

“Now children, cousin Samuel was telling me over the phone that you wanted to talk to your granddaddy. Are you two brother and sister?”

“No, he lives down the street from me” said Jessie, not bothering to explain she was here on vacation. “It’s my grandfather we want to talk to”

“Ah of course, I see.” “Now have either of you ever been in contact with those who are no longer with us in the physical world?”

“Nope” they both said. So she’s some kind of medium Jessie thought, realizing what Sam’s plan was. Jessie had seen a few mediums and psychics on afternoon talk shows, claiming they could see into the future or communicate with the dead, but she thought they were just scamming people. She couldn’t believe her brother’s fate relied on how much help this crazy old lady could provide.

“It is a very involved process, not at all for the close minded, and those who do not have faith in the beyond.” Madame Polaski said. “We must all believe, that the person we wish to contact, will be here with us in spirit today.”

“Could we please start soon?” Jessie asked. “It’s very important that I talk to my grandfather as soon as possible.”

Madame Polaski glared at her, frowning. She obviously did not like to be bossed around. “The process cannot be rushed” she insisted. “But if you must be in such a hurry, then we can proceed to the spirit room.”

She led the three of them down a hallway and up some stairs, into her attic. The room was very dark, and only a few candles were lit. Compared to the other rooms, it was relatively bare. There was a medium sized wooden table in the middle of the room with 4 chairs surrounding it. In the center of the table was a crystal ball.

A crystal ball? thought Jessie, Are you kidding me?

The four of them gathered around the table, waiting for Madame Polaski to make the first move. First, she went around with a match, lighting sticks of incense that were placed in the corners of the room.

“Do you think we might be able to do without the incense?” Jessie asked.

“Why, absolutely not my dear! How can we expect the spirits to contact us, if the correct mood is not achieved?”

“Ok, no problem” Jessie replied. If I can’t stand the smell, I bet some of the spirits can’t either.

“Please, my dears, sit down.” They did, and the floor creaked under the sudden increase of weight upon it. Jessie was sitting in between Madame Polaski and Ben, across from Sam.

“Now, we must all join hands.”

Sam grunted, disliking this idea. Madame Polaski’s long purple nails dug into Jessie’s hand, but she didn’t mind so much. What she was concentrating on was Ben’s firm grasp on her other hand. His hand was nice and warm, and it made her feel safe.

For a few awkward minutes, they all looked down at the table in silence. Sam looked around, obviously uncomfortable. “Hey Madame Polaski, do ya think we can get started her or what, it’s been a while now and..”

“WE MUST NOT SPEAK WHILE WE WAIT FOR THE SPIRITS!” Madame Polaski shrieked, causing everyone at the table to jump in their chairs.

“Sorry” Sam muttered, and he shut up for the next few minutes.

About 10 more minutes went by. Jessie was starting to get angry now. Every minute they wasted was a minute that could have been spent on trying to rescue her brother. “Madame Polaski, I can’t wait any longer.”

“Have patience child.” Madame Polaski said firmly.

“No.” Jessie shot back. “My brother is in danger. I don’t know what’s going to happen to him. If this isn’t gonna work, I can’t spend any more time here, I need to go save him.”

“Your brother is in danger?” Madame Polaski asked, wide eyed.

“Well..yes” Jessie answered. She wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to tell Madame Polaski the whole story. So far, this woman had been pretty useless.

“What has happened to him? Perhaps I can use my powers to try and contact him telepathically. What is his name?”

“I’m sorry Madame Polaski, I really have to go. Thank you for trying to help me.” She pushed back her chair and stood up, ready to leave. “Are you guys coming?”

“Wait!” Ben exclaimed.

“What?” Jessie asked.

“Look at the crystal ball!” He pointed at it excitedly.

Indeed, something was happening to it. The previously cloudy sphere was now coming into focus, swirling to form a shape that resembled a head.

Jessie was captivated. She knew that face. It was her grandfather. She shakily sat back down in the chair.

“SPIRIT!” Madame Polaski bellowed. “SPEAK TO US!”

Jessie’s grandfather blinked. He looked around the table.

“Why if it isn’t Sam Theriot. How the hell are ya buddy? Shouldn’t you be celebratin on this fine Thanksgiving Day?”