Meadowview Acres (26 page)

“Are you guys alright? Do you want me to stop?” He asked looking at the pain registered on their faces.

“No,” Eli said forcefully. “This has to happen. I’m fine.” He looked over at Hunter.

“I’m sorry,” Hunter said. With that, he grabbed the nearest trash can and went to the front of the classroom, as far away from them as he could get. There he commenced to reacquaint himself with the lunch he had eaten a few hours previously.

“Tell me if you want me to stop,” Mr. Just told Eli. “Otherwise, I’m just going to keep truckin’.”

He saw Eli nod his head and returned to the backpack. He unzipped it and pulled the metal box from within. He still felt nothing. He hadn’t told the boys, but, when he had touched the handle of the suitcase, he had felt a jolt, like the earth shifting just a little. It didn’t hurt, it was just an odd feeling. It reminded him of that last little bump that an elevator makes right before the doors open. Right now, though, he felt nothing. He could hear Hunter at the front of the room still retching.

He took the metal box from his desk over to the lab table. Phillip placed the metal box carefully beside the large plastic bin. Then, he opened the box. As he inspected the artifact with his eyes, he surveyed his body for any discomfort.
Nothing, continue.

He put on his gloves and reached into the box. It looked like a piece of ordinary rock that had been broken off of a bigger one. Its shape was not quite a triangle but looked like it had been part of a corner. It was much larger than he had expected, about six inches at its widest point and around two at its tip. Phillip picked it up and brought it to his face for a closer examination. There were no markings on the rock at all. Nothing remarkable could be seen by the naked eye. He placed it in the bin.

“Mr. Just?”

The sound of Eli’s voice startled Phillip. He was so intrigued with his experiment that he had almost entirely forgotten about the boy. “What is it?”

“Are you feeling alright?” Eli asked.

“So far, I’m cool.” Something in the way Eli was looking at him made him ask, “Why?”

Eli pointed to the sink in the corner of the classroom. There was a mirror attached to the wall above. “I think you should go look.” The boy’s eyes were a little wider than normal causing Phillip’s stomach to do a little flip. As he walked over to the mirror, he could still hear dry heaving at the other end of the room. Then he heard Hunter say, “Whoa!”

More curious than afraid, he got to the mirror and peered at his reflection. His mouth became an “O” as he stared. He still wore his hair in a long pony tail down his back. That was about the only thing he had saved from the seventies. But while just a few moments ago it was mostly dark brown with a few gray strands running through, now, it was completely white.
What the hell?

He reached up and shook it loose from the elastic band. He ran his fingers through it from scalp to ends. Every strand of his hair was white, through and through. It was amazing. He couldn’t seem to look away until he heard Eli again. He sounded defeated.

“You’re not untouchable. We don’t know what else it’s doing to you. We can’t see what’s going on inside of you. I think we should stop now. Or you should. Hunter and I’ll finish.”

Phillip Just turned from the mirror and walked quickly back to the lab desk. “No way, Kiddo, I’m in this now. We’re moving full steam ahead. Go get those safety goggles and put them on.” He motioned to Eli and then got his own goggles fixed in place.

Reaching for the hydrofluoric acid he said, “I don’t have enough for the whole artifact. I wasn’t sure of its size, but looking at it now I know I don’t have enough. The good news is, once we test this out to see if it works, I’ll be able to get more and we can finish the job. For now, I need to break off a little chunk to see how gnarly this will get.”

Eli watched as his teacher got the chisel and placed it on the very edge of the pointiest end of the rock. Then, he took his hammer and hit the end of the chisel. What happened next surprised them all.

The second the chisel’s sharp end went into the rock, a huge spark flew from the crevasse that was created. The spark jolted them both. Mr. Just jumped back and lost his footing, causing him to fall. On the way down, the back of his head connected with the desk directly behind him with a loud “CRACK!” He slumped to the floor unconscious.

Eli involuntarily jumped at the sight of the huge spark. His elbow hit the stand of beakers to his left causing their contents to spill. Reaching out like long fingers over the top of the lab desk, the chemicals soaked through the paper towels and notebook papers that had been strewn about. Eli looked quickly back at the rock and saw that a flame was now issuing from the crack. The last thing Eli remembered seeing was a spark from the rock igniting the wet desk.

Hunter was on his feet in an instant. He had been watching their progress as he held the trash can to his chest. He saw Mr. Just raise the hammer and bring it swiftly down. Then, unexpectedly, Mr. Just startled and fell. He heard a loud crack! Hunter could see the rock. A flash of fire was emitting from the rock itself. He saw Eli’s shocked face looking down at the table, then Eli slowly closed his eyes and collapsed. Hunter watched in horror as the entire lab table burst into flames.

Panic spurred him into action. His adrenaline masked the nausea enough that he dropped the trash can and started toward the back of the room. The smoke was getting thicker by the instant. It was happening too fast, he had to get to Eli and Mr. Just. “Eli!” He yelled. “Mr. Just? Eli?” There was no answer.

He dropped to all fours to get out of the thickest part of the smoke. He could smell the acrid odor of chemicals burning which made it hard to breathe. He made his way on his hands and knees slowly. The smoke was thicker still. He could see a flame up ahead. He knew he had to get Eli and Mr. Just out of there somehow, but he couldn’t see anything. He was coughing, and tears clouded his vision. He bumped into something on the floor in front of him. Grabbing it, he recognized the backpack.
The rock!
He had to get the rock out too.

He knew he was close when he found the pack. He remembered Mr. Just had put it on the desk behind him when he had taken the box out. Hunter reached into the smoke before him, stretching out his arms as far as they would go. He felt something. It was one of the lab table’s legs. He pulled himself up and coughed uncontrollably. The odor was so intense up there. He could barely make out the rock from around the smoke. Being careful not to touch anything else, he opened the backpack and scooped the rock inside. He immediately felt the heat coming from inside the pack.

Hunter dropped back down to his knees and felt around. There was nothing. He crawled slowly forward, still feeling the ground in front of him. It was so hard to breathe, he was getting lightheaded, but still he pushed onward. His left arm grazed something, and Hunter reached out with his hand – a shoe. “Eli!” He sputtered. His voice sounded odd and somehow far away. Eli didn’t answer.

Hunter crawled forward, feeling first the shoe, then a leg. He made it to Eli’s shoulder and tried to shake him. “Eli, wake up! We have to get out of here!”

There was no response from his friend. Hunter could barely breathe. He was beginning to feel dizzy and disoriented, when out of the smoke came a voice.

CHAPTER 29

Darren

D
arren couldn’t stop thinking about the Rock of Varuupi and the legend of the curse. He just couldn’t get his mind around it. He was trying to make himself believe that the curse had killed his father. Even after Shasta had left the night before, the possibility wouldn’t leave his mind. He had stayed up late into the night reading anything he could find online about the curse and the people of the Varuupian tribe. He had gotten very little sleep.

All day at school he had been in a fog. He had seen Eli and Hunter in the cafeteria at lunch and had wanted to talk to them, but he didn’t know what he wanted to say or ask.

Shasta had told him about the plan to take the rock to Mr. Just after school to see if it could be destroyed. For some reason that didn’t sit well with Darren. It seemed very risky. If something were that powerful, powerful enough to harm people without even touching it, what could it do to someone trying to destroy it? The idea bothered him. From what he had learned online last night, in ancient times with some tribes, if a curse did take hold, it was too powerful to be destroyed without some sort of ceremony or counter curse. Darren didn’t think Mr. Just had any knowledge of counter curses.

Shasta had to work at the Hot Dog Hut after school, so Darren went home to check on his mother. It seemed that she was coming to grips with the idea that her husband’s death was more supernatural than medical. For some reason she had an easier time accepting that.

Darren got a snack and watched television. Even while watching the sports network, he couldn’t help thinking of Eli and Hunter at the school with Mr. Just. He tried to push it out of his mind, but it kept creeping in. He wondered what was happening, and if Sheriff Buchanon knew about the rock yet.

Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He texted Shasta, “Going to check on things at school, call you later.” He told his mother that he was going to the school, and he’d be back soon. She just smiled and nodded her head.

On the drive over, his mind came up with different scenarios – some good, some not so good. When he pulled into the parking lot and saw Eli’s car, he felt a little twinge in his stomach. Darren had a bad feeling about this. He parked next to the Flaming Tomato and got out.

He smelled the smoke before he saw it. There it was, coming out of the windows of the science lab. The plumes were thick and white. Completely forgetting to call 911, he sprinted to the closest doors. Yanking them open, he was engulfed in smoke. He couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. There was a chemical smell to the smoke that burned his nostrils. Darren took off his tee shirt and wrapped it around his nose and mouth.

He dropped to his hands and knees along the right side of the corridor. The smoke was thinner down there; he could see a few feet ahead.

Darren knew the science lab was the third classroom on the right. If he crawled along the wall, he could count the doorways and know where he was. He started forward as quickly as possible, not knowing how long Hunter and Eli had already been inside.

His right hand came upon the first doorway quickly. Passing it, he tried to keep his eyes closed and feel his way. He would need as much eyesight as he could get when he found the lab. The second door was not much farther up. He passed it and went quickly on. The hard floor was tough on his knees, but the smoke was worse. Even with the cotton shirt filtering the worst of it, Darren was finding it hard to breathe.

Finally, his hand found the entry to the third classroom. For a second he questioned himself. Was the lab the third room or the fourth one down? He was beginning to get a little lightheaded when he heard a voice from inside the room. “Eli! Wake up!” It was Hunter. Darren heard coughing.

“Hunter!” Darren yelled through the entrance. “It’s Darren, can you hear me?” He broke off then as his throat constricted causing him to cough roughly.

Darren listened through the sounds of wood and paper crackling in the fire. There were loud pops now and then as something combustible in the lab exploded.

Then Hunter’s voice came out of the smoke, “Darren? Yeah, I hear you,” followed by more coughing spasms. Hunter sounded weak.

Darren shouted, “Can you crawl toward my voice?” It was so hard to communicate over the sounds of the fire. His throat felt raw.

“Yeah, I mean no! Eli’s passed out! I can’t drag him! Get help!” He stopped talking and coughed strongly.

“There’s no time,” Darren yelled. “Guide me to you!”

Darren started crawling once again as he recalled the layout of the room. The school desks were in the front of the room. Behind those, in the middle of the room, was Mr. Just’s main lab table with the rest of the lab tables in the back. His hand touched the first desk. He tried to open his eyes, but the smoke in there was worse. It was so dense Darren couldn’t make out shapes or light anywhere.

He heard Hunter’s voice coming from the smoke. “Here, this way!” Hunter guided him toward the back of the classroom.

Darren counted the desks as he progressed toward Hunter’s voice.
Two, three, four.
He prayed they could find their way out of the room.

“This way!” Hunter yelled again, and by the sound of his voice, Darren could tell that he was very close.

“I’m close, almost there! Hold out your arm!” Darren coughed.
Seven, eight, there!
He felt Hunter’s hand hit him in the head.

“I’m here, Hunter!” He reached out and found Hunter’s arm. Grabbing it, he yelled, “Where’s Eli?”

“I’m holding on to him,” Hunter sputtered. “Mr. Just is here, too, but I can’t find him.”

Darren wasted no time. “Pull Eli over to me, give me his hand!” Darren’s breath was coming harder now. He reached into the emptiness of the smoke and felt nothing. After a moment, he felt Hunter’s arm again. Hunter passed him another hand; this one was cold and dry. Grabbing it, Darren turned himself around and yelled to Hunter, “Follow me! Keep track of the desks. We’ll pass eight of them.” He broke off coughing and felt a tightening in his chest. He took a quick moment to recover then yelled back to Hunter, “Eight desks then the doorway! Stay to the left, three doorways down! Let’s go!”