Mortal (30 page)

"Humor me."

Kara exhaled heavily, a little annoyed
by Mr. Patterson’s strange questions and peculiar behavior. She
pursed her lips and contemplated how best to explain her feelings
so that he would be satisfied once and for all.

"It’s like," began Kara,
"it feels like…like that feeling when you’ve forgotten something,
or someone’s name, and you just
can’t
remember what it is. It’s kinda
like that. Like I’m supposed to be doing something, and I just
can’t remember what - but I
know
it’s something
important
. And it’s always there with
me, in the back of my mind, and I just can’t figure out what it
is."

Kara looked directly at Mr.
Patterson.

"It feels like I’m about to see a
glimpse of my destiny, but then it fades away. To tell you the
truth, it’s getting to be really annoying. I just wish I knew what
I’m supposed to know or remember."

Mr. Patterson looked
troubled.

"What? Why are you looking at me like
that? What did I say?"

Mr. Patterson pressed his
fingers on the counter. "And you get these
feelings
often, you say?"

He was questioning her as
if she were in an interrogation room at the police station, just
before she was about to get roughed up. She wished she’d never even
mentioned that stupid feeling she got, whatever
it
was.

Kara rubbed her fingerprints off the
glass on the counter with the sleeve of her grey cardigan. She
didn’t look at her boss.

"Why are you interrogating me like I’m
a criminal? Did I do something wrong? If not, then I wish you’d
stop. It’s as if I’m failing some kind of test."

Mr. Patterson leaned forward. His
voice was tense.

"You did nothing wrong. But
this is
extremely
important."

Kara hesitated. "Why?"

"Because these feelings might mean
that you—"

BOOM!

The hairs on the back of her neck
stood on end, and Kara turned toward the sound. When she realized
she was holding her breath she let it go.

"It came from the window," breathed
Kara shakily. She frowned. "I think those delinquents are back
again. I’m going to kill them for scaring me like that."

Before she could stop him, Mr.
Patterson pulled out the baseball bat he kept hidden behind the
counter.

"They’re going to answer to me this
time!" his voice rumbled with rage, and for a moment Kara was glad
he had temporarily forgotten about her strange feelings. That
interrogation had been awkward enough for an entire
month.

As Mr. Patterson moved from the
counter, his bat swinging above his head, Kara grabbed his elbow
and steered him away.

"Let me check first," she
said.

She lowered his bat with her
hand.

"I think clobbering kids to death with
a bat is a capital offense. We don’t want you to murder anyone just
yet," she laughed. "You have a poetry reading tonight, remember?
Let’s focus on that, shall we? This is just a classic case of child
boredom."

She pointed a finger at him. "You wait
here."

Kara made her way across the room,
bracing herself before telling off the ten-year-old boys who had
been vandalizing the stores along the street since the beginning of
the summer.

"We called the police!" she cried as
she stepped out of the front door. Her face had reddened with the
sudden rush of blood.

"The police are on their
way—"

But there was no one there.

People from across the street stopped
and stared at her like she was crazy. She blushed and looked
away.

She walked along the front of the
store inspecting it for broken glass or any signs of vandalism. But
there was nothing. No kids. No broken glass. Nothing.

"That was weird," Kara brushed her
hair from her eyes.

And just as she started to walk away,
something small and black caught her eye. She turned around and
looked back.

Below the bay window was a large black
bat. Its neck was twisted awkwardly, and its black leathery wings
were limp. It wasn’t moving.

Kara rushed over to the bat and gently
scooped it up in both hands. With tears in her eyes she pressed on
its belly gently, but there was no movement. The bat lay limp in
her hands.

"This is bad," came Mr. Patterson’s
voice behind her.

Kara whirled around.

"I know it’s bad. The poor thing is
dead. I think its neck is broken. But I don’t understand why a bat
would be out now in the middle of the day. Don’t you think that’s
weird?"

She paused.

"Okay, what’s the matter
now?"

Mr. Patterson was eyeing the bat like
it was a bomb about to go off.

"It is a bad omen to see a
bat in broad daylight, and worse to have one hit the window and
die. Day-bats are unnatural. It is a sign that the balance of
things has shifted. Something
unnatural
is near—something not from
this world has entered."

"I’m
so
confused right now."

"Bats, like birds, are messengers.
Something terrible is coming—something dark and evil and not of
this world."

Kara had had about enough of Mr.
Patterson’s strange behavior.

"I think you’ve been cooped up in this
bookstore for too long. I don’t get why people are so afraid of
bats. I mean they’re so cute and smart. Think about how clever they
are to use their echolocation to help them find their meals in the
dark."

Kara felt sorry for the little
creature as she rubbed its fur with her thumb.

"I think a night off reading poetry
might do you some good."

She stared at the bat. Its black eyes
were half closed. "I’m going to take it to the park and find a
place where I can lay it down at peace. It just doesn’t feel right
to put it in the garbage. It should be with nature."

But just as Kara turned, Mr. Patterson
yanked her back.

"No. Leave the bat. I’m
telling you—this is
bad
."

He glanced up into the sky like he was
expecting something dark to come from the clouds and kill
them.

"Ooookkkayyy," said Kara, as she
wiggled out of the old man’s iron grip. "It’s only a dead bat, not
the Ebola virus."

She wondered if Mr. Patterson was
showing the first signs of dementia. His eyes shone bluer than
usual. Was that a sign? She wanted to bury the bat properly,
whether or not the old man objected.

Before Mr. Patterson could grab her
again, Kara bolted across the street.

"I’ll be right back, just give me five
minutes!" she called back and headed for Maple Park at the end of
the block.

Mr. Patterson’s cries echoed in her
ears, but she ignored him and ran harder. She needed some space,
and the park would give her that. She would find a nice place to
lay the bat. It was the least she could do. It did die because of
their window.

When she turned around, she caught a
glimpse of the old man hurrying after her. His mouth and eyes were
wide, but she was too far away to hear what he was saying. As she
ran faster she tried not to look at the bat. The more she looked at
it, the worse she felt.

She entered the park and slowed to a
walk. She searched the grounds for a spot and found a great
crabapple tree. Its deep burgundy leaves rustled in the breeze,
almost like it was summoning her.

"Perfect."

Kara strolled across the lush green
grasses and knelt at the foot of the great tree. Carefully, she
nestled the bat between two large gnarled roots that peeked from
the earth. It looked like a cradle, and it seemed to be made for
the little furry creature.

"There."

She leaned against the tree, satisfied
that she had done the right thing.

Kara sat by the tree. She stared at
the bat and stared out into space for a long time. The mosquitoes
started to bite, and the sky turned a dark blue. She knew she had
stayed too long.

Mr. Patterson would
probably be furious with her. She had expected him to show up at
the park, red-faced and sweating, but he never did. Weird. He
seemed so certain that something bad was about to happen. He seemed
to believe that whatever it was, it was going to happen to
her
. So why wasn’t he
here?

She felt guilty. He was old. He
couldn’t keep up with her seventeen-year-old legs. What if he’d
fallen down and seriously hurt himself? She would never forgive
herself. She had to get back and check on him.

With a final farewell glance at the
bat, Kara pushed herself up. She turned around and almost bumped
into someone.

She jumped back in
surprise.

"David?" she said.

She pressed her hand on her chest.
"You scared me half to death. What are you doing here? I didn’t
even hear you come. How did you know where I was?"

David watched her, but he said
nothing. He was sweating profusely, like he had just run a
marathon. His skin was a pale sickly green, and his bottom lip
trembled. He looked like he had a fever.

"What’s the matter?" said Kara,
breathing hard. "You don’t look well. Are you feeling okay?
David?"

There was something different in the
blue of his eyes and his face, like a shadow, but when she focused
on him again, it was gone.

David wiped his sweaty forehead with
his trembling hand, and Kara noticed a series of deep cuts on his
wrists.

"I need you to come with me
now."

It was David’s voice, but somehow it
was also different, almost like a recording of his
voice.

Kara shifted uneasily. "Come with you
where? David, you don’t look well. Maybe we should go to the clinic
and see the doctor."

He looked over his shoulder and then
surveyed the park before he spoke again.

"You need to come with me," he
repeated, and then added gently. "Please, please come with me.
Now."

"You’re not making any
sense," she said gently. "Besides, I can’t, right now. Sorry. I
need to check on Mr. Patterson. Actually, I need to
apologize
to him if I
want to keep my job—"

"Mr. Patterson?" sneered David. His
voice was coated with venom, and he watched her
intensely.

Kara felt a slow panic begin to stir
in her chest.

David turned away from her and kicked
the ground.

"Those creatures think they are so
very clever. Oracles!" He spat. "The great clairvoyants. The
crystal readers." And then he added in a low voice. "Oracles are
meddlers."

"Did you say
oracle
?"

Kara didn’t remember Mr.
Patterson ever speaking about oracles when David was around. In
fact she was
certain
of it—as certain as Mr. Patterson had been that the bat was a
bad omen.

Kara stepped forward and put her hand
gently on David’s shoulder. "David, what’s the matter? You’re not
yourself."

David glared at her. His voice rose
and his face twisted into an ugly grimace. "Did you forget about
our plans? We had made plans tonight. Come on, let’s go
now."

Kara felt like she’d been punched in
the gut. She stared at David.

"I…I don’t remember, but I’m sure we
did. Why don’t we go back together? I just need to pop by the
bookstore first—"

"No!" David slapped her hand from his
shoulder and laughed nervously.

He wiped his face with his black
t-shirt and forced a smile.

"I mean, not yet. We can go later. But
first I want you to come with me to the forest," he said. "Come,
let’s go to the forest."

"David, it’s dark. And the forest is
even darker. Why do you want to go in there?"

"Don’t you trust me?"

Kara felt the beginnings of tears but
forced them away. She swallowed hard, and when she spoke her voice
cracked.

"Of course, I trust you."

"Then do as I say." He turned to face
her. His eyes were bloodshot and crazed. He leaned toward Kara and
shouted. "Let’s go. Now!"

Kara took a step back. David looked
evil. She hardly recognized him.

David noticed the fear on Kara’s face
and lowered his voice.

"I’m sorry," he said, smiling
unnaturally, as though it pained him to do so. "I can see that I’m
scaring you. That’s not what I wanted."

Kara cringed at the madness in David’s
eyes.

"What’s the matter with you? You sound
so different…you sound like someone else."

David smiled cruelly, looking like
someone else again.