The Demon Conspiracy (17 page)

“I need to buy magic kits. I will become the
greatest magician in the world.”

“You get lost in a cave and now you’re a
magician? I don’t get it. What kind of magic? Are you gonna pull a
rabbit out of a hat?”

Jon glared at him so intensely Travis got a
little scared. He’d never seen his older brother act like this, and
that look in his eyes was almost threatening. Jon scanned the room
and spied a baseball cap hanging on his chair. Travis had never
seen him wear the cap, but sometimes Jon tossed it in the air to
himself while he did his homework.

“Yes. I can do a rabbit out of a hat,” he
said. He held up the ball cap with one hand hidden under it.
“Watch.”

KELLY

About then I walked in to say good night and
to see if Jon had gotten any friendlier. I nearly tripped over his
sword collection that was piled on the floor in front of the
computer. “What’s going on? Why’d you take down your swords?”

Jon shushed me. “I need quiet. What kind of
rabbit do you want?”

I didn’t even know what they were talking
about, but it was still an easy question. Travis’ best friend,
Mathew Dunlop, once had a big white rabbit named Fang, which had
died of kidney disease. I figured Travis would want a rabbit just
like that.

“A white one,” said Travis. Ha! Do I know my
little brother or what?

Jon glanced at me, then looked Travis right
in the eye. Suddenly, he took a small white rabbit out from under
the hat and set it on the bed. After I picked my jaw up from the
floor, Travis scooped up the rabbit and hugged it. OMG! How in the
world did Jon do that? Where’d he get the rabbit?

“He’s soft,” said Travis with a smile. “An’
nice.” The rabbit wiggled its pink nose and let us pet it.

“Jon!” I said excitedly. “That was awesome!
Where’d you learn that?”

“His name is Fang II,” said Travis, who was
not as concerned with how Jon had done the trick as he was with
having a new pet. “Matthew’ll like that. Hey, can you do it again
with an X-Box?”

Jon was clearly pleased with himself. He
almost smiled. “You must leave. I need to practice.”

“When are you gonna do some more tricks?”
asked Travis.

“I do not do tricks. I do
magic.
Real
magic. Now get out of my room.”

Travis gawked at Jon.
“Your room? It’s
my
room, too! You can’t kick me out!”

“Yes, I can.” Jon took the blankets and
pillow from Travis’ bunk and tossed them into the hallway. Then he
physically shoved both of us out of the room. “I need to practice
magic. I must be alone. Go some place else.”

The door closed almost in Travis’ face,
leaving him stunned and silent. I knocked hard on the door. “Open
the door, Jon Bishop! You can’t do this!”

Nothing happened. I knocked again and we
listened. Whatever magic he was doing must have been very quiet.
Travis gathered his blankets, pillow and Fang II, and went down the
hall.

I got mad. “Nobody treats
my little brother like that! Not even my
big
brother! I’m telling
Angie!”

Travis turned and shook his head. “Don’t
tell her. Not yet.”

“Why not? He can’t toss you out of your own
room!”

“It’s okay, Kelly. Jon’s actin’ kinda weird,
you know? I’m not sure I want to sleep in the same room with him
for a while.”

“But where are you going to sleep?”

“Behind the couch. Till Jon starts actin’
like Jon again.”

“That’s silly.”

“No, it’s not. He can have the room. I wanna
be safe.” Travis hung his head for a moment, then lowered his
voice. “Do you think maybe he might not be Jon?”

The question baffled me until I got a mental
picture of what Travis meant. The whole concept made my gut churn
from both fear and confusion.

“You think he might be a demon? But how? I
mean, he looks and sounds like Jon to me. Well, except for the
accent.”

“What if he’s possessed?”

I moved close to Travis and whispered in his
ear. “I was thinking the same thing! How can we be sure?”

“I dunno. Until we figure it out I’ll leave
him alone.”

TRAVIS

Travis camped out behind the couch in the
living room. He figured nobody would notice him there, and if Jon
really was possessed by a demon it was as good a hiding place as
any. Sure, sooner or later Angie or Chris would make him go back
into his own bed, but first they’d have to find him. He got a
cardboard box from the basement and put the rabbit in it, along
with a bowl of water. Then he put Fang II’s box at one end of the
couch to help hide his blankets.

“You need some food, Fang,” he said to the
rabbit, which wiggled its nose at him. “I’ll be right back.”

Travis headed for the kitchen to get some
lettuce for the rabbit, when he heard Angie talking. He stopped in
the hall and listened.

“Chris, we’ve always had a basement. But you
can’t work in there, it’s a mess.”

“I must work there. I must work hard and
fast.”

“When are you coming to bed?”

“I have much to do. Take me to the
basement.”

“Chris, you know very well where the damn
basement is. Oh, forget it. Follow me.” Angie reluctantly led the
way. Travis decided to follow them at a discreet distance.

“
Why are you talking like
this?” She opened the basement door. “You sound like you’re from
another country. And why the basement? What about the
garage?”

“Not the garage. I need a place to work
undisturbed.”

Angie flipped on the light and led Chris
downstairs. Travis took a seat on the top step and peeked at them
below the basement ceiling as he listened. Right away Chris started
moving things around.

“What kind of work are you talking about? I
don’t understand. Chris, don’t clean the basement now! It’s nearly
eleven o’clock. You have to go to work tomorrow!”

“
I must work now. I must
work hard and fast.”

“You have school in the morning. Did you
forget about your job?”

Travis watched as Angie tugged on Chris,
trying to get him to go back upstairs. She even kissed him hard on
the mouth and wiggled close to him, holding him tight.

“Honey, don’t you want to go to bed now?”
she asked. Her voice was soft and sultry. She whispered something
into his ear. He looked at her curiously for a moment then pushed
her aside.

“I must work hard and fast.”

“What happened to you in that cave? Why
won’t you listen to me?”

“I don’t have time to listen. I have much
work to do. I must work hard and fast.”

“Can you hear yourself? You sound like a
frickin’ robot! What are you going to do down here, anyway? This
place is too cluttered to work in.”

“I’ll clean it. And then I’ll work. I must
work….”

“Yeah, I know, hard and fast. What are you
going to work on? What’s more important than me?”

“My idea is more important than anything,”
said Chris. “I’ll make a product that will be popular around the
world. Everybody will want it. But I need ingredients.”

Angie shook her head and ran to the stairs.
Travis scrambled out of the basement before she saw him and waited
in the kitchen like he was just coming in. When Angie came
upstairs, she was crying. Travis didn’t like to see her sad like
that, so he hugged her, really big. She hugged him back so hard he
thought she’d squeeze him to death.

“Travis, you’re so sweet. What’s wrong with
him? Why is he acting like that?”

Travis didn’t know what to say, until he
recalled something from Mrs. O’Brien’s first aid course. “Maybe
he’s in shock. Maybe he needs to keep busy until he gets over
it.”

Angie released him and
paced about the kitchen. She wiped her eyes and quit crying. “Oh,
I’m such a fool! You’re right, Travis! He
is
in shock! He’s always been
fragile, and that whole cave thing must have really upset him. What
should I do?”

Travis shrugged. “Ask him what he
wants?”

Angie stared at him for a few moments as if
she’d been frozen in time. She pointed a finger at him. “You are
one smart young man!” Grabbing a pencil and some paper, she hurried
back downstairs. This time Travis went with her.

“I’m going to help you,” said Angie. “Let’s
make a list. What do you want?”

For the first time since he’d come out of
the cave, Chris smiled at Angie like he meant it. The effect it had
on her was immediate. She looked relieved and happy again, all in
an instant. She smiled and melted into his arms. He even hugged her
back.

“Pear juice,” he said. “I need pear
juice.”

Angie looked straight at Travis. “Have you
had a chance to go through the pantry? Do we have any pear
juice?”

Travis shook his head. “No pear juice.”

Travis had always taken an interest in
inventory, especially food, and he’d kept an accurate mental list
of whatever was in stock in any house where he lived. It started
for him at the Children’s Home during a three-day ice storm. Nobody
could get to or from the Home for nearly two weeks, causing food
supplies to rapidly dwindle. Travis liked to eat, so he’d quickly
put together a rationing schedule that included everyone in the
facility. It was so well done that the counselors were going to put
it to use, but as soon as everything was in place, the National
Guard showed up with supplies.

Most people who found out about his odd
skill often took it for granted. Rather than look around to find
what was available, they’d usually ask him first. Travis didn’t
mind because it made him feel kind of important.

“That’s okay,” said Angie. “I’ll go to the
store. What else do you need?”

Chris got excited. “I like you helping me! I
need lots of paper and something to write with.” He called out a
list that included everything from different fruit juices to test
tubes and beakers, to graduated cylinders. He also included a hot
plate, some eyedroppers, a metric scale, and lots of pots. Angie
wrote fast and eventually got it all down. When the list was
complete, Chris went to work cleaning up the basement.

“I need space to work. I must work hard and
fast.”

“I’ll go to the grocery store right now. But
where am I going to get test tubes and beakers? What’s a graduated
cylinder?”

“Ask Dr. Parrish,” said Travis. “He teaches
chemistry, I bet he’s got test tubes.”

She rubbed his curly white hair. “Good
thinking, young man. We’ll get the rest of the stuff tomorrow. This
has been such a crazy day. You’d better get to bed.”

She collected her purse and jacket and
rushed out to the car. A moment later Jon walked by Travis and
stopped in the kitchen. Somehow he didn’t seem angry this time.

“Where’s the basement?” he asked.

Travis pointed and Jon went down the stairs.
There was a loud crashing sound. Then Jon returned with a large,
now empty cardboard box. He took the box upstairs. Travis watched
him go by, totally bewildered.

KELLY

I hate earliness. And Monday morning came
way too early, as usual. I was so tired I could hardly get out of
bed for school. Travis was the only one who tried to wake me, but
after three attempts with no sign of success he gave up. Suddenly,
ten minutes later I shot out of bed on my own, as if some inner
sense of duty told me I had to hurry. Inner sense of duty? I never
had that before. Go figure.

I dressed quickly and rushed to the kitchen
where Angie had five steaming bowls of oatmeal on the table ready
to eat. Travis was just finishing his breakfast, but the other
bowls were untouched, including Angie’s. Travis gave me the psychic
scoop.

Angie’s still
upset
.
I think
she’s been crying all night again
.

Right away I noticed the
puffiness around Angie’s eyes that had been there for the last two
days. After a brief mind scan I realized that, yes, Angie
had
been crying much of
the night. The poor woman couldn’t deal with the very weird way
Chris had acted since he’d come out of the cave. I wanted to cry,
too, but more because of Jon than Chris. Our brother’s personality
change seemed like it might be permanent, which really upset me. I
wanted Jon the way he used to be, complete with his swords, karate,
lousy English accent and sometimes stubbornness. I wasn’t sure I
liked this new, possibly possessed Jon. I certainly didn’t trust
him.

“Morning, Angie,” I said, hugging her around
the neck. “You seem sad.”

Angie frowned and nodded.
“I’m tired, mostly. Chris didn’t come to bed again. He spent
another whole night cleaning up the basement so he can make
his
product
,
whatever that is. I don’t understand what’s happened to him, Kelly.
He goes into a cave for one day and comes out a completely
different man.” She looked around the table. “Speaking of different
men, where’s Jon? He’s usually the second one up.”

“I’ll go see. It’ll be
great to wake
him
up for a change.”

“I’ll go, too,” said Travis, putting his
empty bowl in the sink.

I guided Travis out of the kitchen and up
the stairs, where we both knocked on Jon’s door really hard. He
didn’t answer right away, so Travis banged again.

“Jon? You up? We gotta go to school.”

Jon opened the door with the same bland
expression he’d had on his face for three days. He looked
wide-awake, but his hair was a mess and he still wore the same
clothes he’d had on in the cave. He needed some deodorant too, he
smelled like dirty socks. He glared at me challengingly. “Don’t
bother me. I’m practicing magic.”