Tommy Nightmare (Jenny Pox #2) (19 page)

His name in this lifetime was Alexander, but
he’d had a thousand names, and if he had to, he could list them
all. He was twenty years old, but his memories spanned all the way
back into the deep primeval world, long before the dawn of
civilization.

In all of those lifetimes, ever since his
kind had first found their way here and learned to incarnate among
the humankind, his touch had possessed the power to command the
dead.

By himself, he couldn’t make the reanimated
dead do much—just a few repetitive tasks, or continuous marching.
The dead were stupid. But if he charged up his power, he could make
them wield swords, and maybe guns.

From his past lives, he knew how best to
amplify his power. He hadn’t met her in this lifetime, not yet, but
he was on his way to reconnect with her. And he planned to bring
her back with him, whether she liked that idea or not.

He drove north.

Darcy Metcalf lived in a ranch-style house
with windowboxes full of dandelions and other weeds. Tommy parked
his motorcycle in her driveway, behind a pick-up truck with Chuck
O’ Flannery bumper stickers, featuring the sweaty talk show host
with dialogue balloons: “No Healthcare for Hippies!” and “Save A
Bullet, Stab a Leftie!”

Tommy smiled, taking it as a good omen. The
O’Flannery Overview Hour was where he’d first seen Ashleigh.

He and Esmeralda stepped off the bike. A
beady-eyed woman peered out a window, probably drawn by the sound
of his motorcycle.

Tommy led the way up the steps to Darcy’s
front door. Esmeralda trailed behind him. He felt bad about having
to keep Esmeralda in fear, but he needed her.

He knocked on the door.

The jowly, beady-eyed woman opened the door.
She was in her late forties or early fifties, and she didn’t look
friendly.

“We ain’t buying nothing,” she said through
the screen door.

“We’re just here to visit Darcy,” Tommy
said.

“Who are you?”

“We’re friends.”

“Darcy don’t have no friends. They all died
in the witchcraft.”

“Mom!” Darcy ran towards the door. She was
wearing a long-faded Fallen Oak Baptist Kids’ Kamp T-shirt, which
didn’t cover her swollen pregnant belly. She also wore yellow
rubber gloves and smelled like Clorox. “That’s Tommy Goodling!”
Darcy beamed through the screen door at Tommy, but her smile fell
when she saw Esmeralda.

“Who’s the Mexican?” Darcy’s mom asked. “Bet
she’s illegal!”

Esmeralda gave her an angry glare.

“Mommm!” Darcy said. She pushed opened the
screen door. “Come on in, Tommy.”

“You didn’t tell me you was having friends
over.” Darcy’s mom eyeballed Tommy and Esmeralda with disgust as
they walked into her foyer.

“I didn’t know they were coming!” Darcy
said.

“Did you clean both bathrooms?” her mom
asked.

“Just about,” Darcy said.

“Did you scrub the commodes?”

“Mom, do you have to
say
that?” Darcy
turned bright red, looking at Tommy.

“Well, did you?” her mom asked. “You can’t go
nowhere until you scrub the commodes.”

“Okay, okay!” Darcy said.

Darcy’s dad wheeled into the room. The man
was obese, with a thick moustache and an angry look on his face. He
was missing one foot. Tommy could hear
Wheel of Fortune
in
the living room from which he’d emerged.

“Who in Christ is this?” her dad demanded,
staring at Tommy.

“Language, Morris,” Darcy’s mom said
softly.

“Is this the boy who knocked you up?” Darcy’s
dad growled. His hands balled into fists on his wheelchair
arms.

“No, Dad!” Darcy’s face was deep red now, and
she covered her eyes with one yellow glove. “I told you a million
times, it was Bret Daniels. He disappeared like everybody
else.”

“Pretty convenient for him!” he barked. “Now
I got to pay for a baby with nothing but disability and the shit
money your momma makes at the fabric store! When you gonna get a
got-damn job?”

“Language, Morris,” Darcy’s mom said.

“I
told
you, I applied at the Hardee’s
and the Wal-Mart already,” Darcy said. “Nobody’s hiring! So why
can’t I just hang out with people for once?”

“You can’t go nowhere until you give me my
insulin,” her dad said.

“And scrub the commodes,” her mother reminded
her.

“Okay! I’m doing it!” Darcy marched down the
hall. “I’m scrubbing the dumb commodes!” To Tommy, she said, “You
guys want to hang out in my room and wait for me? I’ve got a radio
you can turn on, if you keep the volume below 3.”

Tommy and Esmeralda followed her down the
hall.

“No boys in your bedroom!” her father
yelled.

Darcy turned around to face him, and cupped
her swollen belly in both hands. “Oh, gee whiz, Dad, what’s gonna
happen? I mean, get real.”

“Don’t you tell me to get real!” her dad
yelled, his face turning bright crimson. “I ain’t got no foot!
That’s as real as it gets!”

Darcy gave an exaggerated sigh and pointed to
a bedroom door with a poster of Kermit and Miss Piggy thumbtacked
to it. “That’s my room. I’ll be there in two shakes.”

Tommy and Esmeralda stepped into Darcy’s
bedroom, and Tommy closed the door behind them. A few stuffed
animals sat on the bed, and there was a cartoonish plastic piggy
bank on the end table. Tommy looked at the collage of pictures on
the wall. Some of them were Darcy’s family, but more of them were
pictures of Darcy with Ashleigh Goodling, or just pictures of
Ashleigh. Darcy also had a few posters of Jesus and seemed to
prefer pictures where Jesus was muscular, cut and bronzed like a
movie star, his loincloth barely clothing his loins.

Tommy sat in a small armchair by a window,
next to a bookshelf crammed with C.S. Lewis and L. Frank Baum
paperbacks.

“So, that’s the girl.” Esmeralda kept her
voice low.

“She worships Ashleigh,” Tommy said. “It’s
perfect.”

“Let’s just get it over with.”

Tommy felt a little hurt. He’d been so happy
to find Esmeralda again, but he had to keep dosing her with fear,
since she didn’t really want to help him.

They’d driven straight across the country,
eighteen hours a day, stopping once to spend the night in a cheap
motel. He’d worried that she might find the courage to leave in the
middle of the night—but Tommy was a light sleeper. In Bent River,
you never wanted to sleep too deep.

Esmeralda hadn’t even tried to leave,
though.

Now Darcy returned, sans rubber gloves, and
hurried to close the door behind her.

“Sorry, guys,” Darcy said. “My dad’s such a
lame-o.”

“It’s fine,” Tommy said.

“He’s handicapped, you know. Type II diabetes
got him.” Darcy looked at Esmeralda and forced a smile. “Hi. I’m
Darcy.”

“I am Esmeralda.”

“Nice to meet you. So, I guess you’re Tommy’s
girlfriend or…?”

Esmeralda looked at Tommy, waiting for some
instruction.

“Oh, gosh, sorry if that’s an awkward
question!” Darcy said. “I’m such a dodo about things like that.”
She sank to the bed, leaving plenty of space between herself and
Esmeralda, and she farted. “Whoopsie! Sorry. Being pregnant sucks.
Anywho, what’s going on? Has anybody heard from Dr. or Mrs.
Goodling?”

“Darcy, I have to tell you something.” Tommy
moved over to the bed and sat next to Darcy, so that Darcy was
stuck between Tommy and Esmeralda. He smiled. Time to make use of
Mr. Tanner’s craziness.

He took Darcy’s hand, and he pushed fear into
her. He tried not to do too much—he didn’t want her a panicked,
gibbering idiot, but he needed her awestruck.

“I am an angel of God,” Tommy said. “Can you
see it now?”

Darcy’s eyes widened, and her lips trembled.
“Yeah. Yes. Yes, sir.”

Tommy squeezed her hand.

“Ashleigh’s work on Earth isn’t quite done,”
Tommy said. “So God is sending her back from heaven on a special
errand. But she can’t use her old body, since it’s ruined.”

“Yes, sir,” Darcy breathed. “It’s way
ruined.”

“So Ashleigh needs to borrow yours,” Tommy
said. “Just for a little while. This angel here can put her soul
into your body.” He nodded at Esmeralda.

“Okay,” Darcy said. “If that’s what God
wants.”

Behind Darcy’s back, Esmeralda frowned and
scowled at Tommy.

“But wait, sir,” Darcy said. “I’m
pregnant.”

Tommy didn’t know where she was going with
that, so he just watched her quietly.

“So,” Darcy said, “If you put Ashleigh’s soul
in me…does that mean my baby will have Ashleigh’s soul? Ashleigh
will be my little girl?”

“Is that what you want?” Tommy asked. The
gleam in the girl’s eyes when she talked about Ashleigh was
unsettling.

“Oh, holy cow, yes,” Darcy said. “I mean, if
I can, sir. If it’s okay with God.”

“Then that’s what will happen,” Tommy
said.

“Oh, wow,” Darcy said. “And is it okay to say
‘holy cow’ or is that swearing? Cause I’ve never been sure and I
figured you would know, sir.”

Tommy reached into his jacket pocket and took
out a wad of tissue. He unwrapped one of Ashleigh’s finger bones
and handed it to Esmeralda. Esmeralda grimaced, but she curled her
fingers tight around it.

“What’s that?” Darcy asked.

“Are you ready, Darcy?” Tommy asked. “Are you
ready to do this for God?”

“Yes, sir!”

Tommy released Darcy’s hand. “Then let her do
it.”

Darcy turned toward Esmeralda. “You’re an
angel, too, ma’am? Wow, two angels!”

“Quiet,” Esmeralda said. She took Darcy’s
hand in her own, and then closed her eyes.

Darcy closed her eyes and bowed her head, as
if praying. Tommy could feel something shifting in the room, like a
huge build-up of static electricity thickening the air, waiting to
discharge.

Darcy shuddered. Esmeralda hissed and jerked
her hand away from Darcy.

Darcy’s eyes opened, and she scowled at
Tommy.

“Darcy Metcalf?” Darcy’s mouth asked. “Are
you serious?”

“Ashleigh?” Tommy asked.

“Oh, God, look at this body.” Ashleigh looked
down at herself, then around at the room. “Ugh. She smells so bad.
But this is actually a good place to get to work against
Jenny.”

“Jenny?” Tommy asked. “The girl who killed
you?”

“Who the fuck else would I be talking about?”
Ashleigh tried to jump to her feet, but Darcy’s body was too heavy
for the move. She landed clumsily and took a few steps to regain
her balance, and then she farted long and loud. “And what the hell
has Darcy been eating? Smells like Hamburger Helper.”

“I brought you here to answer some
questions,” Tommy said. “Last time, you said something about past
lives—”

“Yeah, whatever, we’ll get to it,” Ashleigh
said. She turned to Esmeralda, who looked frightened. Ashleigh’s
voice turned sweet. “Oh, thank you so much. I’m sure Tommy’s
explained the whole situation to you, right?”

“Not really,” Esmeralda said.

“That figures.” Ashleigh took one of
Esmeralda’s hands, the one that wasn’t holding the bone fragment.
For the first time in two days, Esmeralda visibly relaxed. There
was even the ghost of a smile on her lips. “You see, there’s a girl
in town. Jenny. And she’s a murderer. She has an evil power in her
touch.”

“Like us?” Esmeralda asked.

“Just like us.” Ashleigh brushed stray hairs
back from Esmeralda’s face and cupped her chin. “She killed
hundreds of people, and she’s going to get away with it. She’ll
probably kill thousands more, if we don’t stop her.”

“Oh,” Esmeralda said. “I didn’t realize it
was like that.”

“Yeah,” Ashleigh said. “So you’re being a big
help. And look, I’ve seen you do this before, in past lives. What
you need to do is keep holding onto that little piece of bone.
Never let it go.”

“Never?” Esmeralda looked at Ashleigh’s
finger bone in the palm of her hand.

“You can hang it on a necklace, under your
shirt,” Ashleigh said. “That helps me to stay connected to this
world. You’ll keep helping us, won’t you?”

“I don’t know…I should—”

Ashleigh squeezed her hand hard, and pressed
her palm and fingers against Esmeralda’s face, pushing Esmeralda’s
head against the wall.

“Please keep helping us!” Ashleigh’s eyes
were big and tearful.

“Of course! Yes!” Esmeralda said. “I don’t
want to hurt your feelings.”

“Good.” Ashleigh released her. “Now, first
thing, let’s get out of this dump. We’re going to my house.”

Ashleigh led the way to Darcy’s front
door.

“Whoa, whoa.” Darcy’s dad wheeled into the
room. “Where do you think you’re off to?”

“I have to help weed the flower beds at
church,” Ashleigh said. “Nobody else is doing it, and we can’t let
it look all grody.”

“Who’s gonna give me my insulin?” Darcy’s dad
demanded.

“Jeepers, I don’t know,” Ashleigh said. “Do
it yourself.” She opened the door, and Tommy and Esmeralda followed
her out.

“What? What did you say to me?” Darcy’d dad
wheeled after them, but Ashleigh slammed the door before he reached
it.

They walked out to the driveway.

“Wow, this stupid baby is heavy.” Ashleigh
slapped her stomach. She looked at Tommy’s bike. “Okay, genius,”
she said. “Three of us, one motorcycle. What were you
thinking?”

“I like the bike,” Tommy said.

Ashleigh rolled her eyes. “I’ll go get the
keys to Darcy’s mom’s car.”

At school, Jenny and Seth sat again under the
old oak by the parking lot. Seth ate a square of school pizza.

“Did you get a chance to research that stuff
I told you about?” Jenny asked.

“Huh?”

“The Peloponnesian War?”

“Oh,” Seth said. “Um.”

“Hi,” a small voice said. Jenny and Seth
looked up to see Darcy Metcalf standing over them, holding her own
square pizza on a Styrofoam plate. “Could I...like…sit with you
guys?”