Chapter 2

A small smile graced Penny Sovert's lips as she gazed lovingly at her older daughter. "About time you made it," she said with only a bare hint of admonishment in her voice. "Any later and you wouldn't have had time for any breakfast."

Heather stood at the threshold to the kitchen, unable to move for a moment. Her gaze darted towards the table, where Melinda was bent over a bowl of cereal. Melinda's gaze remained studiously downward. She did not raise it even to acknowledge her big sister's presence.

Penny cocked her head to one side, her dusky red ponytail brushing the back of her neck. "Something the matter, darling?"

Heather had been staring at her mother. Finally Melinda turned her head, and knew at once that Heather was seeing it this morning.

Penny looked very much like Heather. The same oval face, hair off by only a few shades, and the same generous, beautifully shaped breasts. Heather's voice was higher, but had the same smooth cadence.

Penny wore a pair of plain blue jeans and a pullover shirt that clung to a figure that was still attractive for someone having passed forty. Yet it was not this but what lay atop it that Heather was staring at, wishing that she could not see it.

Surrounding Penny's body was an aura of inky black. Though "aura" was merely a convenient way to refer to it. It appeared more like she had donned another layer of clothing over her normal clothes. The darkness was a cloak, draped across the shoulders and covering her sides and back in its terrible blackness.

It had no solid substance. It was ethereal, like a black fog or mist. Tendrils undulated and wavered in the air, flowing just behind her like smoke as she moved, only to coalesce and return to her body like a swarm of insects when she was still.

The darkness itself was never still. It flowed like thick liquid around her body, occasionally swirling around her or pooling around her feet. When her arms were lowered, it slithered down her limbs and writhed in the air about her hands.

It was not completely opaque everywhere. Her real clothing could be seen under it. Gaps devoid of the liquid darkness appeared and disappeared. It was wispy and indistinct in places. But where it did appear, the black was absolute. It was not simply the absence of light, but the antithesis of it. If darkness could "glow", this is the color it would exude. It was cold and unfeeling, a black that felt draining simply to gaze upon.

"Uh... n-nothing, Mom," Heather said, her heart thumping.

Penny smiled and lay a hand on Melinda's shoulder. Tendrils of darkness flowed down her arm and appeared to touch Melinda's skin briefly, swirling and rippling in a teasing caress.

Melinda shivered as if cold, though no goosebumps appeared on her skin where the black had touched her. Heather cast a sympathetic look to her little sister.

Penny lifted her hand from Melinda's shoulder and turned towards the cupboard. Blackness flowed off her body and appeared to pool on the floor for a moment before drawing itself up towards Penny's body again. An arm lifted to reach a shelf, darkness exuding itself into thin tendrils that writhed like tiny snakes.

Heather remembered the first time she had seen it. She had almost screamed. Then she had almost puked. Melinda had gone ghost-pale.

And only they could see it. Heather, Melinda, Jason, and Richie. No one else could. Jason could see it on Penny and on his own father, at least most of the time. Some days he had trouble with it. Richie grudgingly admitted that he saw it on his mother, though now he tried to change the subject any time it came up.

Penny returned to the table and set down a bowl and a box of cereal.

"Uh, no, Mom, I'm not really hungry this morning," Heather said weakly.

Penny looked up. Heather met her gaze. "You have to have something, dear."

"It's getting late anyway, we'll miss the bus."

"You know they drive that weird loop around the development, Heather. They hit this house last. You have time for something."

Heather knew this. She was simply stalling. She kept her eyes locked to her mother's gaze. Slowly, the aura faded from her perception. Finally she nodded and dropped into a seat.

Melinda raised her head and gave Heather a forlorn look, then pushed her bowl away. "I'm done."

Penny peered into the half-full bowl. "You've hardly had anything, Melinda," she chided.

"I'm not hungry, okay?" She pushed herself away from the table and bolted out of her seat.

"Melinda!"

She wasn't listening. She scooped up her backpack from near the door and rushed out. "Gotta catch the bus, Mom, bye!"

Penny dropped the pitcher of milk to the table abruptly, splashing some on the table, and started away from the table. A very faint, lingering tendril of black swirled almost lazily over the surface of the white before slithering away.

Heather launched herself from her seat. She wanted to get out before the aura returned to her view in full force.

"Melinda!" Penny shouted. "You come back her this instant!"

The front door slammed. Penny made an exasperated noise.

"I'll go after her, Mom," Heather said, edging past her mother as she picked up her own backpack. "See you later."

"Wait, Heather!"

Heather stopped and turned. "What is it?"

Penny advanced on her. The blackness was coming back. Wispy tendrils snaked around Penny's shoulders and down her arms. Heather swallowed and forced a smile, and locked her eyes on her mother's again to try and relegate the darkness to the edges of her vision.

"Keep an eye on your little sister today. Make sure she stays out of trouble."

"She's just nervous about her first day at high school, that's all."

"I know how you hate having to babysit her but..."

"It's okay, Mom, really. I don't mind. I'll look after her, I promise."

Heather had intended this from the start anyway, yet her mother looked dubiously at her. Heather was frustrated that her own mother could not even be bothered to see how her own daughters had changed over the last few weeks.

Heather had started acting nicer towards Melinda (or at least her insults were more teasing than mean-spirited); Melinda was less whiny about the unfairness of life; Heather no longer ran to her mother for everything she needed; Melinda stopped using her father to countermand her mother.

And the both of them avoided contact with their mother as much as possible.

At first they had expected their mother to call them out on it. Instead, it was as if she were oblivious to it. That was far more disturbing to them than anything she might have said to them about this.

"Make sure you both come straight home after school today," Penny said in a mildly admonishing tone. "Or if you go out, take Melinda with you."

Heather looked oddly at her mother. "Uh... why, Mom?"

"Same reason why you had to do it during the summer. I won't be back from work yet."

Heather felt a chill. "Work? But... the summer's over now, you're not still working that part time job at the Li'l Missy Inn, are you?"

Heather had to repress a shudder as she said the name. According to Mara, it was the center of all the mystical forces at work in Haven. It was where the Loner had discovered the odd plant and distilled the drug from it to enslave Mara and four others as his private harem of sex slaves so many decades ago, before the Inn itself was on that site.

Penny smiled. "I'm going to be working full-time there now."

Heather stared, stricken. "F-full-time?"

"Yes. They liked my work so much they offered me the position. I just couldn't turn it down."

"Mom, just... just what do you do at that job?"

"I told you, I'm a managerial assistant."

"Yes, I know, but what does that mean? What do you... ?"

"You better get going, honey, you're going to miss the bus." Penny leaned forward and kissed her daughter on the forehead. She smiled warmly. "Have a good day at school. And remember to watch Melinda."

Heather nodded absently and turned away, finally breaking eye contact. She paused a moment in confusion and looked back at her mother.

"Something wrong, dear?"

Heather stared. The aura surrounding her mother was gone.

"Heather?"

"Um... nothing Mom," Heather said, nonplussed. "Nothing at all. I'll see you later."

Jason stared morosely out of the window, watching Haven suburbia drift by.

He remembered hating the sights and sounds of the suburbs over the summer. Now he longed for it. This was a first for him. Usually, he was the "weird kid" that hated the summer and looked forward to going back to school. If anything at all bothered him about school, it was the slow pace of the lessons.

Well, that, and the fact that he was the class nerd and bully target. But that was going to be different this year.

He and Richie were friends again. Real friends this time, not what passed for friendship before the House. Richie would take up the role of his protector again. He had even stated such directly. It was as if Richie felt that he owed it to Jason. Jason had decided to take advantage of this.

The bus finally made the turn onto Green Avenue, a small cheer going up as the driver grinded the gears. He managed to do this without fail every single day last semester, and the others were obviously waiting for him to do it again.

"Aw, pipe down and shaddap!" the oldster driver called out in irritation. This just made them cheer louder.

Even Jason managed a small smile, though he afforded the others only the briefest of glances. Generally this was his tactic to avoid bullies on the bus: sit just behind the driver and avoid eye contact with anyone. Though admittedly old man Bradley conveniently forgot to turn his hearing aid on most times he drove the bus.

This time, however, he had entirely different reasons for averting his gaze.

The bus rattled to a stop before a familiar house, and an equally familiar kid bound up the stairs.

Richie dropped Jason a smirk and high-fived him. "Whassup, geek-dude?"

"Hey, Richie," replied Jason with a small smile. He glanced to the seat next to him. "Tried to save you a seat but..."

"Hey, no prob." He leaned over to the freshman sitting next to Jason. "Scram."

The kid looked up and frowned. "Oh yeah, who says?" he piped.

"There are seats in the back. I wanna sit next to the geekster here. Maybe some of his smarts will rub off on me or something. You cool with that?"

"No, I'm not. Fuck you."

Richie rolled his eyes and shook his head at Jason. "Kids these days..."

"Come on, Richie, never mind," Jason said, though he was trying to suppress a smile.

But Richie had to vent, and this was the perfect opportunity. "Kid, move yer ass."

"You think I have to listen to you 'cause I'm the new kid?" the kid said.

"No, I think you hafta listen to me 'cause yer a dork."

The freshman just folded his arms indignantly.

Richie sighed. "Okay, kid, time to bring in my assistant." He raised a hand and clenched it. "Mr. Dork, meet Mr. Fist."

The kid frowned. "Yeah? Wonder what the driver would say to that, huh? Driver! Hey, driver!"

"Huh?" Bradley grunted. "Whut? Shaddap and sit down."

Richie snorted in derision. "Okay, who's faster ya think? Mr. Bradley or Mr. Fist?"

The freshman sighed despondently. "Yeah, whatever," he mumbled as he vacated the seat.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Jason said, all trace of humor gone.

Richie plopped into the seat just as the bus lurched forward, causing him to briefly lean into a girl in the next seat. The girl indignantly shoved him back. Richie just looked at her and waggled his eyebrows, causing the girl to screw up her face in disgust.

Jason rolled his eyes at this as well.

"Aw, I wasn't really gonna pop him one," Richie said. "I'm just bummed 'cause the summer's over, that's all."

"Yeah, so am I."

Richie stared at him. "Huh? What, did those space aliens from Roswell you always go on about brainwash you or something? Jason the Super Geek not liking school. Right." He glanced out the window. "Oh, look, there goes a pig flying over Mrs. Baker's house!"

"I'm serious, Richie. I'm just not looking forward to what... what I might see, that's all."

Richie smirked. "Well, I know what I wanna see." He lifted his head and scanned the bus. "Shit, she's not here. Must be on a different route."

"What, Heather and Melinda? They're at the end of this route."

"No, not them, dude. I'm lookin' for that oh-so-fuckable blonde!"

Jason gave him a puzzled look. "What oh-so... er, what blonde?"

Richie rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Jesus, Jason, ya gotta pay more attention to things that don't have a screen and a keyboard attached." He paused and smirked. "Well, things like that that ain't a squirt named Melinda. By the way, did she finally grow some boobs on her or what?"

"Her boobs are just fine, thank you very much!"

Richie laughed until tears trickled down his cheeks. Jason flushed bright red, but finally managed to crack a small grin himself. "Well, now that you've had a joke at my expense, mind telling me who you're talking about?"

There was a loud ripping sound as the driver grinded the gears again. Another cheer went up as the bus shuddered to a stop.

Heather and Melinda climbed aboard. Melinda was hunched over, her eyes carefully downcast. Heather glanced up, pausing a moment as her eyes darted quickly over the occupants of the bus. She gave Melinda's shoulder a squeeze. Melinda raised her head, eyes flicking fearfully from side to side. She finally relaxed and let out a slow sigh.

Jason understood what had happened, and he looked a little more relaxed as well. Richie, however, cast perplexed looks at all of them, then just shrugged. "Hey, girls," he called out. "By the way, Melinda, Jason thinks you've got fine boobs."

Melinda blinked and stared. "What??"

"Please don't tell me you're going to be that much a jerk during the school year as well," Heather said scornfully.

"Hey, it was Jason that thought of it."

"Yeah, but it was your dirty mouth that said it."

"Whoa, take it easy for chrissakes. I was just foolin' around."

Heather sighed to herself. She would not have been so upset with him that morning if she did not have her own problems. Up until recently she could look Richie in the eye and not hate him for what he had done. Now, it was all she could do not to blame him for everything that had gone wrong. And for what she was feeling towards Melinda.

"You gonna sit down or whut?" Mr. Bradley snapped.

"There's no seats around here, Heather," Melinda whined.

Heather grinned. "There will be." She turned towards two boys sitting across from Jason and Richie. She leaned over, giving her body a small jerk so her breasts jiggled under her. "Oh boys, I could really use a favor..." she said in a sticky-sweet voice.

Within less than a minute, Melinda and Heather were seated and the bus lurched its way back into the street.

"And she didn't need Mr. Fist," Jason said to Richie with a small grin.

"Yeah, she had the Boobie Sisters instead," Richie quipped.

"What's with all this talk about boobs?" Melinda said indignantly.

"Jason started it when he said yours were just fine."

"Oh, they are not!" Melinda piped automatically, then looked sheepish when she realized what she had just said. "I mean they are! Just... I mean... uh..."

Richie and Jason both laughed. Melinda blushed scarlet. Even Heather managed a small smile.

"Speaking of boobs..." Richie began.

"Enough with my boobs already!" Melinda cried. "God!"

"Well, that would be for Jason to say, huh? I... Ow!!"

Melinda had kicked him in the shin.

Richie rubbed his bruised leg. "Jesus... anyway, I didn't mean yours, pipsqueak, I meant the blonde."

"What blonde?" asked Heather.

"That's what I've been trying to find out," said Jason.

"Fuck, Jason, I told you all about it last week!" Richie said. "All right, fine. Here it is again..."

He told them his story.

Richie liked to play baseball with his friends during the summer. Very soon after the House, he had gone back to it with a passion as a means of distracting him from thinking about what had happened. As he often bragged to Jason many times, girls would stop and watch the game from time to time.

For a whole week, one particular blue-eyed blonde showed up. Richie had noted her in particular because she had been dressed in very tight shorts and a halter top, and she had appeared to be older than most of the girls that stopped by. On the last day of that week, Richie finally got up the nerve to talk to her.

Richie had not had the courage to ask her out, but when he had asked if she was attending Haven High, she had laughed and said "You might say that, yes. Perhaps I'll see you this semester."

To Richie's ears, that was practically an open invitation to date her. And perhaps other things.

"So I was hopin' to catch her on the bus. You know, before the other guys started scopin' her out."

Heather rolled her eyes. "Scoping her out? Oh, please. Haven't you learned anything about girls since the... you know where?"

Richie ignored her. "So now do you remember, Wonder Nerd?" he asked of Jason with a wry grin.

"Yeah, I think I remember you mentioning her. But I thought she had brown hair?"

Richie slapped his forehead. "Gah, no! That's Cassie Kendall you're thinking of. She hung out around there, too, but I don't want nothin' to do with her. Keep her away from me, man."

Chapter 3 »