Dan Poblocki - The Stone Child

Was it the Woman in Black? Had she finally come after them, to turn them into piles of black ooze just like she had done to the characters in Nathaniel Olmstead’s book? But then Eddie quickly realized he was wrong. The Woman in Black would never cower from her victims.

“Would you please stop shining that in my eyes?” asked the figure.

“Who are you?” asked Harris. His fear seemed to drain away as he stood.

The figure brought her hands away from her face, squinting at the light, as Harris ignored her plea and continued to shine it at her. Finally, Eddie reached out and lowered Harris’s arm so that the beam of light fell on the floor at her feet. “It’s Maggie,” said Eddie. “Maggie Ringer.”

“You scared the hell out of us!” Harris screamed. His voice echoed through the underground chamber. He raised the flashlight and shone it at her face again. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” said Maggie harshly. She stared at them defiantly, flaring her nostrils like a cornered animal. After a few seconds, she lowered her voice and said, “If you take that light out of my eyes, I’ll answer.”

Harris grunted and lowered the light again.

“I was coming home from school this afternoon,” said Maggie, “riding my bike up Black Ribbon, when I saw you guys ahead, crawling through the gap in the fence at the bottom of the Olmstead driveway. I just wanted to find out where you were going, so I followed you.”

“You shouldn’t have,” said Harris, carefully placing The Wish of the Woman in Black next to where The Enigmatic Manuscript lay on the floor. “This is a dangerous place.”

“Then why are you guys here?” asked Maggie, even though she looked like she already had an idea.

“It’s a secret,” Eddie said. He felt his face flush, imagining the looks he would get in school tomorrow if anyone found out what they had been doing here. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“How long have you been down here?” asked Harris. “That stench. Maybe it was…”

Maggie blinked at him. “What, me? Thanks, but no. I smelled it too, when I finally crept down the ladder a few minutes ago. I was listening to you guys from the mouth of the fireplace. For a while I could hear you really well, but then you started talking quieter. So I came closer.”

“Maybe the stench really was from-” Eddie was interrupted when Harris poked him in the arm.

“The Woman in Black?” said Maggie. She shook her head. “I already knew that you were up to something really strange, but this beats all. Codes? Monsters? And all these books you were talking about? Whatever you’re doing, it’s creeping me out.”

Harris said, “That’s why you shouldn’t have followed us.”

“I’m sorry!” she said angrily. “But what I saw in the library last night was totally crazy. I’d been doing my homework, and then you guys showed up with that… little monster following you. And then… those weird words you spoke, Eddie. You can’t expect me to just be like, Oh, okay, whatever… duh!”

“It’s still none of your business,” said Harris.

“Maybe we should go,” suggested Eddie.

“Good idea,” said Harris. “You and me will finish this later.”

Eddie bent down and picked up the books from the floor, steering clear of the dark hole. It almost seemed to sigh at him as he backed away from it.

Harris stomped toward the doorway where Maggie stood. “Excuse us, please!” he said, brushing past her and stepping onto the bottom rung of the ladder, which was bolted to the stone wall.

When Eddie followed, Maggie looked at him and said, “I said I was sorry.”

“It’s okay,” whispered Eddie. “It’s hard to explain it all right now.” As Harris climbed up the ladder in front of him, he turned around and scowled.

Once they crawled from the mouth of the fireplace, the three kids went out the back door. The sky was black, and a big moon peeked through thick clouds on the horizon.

“Wait for us!” Eddie called as Harris disappeared around the corner of the house. Eddie clutched the two books, one in each hand. He slipped them into his bag, then swung the strap over his right shoulder. Maggie walked silently next to him as they made their way across the hill and into the pocket of trees at the top of the long driveway.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” whispered Maggie as she ran forward to tug on Harris’s coat sleeve. He spun around and threw her a nasty look.

As Eddie caught up to them, his flashlight lit Harris’s sooty face from below. Harris appeared downright evil. Noticing the frightened look on Maggie’s face, he softened. “What’s wrong?”

Maggie glanced back toward the house. “Do you guys get the feeling we’re being followed?”

“You’re being paranoid,” said Harris, though he sounded uncertain himself.

“No,” said Eddie, “I feel it too.” The thought of the monsters from Nathaniel’s books hit him in the back, and he spun around, searching the shadows for movement. One of the large clouds had moved across the moon, so there was little light to see by. The woods at the top of the driveway were quiet and still. Eddie fought the temptation to call out into the darkness. He didn’t want to be answered.

“What was that?” said Harris, looking over Eddie’s shoulder.

Then they all heard it. From somewhere in the woods, a few feet up the hill, came the sound of fluttering-a wing, a leaf, a piece of paper. Bumps rose on the back of Eddie’s neck, as if an icy breeze had suddenly blown past.

“Is someone there?” Maggie asked, a little too loudly. She had turned even whiter than usual. Then she fell backward, tripping over her feet. Eddie rushed to help her, but Maggie’s eyes were fixed on the house, still partially visible through the trees. “Look!” she said. When Eddie turned around, he too almost tripped.

At first, he saw nothing unusual-trees, shadows, passing moonlight. Darkness and more darkness. But then, Eddie’s eyes adjusted. It seemed that the empty spaces between the trees had filled, as if each black shadow solidified into a long, tall body. Eddie sensed slight movements, as if the forest itself were letting go of something it had been holding back.

Leaves crunched as a breeze rustled the forest floor.

Moving away from the empty spaces between the tree trunks, with almost imperceptible fluidity, the shadows revealed themselves as dozens of cloaked beings. Without having taken a single step, the beings materialized where Eddie, Maggie, and Harris stood at the top of the driveway. Under each hood was a stark white face. Their lips were pulled back, and what might have been a smile on any other living creature, here, was anything but.

Eddie rubbed at his eyes, then whispered, “It’s happening again.”

Harris stepped forward, clutching the boomerang. “Watch out, you guys,” he whispered to Eddie and Maggie, before calling to the creatures, “Leave us alone!” Harris pulled his arm back over his shoulder, then, with a quick flick, whipped the small piece of wood forward and sent it flying. Eddie was almost impressed as he watched the boomerang soar into the shadows, but the feeling disappeared when one dark creature swiped at it with a clawed hand and the boomerang simply vanished with a soft whoosh.

Suddenly, both of his hands were yanked backward, by Maggie on one side and Harris on the other. They pulled Eddie farther down the path, and the three kids ran.

Every tree they passed seemed to let go of another empty space that turned into a hooded creature. They appeared at every angle. Eddie nervously bit the inside of his lip, so hard he tasted blood.

Bare branches extended across the driveway, as if trying to scrape at them. Harris shouted as his cheek split open. Maggie screamed as she lost a tangle of hair. Eddie was sure the trees themselves were in on it. He heard the left side of his coat split down the back as something ripped clean through it.