Dan Poblocki - The Stone Child

“I’m kidding,” said Nathaniel, smiling at her. “To answer your question, though, all I really want to do right now is take a shower… As for the writing… I no longer have my precious silver pendant.” He sounded sarcastic. “Who knows if I’ll ever be able to write anything again? To be completely honest… I don’t really care.”

Eddie didn’t believe him. He bent over and lifted his bag off the floor. Placing it on the table, he undid the zipper. Very carefully, he reached inside and pulled out the necklace. With the chain wrapped around his fingers, Eddie allowed the pendant to swing slowly as he held his hand above the table.

Nathaniel shook his head. He slowly reached out and took it from him. “I don’t want it, but if I don’t keep it safe, who knows where it will end up next.”

Suddenly, Eddie thought of his mom. She was probably frantic, wondering where he was. He was certain she had discovered that he’d taken her “pen.” He hoped she wouldn’t flip out when he told her he’d “lost” it.

“But it doesn’t matter if anyone uses the pendant to write another book. Does it?” said Harris. “The gate is destroyed.”

Nathaniel smiled a sad smile. He shook his head. “According to the legend, there were two stone children. Weren’t there? As long as the other statue exists, someone might use the pendant to try to open the gate again. I think it’s our job now to make sure that never happens.”

When Eddie heard Nathaniel say that, he felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. “But where is the other statue?” he said.

Nathaniel clenched the silver pendant in his fist and lightly tapped it on the table. “I hope,” he said, “we never find out.”

Weeks later, on the evening of Halloween, the town green bustled with activity. The first autumn festival in many years had brought people out of the woodwork. Tents open for business lined the perimeter of the lawn. People were selling everything from cotton candy and caramel apples to balloon animals shaped like vampires and werewolves. There were games where contestants had to topple heavy bottles with baseballs to win giant stuffed frogs for their girlfriends. A small Ferris wheel whirred on one of the long stretches of grass near the church. A portable carousel spun at the opposite end of the park, next to the big mill. Its music hummed cheerfully, oblivious, as several people stumbled away from it, green and dizzy. On a banner spanning the front of the white gazebo, someone had painted in bright red the words WELCOME TO DARK TIMES IN GATESWEED. Eddie strolled through the park and thought it all looked beautiful. He wished he could take his time, but he knew there were other matters he needed to attend to.

Standing next to the gazebo were a tall skinny witch and a floating white sheet with legs, which, Eddie assumed, was supposed to be a ghost-Maggie and Harris in costume. They waved as he approached.

Harris shouted, “You’re late!” and grabbed Eddie’s red sweatshirt sleeve.

“Sorry,” said Eddie, laughing as he tripped over his own red shoelaces. He was dressed like a devil. He’d painted his face maroon and glued two latex horns to his forehead. Even though the coming night was brisk, he’d already begun to sweat. He could feel the makeup running down his neck. He pointed over his shoulder to the vendor tents where his parents lolled, looking at some of the crafts the local artisans were selling. “My dad couldn’t find a parking spot.”

“Excuses, excuses,” said Maggie from behind her own bright green face paint. “We’re going to be late.”

“The reading doesn’t start for a half hour!” said Eddie.

“But we need to get good seats,” said Harris, stepping into Center Street and making his way toward The Enigmatic Manuscript, which was lit up like a jack-o’-lantern. There was already a crowd at the door, spilling off of the recently painted front porch. People were dressed in costume, scattered across the sidewalk. Eddie could see several news vans parked along the curb; reporters and cameramen leaned against them, as if waiting for something exciting to happen. If Eddie didn’t know better, he might have thought that, inside the store, Frances was offering the best treats in Gatesweed.

As Harris pushed his way through the crowd, Eddie heard whispers from behind the crowd’s many masks. In the front window, Eddie read the sign that Frances had posted early last week-WELCOME THE RETURN OF NATHANIEL OLMSTEAD. JOIN US ON HALLOWEEN FOR HIS READING OF A NEW STORY, HIS FIRST IN OVER THIRTEEN YEARS!

The crowd continued to push back, until finally, when the three of them made it to the top of the stairs, a blond woman wearing a tutu and pink tights turned around and glared at them. “There’s a line , you know,” she said through her teeth.

Harris blinked at her through the eyeholes cut in the sheet. “This is my store,” he answered simply. Harris took out his key and held it up for everyone to see. The woman in the tutu shot them all a dirty look but stepped aside.

Eddie chuckled to himself as he squeezed past her and followed Harris and Maggie through the front door of the empty bookstore. Nathaniel Olmstead’s diehard fans had come many miles to see him. Who could blame them for being excited?

Inside, Eddie followed Harris and Maggie past rows of folding chairs to the very front, where big pieces of white paper marked RESERVED were taped to the seats.

“See?” said Eddie. “We’re not late at all.”

Harris rolled his eyes, but Eddie could tell that his friend was smiling. Each sat down with a satisfied huff. The door in the rear wall of the store opened, and Frances peeked out. When she saw them, she waved. “Oh good,” she said, “I was about to start letting people in. Eddie, make sure you save two seats for your parents. Your mother is really excited.”

“I will,” said Eddie.

A month earlier-on the night he, Harris, and Maggie destroyed the gate in the Nameless Woods-Eddie had come home to find his mother typing at the kitchen table. He expected her to be upset with him for taking the pendant. He wasn’t sure how to tell her that she’d never see it again. When he closed the front door, she glanced up, and he realized that she was upset for a different reason.

“Where have you been?” she cried. “We called Maggie’s house, and they said you weren’t there.”

Eddie thought quickly. “We were hanging out outside.”

She looked at him skeptically. “How’d you get home?”

“We walked,” said Eddie.

“That doesn’t sound very safe.” She sighed. “How many times do I have to ask you to call?”

“Sorry,” said Eddie. “I promise, I will never, ever, ever forget again.”

She looked at him strangely, but after a moment, she smiled. “Well… I also wanted to tell you my news,” she said. “I’m done!”

Eddie felt his face flush, suddenly panicked that his ordeal in the woods had been for nothing. She had finished the Woman’s story. Did that mean the gate was now open? “But your pen…,” Eddie started to say.

“You can have it,” said Mom, getting up from the table and giving him a hug. “I finally realized that it was hard to write with. For some reason, it always made me sort of cold! I’m better off without the darn thing. I just typed the last few pages directly into my laptop. Simple as that.”

Eddie heaved a sigh of relief.

“Would you like to read it?” Mom asked.

Frances walked to the front of the bookstore and opened the doors. The costumed fans who had been standing on the front porch poured in. Eddie couldn’t help but imagine the gate in the woods as he watched vampires, goblins, pirates, one Frankenstein monster, and several of the living dead crush each other trying to get through the door. He overheard bits and pieces of their many conversations as they filled the empty rows of chairs behind him.