The New Kid (13 page)

“Your sister Emily?” asked Will. When Natalie looked surprised and then suspicious, he said, “I read about her in the paper before I moved. As soon as I saw you I thought I knew you but I didn’t work out why right away. I saw her picture and then I saw you and. . . .” He stopped and cleared his throat. “Emily’s disappearance was part of why I thought he might be here.”

“The cops and the paper and everything said she drowned, but they never found her body,” added Rudy.

“That’s right,” said Natalie. “And I just know she didn’t drown. She was on the freakin’ swim team, no
way
that river took her. It was him. Or them, or whatever you call them. That night. . . .” Her voice trailed off as though she was too scared to even utter what happened out loud.

Will stepped closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“How did it happen, Natalie?” he asked. “You can tell me. You know I won’t think you’re crazy.”

“I heard things. Voices. And the air. . . .” Again her voice trailed off into the dark night.

“Was there a smell?”

“Yes! How’d you know?”

“I know a lot of things. Did you see anything?”

“No. Yes. I mean, I’m not sure. I thought I maybe saw something, some . . . eyes. Underwater.”

“Oh God!” said Rudy. “This is so creeping me out!”

“Good,” said Will. “The more creeped out the better off you are. You’ll be safer if you stay alert.”

“Will, you have to help me,” said Natalie.

“Help you what?”

“Find Emily.”

Will frowned.

“Natalie, we don’t really know for sure what happened to your sister.”

“They took her and I know it!” said Natalie.

“The question is,
how
do you know it?”

“It’s just . . . a feeling I have. Don’t you trust your feelings?”

“I always trust my feelings,” said Will.

“Well then, there you go. This time you can trust mine.” She turned to Rudy and touched him on his shoulder. “We both know there’s been something weird, something that really sucks, going on in this town for a long time, right, Rudy?”

“Yeah, you pretty much nailed it.”

“Now that we know why you’re here, we can help you,” she said to Will. “And we’re going to.”

“We are?” asked Rudy. Then he added, “I’m kidding. At least I think I am.”

“Look, you guys,” said Will, “I came to Harrisburg because I did research and found out the crime rate here spiked a few months ago, especially crime involving minors. That’s usually a sign that he or his servants are doing their dirty work. And I read about the kids who disappeared. About . . . Emily.”

He looked at Natalie.

“Of course Emily is important, but I have to look at the bigger picture. I have to do my thing and poke around and see if I can draw them out into the open. If I can do that, then maybe I can get some face time with an Underlord.”

“What’s that?” asked Rudy.

“You know, like a captain or something, a middle manager, someone who reports to the big boss.”

“Right, I know all about that,” said Rudy proudly. “I did a paper on the Mafia. So the Devil is like the
capo di tutti capi
, the boss of all bosses, and the Underlord would be like the
sotto capo
, the second in command. And then you got your
soldatos
, or soldiers.”

“I guess it’s something like that,” said Will. “Listen, I hardly know you guys, but from what I know of you, I like you. I don’t want to see you get hurt. You deserved to know what you saved me from back there, but I need to do this alone.”

“No more warnings, Will. I’m going to find Emily. And we’re going to help you whether you like it or not,” said Natalie defiantly.

Will knew he should tell her no but he couldn’t figure out how. She’d suffered a loss not unlike his. They both knew what it felt like having a loved one disappear. They both knew that the worst part was
not knowing
what happened to them or if they were still alive. Will thought he understood his attraction to her now. It wasn’t just superficial, they were bonded by their shared pain, their determination to get their loved one back. They were
connected
. How could he deny her when she only wanted the same thing he did?

A fine mist had settled over the night and everything felt damp. Will looked at Natalie and Rudy and pondered what it meant that he’d finally shared his life with someone. He knew that no matter how much he wanted to he couldn’t take back the information he’d entrusted to them. It was obvious that they were going to keep sticking their noses in his business, the family business. But it was too late now, the die had been cast. Will just hoped that their determination to be involved wouldn’t end up costing them their lives.

W
ill dreamt he was in a meadow. A soft wind caressed the long wild grasses and blew dandelion seedlings around like tiny angels. He was lying in the grass next to a girl. Her features were vague, ever shifting; sometimes she would appear to be Natalie and a moment later she’d morph into Sharon Mitchell. In either incarnation he and the girl were moving closer together, laughing, holding hands, the blanket around them rotating slowly, and Will found himself only inches away from kissing either Natalie or Sharon. As their lips touched the image of the girl clarified: it was Natalie, and she tasted of strawberries. Happiness surged through Will. His whole body was warm from the sunlight, warm from the kiss, warm from happiness. And then the blanket began to wrap around Natalie’s legs and transformed into thousands of red demon ants, now biting her, now pulling her down as the earth yawned open and claws reached up. Natalie was screaming as she was pulled down and though Will tried to help he was paralyzed, his arms frozen at his side. The sun dropped closer to the earth and became so hot it began to burn Will’s flesh.

He woke up. The morning sun was streaming through his curtains and he sat up and wiped the perspiration from his face. His
first instinct was to call Natalie and see if she was okay. But he knew that she was perfectly fine—after all, it had only been a dream.

He showered and shampooed his hair, checked himself out in the mirror, and decided he needed a haircut, or a least a trim. But who had time for that when the weight of the world was bearing down on your shoulders? He still wasn’t certain if Harrisburg was the right place, or if he’d made an error in calculating this small burg as a likely place for the Lord of Darkness to spawn a nest of depravity and destruction. Sure, he’d encountered demonteens, but the country was crawling with them. Had he really seen and heard the Lord of Darkness? His gut told him he was on the right track. But he still wondered. Rudy had said that Harrisburg used to be a really nice place to live, but that lately things had gone south. The streets didn’t feel safe anymore at night. Graffiti had made a sudden inexplicable appearance. Kids seemed to be wearing more leather and getting more body parts pierced. Natalie had agreed, but said all that stuff could be explained by TV and the fact that Harrisburg’s population had surged in the last five years with the construction of a computer chip facility in nearby Waterville. What gave Natalie the creeps wasn’t the way kids dressed or the increase in vandalism or the violent misogynistic music that filled the air. It was something else, something she called an epidemic of anger. It was as if the town had been infected with some disease that caused its citizens to lash out at each other. Will knew exactly what could cause that.
Him
. His poison was potent, his ambitions limitless. And it was up to Will to seek him out and destroy him and his kind.

 

At school Will was finally beginning to blend in a little; at least he wasn’t pointed at and whispered about everywhere he went. Some kids had actually started smiling at him (mostly girls) and nodding at him (mostly boys). He ate lunch now at a table with Natalie, Rudy, and a few of Natalie’s friends, but whenever the conversation strayed too close to who Will was, where he came from, or how he became so buff, he would clam up and ask questions about boring teachers
that would lead to someone else bringing up something more titillating and Will would be off the hook. Each time he did this Natalie would smile knowingly at him and one time even reached under the table and pinched his leg.

After school the next week, the three of them went to Stoner’s Park but it was empty except for some skateboarders so they opted for a trip to Highland Mall instead. It was just like every other mall in every other town in the country, full of chain merchants, stores like the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Lucky, Guess, Hollister, and A & F. Will wondered how many of the shoppers knew that all these retailers, the purveyors of the “cool” brands that made consumers feel like individuals, were in fact owned by just a half-dozen huge parent conglomerates. It was like a big spider web that trapped shoppers and sucked the money out of their wallets. Ninety percent of the clothing was made in sweatshops in poor countries halfway around the world.
But hey, who cares
, thought Will.
Certainly not the kids bleeding their parents’ Visa cards dry
.

As they walked through the mall Natalie paused outside a store called Bebe that Will wasn’t familiar with, seeing a top that made her eyes sparkle. And then Will saw a hint of sadness in her eyes and he concluded that this shop was stupidly expensive and that the top Natalie was yearning for was out of her price range.

“Hey, do you think we could go in here?” he asked innocently.

“Um, sure,” said Natalie.

“Are you kidding me? You’re kidding me, right?” said Rudy.

But Will and Natalie were already heading inside. Will went right to the rack where Natalie’s holy grail top was hanging and pulled out a small.

“Try this on.”

“Why?”

“I noticed it in the window and I need to get something for my aunt. I’d like to see what it looks like on. But if it gets you all cranky. . . .”

“No, no, I don’t mind,” said Natalie.

Rudy was so bored he was thinking about what it would be like to kiss a mannequin. Will waited patiently and when Natalie came out of the dressing room wearing the top she was so flushed with excitement that it made Will’s heart thump. He knew he was sliding further and further down a slippery slope but he didn’t care. It felt good, making Natalie happy, and he told himself that after all the years of deprivation he deserved a little pleasure.

“Um, do you like it? I mean, for your aunt?” asked Natalie, turning around as she modeled it.

“It’s perfect.” Will signaled for a sales clerk, a college girl who came right over and immediately felt herself drawn to Will even though he was at least four years younger than she was.

“I hope I can help you,” she smiled, eyelashes batting.

“Cut the tags off this will you? I’m buying it.” Will flipped out his wallet and discreetly handed the sales girl a credit card. She took the card and ran it, then came back with scissors and cut the tags off. Natalie was speechless.

“Um, I guess I should go take this off. I’m sure your aunt will—”

“Leave it on. It’s yours.”

“Wait. No, you can’t—”

Will grinned. “If you argue with me I’m going to take these scissors and—”

He took the scissors from the sales girl and was about to cut right through the sleeve of the top when Natalie shrieked, “OKAY! I’m keeping it on, see!”

Rudy went ahead and macked on a mannequin.

 

The three of them descended on the food court.

“I don’t know what to say,” whispered Natalie, glowing in her new top.

“
Thank you
would be appropriate, but no thanks are necessary. You saved my butt the other day, I wanted to repay you, that’s all.”
Will knew the gift meant so much more than a simple thank you but did his best to hide the satisfaction he felt being able to buy a girl he dug something cool. Meanwhile Rudy was looking like the puppy who didn’t get a bone and he repeatedly cleared his throat. Not a very subtle hint. Will couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I know, I know, Rudy, you were in the cavalry, too. Lunch is on me,” said Will, taking out his wallet as Rudy smiled. While Will opted for a gyro plate from Zeus’s and Natalie had a chicken Caesar salad from Chillers, Rudy loaded up at the Big Apple Deli, getting two chili dogs and some screaming hot curly fries, a chocolate shake, and cheesecake. After scarfing it all down, crumbs falling in his lap, he complained about his stomach hurting. Then they heard some boisterous talking and laughter and looked over.

The sound was coming from a group of kids from school, not Duncan’s crowd, but just as lean and mean, their fashions spot on, their teeth perfectly straight, their skin pale but smooth and pimple-free. There were three guys and a couple of girls and they bought frozen yogurt from Pinkberry.

Natalie was amazed at how the girls looked liked they just waltzed in off the pages of a Victoria’s Secret catalog.

“I don’t get it, how can they be so horribly, terribly, disgustingly, awfully . . . perfect?”

“You’re only looking on the outside,” said Will.

“Duh. That’s what everybody does,” countered Natalie.

“Not everybody,” answered Will, and he looked at Natalie with his blue eyes, which were pretty perfect, too. At least as far as Natalie was concerned, even with the one slightly paler than the other.

Rudy indicated the tallest of the boys, a guy with long wavy hair, an earring, plenty of ink, and studded leather bracelets, all to complement his two-hundred-dollar jeans.

“That’s Jason DeGenova,” said Rudy. “He used to be such a geek. And then, like, over the summer he became this movie star. He was a klutz and now he’s playing varsity basketball.”

“Hormones. The teenage years can be so cruel to some and a blessing to others,” said Natalie.

“Maybe it’s more than hormones,” said Will.