Chapter 14

            They waited at the end of the block for a few moments.  "You think he sees us?" Will asked.

            "I doubt it," Jessie said.  She turned to look back at Ricky.  "Where's the portal at?"

            "At either point where we came in."

            "So my closet and Will's closet?"

            "Yes."

            "OK, we'll use my closet then.  You two get out and take Ricky and Heather.  I'll distract the cop until you get inside."

            "Hold on," Tom said.  "Who died and made you God?"

            "You have a better idea?"

            "Not at the moment," Tom said after a minute of intense thought.  "That still doesn't mean that you're in charge."

            "Look, they're probably watching your house, figuring you'll go there.  You can't just go walking in the front door or he'll bust you."

            "Maybe.  Or maybe he's watching your house."

            "What?  Why would he be watching my house?"

            "Maybe your mom called the cops or something."

            "That's ridiculous.  She never cares where I go."

            "I think we should do what Jessie says," Will said.

            "Who asked you?"

            "No one, but—"

            "Then shut up."

            "Don't tell him to shut up."

            "He's my brother; I'll tell him whatever I want."

            "If it weren't for him and me you'd still be in Stratford."

            "Yeah, well, being bossed around by asshole guards and that prick of a warden is better than being bossed around by a girl."

            "Oh that's it, you want to step outside?"

            "That's a brilliant idea.  Why don't we just turn ourselves over now?"

            Will scooped up the stuffed animals, dropping them into his backpack.  He opened the back door and then climbed out of the car.  "I'm going to Jessie's house.  You can do whatever you want."

            Will got five steps down the road before he heard a door slam.  Turning, he saw Tom had emerged from the front seat.  "I'm only going along to keep you from getting in trouble," he said.

            "That's generous of you."

            "Come on, let's go."  Tom took Will's arm, yanking him back the way they'd come.  They crossed the street and kept walking until they came to an ancient oak tree that was part of the Culvers' lawn.  Tom studied the tree for a moment and then with a grunt reached up to grab the lowest branch.  With the ease of an acrobat he pulled himself into a crouch on the branch.  "You coming?" 

            "You want to climb a tree?  Now?"

            "Just do it."

            Will had never liked climbing trees or anything else.  Those kind of heights made him queasy.  His stomach grumbled as he took Tom's hand, letting his brother pull him onto the lowest branch.  He told himself not to look down as he followed Tom up the tree, climbing from one branch to another until they were above the Culvers' ranch house.

            The situation became worse when Tom insisted on edging out along a limb near the house.  He paused on the branch for a moment, his muscles tensing.  Then he leapt from the branch onto the roof of the house.  "Come on," he hissed to Will.

            "Are you sure?"

            "It's not that hard.  I was doing this when I was eleven years old."  Tom smiled at him.  "How else do you think I got past Mom?"

            "I see."  Will took a deep breath and looked up at the moon as he made his way out onto the branch.  He waited to hear it snap at any moment, though he knew if it could hold Tom it would be able to hold him.

            Nearing the end of the branch, he had no choice but to look over at where Tom stood on the roof.  "Well, here goes," Will said to himself.  He jumped.  For a moment he was certain he wasn't going to make it and wind up with a broken neck, paralyzed or even dead.  But then his feet landed on the shingles of the roof, Tom grabbing him before he could roll off.

            "Good job," Tom said, giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder.  His brother then began scampering across the roof until he reached the opposite end of the house.  Without missing a beat, he jumped again, disappearing over the fence, into Jessie's yard.

            Will followed after him, trying not to tell himself how stupid this was.  Couldn't they have just climbed over the fence?  Halfway across the roof, a light came on, nearly blinding him.  He skidded to a stop, throwing a hand to his face to protect his eyes.  He heard Mr. Culver shout, "What the hell is going on?"

            The old man looked around the darkened neighborhood.  Will held in his breath, waiting for Mr. Culver to look up at the roof and see him.  "Come back in, George.  It's probably just the wind," his wife said from inside the house.

            "The wind my ass," Mr. Culver said.

            "Or a squirrel.  Come back inside, dear.  You're letting the cold air in."

            "Fine," the old man said.  The door slammed shut followed by the light going off.  Making sure to step lightly, Will traversed the rest of the roof.  He saw where Tom waited for him beside the McCormicks' fence. 

            "Here we go again," Will said before taking a few steps back to get a running start.  He flew into the air, arcing over the fence to land on his brother.  The Denton brothers crashed to the ground, Tom groaning with pain.

            "You've got to work on your landings," he said.

            "Sorry," Will said.  He didn't bother getting up, remaining in a crouched position to scamper across the backyard after rolling off Tom.  He had already seen where Jessie's room was and how easy it was to pry off the window screen.  He demonstrated this to Tom, who smiled.  "What?"

            "I didn't know you were such an expert climbing into girls' windows."

            "Shut up."  He let Tom go first through the window.  His brother in turn helped pull him through.

            They stood there for a moment before a tiny voice called out, "Jessie?"

#

            She had received her driver's license on her sixteenth birthday, having aced driver's ed the previous summer and demonstrated responsible driving habits to her mother.  This was difficult because her mother was the ultimate backseat driver—or side seat driver really—screaming any time a car came within fifteen feet of her Accord while Jessie was behind the wheel.  Adding to the difficulty was Megan in the backseat, humming loudly and playing with her stuffed penguins.  But Jessie had survived the ordeal and left her mother no choice but to let Jessie get her license.

            Now she would probably lose it.  She told herself it was for a good cause, to save millions of lives.  "Well, here goes nothing," she said.  Then she put the car in drive and floored the accelerator.

            The Accord streaked past the parked cruiser.  Jessie looked in her rearview mirror, her heart catching in her throat for one second and then two.  On the third second, the cruiser's lights came on.  It tore away from the curb to come up behind her.  She kept going at full speed, blowing through a stop sign.  Only when the cruiser pulled out in front of her did she finally hit the brakes and pull over.

            The cruiser's door opened, an officer looking similar to the guard she'd run into at Stratford climbing out.  As he ambled towards the Accord, Jessie reached into the backseat for her purse.  She hurriedly began applying makeup, so that she was puckering into the mirror of her compact when the officer tapped on her window.

            "Oh, hi!" she said.  "Is something wrong?"

            "Young lady, do you know how fast you were going?"

            "No."

            "You also missed a stop sign back there."

            "Did I?  I'm so sorry, Officer.  I'm in such a hurry to get to the mall.  The Gap is having a sale on sweaters and I have to get one before Stacey Kearns or I'll just die."

            "That may be, but this is a residential neighborhood.  There are a lot of people living around here.  Kids who play here."

            "Really?  I'm so sorry, Officer.  I didn't mean anything."

            "I understand, but I'm going to have to give you a ticket."

            "A ticket?"  Tears welled up in her eyes.  "But I can't get a ticket.  Daddy said if I got a ticket he'd never let drive again.  Then what am I supposed to do?  My whole life will be ruined!  I might as well be dead!"

            Through her tear-filled eyes, she watched the police officer's expression soften.  "OK, I'll let you off with a warning this time, but you had better—"

            She leaned out the window to give him a kiss on the cheek, leaving a fresh red stain.  "Thank you, Officer!  I promise I'll be good from now on."

            "See that you do," the officer said, his face turning as red as the lipstick.  He ambled back to his car, weaving a moment as if drunk. 

            Men, she thought sourly.

#

            Will threw himself to the floor, but it was too late.  The little girl rolled over in her sister's bed to look down on him.  "Who are you?" Megan asked.

            "I'm Will.  I'm a friend of your sister."

            "You were here earlier."

            "No I wasn't."

            "Uh huh.  You were here this morning to help clean up.  I saw you."

            "I think you're mistaken."

            "Am not."

            "Why don't you go back to your room and play?" Will said to avoid further argument with a four-year-old.

            "What are you doing?"

            "Nothing."

            "You're doing something."

            "I'm just waiting for Jessie and we're going to do homework."

            "Liar."

            "I am not."

            "Boys only climb through the window when they want to wrestle with Jessie."

            "Wrestle?"  He thought about it a moment and then realized that to a little girl, making out would resemble wrestling.  At least he hoped Jessie was only making out with them.  And just how many of them had come through this window?  "Right, wrestling.  That's what I'm here to do.  You better go until you want her to get mad at you."

            "I'm going to tell Daddy."

            "You'd better not."

            "Why not?"

            "Well, um—"

            "If you tell Daddy, we'll have to sic the monster on you," Tom said.  He opened Will's backpack to grab Heather.  The little girl's eyes widened at the sight of the cat that had attacked her that morning.  Before she could scream, Tom put a hand over her mouth.  "You're going to go to your room and go to sleep or else the monster is going to hurt you."

            Heather hissed and spat at Megan; Will doubted this was an act.  Megan stared at the white cat and then nodded.  Tom took the hand from her mouth so that the little girl could run from the room.  The door to her room slammed shut a few seconds later.  "That was close."

            "You've probably traumatized her for life now," Will said.

            "She can work it out with a shrink then."  He reached into the backpack for Ricky.  "OK, now what do we do?  Any magic words to get this portal to work?"

            "No.  I just have to send a coded signal back."  Ricky went to the closet and then looked up at Tom.  "Open the door please."

            "Sure."  Tom did as requested, opening the door to the closet.  Will tried not to blush as he thought of being locked in that closet this morning.  The clothes were all still in there exactly as he had left them, but he didn't see any sign of a portal.

            The bedroom door opened, prompting both Will and Tom to dive for cover.  "You guys are getting paranoid," Jessie said.

            "How'd you get past the cop?" Tom asked.

            "Feminine wiles," she said.

            Will could imagine what she had pulled on the cop.  He swallowed a question about the boys she let into her bedroom.  "Your parents didn't suspect anything?"

            "Not a thing.  Did you guys do something to Megan, though?  She's hiding under the covers in her room."

            "You know how little kids are," Tom said.

            "Right.  So where's the portal?"

            "I'm sending the signal now," Ricky said.  He touched the silver compartments on his belt almost as if they were keys on a typewriter.  Will took a step back to stand by Jessie, bracing himself for a vortex to open up and suck them all in.

            Nothing happened at first.  The clothes remained hanging motionless in the closet.  Ricky tapped another sequence on his belt.  Still nothing happened.  Then Will saw one of the compartments on Ricky's belt glow red.  "All is ready," he announced.

            One moment Jessie's closet looked perfectly normal, the next it had become a furnace of glowing white energy.  Will put a hand to his eyes to shield them from the brightness of the light.  "That's the portal?" he said.

            "Yes."

            "So we just go through there?" Jessie asked.

            "Yes."

            "Come on, meatbags, there's no more time to waste," Heather said.  She jammed her metal spike into Will's left leg.  He cried out in pain, hopping around on his good leg.  He stumbled forward, into the white light.

            With a flash he was gone.

Part 2