Chapter Fourteen
On the drive home, I learned my mother wasn’t the only one who’d tried to reach me while I’d been at the Moonlight Diner. Devon had sent no less than twenty-five texts with a variety of colorful messages that all boiled down to two words: Call me. Elizabeth also wanted me to “call with all the details, ASAP.” And despite not talking to me since her outburst in the lobby, Mandy wanted a ride to school the following morning.
I dutifully replied to all my friends. Assuring Mandy that I would pick her up so she wouldn’t be forced to ride the bus came first. To Elizabeth I simply responded with “Typical 1st date.” A text message wouldn’t satisfy Devon, however. In truth, I did want to share my evening with her. That was what best friends were for. I just didn’t know how much I wanted to divulge. It had been Devon who’d first realized the connection between my electrical problems and the near-death experience. Taking it a step further, though, and throwing in the possibility that I’d been given a second chance at life in exchange for being some sort of afterlife minion didn’t sound like the type of nonsense she’d swallow.
I set my cell to speaker and dialed Devon’s number. She answered on the first ring, no doubt having spent all evening watching her own cell like a pot of water about to boil.
“Don’t leave out a single detail,” Devon demanded.
“Hello to you, too,” I said.
“Don’t play coy or try and be cute. I want a blow-by-blow. The popcorn is in my lap.”
I took a deep breath and decided to go for it, tell her everything. If anyone could get to the bottom of how I came to be an Egrgoroi without meaning to, Devon could. Even if she had to travel to the underworld and demand an audience with the Panel of Three, Devon wouldn’t rest until the mysteries of the universe were mysteries no more.
Surprisingly, she barely interrupted as I replayed my conversation with Kaydon. She didn’t freak out when I told her that I’d been experiencing the dreams for the past week, or when I described the half-remembered meeting with a mythological ferryman. True to form, Devon promised to scour the ends of the internet and even the physical library to aid in the quest to find out more about the Egrgoroi and how I’d become one.
“Do you really believe all of this?” I asked her after she’d finished rambling off a list of books she was currently ordering from the local library.
“The question is, do you? History is full of people that could see the future or heal the sick with one touch. Wars have been won because of some twist of fate. Disasters have been averted and lives have been saved because one person changed her routine. How do you explain that if you don’t believe in people chosen to help maintain balance on earth?”
“Luck?” I suggested, playing devil’s advocate.
“No,” Devon said flatly. “The occurrences are too frequent to be random.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Again, the absence of free will bothered me. It meant that my life wasn’t my own. No decision I made really mattered. Whatever was meant to be would be. Why study and get good grades and go to a good college and get a good job if none of it mattered? Why carry out a to-do list for your life that someone else had written?
In addition to not believing in birthdays, my mother also never encouraged a belief in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or organized religion. So I’d never had my sense of the world shaken quite like it had been after Kaydon dropped his bombshell. Retelling the details to Devon only deepened my despondency.
“One more question,” Devon was saying. “Is he a good kisser?”
“The best,” I said absently, then realized Devon had purposely slipped in the question when she knew I was distracted. “You didn’t have to trick me,” I told her. “I would have told you.”
“So, your non-date was actually a date?” Devon pressed.
“Sort of,” I admitted.
Devon laughed. “It’s okay that you went on a date. You deserve to have some fun. Life doesn’t have to be all about school and sports.”
Maybe not. But life was much simpler when it had been.
Mom was sitting at the kitchen table when I opened the front door at five minutes past ten o’clock. She called my name and beckoned for me to join her. I set my backpack and gym bag by the door and reluctantly complied. To my surprise, Mom wore a smile instead of the scowl I’d grown accustomed to.
“How was dinner?” she asked, setting her pen down and giving me her full attention.
“Good. Sorry I’m late. We were talking and I lost track of time,” I replied.
“I’ll say. It must have been some first date. It was a first date, right?” Mom watched me carefully, studying my face for a tell.
“Yes, Mom. And if we go out again, you can meet him,” I told her, surprised to realize I meant it this time.
“I look forward to it.” And Mom looked like she meant it.
“I have a lot of homework,” I said awkwardly. I loved that Mom was asking about my night and not in the interrogative way that she normally used, but discussing my dating life with her made me uncomfortable. “I’m gonna head up to my room.”
“Go ahead,” Mom said, still smiling.
It occurred to me that maybe Devon and Elizabeth weren’t the only ones who thought I needed to get some real-life dating experience. If my mother only knew what had drawn Kaydon and me together…
Once in my pajamas, I settled onto the bed, but didn’t start my homework. Instead, I opened the folder Mr. Haverty had given me, again. My father’s research suddenly seemed relevant. The myths and legends he’d been looking into may talk about the Egrgoroi.
I couldn’t find any references to the Egrgoroi specifically. But there were several highlighted passages that interested me.
Only the Chosen shall know the way, for with one’s life they must pay. The in-between is neither here nor there, but to it one may voyage from everywhere. Journey beyond the gate before it is thy turn, succumb to fortune’s fate, no way back from this sojourn.
In a land where blood and fire reign supreme, only the Chosen shall hope to escape the inferno. A contract signed with pen mightier than any found on mortal plane binds the Chosen to a Decree yet unbroken. The balance of power is best left to the omnipresent.
Across the smoothest seas they wait, poised to decide all mankind’s fate. One goes up and one goes down, by the brothers’ whim they will be bound. Lesser will fall and Blessed shall rise, only the Chosen shall know reprise. Blindly, man enters and asks for reprieve; with knowledge the Chosen are granted their leave. Only a fool aims to escape destiny, all-knowing, all-seeing, these are the Three.
Besides the mention to the “Three,” I had no idea what any of it meant. The repeated mention of the Chosen seemed important, and I wondered if the Egrgoroi were the Chosen. In Advanced Lit Mrs. Macemore had us interpret poems all the time, in preparation for the AP exam. It was not an area in which I excelled. Devon, however, would likely take one look at the passages and instantly conjure a translation.
Between the physically grueling lacrosse practice and the mentally taxing dinner with Kaydon, I was beat. Any additional research into my potential alter ego would have to wait. Before closing my eyes, I checked my phone just in case my father had called.
A smiled tugged at the corners of my mouth when I saw Kaydon’s name on the display screen.
Kaydon: Wanted to make sure you got home okay. Hope you aren’t in trouble with Mom. Dream well.
Me: In bed and out of trouble. You too.
****
I tried to call Devon’s name again, but my voice was lost in a second explosion. This one sent me flying through the air. I collided with the wall, spine first. Pain shot out in every direction, but it was quickly forgotten as the door at the end of the hallway burst open. Fire swirled in a mesmerizing vortex of orange tinged with black. I pressed my back against the wall, hoping that if I made myself as small as possible the fireball would miss me. Only, even as more smoke poured into the hallway, the flames stayed confined inside the room as if there were an invisible barrier that they couldn’t cross.
Paralyzed with fear and fascination, I watched as a dark silhouette started to take shape in the center of the fire. My first thought was relief; somehow Devon was still alive. As the shape grew larger, more defined, my stomach clenched. The silhouette was too big to be Devon’s.
Twin green lasers came into focus. Flames licked his chestnut waves, the arms and legs of his tuxedo, yet he appeared unaffected by the fire. The smoke parted for him, clearing a pathway that led directly from the doorway to where I huddled on the ground.
“Kaydon?” I whispered.
He held out his hand and beckoned me forward. Part of me wanted to go to him. The more sensible part of me knew better. Run, run, run, a voice screamed inside my head. Before I could act on the internal command, the smoke lining the path between Kaydon and me began to take shape. The clouds of black and grey twisted and swirled into distinct forms, distinctly humanoid forms. They were small, no more than three feet tall, and hunched over. The fire creatures walked with a limp, like they all had a lame left leg.
I glanced back at Kaydon, whose hand was still extended in my direction. His expression was blank, except for the eyes. His eyes were sad and scared and full of regret. A melodic voice that wasn’t his came from his lips, “Welcome back, Endora Lee.”
I knew that voice. I’d heard it before. In Caswell Lake.
The smoke creatures were closing in, reaching their hot, waiflike fingers towards me. Even as I scrambled to my feet, I knew it was too late. I’d waited too long to act. A bloodcurdling scream tore from my chest as fingers closed around my wrist, singeing the skin on contact.