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March 15, 2046
Bardsville, Wisconsin
When eleven-year-old Nova strolled through the doorway of Bardsville Middle School, the hair on the back of her neck immediately stood at attention. And that was before the spring wind blew the door shut behind her. Cold raced through her bones, and her breakfast threatened to come up. She clutched her stomach and took deep breaths.
She heard an evil laugh and looked up. A gray transparent human silhouette flashed before her eyes and vanished with a crackling sound.
Nova jumped back. Stupid ghosts! For the last month and a half, they’d been infesting the school like mice in a corn crib. It was hard enough to get through the school day without worrying about being overwhelmed by a sense of dread. It was worst during gym.
Well, she was finally going to do something about it. And if it meant taking out someone’s ancestors, so be it.
The school bell rang out startling her again. Nova ran down the hallway, skidding around the corner to the north wing and her first class- English with Ms. Chilldress. The room smelled of hand lotion, stinky feet, and old books. Nova was still trying to shake the dread, taking some deep breaths when she remembered that there was a spelling test this morning. She gritted her teeth. The dread had nothing to do with the ghost. Not this time anyway.
Later in the Auditorium for lunch, Nova scanned the room until she spotted Takeesha at a table in the corner with Max Kim and Benny. The chairs from one side of the table had been shoved into the aisle to make room for Benny’s wheelchair. Nova jostled through kids near the auditorium’s dark stage and shuffled past the vending machines that made squeaking noises when she came near them. The machines hid the old kitchen that wasn’t used anymore. She sat down with the others at a rickety corner table.
“You guys, I had another sighting this morning.”
“The pirate?” Benny asked.
“It happened so fast I’m not sure.” Nova opened up her brown lunch bag. “I don’t know about you guys, but I want them gone. Thing is, I’m not sure I can fight them alone.”
Takeesha nodded biting into her ham sandwich that dripped mayonnaise. “Something happened with a pirate ghost this morning.”
Nova noticed that Max Kim’s eyes were wide as he gulped his chocolate milk. Benny and Max Kim were good buds and usually made fun of the girls. If he was taking Takeesha seriously, then it had to be bad.
“What?” she said. “What happened?”
“Do you remember Dayton? The science kid? His hat made him look bald with three
eyes—?” Takeesha scratched between her cornrows.
“Yeah, I remember him,” Nova said. “Was he doing anything with science? The ghosts really don’t like that.”
Takeesha continued to stuff her sandwich in her mouth.
“Mufflrrr.” She gestured ‘give me a minute’ with her finger. Nova sat back. Someone dropped their chair, and everyone jumped. Nova looked around the room for a ghost but didn’t see or sense one. These ghosts really had everyone on edge.
Benny couldn’t wait for Takeesha any longer. “Dayton was carrying a chemistry book from Ms. Chilldress. Anyway, he opened his locker, and there was this big bloody arm hanging from handcuffs inside.”
“Hey,” Takeesha spluttered her white milk and wiped her chin with a napkin. “Nova’s my friend. I should tell her. You know what I mean?”
“Well hurry up and get to the good part.” Benny shoved at his white blond combed-over hair.
Nova elbowed her. “Yeah, Takeesha get to the good part.”
“When Dayton tried to touch the ghost arm, it reached out to grab him.” Takeesha drank some more milk.
“Yeah, then the arm changed into a pirate,” Max Kim said with wide eyes. Takeesha glared at Max Kim, and he looked down at his lap.
“Then what happened?” Nova smoothed her curly auburn hair back careful not to expose her small brow ridge.
“The ghost growled and banged on lockers,” Takeesha said. “It chased Dayton down the hallway. Kids scattered, even the ones who said they were used to seeing the ghosts.”
Benny pulled himself straight in his chair. “I believe it’s my turn now.”
“Fine,” Takeesha said.
Then it dawned on Nova that this was the first time Benny had seen a ghost. Usually he argued against sightings, saying there is no such thing as the paranormal. Maybe now, he’s changed his tune.
“The pirate ghost caught up with Dayton,” Benny said. “It grabbed him and said, ‘By all that’s unholy, I’ll keelhaul you by pulling you from one end of my ship to the other, a- long-ways.’ Dayton’s eyes rolled up in his head. He fell backward and hit his head. I heard a crack.” Benny winced. “Then the ghost laughed and vanished. A whole bunch of kids gathered around Dayton’s body. A kid in a red jacket ran down the hall to get the coach. Mr. Hartzle tried to revive him and told a kid to run to the nurse and call for an ambulance. He wasn’t breathing.”
Takeesha elbowed Benny in the chest. She had got up on the table and now laid across it in front of Benny and his wheelchair, careful not to lay in his food. “Benny, now it’s my turn.” Benny scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue. Nova and Max Kim grinned. That was Takeesha for you, always wanting attention.
“Coach was giving mouth to mouth when the paramedics showed up,” Takeesha said. “You should have seen how his body jumped when they used those electric paddles. Dayton awoke screaming. The paramedics put him on a stretcher and took him away to the hospital. So what do you think?”
“Wow I hope that kid will be okay. Takeesha, that’s probably the same ghost I saw. Benny, you actually believe you saw something?”
“Yes, but it could most likely be explained.”
“Aw, come on Benny. You know they exist now,” Takeesha said getting off the table.
“I don’t want to discuss it.” He put his chair in reverse, backed up, and started rolling toward the garbage can.
The rest of the kids picked up their garbage, throwing it away, and then strolled into the gym and outside through a side door for recess. Nova and Takeesha skipped to the hopscotch area away from Benny and Max Kim, who tossed a red rubber ball back and forth. When the sun stayed out from behind the clouds, Nova turned her face up to the warmth. She loved spring. It felt soooo good after the winter snows. The March winds buffeted her body, and her hair got tangled.
“Hey, Takeesha do you want to see if Chocolate had her foal yet?”
“Yeah, that would be clash. How about after school? I’ll call my Ma from the pay phone.”
“Clash! I can’t wait.” They played jump rope and hopscotch enjoying the warmer day. Suddenly, Takeesha grabbed Nova’s arm and pulled her behind a maple tree. “I still want to do the séance in the library.”
“Even after seeing that pirate ghost?”
“I can handle myself. I’m a shaman.” Takeesha held up her African medallion necklace she kept hidden under her shirt. “A shaman is a spirit guide, healer, and psychic.”
“Well, I want to try out my psychic powers too.”
“So, let’s do it. Maybe we can tell the ghosts to stop. You know what I mean? “
“It’ll be dangerous.”
“So? Besides, so far, they haven’t hurt anyone.”
“What about Dayton?”
“No one died that I know of.”
“Fine.”
“Meet me at the school Library at about five after two.”
After recess, in the south school hallway, Nova still smelled the fresh aroma of spring, like she was bringing it indoors with her. The kids coming inside were putting their balls on the rack to the right adding a whiff of rubber to the smell of the outdoors.
After getting her books from her locker, she ambled down to the far end of the east corridor to math class. Takeesha got her art supplies and appeared to float down the north corridor to art class. But Nova was having a hard time concentrating on square roots.
She was going to defend herself against ghosts using her unproven psychic powers once and for all. Benny had said that psychic powers were another proof that we evolved. Maybe if she had the powers, she could fight the ghosts. She shook in anticipation.
Halfway through math class, a heavy spring storm began to lash against the School. Cold sleet and rain pelted the windows making it sound as if they might break. Thunder boomed, and Nova could feel the cement floor shake, causing kids to jump away from their desks and either yell or point out the window. Nova shuddered. Riding home on a bicycle was going to be a nightmare.
With just one more class period left in the day, Nova sighed heavily as she rubbed the small brow ridge hidden under her bangs. That was a bad habit she really should break, but it did help calm her down when she was nervous. Finally, the bell rang, and she made the slow walk from math class that was in the east wing and headed south with her library pass. Students were allowed to go to the library instead of the study hall.
Squeaks from her holey old sneakers echoed off the brick walls as she meandered down the hall and to the library. She noticed a new red banner stretched across the corridor. Bardsville Bandicoots Bite Back 2046.
Another sign had been put up reminding everyone about the visit by the Great Nocturnal Ned on Friday in the auditorium. The psychic had red hair done up in a pompadour style. The picture was created to look mysterious and a little spooky, representing Ned’s supernatural power. Nocturnal Ned could speak with dead people and validate that they were there, watching over us, or so the poster proclaimed. Nova felt uncomfortable with the idea that she was being watched over, especially when she went to the bathroom. She hoped the dead had the common courtesy not to look, but what if they were perverts?
Nova carried five heavy paranormal books she had taken out of the library three months ago. Any other sixth grader would be slumped over with the weight, but she’s always been…well… her mother called her “sturdy,” her brother usually made reference to linebackers and fireplugs. But she didn’t care. As she shuffled them in her arms, she thought about the strange language used in the books. The authors were either talking over her head or something else was going on. Suddenly, Nova heard an evil laugh and not from a ghost this time. It was Brenda, the worst bully in the school as far as Nova was concerned.
Nova was about to make a run when she realized that Brenda was in the principal’s office to her left. She must have already beaten someone up today. Even so, Nova hurried. She knew she had to get past the door before Brenda came out and saw her. She could see Brenda start to open the door. Just a little further and Nova would be passed the door and at the library.
Takeesha was waiting near the entrance. “Hey, girl!” She carried a few books and an Ouija board with the planchette, which was a triangle board on casters that they placed their hands. “Let’s go inside. Hurry, I think Brenda’s coming this way.” Nova skidded on the waxed floor and grabbed for the door handle.
Chapter 2 The Library
They entered the library and closed the door. Nova put her ear to the door and heard footsteps fading into the distance. What a relief.
Nova looked around the book-stuffed, musty smelling room. The librarian, Mrs. Munroe, had to be here because otherwise the place would have been locked. Other than that, it looked like they had the entire place to themselves.
The girls put their returned library books into the drop-off box, and then Nova crept past the shelves full of mouse chewed books into the open area with tables. Takeesha followed.
“Hey Takeesha, I can’t wait to see the foal today. Hopefully, it will be white like its father.”
“Oh, I know.”
Nova grabbed her arm, “Hurry, we don’t have much time.”
Nova hesitated and frowned at the cold spring rain still coming down in torrents against the brown-tinted windows. Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled as horses and buggies rolled past on the street. Nova could make out the muffled sound of hoofs thumping the pavement and thought she heard a whinny in the distance. Short bushes grew under the windows, and she could see the Bardsville harbor with its red lighthouse standing like a sentinel in the distance. Lake Michigan did not have many boats at the piers. Most had been moved to storage for the winter and part of the spring and still hadn’t made it out onto the water. Nova saw the colors but with so much rain she did not see much more.
A large oak tree stood outside to the left. A brave soaked squirrel jumped down and scampered around the short grassy school grounds. She realized it had been a long time since she’d seen an actual car on the roads. No one was interested in being a car mechanic or anything else that needed computer skills. Business was being sent overseas. People were not willing to finish high school. Why should they bother? Some jobs could be acquired by being an apprentice, but most jobs were out in the fields, and a person didn’t need an education to pick vegetables or milk a cow.
No wonder they had the library to themselves.
Nova turned from the window. She might as well get this meeting started and see if anything, just anything at all, would come of it. After all, millions of people, who believe in magick, can’t be wrong. Can they?
“Takeesha, first off, do your African shaman rain dance backward to stop this stupid rain!”
“Okay, you be the drums.”
Nova began a slow, soul-grounding beat like Takeesha had shown her. Takeesha hummed and swayed to the beat of Nova’s hands on the wooden, wobbly table.
Nova picked up the beat and began to chant, something that was roughly Native American. Her mother told her she was half Sioux. At least that’s what Nova’s dad, her mom’s boyfriend, had told her mom before he died of cancer.
They both sang over the rushing sound of the fast rain. Then Takeesha elbowed her hard and sharp in the back. Nova stopped chanting, and her legs danced about as she hunched over the tabletop. Too bad she had to stay at the drum, or she’d show Takeesha she can really dance her butt off. Nova watched Takeesha move, shaking her taller, stream-lined body in an effort to harness the paranormal. Takeesha’s sandals flip- flopped in the air as she moved.
Nothing happened.
After three minutes, they stopped and panted. Takeesha made fists and stamped her foot at the continuing rain.
“I don’t understand it. My shaman book said this works every time.” Takeesha scratched her head between her tight cornrows.
“You ruined it by adding your song. You know what I mean?”
“No! In this experiment, the magick should’ve been more powerful.”
Takeesha tossed her head, her nose flaring. Nova realized her friend took the unsuccessful dance very personally.
She couldn’t even meet Takeesha’s eyes when she was like this. Nova looked away and noticed Mrs. Monroe come out of the back storage area. She grabbed the giant cardboard Easter bunny left over from spring break and carried it into the back. Nova looked out of the corner of her eye at Takeesha and felt better because her friend was smiling at a book she had pulled off the shelf nearby. Nova shuffled over to another aisle and searched the shelves. She found what she was looking for, took the book out of hiding, shook off the mouse droppings and rubbed the book off on her jeans.
“Takeesha, here’s a book you’d like. I put it in the science section so no one would check it out. You get first dibs.”
“’Sewing for Money’? Say… I like the looks of this! Thank you.” She hugged the book.
“Hey, Takeesha? I haven’t seen you wear that patterned outfit you worked so hard on. The one from the African Heritage Days.”
“Oh, girl, I’m just waiting for the right time, you know what I mean?”
Suddenly, Nova jumped in excitement, “Quick, let’s do the séance.” They grabbed a corner table near the windows.
From her hip pack, Nova dumped out sixteen dice from the game Boggle. The dice had a letter on each side. “I think we can roll these and get messages from beyond the grave.”
Also from the hip pack, Nova pulled out a pink crystal heart.
“This pendulum can be used to ask spirits questions. When it swings north and south, it is a ‘yes’. West and east is a‘no’ and a circle is a ‘maybe’.” Nova brought out a handful of strong smelling sage, eucalyptus, and wormwood. Takeesha wrinkled her nose.
“These smells will get us in the spiritual mood,” Nova said smiling.
“Let’s close the curtains,” Takeesha said pointing to the windows.
Nova and Takeesha raced to close the curtains and darken the corner. They shuffled back to the table. Takeesha brought out, from her fanny pack, three battery powered tea lights and turned them on. They flickered like real flames. Their faces pulsed in the lights as Nova crushed the herbs together with her fingers and waved them about. Takeesha placed the Ouija board in front of them on the table, and they put their hands on the planchette.
Again, Nova glanced at the rain against the window to her right missing a dark shade. The rain sluiced down cascading over the ledge in the center creating a sheet of water. Nova thought she saw a man with cropped white hair, white beard, and mustache, moving his hands as he rotated them over a basin. Unruly colorful geometrical shapes in 3-D rose up from his hands. Nova thought they might be what Benny called Fractals. “Holy chaos.” Nova blinked her eyes, and then he was gone.
In the library, the planchette moved over the letters on the Ouija board, even without questions being posed.
It spelled out N. O. V. A.
Suddenly, the planchette began to speed all over the board. The girls couldn’t keep up with it.
“Something just grabbed my hand, and I can’t lift my other hand,” Nova said breaking out in a sweat.
“Let go.”
“I can’t,” Takeesha yelled back.
“Holy chaos. It won’t let my hand go. Takeesha, I need your help.”
“I can’t move my left hand.” Takeesha bit her lower lip as she struggled to pull away from the planchette.
“What do you want from us?” Takeesha screamed at the board.
Then the mysterious presence abruptly released Nova from the planchette and forced her from her chair. “Gahhhh.” She was pulled and pushed to an aisle of books. Finally loose, Takeesha ran after her.
“Takeesha, help me. It’s hurting my wrist.” Nova couldn’t see or smell anything unusual, but she did feel a shiver up her spine.
What had she gotten herself into?
“Holy chaos!” Her hand searched the bookshelves- as if it could read by itself. Finally, it reached out for a chewed up book. She heard a loud ‘click’ inside her head– What was that?
She tried to pull her hand back. But it was as though the book had a vacuum attached. She removed the book from the dirty shelf.
Takeesha soon caught up to her. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t want this stupid book.” Nova was going to fling it down, but her hand still clung to it.
“Hang on,” Takeesha said. “We wanted the ghosts to talk to us. Maybe they are. What is that book?”
Nova began to calm down a little, mostly because she seemed to be regaining the use of her hand. She looked at the title. “The Legends of Gods Around the World.”
When she tried to open it, she couldn’t. The pages were all stuck together. Nova caught her breath. Maybe the entity didn’t want her to read what was inside. The title was enough.
But what did it mean?
Suddenly, Nova danced in a circle then raced across the room. “Fricken.” She almost ran over Takeesha. “Something’s got a hold of my arm again.” Nova had squealed before she disappeared down another dark aisle.
Takeesha ran after her.
“There is no running in this here library, young ladies,” Mrs. Munroe said. Nova noticed the librarian’s eyes were glassed over. Mrs. Munroe suddenly remembered something. She put her finger in the air and said, “That is what I need, and that is what I shall have.” She turned again to go into the back room.
Meanwhile, Nova was searching for another volume. She scanned the titles on the shelves to figure out which section she was in.
“Okay,” she said, “you want me to read anthropology, the study of people? No. Archeology, the study of ancient cultures? No. The Mayan people? No…” Her hand came to another book. “Oh, of course, Neanderthals.” And another ‘click’. The book, all chewed –up and dusty, came off the shelf and hovered in front of her face. Without the help of her hand this time.
“Holy chaos!” Takeesha said.
“Why not,” Nova said. “Go ahead and give it to me.” The book lay down on the pile in her arms.
Then the herculean force that pulled her around the library suddenly let her go. Nova groaned and dropped to the floor like a rag doll. The book about Neanderthals flopped opened to page 236 in her lap.
“What happened to me? Was that a ghost?” Nova asked. Takeesha shrugged. Nova looked at the book in her lap and began to read aloud.
”’The Neanderthals were able to survive in colder temperatures because of their different physical features.
They were short, about four to five feet tall and much hairier than modern man. They also had a sloping head making it appear they had no forehead. The Neanderthals didn’t have much of a chin and had big noses.’”
“What are you doing?”
“You said yourself that the…whatever might be trying to tell us something. I’m trying to figure out what. ‘Their hair was like human hair with many shades of color. Their freckles were a different kind than that of the Modern Human.’” Nova looked at the artist’s rendition of the cavemen and women. They sure did look different, but also a little familiar.
“Scientists believed they buried their dead but had no evidence of a formal religion that they could discern.
Some scientists think they died off from disease or malnutrition. Other scientists said they died off because there were no more trees or caves.’” Wow, this must be an old book. Even she knew the Neanderthals were over-run by the Modern Human people. Nova looked at Takeesha to see if she had an idea. Takeesha shrugged. Nova rubbed her cheek bones and brow ridge. No wonder they looked familiar.
“Do you think I look like a Neanderthal?”
“Let me see.” Takeesha grabbed the book and looked closer at the pictures then gazed at Nova. “I don’t know, maybe. What would you do if I said yes?”
“I guess I might be sad… and maybe I might be relieved because that would explain a lot about–”
“Oh, what do you think happened to us?”
“I don’t know about you, Takeesha, but I’m calling that encounter a visit by a ghost.”
“Are you two ready to check out?” Mrs. Munroe said. “That was the final bell.”
Nova closed the book, got up with her load, and helped Takeesha pick up their things at the table, stuffing various items into their hip packs.
“Hey, Takeesha, wasn’t it weird Mrs. Munroe didn’t say anything about the ghost?” They started to shuffle to the counter.
“Do you think it will bother her?”
“I don’t know. We should probably tell Mrs. Munroe about her library being haunted now.”
“Well, if it is, it is our fault, you know.”
Then Mrs. Munroe stopped what she was doing, blinked rapidly, yawned, and seemed to notice the young women. She pushed round glasses up her shiny pointed nose. Nova put her books down on the counter creating a dust cloud.
As they stood at the checkout, Takeesha turned to Nova. “I was thinking–“
“You can do that?” Nova said and then laughed.
“Oh, that’s not very nice, Nova,” Mrs. Munroe said.
“Sorry.” Nova’s face turned red.
Takeesha grabbed Nova by the arm. “You have got to stop with that joke. It was only funny the first time. You know what I mean?”
“Oh, all right, I guess,” she mumbled.
“And you’ve also got to stop running in the library,” Mrs. Munroe said.
“But I was pulled all over the library by a ghost. It took me to these books. Do they, you know, mean anything to you? And one of your books is glued together or something.”
“Oh, really?” Mrs. Munroe looked at Nova and Takeesha. “There’s still no running in the library.”
Nova gasped. “But my hand was grabbed by a ghost and I couldn’t get away from it.”
“Maybe I should tell the school principal, hmm?”
Mrs. Munroe thought she was lying.
“Do you believe in ghosts?” Nova asked.
“Doesn’t everybody?” Mrs. Munroe had her face close to Nova’s. “However, ghosts can’t pull you around. They have no substance to grab with.” Nova looked at Takeesha, who shrugged.
“What do you think of these books?” Nova asked.
“They don’t seem to have any significance.” Mrs. Munroe picked up the stuck together book and examined it. “It looks a little water-damaged, but it’s okey dokey. Do you still want it?” She opened it to a page of a flying horse named Pegasus.
“Oh, definitely.”
Nova and Takeesha handed over their hall passes and the temporary library cards to Mrs. Munroe. She smiled pleasantly as she checked out Takeesha’s books.
Mrs. Munroe flipped through a drawer of 3×5- inch cards. “Nova Nowak, you have a ten dollar fine for a late book.”
“Oh, okay…“ Nova swallowed and dug in her pockets.
“Say, when did the library lose the beat up old computer this place used to have?” Takeesha said.
“Last week, it died and we couldn’t find anyone who could repair it. So we recycled it and then couldn’t find anyone to sell us a used or new one,” Mrs. Munroe said. “Fortunately, I’d been moving to cards for some time. Never really trusted or kept current with the thing.”
“Wow, I thought technology was a good thing,” Nova said.
“If it weren’t for President Hayden Radford and Reverend Corbin Heller, we couldn’t go back to the basics of life,” Mrs. Monroe said. “Computers and other technology are bad for the United States.”
“That’s not true,” Nova said. “I want to live in the past. Just think of all the electronic
toys—“
“Technology was getting too advanced. Some people were getting so technically illiterate they couldn’t figure out how to work the different gadgets. It was time for a change.”
Ms. Childress, the English teacher, cleared her throat to announce her presence. Nova noticed she hesitated at the door, then strolled toward the librarian, slamming some books on the counter.
“Carol,” she said, “that attitude is precisely why we are not able to compete in the world and make scientific discoveries,”
“Noreen, have you ever noticed that scientists make so many mistakes with their data? It’s no wonder no one trusts their discoveries.” Mrs. Munroe took the books and put them in an old dented metal cart. “The old folk cures and remedies have stood the test of time and still work.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We need to change to fit the times. When our knowledge grows, the information changes and we advance out of primitive times.”
“I’ll accept primitive times because it must be a divine plan. Things happen for a reason.”
Ms. Chilldress rolled her eyes and turned to the girls.
“Nova and Takeesha, how are you?”
“Hi, Ms. Chilldress,” Nova said. “We… communicated with a ghost in this library.” Takeesha nodded.
“Did it bother you?” Ms. Chilldress said. “Were you doing anything with science?”
“No, we just wanted to talk to it,” Takeesha said grinning.
“Well, I’m glad you’re not hurt. I don’t think you know what you’re dealing with. That student, Dayton, who was chased by a pirate ghost had died before he made it to the hospital,” Ms. Chilldress tromped out the door. “Please be careful.”
Nova felt her heart speed up.”Wow.”
“Poor family,” Mrs. Monroe said. “Dayton had a heart condition on top of it.”
“Oh that’s not good,” Nova said, but in a way, she was relieved. Most likely the ghost didn’t cause the death. She still wanted to contact the ghost from the library again though.
They were silent for a time. Nova found herself picking at a worn corner of a book on the counter and yanked her hand away.
“Why did they get rid of the science classes Ms.Chilldress used to teach?” Nova said.
“English is more important.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Nova hugged her books and started for the door, “Come on, Takeesha, let’s go.”
“You can’t have your books until you pay your ten dollar fine.”
Nova hesitated, and then said, “You’re in luck. I happen to have one last fifty-dollar bill, left over.” Nova squirmed as she handed her the money. It was all she had left from her summer job. Mrs. Munroe gave Nova the change, and she shoved the bills back into her jeans.
The two friends headed out of the library and into the din of loud talking, slamming locker doors and shuffling of feet.
