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Book 2
Bardsville
Year 2047
Nova and Takeesha were just coming out of the locker room into the gym for volleyball when a wolf howled. It sounded like it was just outside the Bardsville Middle school.
“Wa… wa… wass… th… that a wolf?” Takeesha said.
“I think so.” It might have been. It was November, so it was already dark even though it was just five P.M. on a school night. Nova looked around. The other players warming up on the court and the spectators, who filled about a quarter of the bleachers seemed to have heard it, too. They looked around a moment, then went back to their practicing and talking, sipping sodas.
The wolf howled again.
Everyone in the gym froze. After a moment they began to whisper.
Takeesha grabbed Nova’s arm. She was shivering.
“Sounded like it was just outside, you know.”
“Yes, it did.”
Nova was less worried than Takeesha. But then, she had reason to be relaxed. Most people were only about four percent Neanderthal. She was half. Her father Ralf, was Neanderthal from a nearby dimension who had met her mother years ago. And because of her heritage, she was not only stronger than most people, she was able to do a certain amount of logical magic- little things, like popping a bike tire or turning on a radio. She didn’t have much control over it, yet, but she was learning. Who knew? Maybe she could handle wolves.
After a few moments with no more howls, Coach Hartzle waved the team together. Nova and Takeesha hustled over to the bench.
“Did you hear that?” Shelly McGregor said softly.
“I’m not taking my bike home,” Takeesha said. “That’s for sure.”
“Relax girls,”Coach Hartzle said. “It’s true that a pack of dogs has been reported in the area. According to the Wisconsin State Farmer, they’ve even killed off some livestock near Lafayette county. But don’t worry. Wolves are shy and stay away from people. Now let’s huddle up.”
Nova looked over at Takeesha who shrugged, though her eyes were still big with fear. The two girls squeezed into the circle of their teammates.
“Okay, team,” the coach said. “We haven’t won a single game yet, but every game we play we get stronger and closer to it. And I can taste victory today. So let’s get out there and give our best, okay?” He stuck his hand into the huddle. “Now, big Bardsville on three.”
The players put their hand on his and joined in the cheer of “Bardsville Bandicoots, Bardsville Bandicoots, Bardsville Bandicoots busting butts!”
Nova joined the cheering, but the coach had given the exact same speech the last time, and the time before that. So far, it hadn’t worked.
The coach checked his clipboard.“Mary, Shelly, Takeesha, Helen, Roxanne, and Paula, you’re in first. Christina, Lynn, Cheyenne, Nicki, Katie, and Nova are the substitutes tonight.”
Then the starters walked to their positions on the floor, and Nova and the rest of the substitutes waited in the wings on folding chairs in front of the bleachers. She’d been benched. And they didn’t even have a bench.
“This is the last game. Always a bench warmer. Will I ever get to compete?” Nova mumbled.
She was bored.
Nova was sitting in front of the bleachers on one of the folding chairs, watching the Bardsville Bandicoots volleyball team lose slowly to the Kenosha Trojans. She probably wouldn’t be going in anytime soon. She tended to approach the game with a little too much power– she had knocked down the net with her serve more than once. Not surprising, since she was half Neanderthal on her father’s side.
So maybe she should try some logical magic instead.
Ever since the Neanderthal shamans who lived in a nearby parallel dimension had begun leaking mystical beings into her own, people had stopped paying attention to science so much. Especially since it didn’t seem to help deal with the mystical monsters very often. On the other hand, magic was now possible. And with her Neanderthal blood she was able to tap into it.
Except that she still needed to work on her control. So what could she do?
Could she make someone drop their popcorn? No, that might just be a coincidence. Nova needed something else. Maybe make someone’s hair blow around? Hmm.
It would be much better if she could do something to someone in front of her. But she couldn’t get up and move to the bleachers because there was at least an outside chance she would be put into the game.
How about untying someone’s shoe laces, preferably someone on the Trojans?
She knew from her training with Leandra that she would have to go into a trace, but those never came easily. Then when in a trance she would have to think of something else as her subconscious was concentrating on the thing in front of her to make something happen. That was really the hardest part– splitting her brain up like that so that her normal thought wouldn’t interfere with the deeper parts.
It meant that the only way to make something happen was to not be paying attention when it did. She watched Takeesha, her best friend, and the other players trying desperately to keep a volley going. She focused on the squeaking sneakers, grunts and a referee whistle.
“Hey Nova,” Takeesha said when the play brought her close, “check out those two girls from the Trojans. The ones covering the back. They’re wicked good.” Nova found the girls Takeesha was talking about, a blonde-haired giant and an overweight girl who seemed too short to be competitive. But as Nova watched, the short girl set up the giant for a power spike that slammed down right between two Bandicoots.
But she could easily kick their butts if only she got a chance. She could power slam just as easily as the blonde with the funny oblong head…
Now that she looked closer, the shorter one wasn’t overweight. She was barrel-chested, just like Nova. And they both had brow ridges.
“Takeesha,” Nova staged whispered as soon as Takeesha was in range. “They’re Neanderthals.”
“Really? They are kind of far away, with the net between me and them.”
“I’m pretty sure.”
Nova kept watching the two girls. If they were Neanderthals like she was, how did they get here? She thought her own father was the only one who had crossed over and fallen in love with a human woman. Maybe Leandra would know something more. She often worked with the council of shamans on various things. She would have to visit Leandra. Could she go later that night? No, she had that test in the morning and had to memorize the bones in the human skeleton. She’d only gotten as far as the ulna. And why couldn’t she just call those things like the “upper arm bone?” It would make it all much easier–
A cheer went up on the Bardsville team. The blonde giant was sitting on the floor clutching her knee. It seemed that she had dived for a return and somehow her knee pads had fallen down to her ankles. Now she limped toward the bleachers, then took a seat. Did Nova do that? She realized she had slipped into a trance.
The Trojan’s coach made a sharp motion and another girl leaped from the bench and ran to the floor.
The game continued. Mary, one of the Bandicoots, sent the ball toward an unguarded corner of the Trojan’s field. The nearest Trojan let it go, thinking it was out of bounds, but it bounced just inside the line. Just then, the back door of the gym flew open. Nova could see street lights and trees in silhouette outside.
She smelled the fresh air and manure from all the horses people used to get around now that cars were harder to maintain and gas harder to come by. One of the Trojans chased down the loose ball.
A loud wolf howl made everyone gasp. Then, as the door slowly closed, a low-slung black form tore into the gym.
A wolf. A huge one.
The crowd screamed and began to scatter. But rather than going after the people, the slavering beast grabbed the metal vertical bar of the weight scale near the wall and shook it until the bar snapped in two.
Sparks flared out from the scale. People screamed. Then the werewolf went for the electrical cords on the score board. It bit through and the scoreboard flashed off and on. Then went dead.
Nova stood frozen in place, more confused than scared. Then the wolf did the last thing she expected. It rose up on its hind legs and said in a gravely voice, “Where’s Nova?!”
“We do not know.”
Nova looked around. She wasn’t alone in the gym. The two big girls from the Kenosha Trojans had transformed into wolf monsters. No wonder they looked like Neanderthals. They looked like their creators.
Takeesha was lying on the floor frozen in fear. The black werewolf sniffed her and walked away. Takeesha got up and ran to the locker room.
The two Trojan players, while still in their jerseys, now sported snouts full of sharp teeth. It seemed Nova was going to get an opportunity to kick their butts after all, But it was three against one.
The wolves stalked closer, eyeing Nova. She stared at the beasts and tried to think of what to do.
One of them, the brown one that had been the blonde giant, turned around and nipped at her flank, as if something had bitten her there. Nova looked over at the black one, and it did the same.
Then she realized she was doing it. It was like when she popped her tire on the way home last year, just by looking at it when she was mad.
Nova wondered what kind of damage she was doing. The beasts shook their heads with huge growls and advanced again.
Obviously not enough.
Nova looked all around and tried to find something to use as a weapon. There, fastened to the wall, was a wooden chin up pole. She raced over to grab it out of the holes that held it.
The werewolves skulked closer. It was now or never. Nova leaned the pole against the cinder block wall then slammed her foot down on it snapping it in two. Nova hopped around on her good foot. Man did that hurt! It felt like her leg was on fire.
But now the pieces of pole were pointed and jagged at the ends. Nova held the two sticks in either hand and waited for the wolves to go for her throat.
The brown wolf, the former Trojan giant, launched its body into the air growling and drooling. Nova slammed a stick into its neck. Gray blood streamed down her arm. The werewolf fell to the floor and didn’t move. “Dear Vulcan, what the …?”
The gray one lunged at her. She blocked it with the other stick, stopping its jaws just short of her face. Weird, its hot breath smelled like garlic. Nova shoved the wolf away with all her might, then stabbed it in the neck when it came at her again. It fell to the floor and didn’t move.
The third one, the black one that first came in, stayed back and growled. She dropped into a self defense stance she’d seen in a movie once, but the wolf just kept looking at its two dead companions. Why was that?
Then Nova remembered stories about werewolves that could only be killed by silver.
Sure enough, the werewolves she stabbed began to stir. She yanked the bloody, dripping wooden stakes out of their necks and rammed them down their throats. She got a powerful static shock, like she’d just walked across a wool carpet in her stocking feet, then touched a door knob. What was that?
While the beasts struggled to remove the sticks from their throats she ran for the back door.
When she reached the door, she glanced back. The black wolf had stopped to help the other two, and now two gray bloody stakes lay on the gym floor and all three of them growling low in their throats approached her.
The two she stabbed didn’t appear to be bleeding anymore, but they sure looked ticked off.
She left the building and slammed the door, then looked around for something to jam it with.
The wolves hit the door hard on the inside. It opened a couple inches. Nova fought the door closed again.
Then she spotted a doorstop on the ground nearby that was used to prop the door open when the weather was hot. She lunged for it, shoved it under the door and kicked it in place. Just in time for another hit from inside. This time the door didn’t budge.
She ran to get her bike. It was only a matter of time before the werewolves found another way out, and she would need a head start. The people in the school would be safe because she knew the werewolves wanted her.
But why? Who wanted to kill her this time? And where was Leandra? Would she be able to help her with these werewolves? Nova looked at her watch on her wrist. Should she call her?
No. At least, not until the rest of the school was safe. And the only way she could see to do that was to use herself as bait.
Nova swung her leg over her bike seat and rode away from the school as fast as she could, speeding past countless streetlights. Maybe she could lead the werewolves on a goose chase, she didn’t know, she was making it all up on the fly.
A beat up car chugged past, followed by an old rusty truck. Then she pedaled out into the country well past the streetlights. At times the clouds covered the full moon, making the land pitch black. A deep cold shiver ran up her spine and she strained to see the road ahead.
Was that galloping feet behind her? Nova looked back, but saw nothing. She pedaled harder, the wheels humming on the pavement. There! She heard it again. Galloping, galloping, like a pack of dogs, thudding closer and closer.
She glanced to her right and saw nothing except darkness. Until a muzzle with pointed teeth appeared just behind her back wheel. Green eyes flashed, bright in the night. A chilling, powerful growl echoed through the stillness.
She peddled like she never had before. Two more werewolves joined the first wearing the remains of sports jerseys. They barreled down the road. Holy Chaos, she should have called for Leandra’s help.
Wait, though, she wasn’t thinking clearly. Nova turned on the backup electric motor that Benny had installed only a week earlier. The bike shot ahead. She smiled. She was going to outpace them with no problems. One moved closer and tried to nip her leg. It didn’t even seem to be breathing hard.
She was pedaling as fast as she could, and with the motor, she was moving nearly as fast as a car. The werewolves still kept up alongside. Nova swallowed hard. She hoped this was all a nightmare and she was going to wake up in her warm bed next to Wilha.
The engine died.
“Dear Vulcan!” Sweat coursed down her back despite the chilly night. Had she caused it to fail because she let her mind wander?
The brown werewolf grabbed her leg in a vise-like grip and yanked hard. Nova fought back, skidding on the loose gravel on the shoulder of the road. She shook the werewolf loose, but she and the bike went down. She tried to right the bike again, but the wolf grabbed hold of her leg, pulling her over.
“Let go of me!”
The werewolf pulled her toward the woods. She tried to dig her fingertips into the gravel to slow it down, but she couldn’t get purchase. The werewolf dragged her closer and closer to the trees. No one else was on the road that she could tell. The black wolf went for her other leg. Nova looked in its eyes. She had had enough. She kicked it hard in the muzzle. It yelped. The gray wolf danced around licking its jaws, trying to get a nip in too. “That’s it! I’ve had it with you three.”
In one quick move, Nova picked the brown one up and tossed it squirming and whining down in the ravine. The gray one let go of her leg and leapt at her from behind. She felt its claws open her leg.
“That goes for you, too!” Nova grabbed that one by the scruff of its neck and tossed it as well. The black one backed off and looked between Nova and its friends. It licked its lips and whined. Nova rushed it, and it turned and ran.
“Nova! What is to you happening?”
Leandra’s voice, coming from her watch. Nova looked at her wrist. Leandra’s eye peered out of the screen. She was never sure if the watch was high tech or simply magic, but since Leandra had given it to her last year, Nova had never been without it. Besides being a communication device, it also told the weather, played the radio and even had a couple of games in it.
“Well, a pack of werewolves just tried pulling me into the bushes.”
“What? This is happening how?
“I don’t know, but they were asking for me by name.”
“Well, hurry to Leandra’s house and be safe.”
Odd. But if Leandra was talking strange, Nova had no time to think about it. She got back on her bike and began to pedal fast. She could hear one of the werewolf’s long nails clicking on the road behind her, but she wasn’t sure if it was the black one or one that had probably climbed out of the ravine, or just her imagination.
Nova turned down Barnacle road, travelled a half mile and streaked down Leandra’s driveway as fast as her muscular legs would carry her. In the woods on both sides of the driveway, she heard sticks cracking, branches creaking, and leaves rustling. She tried to pedal faster at every sound, her heart beating frantically. Finally, she came to the clearing where Leandra’s house was supposed to be– it often wasn’t really there, at least not visibly. Like today. She tossed her bike to the side and sprinted to where the phantom building resided, looking for the invisible door.
Leandra had Neanderthal blood herself–she’d received a transfusion of it to save her life years ago. But she, too, always had trouble controlling her magic. So how could Nova manage it?
Nova grabbed her watch. “Leandra, I’m in your front yard, but I can’t find the house.”
A menacing growl behind her made her spin around. All three werewolves had followed her and now stepped out of the woods heads down and snarling.
“And I’ve got company!”
A door that hadn’t been there opened a few feet to Nova’s left, and a Neanderthal woman stuck her head out.
All Neanderthals used logical magic. Was she going to cast a spell on her? Nova began to back up, remembered the werewolves, and stopped trying to figure out what to do.
If this was one of the bad Neanderthals who had sent folklore monsters to Earth, to spread fear and superstition, then she was between a rock and a hard place.
