F. Wilson - Secret Circles

SATURDAY

Little Cody Bockman disappeared on a rainy morning.

1

Jack dodged puddles as he pedaled his BMX along Adams Street to the Connell house.

Even though the sky was overcast now, the air felt dry. He hoped it would last. He was sick to death of rain. People were saying this could turn out to be the rainiest September on record and

Hey! he shouted as he almost collided with a little kid scooting by on a red bike.

Cody!

The kid braked and almost fell off his bike.

Jack! Jack! I can do it!

What?

Look! No training wheels!

Cody Bockman was five and lived two doors down from Jack. His long hair was a blond tangle and his blue eyes sparkled with excitement. Cute kid, but a little wild man. Jack liked him except when he attached himself and followed him around like a dog. Somehow he always chose times when Jack felt like being alone.

Thats cool, Code. Jack looked around. Not an adult in sight. Your folks know youre out here?

No, but its okay.

Yeah? You mean, if I go back and ask your mom and dad if its all right for you to be cruising the streets, theyll say its fine with them?

Cody looked down. Well

Jack put on a stern look. You gonna go or am I gonna have to take you back?

Im goin!

He turned his bike around and pedaled a wobbly path back toward Jefferson. Jack watched him a little, then continued on to the Connells.

Weezys brother Eddie had asked him over to play Berzerk, the new game his father had bought him for his Atari 5200. The game was simple and so fun when you could trick the robots into walking into walls or shooting each other, but so nerve-racking when that deadly smiley face came bouncing through.

But no video games today. Hed played enough during the rains. This morning he was going to drag Eddie off the couch and into the sunlight. No easy task, considering Eddies weight and resistance to any activity that involved moving more than his thumbs.

As Jack glided past the unlidded garbage cans at the curbWednesday and Saturday were garbage days in Johnsonhe noticed a couple of familiar items from Weezys room in the nearer container. He stopped for a closer look and saw copies of Fortean Time s and Fate. Weezy treasured those weird paranormal magazines. Why was she throwing them out?

Maybe she was in a cleaning mood. She had all sorts of moods lately. Spin the dial and see who appeared.

Or maybe she didnt know. Her parents were always on her case for not being like other fifteen-year-old girls. Had they simply gone in and started tossing stuff? That wasnt right.

He spotted a half-folded photo, an aerial shot of the Pinelands, the million acres of woods beyond the towns eastern edge. He recognized the scene: an excavation of the mound where just last month he and Weezy had found a corpse and a mysterious little pyramid.

The sight of it released a flood of memories most of them bad. Hed blocked them out, but now they were back. The dead man was not simply dead, hed been murdered ritually murderedand his discovery had triggered other deaths, all seemingly of natural causes, but all weirdly connected. Then Jack had learned the cause, and it hadnt been natural at all. But he couldnt talk about it because he had no proof and everyoneeven Weezywould think he was crazy.

And the pyramid shiny, black, embossed with strange glyphs Weezy had fallen in love with it, memorizing every detail of the symbols on its sides and the weird grid inside the box that had held it. It had turned out to be older that it seemedmuch older than anything man-made should be.

Then it had disappeared.

And Weezy hadnt been quite the same since. Jack had felt the loss toosuch a neat

artifactbut not like Weezy. Shed taken it like the loss of her best friend. But more than that, she was convinced it had been stolen and was sure she knew the culprit all without a shred of proof.

So he couldnt believe shed throw away this photo.

He snagged it from the can and stuck it in his back pocket as he hopped up the front steps and knocked on the door.

Doors open, he heard a mans voice call from inside.

As Jack stepped in, Mr. Connell poked his crew-cut head around a corner and grinned. Eddie said youd be coming. Hes in the family room.

Is Weezy here?

Yeah. Hey, Weez!

What? Her voice floated from upstairs.

Jacks here!

Weezy appeared at the top of the stairway in her customary black jeans and a black T-shirt. She had dark eyes and pale skin. Shed gone a little heavier than usual on the eyeliner today. She held a book in her right hand, her index finger poked between two pages. Shed been letting her dark hair grow and today shed parted it in the middle and braided it into a pair of pigtails.

Hey, Jack. Come on up.

Going for the Wednesday Addams look? he said as he took the steps two at a time.

Well, its the weekend and Im full of woe.

He followed her into her room, christened the Bat Cave by her brother. With all the shades drawn, a dark purple bedspread, gargoyles peering down from her bookshelves, and a creepy Bauhaus poster on the wall, it lived up to the name.

About anything in particular?

The usualeverything. She belly-flopped onto the bed and opened her book.

Whats so interesting?

Just got it from the library. All about pre-Sumerian civilizations. Whats up?

Jack pulled the photo from his pocket and held it up. I found this in your garbage can.

She glanced up with a smile. Are you Dumpster diving now? Then her gaze fixed on the wrinkled photo. Isnt that ?

Yeah. Never thought youd toss it out.

She was up in a flash grabbing it from him.

I didnt. Her expression turned furious. They have no right!

As she started for her door Jack blocked her way. She had a wild look in her eyes. Jack had seen that look a few times before when shed lost it, and she seemed ready to lose it now.

Easy, Weezy. Could you maybe wait on this? Youre going to put me smack-dab in the middle of the fight.

For a second he thought she might hit him. He didnt know what hed do if she tried. He was relieved when the look faded.

Because you found it?

He nodded. He didnt want to become a player in the ongoing tug-of-war between Weezy and her parentsmostly her fatherwho wanted her to be what they called a normal girl and what she called a bow head.

You know, she said, her voice thickening as she stalked about her room, if theyre so unhappy with me, why dont they just send me off to boarding school or something so they dont have to look at me?

Jack didnt like that idea one bit. Who would he hang with? He tried to lighten the moment by clutching his hands over his heart and giving her his best approximation of a lost-puppy look.

But-but-but wouldnt you miss meeee?

It didnt work. She was off to the races. Shed always been hard to stop once she got rolling, but almost impossible since the disappearance of the pyramid. Shed gotten a little scary lately.

Im going to be fifteen next week! Ive got a brain, why dont they want me to use it? They have no right to throw out my stuff! She stopped her pacing. Maybe I should pull a Marcie Kurek! Thatd show em!

Marcie Kurek was a runaway whod been a soph at the high school last year. She lived in Shamong. One night she said she was going out to visit a friend and never showed up. No one had seen her since.

Weezy turned and threw the photo on the floor.

Jack knew she tended to leave her stuff all over the house, a perfect invitation for her folks to dump the things they didnt approve of, especially anything that referred to what she called the Secret History of the World.