Carson's Mark: School of Screams

Chapter One

     Kennedy paused for a moment before cautiously and slowly opening the door.  Jack pushed past him onto the massive front porch.  He stood at the top of the steps, facing towards the trees on the far side of the driveway, his head level with his shoulders, tail angled up behind him, one front paw lifted in the air.  He stood like that for a moment before leaping down onto the front walkway and dashing towards the spot he'd been pointing.  Kenny looked at the spot a couple seconds longer before following the dog. 
     A teenage boy emerged from the trees, carrying multiple bags.  He didn't appear phased by the hundred-plus pound dog as he continued walking up the driveway.  The dog barked, bounding towards the visitor.  Kenny whistled for the dog, which caused Jack to slow to a trot, but he kept moving towards the stranger.  The teen did seem to take notice when he heard the whistle.  He turned his attention from scanning the house to scanning the dog and the young man now approaching him. 
     "Can I help you with something?"  Kennedy asked the teen as they came closer to each other. 
     He could see the teen better now, he carried a backpack, a duffel bag, and what looked like a messenger-style laptop case.  His two-inch, black hair was spiked up on his head like hackles, except for the much longer bangs that grew over his forehead, pushed to the side of his face.  The green eyes were still scanning, unsure, but the teen's mouth was pulled into a cocky looking half-smile.  The sleeves of his black leather jacket were pulled up to just below his elbows, showing slightly muscular forearms.  Kenny noticed a handful of emerald-colored, freckle-like specks where the slightly tanned skin showed. 
      "I sorta have business with Chloe Carson," the teen answered, a slight amount of snark in his tone.  "But I'm guessing neither you nor the fur ball are her."  Kennedy gazed at the boy for a few seconds, trying to scan him the way he was being scanned.  He noticed a few more of the green freckles on the teen's face, and a black leather cord with a polished stone raven skull hanging around his neck, the black-and-red stone standing out against a grey t-shirt. 
     "I'm her twin brother," he answered in a calm tone.  "The dog is Jack.  What business do you have with my sister?"  The teen tilted his head slightly to one side, the half-smile still on his face. 
     "I got a couple things to ask her about, it's none of your business," he answered. 
     "I help my sister with a lot of her investigations," Kennedy responded.  He was doing his best to stay patient with the newcomer.  Despite the punk attitude, he could sense something else underneath it, something the teen didn't want to show yet.  "So it is my business.  But I'll take you to see her.  Just don't let her appearance take you by surprise." 
      The dog was the first to start heading back towards the castle, Kenny waiting for the teenager to start moving so he could walk beside him.  He hadn't noticed before, but when the visitor began walking again, he dragged his left foot slightly. 
     "You're limping," he pointed out, now with slight concern in his voice.  "Did you hurt yourself on your way here?"  The teen looked at him out of one eye, not turning his head fully to meet his gaze.
     "It's an old injury that didn't heal properly," he answered.  "None of your business." 
     "You like saying that don't you?"  Kenny was now trying to make conversation more than anything, just to keep awkward silence at bay. 
      "Shut up," the boy tried to start walking ahead of him, but Kennedy being a few inches taller kept up easily.
He tried to walk on the boy's left side, so he could keep his good eye on him, though he didn't immediately feel suspicious. The boy more worried him than anything, considering the limp, and the fact that he seemed to have brought everything he owned with him, and that his clothing and bags had grass and dirt stains. The boy didn't seem likely to open up about his reasons for these, so Kenny didn't ask. The answers would come in time, as they always did.
"Do you want help with your bags?" He asked instead. "You seem to have brought a lot with you." The punk eyed him for a second before shaking his head. His cocky smile had flickered away for the smallest amount of time before coming back.
"This was a spontaneous visit," the teen replied. "I already had my shit with me." Kennedy noticed the boy's hands tighten on the straps of his bags. Perhaps he'd accidentally touched a nerve. He noticed the white, creepily grinning jack-o-lantern head of a stuffed toy poking out of the largest pocket of the backpack. The teen had clearly taken care of it, as it had no staining like his other possessions.
"Who's your friend?" Kenny asked, indicating the toy. The way the boy looked at him, he thought he'd get another 'none of your business', but he didn't.
"His name is Scarecrow," was the answer. The two had now reached the porch where Jack waited for them.  He wagged his tail excitedly as they climbed the steps. 
     "He usually this happy?"  The teenager asked as Jack dashed into the house in front of them. 
     "He must like you," Kenny answered as he held the door for the boy to follow him into the entrance.  "He's usually much less expressive around strangers."  The punk dropped his luggage on the welcome mat and followed his host into the living room. 
     "You said you had business with my sister," Kennedy said.  "Here she is."  The teen met Chloe's gaze for a couple seconds before responding. 
     "A doll?" He asked.  "Really?" 
     "I warned you her appearance might be unexpected," Kenny responded calmly. 
     "Hello," Chloe greeted their guest warmly.  The teenager blinked in response.  "I'm guessing you're here because you have something unexplained that you need solved."  Chloe's calm, knowing way of speaking seemed to have caught the punk off guard. 
     "Yeah," he answered, stunned for a second before regaining his composure.  "But I came to talk to the real Chloe Carson, not some mechanical puppet." His cocky half-smile had returned, but there was a small glint of fear in his eyes.  Perhaps he wasn't quite as tough as he made himself out to be.  Chloe said nothing, but pushed herself up from the couch and took several confident steps towards the teen. 
     "I am the real Chloe Carson," she told him, her tone unchanged.  "I simply no longer have a flesh and bone body the way you do."  The young visitor took half a step back, clearly not wanting to be confrontational. 
     "Now," Chloe continued, returning to her seat on the couch.  "First of all, what is your name?"  The teen answered that his name was Zeeke, he gave no last name. 
     "Zeeke," Chloe continued.  "I see that you've met my brother.  Has he enlightened you on our business, or did you wait until you met me to hear about it?"
"He mentioned you did investigations," Zeeke answered, choosing to remain standing. "But he didn't say what you investigate." Chloe nodded.
"We do indeed provide investigation services," She confirmed. "If they are potentially supernaturally involved or unusual cases. We do these investigations not only to assist those who request our help, but also I'm hopes of expanding knowledge of the paranormal and the unknown." She paused to give Zeeke time to soak in the information.
"So you investigate ghosts and cryptids," the teen said after a couple of seconds. "That's cool, I guess. But can you solve my questions?" Chloe gave a slow blink before responding.
"Share them with us and we will do our best," she told him.  Zeeke was quiet for a second before speaking. 
     "One of them is a little harder to describe than the other," he began.  "The first one I can just show you."  He held out his arms to show the green freckles Kennedy had spotted earlier. 
     "The one under my eye has been there as long as I can remember," he continued.  "But these other ones have been appearing over the last year or so.  At first, I didn't see a real problem with them, but the last few weeks they've been popping up much more frequently all over, so I'm wondering if maybe it's some kind of slow-acting disease or something."  There was several seconds of quiet as the twins thought over their knowledge. 
     "Have you noticed any pain, itching, or thready-looking green veins sprouting from them?"  Kennedy asked, scratching his chin-length dark red hair a few times.  Zeeke turned his head to look at him. 
     "No," he answered.  "I would've said if there was."  His tone sounded like he thought that should've been obvious. 
     "I'm guessing that means no vomiting green, mossy sludge or crying green tears at random either?"  Simon, who had been quiet until then, asked.  Zeeke blinked at him, apparently having not realized he was there. 
     "When did you learn the symptoms of faery pox?" Kenny sounded genuinely surprised.  Chloe let out a small giggle. 
     "He asked for something to read while he recovered," she said.  "So I gave him a few books from our library.  Looks like he's already learned a thing or two."  Kennedy blinked once before turning back to Zeeke. 
     "Well," he said. "It seems you're out of the woods for faery pox since you don't seem to be having any symptoms other than the small green spots.  There are still one or two things it could be, though.  Have you noticed whether or not the freckles shine or glint in the sun?" 
     "How should I know?"  Zeeke answered.  "Like I said, I haven't been paying much attention to them until a few weeks ago when I started to get worried.  Why would it matter, anyway?" 
     "Because," Chloe answered this time.  "If they do glint or shine in the sun, it means they aren't freckles at all." 
     "What would they be, then?"  Zeeke asked, his face slightly tensed.  Perhaps he was starting to get slightly agitated. 
     "Scales," both twins answered in unison.  There was silence for several seconds. 
     "Scales?"  Zeeke seemed unsure whether to be disgusted or fascinated.  Simon simply blinked in surprise. 
     "Why would a human be sprouting scales?"  He asked.  Both siblings were quiet for moment before Kennedy answered. 
     "Have either of you ever heard of dragons?"