Carson's Mark: School of Screams

Chapter Twelve

The child pulled the blanket up around his head again and snuggled closer to Simon. Kennedy took a sip of his tea and ate another bite of his sandwich before answering.
"Usually these kinds of cults tend to be satanic," he said. "Though occasionally there are other beings that can crop up." 
     "Like what?" Zeeke asked.  He'd been eating his sandwich through the whole conversation, but now he took a sip of his tea for the first time.  Kenny sipped his tea as well before responding. 
     "Well," he started.  "Supposing certain, more horror oriented deities are real, there's a couple who could be suspects.  Then there are one or two much lesser known beings I could think of that may be the culprit." He rubbed between Jack's ears as he took another bite of his sandwich.
"Really?" Zeeke seemed legitimately interested. Even Titan, who had been lounging on the back of the couch the whole time, seemed curious. "Who?" 
     "This world is made up of many different dimensions, all connected by the fabric of time and space," Chloe jumped in as Kenny ate more of his sandwich. "Quite a few of these dimensions have their own unique deities or powerful beings that may act as gods. Once in a blue moon, one will leak through and the fanatics will start up in one way or another." 
     "'Leak through'?"  Simon asked, taking a sip of his tea. 
     "Rifts," Kennedy explained.  "Tears in time and space that open at random, unpredictable times.  We don't know what causes them, but they're very dangerous.  You don't want to be around when one appears." He paused, and the room was quiet for a moment.
"What happens if someone is around when one appears?" Zeeke asked finally.
"Usually one of two things," Chloe answered. "If a person is within a certain range when a rift opens, they get sucked in. Once in a blue moon, however, a rift will open through someone, and that's not a pleasant sight."  Everyone was quiet again as the words were absorbed, the heavy rain and thunder outside the only sounds for a minute. 
The boy put his head on Simon's shoulder, pulling his legs up onto the cushion and putting them under the blanket as Simon put an arm around him. Even Muffin decided to put her head against the blanket and purr. The child's hand poked out to stroke the cat's back with one finger.
"How do you know one is about to open?" Simon asked as he started to gently rub the boy's back.
"Sometimes you don't get any warning," Kenny answered. "They'll just appear out of nowhere and you're screwed. Other times, they start with a small earthquake, the air will shimmer, and you'll see a bright flash of light before you're suddenly in a different place." 
     "So they teleport you?"  Zeeke asked, trying to understand. 
     "Essentially," Kenny answered.  "Except you can end up in a very dangerous situation if they spit you out in the wrong place at the wrong time." Both Zeeke and Simon winced at the thought.
"I'd hate to imagine some of the scenarios you could end up in," Simon said. 
     "The best you can hope for is to be spit out a few miles from your previous location," Chloe replied as Kennedy sipped more tea.  "Sometimes you can end up several states away, or falling from the sky a hundred feet above the ocean.  Just hope you're never directly on top of one that's about to open, unless you want to be split in half." 
     "Luckily, they usually open up in more remote places, so towns and cities are usually safe," Kenny jumped in.  "We just have to hope nothing else comes with them when they do open."  The room went quiet again for a moment as everyone waited for someone else to speak first. 
     "What happens if something does come with them?"  Simon asked after a minute. 
     "Hope it's something friendly," Kenny replied, rubbing the slightly longer fur on Jack's chest.  "Otherwise you'll be even more screwed." 
     "Aren't portholes supposed to be a thing?"  Zeeke asked, finishing his sandwich except for a bit of crust which he gave Titan.
     "Portholes are different," Chloe answered as Kenny finished his tea.  "Portholes are astral doorways between dimensions that can be opened at will by powerful psychics or other supernatural beings, and don't cause destruction when opened.  Rifts are cracks or tears in space-time itself and are much more unpredictable and destructive when they open, and cannot be controlled as of yet." 
     "So portholes are the friendlier versions of rifts, then?"  Simon asked, trying to clarify. 
     "If you want to think of them that way," Kennedy removed his glasses to wipe the clear lens. "Though not everyone can use portholes. Usually it's strong psychics, as Chloe said, or spectral beings who can open them. Even just traveling by one once can end badly if you don't know what you're doing. You could end up stuck in or between plains, or even fall apart molecularly if you aren't strong enough to be inside."
"So both are dangerous, but portholes are easier to handle," Zeeke clarified this time, sipping some tea.
"Effectively," Kenny replied. "It would be similar to choosing between driving your car through a pothole or a sinkhole, assuming you had a choice between a porthole or a rift."
"And you think one or the other opened and something came through and caused some fanatics to go crazy?" Simon asked.
"Essentially," Chloe answered this time. "If it's someone or something that can use portholes, they could quite easily come back and forth as often as they please."
"And that would not be good, right?" Zeeke guessed.
"Exactly," Kenny put his glasses back on, blinking once. "Especially if the being had a desire to cause havoc in the first place, and had access to something even nastier."
"Given the fact that my parents may or may not be involved," Simon said, his voice becoming monotonous. "My guess is it's probably something nasty." 
     "That would be my guess, if they were doing sacrifices," Kennedy replied.  "But if they've been at it as long as you say, there's a chance there are multiple entities they're dealing with." 
     "I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, honestly," Simon replied.  "They do seem to like making multiple business deals at once, from what I remember, so it would make sense if they worked with multiple entities."  The child snuggled closer to him as more thunder boomed outside.  Scarecrow jumped off the couch and
went back over to sit in front of Zeeke, who rubbed his back with one finger. 
     "But what kind of entities are we talking about?"  Zeeke asked.  "Like, are they demons, or actual deities?" 
     "They could be almost anything," Chloe answered.  "There are any number of entities that would take sacrifices in return for giving fortune or whatever else the worshippers might desire." 
     "We should have books on the different possible entities in the library," Kenny offered.  "Perhaps a couple of us could look through them once everyone is finished eating."  He looked at the storm raging outside for a moment. 
     "We definitely won't be able to get back to the school to investigate until this weather clears," he added.  The boy had curled fully into a ball under his blanket against Simon.  The adult gently moved the blanket off the child's face. 
     "Hey, buddy," he said.  "Do you want your sandwich?  You seemed hungry earlier."  The boy's green/amber eyes looked out at him, but the child said nothing. 
     "He may be too scared to eat right now," Kenny said.  "Fear can often make some loose their appetites."  The boy had pulled his blanket back over his head and pressed even closer to Simon. 
     "He must've experienced something terrible if he's this scared of thunder," Chloe said sympathetically. 
     "He mentioned something about screaming earlier," Simon told her.  "We didn't press him too much for information." 
     "He'll probably tell us when he's ready," Kennedy said.  "Right now, we should just help him feel comfortable, he'll open up in time." 
     "The sound might frighten him as much as any memories he's reliving," Zeeke suggested.  "Moving him further from the noise might be a good start." 
     "Good thinking," Kenny said.  "He clearly wants to be where Simon is, so if I brought both with me to the lower library to do research, our little friend might hear less of the thunder and start to calm down." 
     "It would be worth a try, at least," Simon agreed.  "I just have to be careful with the dust." 
     "Fair enough," Kenny gave Jack one more rub on the head before standing up.  Simon moved Muffin to the back of the couch as he stood and turned to lift the child.  The boy squirmed slightly and peeked out from his blanket. 
     "You're fine, buddy," Simon told him gently.  "Come on, let's go look at some books."