Changeling; Chapter 5

I'm pulling spices down from the rack when my phone rings. It's Ava's ringtone. Curious, I pull my phone from my pocket and answer it.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask, carrying the spices over to the counter.

"Hey girl, I was just wondering, are you busy tonight?" Ava asks nonchalantly.

"Not really, why?"

"Cool. So, as you know, my parents are still out of town, and well, I'm getting a little lonely." I can hear the pout in her voice.

I roll my eyes. "Yes, you can come over."

"Actually," Ava counters, "I was thinking you could come over and we could have a fun girls' night with the house to ourselves."

"Um. . ." I look over at Mom.

Mom, as if sensing there's a question coming for her, looks up, one eyebrow arched. "What?"

"Ava's lonely and wants me to spend the night."

"And she can't come over because?" Mom drawls.

"She wants to have a girls' night?"

Mom stares at me, clearly unimpressed. "What is she going to do when you're in two different towns?"

I shrug. Mom sighs, shaking her head. Pursing her lips, she looks over at the window and the gathering storm clouds outside.

"We'll stay in," I offer. I know she's worried about the weather. This storm was supposed to be a part of that bad storm system that's been moving through the area.

After a moment she sighs. "Fine. Do you want to take some of this over for dinner?" She says waving to the chicken we're prepping.

"My mom wants to know if I should bring some of the chicken we're getting ready to cook over," I tell Ava.

"Do you have an objection to pizza?" Ava asks.

"No."

"Cool, cuz I already put it on."

"Alright." I look over at Mom and shake my head. Mom just nods and goes back to prepping the chicken. I turn to leave the kitchen. "Let me go put on my shoes and grab my overnight bag. I'll be over in five, ten minutes top."

"Yay! See you soon!"

By the time I come back downstairs, Dad has returned from his workshop. He looks over at me curiously as he pulls off his hat. Without his hat, his hair is shorn too short to hide the fact that the top of his right ear is flat, lost to a stray bullet during his active service. "Where are you going?"

"Ava wants me to come over," I tell him. "Mom already said it was okay." Dad's eyes narrow. I roll my eyes. "Don't worry, we're staying in."

Slowly, Dad nods. "Good. Fine."

I smile as I continue toward the door, patting Moxie on the head as I pass her. "See you tomorrow!"

xXxXx

Ava peeks out the curtains of the living room. "It's coming down now," she says.

"I never would have guessed," I respond.

Ava gives me a look, throwing a piece of popcorn at me. "Smart ass response was not asked for."

I try and fail to catch it. "Then don't state the obvious."

She throws another piece at me. "Just hit play. I need to know who did it."

"The inspector," I tell her.

"That is just so illogical. It's clearly either the husband or the friend."

"I'm telling you, it's the inspector! It's the only option that makes sense!"

"How?" Ava demands.

"Unreliable narrator."

Ava shakes her head. "Something's off because someone is lying."

"The story is being told from the inspector's perspective. Everyone is obviously supposed to be suspicious, but something is missing."

"Of course, something is missing. If they gave away the key to solving the mystery it wouldn't be fun to watch. The inspector will explain it in the big reveal. That's how these things always work."

"And I'm telling you part of the key is the fact that it's the inspector behind it all."

Ava shakes her head. "You are reading too much into this. Just hit play."

"Fine!" Lifting the remote again, I hit play.

Instead of the movie starting again, the screen winks out. It's not the only thing that winks out. All the lights have winked out. We've lost power.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Ava exclaims. "Now?"

Setting the remote down, I fumble for my phone in the dark. "Maybe focus on getting some light first?"

I managed to turn my phone's flashlight on seconds before Ava.

"There's flashlights in the kitchen," Ava says as she rises from the sofa. "I want to say the lantern should also be there."

I follow after her. Finding the flashlights is easy. Turning on the one she hands me, I work on turning my phone flashlight off. I turn the screen off only for it to light right back up with a call from Mom. If she was calling because they lost power too and I didn't answer she'd flip, so I answer the call.

"Kaelynn, we just lost power at the house," Mom says in greeting. "Do you girls still have power?"

I follow Ava as she moves for the hall, pausing to think. "Coat closet," she decides. She begins walking again and I follow.

"No," I tell her, "But we already found the flashlights. We're just looking for the lantern now."

I move, holding my flashlight up over Ava's shoulder so she can see in the closet.

"Do you have spare batteries just in case?" She demands.

"Mom, we'll be fine. It's just a power-"

Considering Ava's head has also turned toward the door, I know I'm not the only one that heard that.

Ava looks back at me. "You heard that too, right?"

I nod. Rain is still angrily pelting the house. Between the rain and time of night, there was no logical, reasonable reason for someone to be knocking on the door. Yet no knock comes again, so maybe we were just hearing things.

"Kaelynn?" Mom prompts me.

"Sorry. We thought we heard someone. . ." I stare at the door. There's no mistaking it this time. "Knocking. Ava!" I hiss when she takes a step forward.

"Kaelynn? What's going on?"

"The odds of it actually being someone are so low," Ava says. The way she says it sounds like it's more for her benefit like she's trying to calm herself. "If it is someone, it's probably someone we know, right?"

I give her a look as the knock comes again.

"Knock, knock!" A voice calls. "I know you're there. I just want what I left in your care. Once I have it back, I'll be happy to be on my way."

We both backed away from the door. "There's someone knocking on the door," I tell Mom.

"Who?" She demands.

I shake my head. "I don't know."

"Open the door," the voice demands this time.

"But I don't think they plan on leaving."

"Kaelynn, listen to me," Dad's voice is suddenly on the line. "You and Ava need to get away from the door and arm yourselves. Lock yourselves in a room. I'm on my way. Stay on the phone with your mom."

I grab Ava's hand, pulling her back. "Come on."

"Please, open the door," the voice asks sweetly.

Ava takes a step forward. I grab her arm.

"There's a baseball bat in the coat closet," she hisses at me.

I don't want her to get closer to the door, but I release her arm. "Hurry."

"Are you in a locked room?" Mom demands.

I open my mouth to answer, but a sharp click fills the air. I stare at the now perpendicular bolt on the door. The lock on the nob turns quickly and the nob quickly follows.

Ava reacts first lunging into the closet for the bat as the door flies open.

"Hi," the girl on the porch says, stepping into the house. "Where's your friend? She's got my necklace."

Ava answers by jumping out of the closet, swinging the bat with a shout.

The girl moves, catching the bat in mid-air. "Rude," she says, yanking the bat toward herself.

Ava holds onto the bat, stumbling forward. As soon as Ava's in striking range the girl grabs her by the neck, using Ava's momentum to slam her into the wall. Ava falls to the ground in a crumpled heap, not moving.

"AVA!" I shout in horror.

"Kaelynn! Kaelynn, what happened? Kaelynn!" Mom shouts over the line.

The girl tosses the bat with a spin, catching it by the grip. "You gonna be a problem too?" She asks.

It had been a while since I did any self-defense training with Dad, but I didn't really have anything else to fall back on. I drop into a fighter's stance. It feels awkward with my phone in one hand and a flashlight in the other, but I can't bring myself to let go of them.

"I'm only going to tell you once to get out," I force as much steel as I can muster into my words.

The bat droops down as the girl takes a step back. Then she's shaking her head. "I don't know how you're doing that, but I'm only going to tell you once to stop."

"Get out," I snap at her.

She stumbles back again before growling. "You're human! You aren't even singing this time. How are you doing that?" What the hell was she talking about? Her head tilts to the side. "You really don't know what you're doing." She laughs. "A human with charm and not aware of it. What a curious find you are." She lowers the bat, reaching into her pocket. "I'm sure there's someone out there that would love to study you."

Her hand flies out. I flinch back, but nothing hits me. Instead, I can hear something hit the floor, and next thing I know, there's a shimmering mist in the air.

My vision blurs. I blink, pulling back. Blinking isn't helping.

The world tilts and I stumble back.

I can feel my feet tripping over each other as everything goes black.