CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE CLUB NO ONE WANTS TO JOIN

It was Sophia's idea to gather the others together that afternoon. She left a cryptic note in Julia and Logan's lockers instructing them to meet her in the auditorium after school. She decided to ask Benny to attend directly, since they were in the same science class.

"You're Benny, right?" She asked.

Benny looked up from his desk and blinked at her. I could tell he was stunned she was acknowledging his existence. He nodded slowly.

"I'm Sophia, and I know this is an odd request, but can you join me in the auditorium after class today? I have something very important to discuss with you," she continued.

Benny still didn't speak. "I think he's in shock," I said.

Sophia ignored me. "Please?" She asked gently. "It won't take very long."

Benny nodded and Sophia took her seat. "Well, that went well," I said cheerfully.

"He doesn't talk much, does he?" Sophia asked in a whisper.

"I've only heard him speak once," I admitted.

I sat with them through the class then followed Sophia to the auditorium. Benny stayed at a distance, but he was heading toward the auditorium as well. When we got inside, Sophia turned on the stage light. She climbed onto the stage and sat on the edge of with her legs crossed and dangling. I sat beside her.

Benny tentatively walked into the auditorium. He sat down in the front row and waited for Sophia to say something. "There should be two others coming," she said. "I will explain once they get here."

Benny remained silent. The door to the auditorium opened and Julia and Logan walked in together. Julia was laughing at something he said when they entered. They paused when they saw Sophia sitting on the stage.

"What's this about?" Logan asked.        

"Have a seat," Sophia replied.

Logan sat in the second row so he could put his feet up on the chair in front of him. Julia sat beside him. She looked nervous and I felt bad about that. I wasn't trying to scare them, but Sophia was right. They needed to know, and the sooner, the better.

"Let me begin by saying I'm glad you all came today," Sophia said.

"To be honest, I thought you were planning to seduce me," Logan said. "Then I saw Julia and figured I was either really, really lucky or really, really wrong."

Julia blushed and shoved him playfully. "I'm not that kind of girl," she said.

"I know that, Jules," he promised her. "So why are we here, Blondie?"

"My name is Sophia. Do not ever call me Blondie again. This is going to sound very strange, but there are five of us in this room right now," Sophia said.

"I know I'm a jock, but I can count, you know. There's only three... Oh, hey man. Sorry, didn't see you there," he said as he spotted Benny. "Anyway, there's only four of us. You know, quatro." He held up four fingers.

"I'm French, Logan, not Spanish. Anyway, the fifth person isn't someone any of you can see, but I can."

"Oh goody. You really do have invisible friends. I thought Katrina was making that up."

"Her name is Ava Meyers. You may have known her. She was murdered recently," Sophia continued, ignoring him.

Julia sat up, suddenly very interested in the conversation. Logan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. So what? The school's haunted now?" He asked sarcastically.

"Technically," Sophia replied seriously. "Although it isn't just the school. She's here to guide us."

"What are you? Some sort of hippie new ager? What's next? We tell her to 'go into the light' or something?"

"Let her talk, Lo," Julia said quietly.

"Jules, you don't seriously believe this, do you?" He asked in disbelief.

"Please, Logan. I just want to hear what she has to say. I knew Ava. Not well, but we had a couple of classes together."

"Fine. Whatever. I could use a good laugh."

Sophia took a deep breath and continued. "Ava is here because the four of us have been selected to defeat something. We aren't sure what it is yet, but it's very important. If we are to succeed, we must work together," she explained.

"No thank you," Logan said. "I have enough extracurricular activities already. I'm not interested."

"You don't get a say, This is destiny. It's bigger than us."

"I make my own destiny, and this isn't the one I want. If you'll excuse me, I'm going back to the real world now. If you want, I can call the nice men with the white coats for you. Come on, Julia. I'll walk you home."

"I want to stay," Julia replied.

"What? Jules, she's crazy."

"I believe her, Logan. I've been feeling Ava everywhere. I even feel her right now. I know it sounds crazy, but I really think she's with us."

"You just feel strange because you knew her."

Julia pulled out her notebook and showed Logan the very disturbing drawings she'd done recently. Logan stiffened. "What the hell is this?" He asked.

"I think it's her murder," Julia replied.

"Julia... How the hell did you draw her murder?"

Julia looked like she was debating with herself. "I see things, Logan," she finally admitted. "I saw her death. It's part of why I daze out so often. It's because I'm having visions."

"This is nuts."

"I know that, but crazy people don't know they're crazy, right? It's just something I've always been able to do."

"That's right," Sophia said. "Julia has visions. I can see the dead. What can you do?"

"Kick butt at football," Logan replied. "You're all insane."

Benny seemed nervous as Logan raised his voice. He began shaking and vanished.

"Holy crap!" Logan shouted. Benny reappeared.

"And Benny can do... that," Sophia said. "So what is it that you're hiding from us, Logan?"

"Nothing! I'm nothing like you freaks! No offense, Julia, but if you want to hang out with these social outcasts, go for it. I have better things to do with my time." Logan fled the auditorium so quickly I thought he might have super speed.

"That didn't go so well," I said calmly.

"Logan will come around," Sophia replied. "He has no choice in the matter."

"What does this mean?" Julia asked. "Why is Ava haunting us? What do we have to do?"

"We aren't sure what we have to do yet. Hopefully we will get some answers now that all of us know about this. All Ava knows is it has to do with some demon named Desmoda."

To the surprise of us all, Benny suddenly spoke. "Desmoda is rising. The solstice is the only time she will be able to come through. If she rises, she will destroy all that is good in the world. Her arrival means that everything ends. This isn't just about 'some demon.' This is about the apocalypse."

"How do you know so much about Desmoda?" I asked. Then I remembered he couldn't hear me.

"Ava wants to know how you know all of that," Sophia said for me.

He looked embarrassed as he pulled out the book he had borrowed from the school library. "It's all in here," he said. "This book lists the different mythologies connected to the end of the world. Desmoda has an entire section to herself. She's quite terrifying, really."

Julia and Sophia walked over to him to see the pages he was looking at. I joined them. Desmoda was drawn as a curvy blonde with an hourglass shape in a long black dress. Her arms were extended and she looked like she could suck out your soul in a split second. The evil radiated off of the page, and yet she didn't look overtly frightening in any way.

"We have to stop her?" Julia asked nervously.

"She doesn't look so tough," Sophia said thoughtfully. "That probably means she's more dangerous than anyone on the planet."

"Does the book say how to defeat her?" I asked.

"What does it say about defeating her?" Sophia asked.

"It says you have to take out her servants first, and you must have the key. Whichever side has the key wins," Benny said.

"What key?" Julia asked.

"It doesn't say anything more specific."

"Great. It's never that easy, is it?" I asked.

Sophia read a passage aloud. "Desmoda, darkest member of the abyss of the unholy ones, is the final servant to rise, and with her arrival comes the annihilation of Good. It is the end of all things, and the start of the void." She shook her head. "That's creepy."

"Prior to her release, a whole bunch of ancient evils are supposed to rise again," Benny said. "Enemies who were thought to have been defeated will come back. No one will be safe from the effects. Chaos will spread, slowly allowing her to grow stronger."

"Well, crap," I said. "That's intense."

"Intense? That's the best you can come up with, Ava?" Sophia asked. She shook her head. "We will figure out a way to stop this. We have to."

"I'm terrified and all, but I'm also kind of relieved... It makes sense now. The visions, the dreams... There is a reason for all of it," Julia said. "I mean, I've always had them, but they have gotten really dark lately. I used to have visions about stupid stuff like what my mom was making for dinner or what outfit my best friend was going to wear to school. Now all I see is murder and chaos and disasters. It's really had me freaked out."

"Well, you're not alone now," Sophia said. "Tell us whatever you see."

"Welcome to the Supernatural Breakfast Club," I said cheerfully.

Sophia wrote something down, tore the paper in half, and gave one piece to Benny and one to Julia. "This is my number. Call me anytime, day or night. We are in this together now."

"What about Logan?" Julia asked.

"When he's ready, he will know how to find us," Sophia said. "Until then, let him take his attitude and run like a coward. I could care less."

I hated to admit it, but I felt the same way. I know, I know. I'm a really bad guardian. I was supposed to be looking after them, not letting them fend for themselves and saying "Oh well, screw it! He's a jerk." In that moment, however, I was just happy to have reached three of my four charges. Maybe I'd earn half a gold star this time?

"You two should head home," Sophia said. "I'm going home, too, before my father starts to panic. Ava, you should check on Logan. He may be stupid, but he's also in danger."

"Do I have to?" I whined.

Sophia looked at me sternly with a mother's gaze. "He's your responsibility. Besides, if he gets himself killed, we all get screwed."

"Okay, you're right," I admitted. "I'll see you later."

"Right. See you later." She dismissed me and began gathering her things. She left the auditorium first.

Julia looked at Benny. "Are you okay?" She asked.

Benny shrugged. "At least I know there's a reason that I can disappear now," he said.

"Try not to disappear on me. I'll feel better having some company while we wait for the bus."

Benny blushed. "Okay," he said. "I'll do my best."

The two of them walked out together. I sighed and braced myself to check on Logan.

I suddenly found myself in a very small apartment. A woman lay on the couch passed out. A little girl sat beside her watching television. Logan walked in the front door and the little girl brightened and ran toward him. She flung her arms around him.

Logan smiled a genuine smile and lifted the girl up. "Hey, Kiddo. How was school?"

"It was okay," she said.

"Just okay?"

"Billy Roberts pulled my braids again." It sounded like she said "Billy Wahbutts pulled my bwaids again," which I found kind of adorable.

"You tell Billy Roberts if he doesn't knock it off your big, bad football-playing brother's gonna show up and give him a swirly."

"What's a swirly?"

"Don't worry about that."

"Okay. How was your day?"

"Oh, you know, nothing special..." He put the kid down and looked at the sleeping woman. "How's Mom?" He asked.

"She's sleepy again."

"Right. Why don't you go to your room and start your homework? I'll come in and help you in a couple of minutes."

"Okay." She kissed him on the cheek before running off.

Logan grabbed a blanket and covered his mother with it. She shifted and mumbled something incoherent. He looked under the coffee table and shook his head. Silently he gathered up three large empty bottles of beer, an empty shot glass, and a nearly empty bottle of whisky. He put the empty bottles into a bag that was filled with many more. He washed the shot glass carefully and put it away.

I watched in silence as Logan pulled a whole chicken out of the refrigerator, washed it, preheated the oven, and began seasoning it.

The jock cooks? I thought. This was news to me. He stuck the chicken in the oven when it was ready and washed his hands before checking on his mother again. He stroked her head gently and sat beside her.

"Hi, Mom," he said quietly. "I met a new goal in weight training today. Oh, and I got told by a hot French girl that a dead girl is haunting me and my destiny is to work with them. Yeah, just another day at school."

His mother didn't even stir. He sighed and stood back up. He took a deep breath and forced himself to smile as he headed toward his sister's room and said, "Come on, Betty. Let's get that homework done."