Chapter 7 - Revenge of the Autumn People - The Dead of Night

                                        Chapter 7 – The Dead of Night

As a retired Literature Professor, I’ve always found the phrase "the dead of night" provocative. Generally, it describes a time of silence and comments upon a quality of stillness. However, even though the locomotive called the Storm Cloud Express, came to town in the dead of night, it was not quiet. The train noisily blasted down the railways of the foothills to the south and streaked by the edge of Dusk Thorne, Colorado to finally arrive in a field outside of the northern part of town. When it came to a stop, the engineer blew a shrill and unnerving whistle that signaled the arrival of Josiah Pandemonium’s Dark Carnival.

As the reader doubtlessly already knows, there are many unusual aspects to the town of Dusk Thorne. Most living there were acclimated to the periodic presence of the undead or things-that -go-bump-in-the-night. But the town itself was so unusual that many residents did not realize that long ago, they (or their family) had been summoned to live there by the town itself.

Dusk Thorne was very selective about who settled and stayed within its fold. This presence, that came by train every seventeen years with the emergence of the cicada, was not welcome. It was dark, and not of this world. The beings that belonged on this train were not able to enter this realm except when the veil, the Great Mist, was at its weakest. These beings were not welcome in the town. They camped beyond, in a nearby meadow.

Amid the rugged Colorado landscape, 'the dead of night’ descended from train cars and began to unload. Under a vaulted sky scattered with indifferent stars, the ominous silhouette of the Storm Cloud Express sat steaming and hissing like some enormous blacksnake. The train carried with it the weight of a dark legend and an unknown future for the town.

This was the last stop before the carnival reentered the Great Mist for another seventeen years. Since time forgotten, the carnival had never left the town of Dusk Thorne without poaching at least one of its members. Once a person agreed to leave with the Dark Carnival, they became part of it. They said goodbye to neighbors and kin forever. They became part of ‘the dead of night’.

The train inched forward to facilitate the unloading. Forged of tarnished metals and flickering with eerie lights the Storm Cloud Express radiated dark magic from another dimension. The wheeze and grind of the unholy mechanisms cut through the night air.

Upstairs in Doc’s old Victorian two story home, next to her sleeping husband Joe, Alice’s sensitive ears could hear the din. She opened one of the bedroom windows. She listened and inhaled the night air. The noises from the train resonated like the murmurs of lost souls. These sounds mingled with the odor of burnt ozone and rust. Then she could stand the tension no longer.

In a panic she woke Joe. She told him of a horrible thing she saw earlier in the day. Shaking she tried to explain to him that she was a Seer and what that newfound ability might mean. Joe, who had always had a steel-trap mind, held her and listened to her story. He always knew that Alice would one day have to confront her unusual abilities. Part of him realized that she had avoided moments like this because the larger part of Alice simply wanted a normal life. A life with him. Indeed, that may have been why she chose to marry him. Joe was a bit quirky and had an outrageous sense of humor, but at his core he was ‘normal’. He was solid.  Of the three of us, I was the risk-taker. I occasionally was her go-to person when she wanted to flirt with danger. But Joe was her ‘rock’. He made her feel safe. As he held her, she stopped shaking. He resolved that he would find a way to protect her from whatever this situation brought to our doorstep.

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In the wake of the train’s arrival a cadre of shadowy carnival workers emerged. In work clothing, some in tattered costumes and moving with unsettling precision, they set about erecting booths and tents in the meadow. Creaking rides and a great Ferris wheel went up under a waning moon.

A lean and hungry figure stepped down from the club car of the Storm Cloud Express. He held a cigar in his calloused hand. The eyes, so much like the ones of a bird of prey, gazed at the ongoing construction in the open field and smiled. His hair was slightly disheveled. He removed a top hat, the sign of his station, the owner and master of this dark congregation. He regarded the collection of roustabouts, gypsies, criminals, and vagabonds. He took a deep breath of the night air and then smoothed his hair.

A large figure approached him. The shadow was over seven feet tall and to any other being, fearsome to behold. Josiah simply nodded and lit his cigar. “Bell.” he said casually as he donned his top hat “How is the crew holding up?”

“Everything is going up on schedule Mr. Pandemonium.” This was one of Josiah’s assistant managers. He was not native to our plane of existence. Gordon Bell was a half breed. A Nephilim. He wore an old-fashioned derby hat pulled low around his considerable brow ridge. Underneath the hat his bald skull was as thick as 12^th century English plate armor. His forearms were strong and formidable. His coworkers had bore witness to his ability to bend the very rails of the tracks they traveled upon. He was not a featured performer. Bell didn’t much like crowds or humanity in general. He was not required to perform. He was hired to keep order.

“Good man. I’d like the tents up by dawn. We will start opening the booths and the rides the day after tomorrow. We pushed hard today. Arrived in record time. Did the crew get any rest after we crossed over into Colorado?”

“How would I know?” Bell was indifferent to the human need for sleep. Nephilim didn’t sleep. “They can rest soon enough. This is our last stop.”

“That it is. It has been a good year, Bell. Oh, when we hit the Colorado state line I had an uninvited guest trespass into my thoughts.” Josiah blew a smoke-ring, and the corners of his mouth turned up.

“One of the performers. Let me guess, Qwan Chang? You want me to yank that little telepath’s neck again.

“No this wasn’t one of our folks.” The lean man stretched.

“What are you sayin’?” Bell’s face was blank.

“She entered my mind from a distance...while we were rolling.”

“At the speed we were traveling at. Seems unlikely. Chang can’t even do that sort of thing.”

“This was a Seer, and a young one at that. I think she was assisted by another Seer. At any rate, she could have been psychically present for quite a while...But I kicked her out.”

“Where was she when this happened?” Bell’s curiosity was indeed aroused.

“Right here in this fair town Mr. Bell.”

Gordon Bell smiled. “Possible new talent for next year? Will she be coming with us when we pull out of town?”

“Perhaps. I got a sense of where she was in town, but I’ll need to send the Twins into some of the neighborhoods to make inquiries about her. Carry on Mr. Bell.”

“That’s what we do here Mr. Pandemonium. Carry on!”

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Joe descended the stairs in the dark. I was aware that he was agitated. I could smell the stress hormones on his sweat, and something else. Gun oil?

“Wake up Doc. We need to talk.”

“I’m already awake. Who can sleep with a carnival in town?” I smiled and batted my eyes at him as if I were a giddy five-year-old.

“I’m serious Doc. Were you aware of what Alice did yesterday.”

“Yes, Dorthy told me she peer-pressured her into being a bad little witch. Never trust anyone over the age of 230. I think it was Dylan that said that.” I smiled.

“This is an emerging crisis Doc. I need to get ahead of it. Alice made a supernatural long-distance call to something with powerful Ju-Ju.” Joe started to pace.

“I love it when you talk like a lawyer.” I snickered.

“What am I going to do?” Joe was beside himself. “I have a business to run, and I can’t watch her 24/7. Ordinarily that would be your job.”

“Admittedly I’m not in good shape but I’m getting there. I’m still having trouble initiating “The Change.”

“I never thought of you as the shiftless type.” Joe quipped.

“Hey, words can hurt you know.” I grinned at him

“Have you tried it in a phone booth? Maybe if you were wearing a cape?” He suggested.

“There is also the matter of a missing chunk of my shoulder that hasn’t grown back yet.”

“Perhaps some Propecia for a couple of weeks and then a comb over? It worked wonders for my Aunt Grace.”

“Look, I’ve already thought about this. I can watch Alice. Petey will spell me off if I get drowsy from Dr. Dorthy’s stink balm.

“I’m telling her you said that.” Joe laughed. “God, that stuff is hideous.”

“Seriously Stink-O-Rama, as Alice would say.” I looked at him and sighed. “We won’t let anything happen to Alice. Knuckle-Butt will be around part time. In fact, Knuckle-Butt and I will ride out tomorrow and check out this badass that had got Alice all wound up. Petey will be at the house while you are at work. As her boss, I can give Naydene some time off if we think she needs extra supervision.

“I’ll be here too.” A quiet little voice said.

“Billy, I assume that is you and not a side effect of Dorthy’s medication.”

Billy popped into the room causing Annie to back up next to me and begin sniffing him from a distance.

“What are you doing in the house young man?” Joe pinched between his brow and nose momentarily. He let go. "I saw this in a David Niven movie once. Unfortunately, it doesn't relieve tension. But it looks great on the screen."

“I sometimes sleep in the basement.” Billy floated through the coffee table as he spoke.

“That is where Petey sleeps.” I said more sternly than I meant to.

“I know. He doesn’t care.”

“Because he doesn’t know yet.” I pointed out to the phantom child. “Look, everyone needs to go back to bed right now. Dorthy is coming over tomorrow, and we can firm up our plans about what to do to help Alice then. We also need to quit talking about her like she is helpless. Remember, she was the one who snuffed Calvin Pryde.”

“I know.” Said Joe. “By the way, here is your gun back. Compliments of Deputy Lawrence Goodwin.

“I’ve asked for that back three times.” I said in astonishment. How did you do it?”

“Principles of Business 101 professor. Bribery. He now eats for free at Colorado Charlie’s Chicken Coop for the rest of the year.  You owe me.