The Sisters of Nowhere

t w o : p e n n y

The Penny family lived on 742 Anubis Avenue, where Oscar Penny's father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and his great-great-grandfather had lived before him.

The farmhouse itself was unimpressively shabby, though Mrs. Rose Penny had put countless hours into "sprucing it up a little", as she called it.

There were chickens for eggs, cows for milk, goats for pets, and three girls for headaches.

They were all born on the same day exactly one year apart on June 18th. If that wasn't strange enough, they were each born during a thunderstorm that brought more ghosts into the clearing than usual.

Some said it was a good omen for Nowhere, but some said it was a curse. Others said it was both, like a forest fire that scorched the trees but made room for new growth to sprout.

Over time, however, Nowhere came to the conclusion that the Penny sisters were neither a blessing nor a curse. They were simply magical.

Not magical in that they could summon lightning to their fingertips or turn a toad into an elephant.

They were magical in that they attracted the ghosts of Nowhere to themselves. They were magical in that their energy could make the ghosts appear more solidified and their voices heard.

The Penny sisters had an important job in the town of Nowhere: they were responsible for delivering the ghosts into the afterlife.

Every two years or so, a lunar eclipse would occur that strengthened the Penny girls' energy, therefore allowing them to help the ghosts into the afterlife.

The ghosts were very appreciative of this and the people of Nowhere were glad to purge their town of the spiritual clutter that the ghosts caused.

First, there was Birdie Penny, the oldest-youngest, as she called herself. On the timeline, she was born first but always felt like her sisters were older than she was. She was a girl of paradoxes. A girl of daisies and nightshade, sunshine and storm clouds. After school, she wrote the obituaries of all the ghosts that came through town and published them in the Nowhere Post. To most, she was referred to as "quiet and sweet", but she liked to think of herself as anything but. She had a special connection to the ghosts because she worked so closely with them. "Birdie's ghosts" her family called them.

Second, there was Marigold Penny, who had her life planned out and enough ambition to fuel all the cars she kept working on. Her only distractions came when a pair of attractive eyes caught her attention, though she promised herself she'd never actually settle down.

Third, there was Ophelia Penny, whose head was always stuck on a cloud, though she somehow managed to be the most practical of all the sisters when it really mattered. She was a passionate soul with a penchant for the screen (her particular role models were Elvis Presely and Cary Grant).

Their strange ability was what brought acclaim to the Penny household. Before, they had been a family of little renown, but in the seventeen years since Birdie was born, they'd become an essential part of Nowhere.

On the night of Wyatt Best's arrival, as Marigold was out chasing Bethany McFarlane the goat, Birdie Penny was hunched over her typewriter, squinting in the light of a candle.

The power had gone out, which had put her an hour behind without a lamp to see by. It had come back on a few minutes ago, but Birdie hadn't bothered to turn the lights on yet. The obituary she was working on was due in the morning.

Her dinner was left uneaten beside her after she hadn't even noticed her mother bringing it up to her.

There was a pencil she'd thought she'd lost stuck in her hair and another propped behind her ear.