The Seeker's Guild and the Greenleaf Phantom

-2-

"Isn't that right?" Mr. Matheson, a thin, balding man with a hooked nose, asked, taking a sip of his wine and looking across the table to his stepson.

"Uh yeah, yeah." Sergio, an athletic, tan young man with curly black hair, nodded and turned to Kyle's stepfather. "It was a lot of hard work to keep my grades up, so I had to set out a lot of my time for working and studying and all that."

Mr. Banks nodded, pleased, as he was cutting a piece of his steak. "Bright young man. Keep at it and you can do some incredible things with that talent."

"I hope so." Sergio nodded. "Though, I have to say, Mr. Banks," He nudged his elbow at Kyle, sitting next to him. "Your son has been very helpful, getting me to where I am. He's pretty bright too." He turned to Kyle and gave him a subtle wink, to which Kyle chuckled and looked away, embarrassed. "

"Now that's the young man I raised!" Mr. Banks smiled at the two of them. "And Sergio, your father would've been so proud to see your progress."

"Yes, he would be," Sergio replied somberly.

"Taken while in the line of duty, like many brave men before him," said Mr. Banks reflectively. Then, he cleared his throat and looked to the rest of the table. "Some might say he was overly ambitious and reckless, but the countless amount of lives he's saved as an officer of the law would say otherwise, and to me, he was 'Jay from down the block.' I'll never forget how many times he had gotten me in and out of trouble when we were kids." He and everyone else chuckled. "Not often you'll meet someone who will mix diet coke with mentos in your living room, ruin your carpet and then help foot the bill out of his own pocket." He sniffed and lifted his glass of wine. "To Jason, a brave soul and a...damn good friend."

"To Jason." Everyone at the table said at once, and the adults clinked their glasses of wine together.

After a brief pause, Mrs. Banks asked Sergio, who hadn't touched his food for a while. "So have you been thinking about what you want to do after school?"

Sergio shrugged and tilted his head side to side, "Not yet. Maybe after I get my undergraduates degree I'll be a college football coach." Sergio glanced at his stepfather, who scrunched at his food. "Or a lawyer," he added. "They are both pretty different from each other, but I could make either one work out."

"Whatever it is, pursue what you want the most." Mrs. Banks encouraged him. 

"Thanks, I definitely will!" Sergio smiled. He saw his mother smile back at him. "And I know that my parents will support me too." 

After dinner, Kyle, Sergio, and Rachel all went upstairs to Rachel's room, where the three of them played Mario Kart Wii. Sergio took the lead on the Luigi's Mansion course as Wario while Rachel trailed behind him as Daisy. Meanwhile, Kyle was dragging through the mud as Koopa Troopa in tenth place.

"Well, I think I'm done with this game." Kyle sighed and placed down his controller after finishing the race. "I'm going to get my homework done."

"Oooo! Someone's a little salty." Sergio teased. "Have fun with homework, dude." When Kyle had left the room, Sergio asked Rachel, "What do ya say about last one to finish has to work on Algebra II first?"

"Gimme a break!" Rachel laughed. "I can do that real easy."

"Ok, so if you lose, then you also have to help me study for US History on Friday. Challenge accepted?"

"Challenge freaking accepted!" Rachel pumped her fist with determination.

On the other side of the hallway in his room, Kyle sat at his desk, looking over at and penciling down a constant stream of notes on the Revolutionary War for his Friday exam. He could hear Sergio and Rachel shouting from not too far off, so he got up and shut the door.

Before he sat back down, something about the air in the room had suddenly changed, feeling a little stuffy. He shook his head, dismissing it as false paranoia, and sat back down. He grabbed his headphones from the shelf above his desk, plugged it into his iPod, and turned on some classical music.

While he was working, his music crackled and fizzed. Startled, Kyle threw his headphones on the desk and stared at them, scared. It's fine, it's fine. He thought to himself. The music probably glitched for a second. He put his hand to his chest, took a deep breath, and continued working, with his music back on.

He reached the end of the chapter, where the textbook offered review questions about the text. "When was the Battle of Yorktown fought?" He read himself then looked away from the page. Easy, 1781. Okay, good. "What was the Stamp Act, and explain how it eventually contributed to the start of the Revolutionary War." The Stamp Act was a tax passed by the British Parliament that required the colonists to pay for printed paper. It was one of the things that lead to the colonists revolting against Britain and starting the Revolutionary War because the colonists were afraid that, if the British government was able to collect taxes without the approval of the--"

Kyle froze when he saw words scrawled into his notes that hadn't been there before: "Go to Spirit Woods." He looked at his trembling hand, which hadn't been holding a pencil to write these things down. He rose out of his chair and took off out of his room, down the stairs, and through the back entrance out to the backyard while his family and the Mathesons' were in the living room talking.

The cold, night air felt cold against Kyle's skin, as he rushed outside wearing a T-shirt and khaki pants but no jacket. The only light sources came from the Banks' house, the neighbor's house, and the faint glimmers of the dusk. Kyle shivered and pulled out his phone to use as a flashlight. He went around the side of the house, pushed aside the trash and recycling bins in his way, and headed out onto the dark, lonely concrete road lining Sully Avenue.

Ahead of him was the pitch black shadow of the trees looming high above him. He trudged forward, arms hugged around his torso and legs close together. I can't take this. I need to know. He told himself a dozen times in his head. I need to know. I need to know. I need to know.

It felt like ages until he had finally reached the cover of the trees, strayed from the road and entered the woods. There, darkness surrounded him completely, save for the minimal light his phone gave off, and the cold pierced him through his clothing. His skin clung so tight that he could feel his heart pounding through his chest.

Now, he realized, he was truly in the thick of it. If he ventured any farther, he may never return. He didn't know what would kill him first: the cold or the ghost haunting him. Yet, in spite of this, there was some mysterious force inside driving him to confront his fears head-on. He trekked forward, ducking his head under leaves and pine needles and watching his footing for large roots.

As he dived deeper through the woods, his body seemed to acclimate to the cold, and his heart rate slowed. He walked a little more comfortably through the foliage. The darkness almost felt like a protective haven. Nothing around him seemed at all dangerous. The only living creatures he could perceive around him were the chirps of crickets around him and the occasional owl who's call echoed through the forest.

Then, up a little farther, he saw what looked like a campfire through an opening in the trees. He felt the fire's warm as he got closer toward the light.

However, when he entered through the opening in the trees, he stopped dead at the scent of fresh blood. Then he stared, horrified, at what was in front of him. A bear's mangled head mounted on a wooden pike.

Kyle wanted to scream, but his frozen, chattering jaws could only let out a whimper. But then, a terrifying screech came from a hairy figure up ahead that glared with bright, beady eyes at Kyle. Kyle's knees unlocked and he burst into a sprint in the opposite direction. 

Tree branches scratched his face on both sides, and he stumbled over a few large rocks. He could hear the creature panting and snarling from several feet behind him, but Kyle kept racing through the woods for his very life until he was back on the road again. He found himself standing in front of a bright light that was moving faster toward him.

"Kyle! Kyle! Oh my god, are you okay?" The voice of his sister called out to him, before he fell face down into the concrete.