AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! So, I am incredibly shocked and humbled by the sudden wave of awesome people who've asked me to update this story. :) I thought about it for a while because I definitely plan on editing the story sometime soon; my writing has improved so much since I wrote this. However, as I don't know when the editing will take place, I figured there's no harm in sharing what I do have now. Just expect me to update it at some point so it's shinier and more coherent!
Thank you so much for the kind comments and following! You have no idea how much the motivation has meant to me! Also, thanks for the patience. :)
-Mariella
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Something about the conversation with Ian made her brave enough to go into the schoolhouse without being dragged. The next afternoon she went by herself, coming in quietly so they wouldn't hear her. She knew they were in the back, and planned to slip in and out without being seen.
Olivia was in the entrance room, looking at the bookshelves and pondering. The very existence of this library was just too good to be true. It was one house that everybody shared, where they got together to have fun. Everything in it was theirs for the taking, as long as they gave something back. There had to be a catch, right?
Most of the books were used and torn, but the oldest were in shelves near the back. There were half-read paperbacks and even magazines. Olivia realized that with this variety, there could be a book here with answers about that stupid well. It just hadn't been found yet, but she would find it! Quickly she began to read the titles—even the half-read paperbacks—but was disappointed; nothing here was related at all.
Sighing, she took a step back, almost crashing into Averil.
“Olivia!” she exclaimed, looking shaken. “What are you doing here? You almost knocked me over.”
Great. I'm caught. “Sorry,” Olivia said hoarsely. “I decided to come for a visit.”
Averil's face brightened, so perhaps Olivia had gotten better at lying. “Then why didn't you come to the back?”
“I just, uh, got lost in thought. That's all.”
Averil grinned. “Ian, huh?” she asked.
Olivia stared at her, shocked, for several seconds. Maybe I used poor word choice. “Um...”
She rolled her eyes and explained, “I saw you two coming back from wherever yesterday. And I didn't say that's a bad thing. He's nice.”
Olivia’s mind was still jumbled. “Yeah,” she stammered. “But...”
“But?” Averil repeated, with a mischievous smile. Then she had mercy and changed the subject. “Find any books?”
“Nothing that would interest me right now,” Olivia replied steadily. She had to feign ignorance of the well's history, and felt paranoid that her voice might give something away. “Maybe later, when I'm out of reading material.”
Averil shrugged. “You have plenty of time. Come to the back.” She turned and headed into the other room.
“Well, I mean—” Olivia began uneasily, then gave up and hurried after her.
“There's food on the table there, if you're hungry.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
The blonde smiled widely and added, “This is your place too, now—follow me, or do whatever you want!”
She hoped her face showed some form of gratitude. “Thanks. I'll, uh...just go get some water.”
“Sounds good.” Averil hurried to join some girls who were talking in the corner.
Olivia's hands trembled while pouring the glass of ice water. She wondered if anyone else saw her goosebumps yet; at least they were leaving her alone today. She sat down against the wall, and pretended to watch the movie on the television.
Some time passed before Ian joined her and asked, “Are you okay?”
Even though she was no good at lying, Olivia gave the tiniest of half-nods. She took a sip of the water, trying to gather herself. She was going mad for answers—wanted desperately to know the hows and whys. She would solve the mystery and then leave this place she hated so much.
Olivia swallowed hard. “I'm kind of scared,” she admitted, voice low so that only he could hear. “My mom's never home, and I don't have any friends…” Her voice trembled and she broke off, waiting for Ian to speak—but he just listened. It felt better than false words of reassurance, so she continued. “I just keep expecting somebody, or—or something to jump at me on the street. Being alone, with them hiding things about the well. I just want to…go.”
“It is tough,” Ian said at last, “that your mom's never around. I'll walk you home tonight.”
Olivia blinked at the sudden offer. “Thanks,” she whispered.
“I don't know what it's like to be new here, but I want to help you.”
Her gaze wandered back to the television screen. “How've you been?”
“Bored,” he replied. “Lots of homework. You?”
“Same,” Olivia said. She drained the last of her water and gazed at the empty cup resentfully, wishing for more. “But it hasn't gotten boring yet.” I don’t pay much attention to homework anymore.
“That's good.”
“You really want to help me,” Olivia said suddenly. She was unable to change the subject for very long.
“Yes.”
“I might occasionally need your help brainstorming.”
“Of course.”
“Sometimes it could be really late.”
“That's fine,” Ian replied slowly.
Olivia smiled and asked, “Do you have a cell phone?”
The relief on his face was almost comical. “Yes, I do.”
“Could I please have your cell phone number?”
Ian gave his phone number a little clumsily, and she added him to her contact list.
Feeling more relaxed, she scanned the room, taking it all in. It was an entirely different world here, where everybody spent a great amount of their lives. There was a chess match in the far corner, and according to Averil, it had been going on for two days. On the laptop against the far wall, some girls were downloading music illegally. The movie ended, and someone turned on one a celebrity gossip channel.
Olivia stared at her watch with alarm as the night crept by. Was she being silly in letting Ian walk her home?
Ian left to join a group in the corner. “Let me know when you're leaving,” he added over his shoulder. Olivia watched him go, torn between what she wanted and…something else.
Her gaze dropped to the empty cup of water on the floor, but—wait. It was empty a moment ago! Now it was half-full with the clear liquid. Maybe it was a hallucination; she shut her eyes and looked again, but nothing changed.
Olivia inched closer to the door, trying to make sense out of this and not panic. How could it magically refill itself with more water? She remembered the moment where she wished for the water to be refilled. It was a quick, insignificant thought—surely it couldn’t have caused something like this!
But it was a wish.
I've got to go, she thought, scrambling to her feet. Get to the house.
Olivia didn't want to wait for Ian. He wasn't looking, so she left in silence.
Stepping out into the cold night, she measured the distance from here to the house. Despite her better judgment, Olivia turned to glance at the well, driven by a curiosity that might kill her. Nobody was there, yet the air thickened, and the well seemed to glow. She could see a faint yellow light radiating from within. It seemed to be calling her, but Olivia promptly ignored that call, beginning a quick march towards her house.
Olivia began singing a random song under her breath. She tried not to think about how cold it had become for autumn. It made her want to hide under her covers, but with every step she took, her house seemed farther away. Something was stranger tonight than usual.
She slowed down, gasping. The house was within sight now, but she was too scared to move.
Olivia spotted movement across the street and squinted. She was looking at one of those garden statues that resembled gravestones, and it was moving. Reason caused her to blink a few times—it had to be a hallucination. She was losing her mind, after all; there was no way a statue could actually be moving. That was a perfectly normal statue.
When Olivia opened her eyes once more, the creepy looking stone angel stared back. Its gaze was usually focused across the street. Perhaps that was just her own bad memory—but then it took a step back. The statues didn't really seem to care that she was here. They went about their own business, apparently socializing.
She hadn’t heard anybody come up behind, but suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. All Olivia’s fears came out in one loud scream, and she pulled away, gasping.
“Olivia? What's wrong with you?” Ian demanded.
“I'm crazy,” she sobbed, stepping away from him. “I'm crazy. Just get away from me...”
“What are you talking about?”
“The garden statues,” she whispered slowly, keeping her face hidden. “Across the street...they are moving...”
Silence.
“What the hell?” Ian exclaimed at last.
“I know I'm crazy,” Olivia snapped, not looking at him. “I know it. Why did you follow me?”
Ian sounded just a little scared when he replied, “Let's go. We need to get away.” He grabbed Olivia’s arm, and they stumbled in the direction of her house. Her tears had subsided, leaving her dizzy and confused. A question formed in the back of her mind, but she couldn't ask it yet.
They stopped just at the doorstep at Olivia’s house, and he waited, probably for her to go inside. But finally she rasped, “You saw them?”
Olivia couldn't look him in the eye, but felt him nod. “Yes.”
“You saw them move,” she whispered. The shock began to pass, slowly.
“I saw them...move.” He seemed to be in shock as well, but not as bad as hers.
That meant one thing. Olivia tried to wrap her mind around it. Finally she whispered, “I'm not crazy.”
“No,” he told her, willing some humor into his voice. “You're not.”
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry some more. Her hands started to tremble again. She stumbled backwards and dropped onto the front step to the house. “Not crazy.” If Ian saw it, she couldn't be crazy—because he wasn't crazy. He wasn't mad. There was just no way.
Olivia wanted to bring up the glass of water that refilled itself. She wanted to mention the glow that came from the well when she looked at it. But she couldn’t find the words yet; it was much too soon.
“This neighborhood is crazy,” she breathed, staring at the sidewalk. “There's...magic in the air. Evil. Witches. A cursed wishing well. And now...garden statues that move.” She tried to balance so much madness and apply it to this tiny cluster of houses. It didn't make sense. It didn't click.
But it was.
“None of that stuff has happened, during my entire lifetime living here,” Ian whispered, sitting down beside her, and she knew he was trying to reason, to bring logic into the picture. But there was no such thing as logic anymore. “Only the wishing well, and that was sort of…dormant. Nobody used it anymore. We all believed the story was true, but we never saw anything unusual. At the most, we stalked it, waiting for someone to make that third wish. But the only other noticeable thing was the magic in the air itself.”
“So—” Olivia stopped, as the horrible truth sank in. “The ghosts and walking garden statues and all that—it only came out when I moved here? Is that what you're saying?”
“No!” Ian said quickly, but she was disappointed in him.
“Don't lie to me!” It was more of a whimper. Olivia felt lost. He was the one person she never thought would tell her a lie, or try to give her a false feeling of safety.
“I'm not lying to you.”
“You're not telling the truth.”
There was a long pause. Olivia didn't want to talk anymore, but she couldn't find enough strength to get up and storm inside. She remained there in silent resignation. She had no real friends, did she? They all lied. And now, when Ian spread the word that Olivia somehow set off all these monsters, nobody would want to talk to her ever again.
Or was she just overreacting? After all, she was crazy, to a point.
“I just wish we never moved here,” Olivia whispered, her gaze on a clump of grass.
She didn't realize at first that these words could be hurtful, but Ian took too long to reply. Olivia wished she could take them back, even though she meant them.
“I would, too,” he said softly, voice a little hollow.
Olivia should have apologized at that very moment, and didn't know what it was that kept her silent. Her voice would not come. I'm sorry, she thought, wishing bitterly that he could read her mind and hear it. She wished she could read his mind, too. Then she would know if he was really a friend or not.
She gazed halfheartedly at a haunting full moon that glowed brightly above them. This was the same moon that she had back in Boise, but here it looked so different. Here, it was just as frightening as everything else.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something tiny and bright dart out of a bush. It soared over the grass and stopped just in front of her. Olivia blinked and turned to it.
A…fairy?
She didn't see it in detail. All she saw was what appeared to be a tiny human with transparent, glowing wings. It was like a light bulb, and as her eyes strained to adjust to its dazzling light, she saw a mischievous grin on its face.
For a split second, Olivia thought of grabbing her. This creature could be up to no good. It was a split second too long, though. By the time she remembered how to move, the fairy had flown away. Olivia watched it soar away down the street, and before long it was out of sight.
Olivia thought of following it, then remembered the garden statues and changed her mind.
“Fairies too,” she told Ian softly, and her voice was no longer guarded. Accepting that the fairy existed made her strangely calm. It was too much effort to make herself blind. Olivia would save so much energy now that she finally accepted it.
Olivia knew Ian saw the fairy, and didn't bother saying anything about it.
She realized Mom would be home soon. It was time to wash up and look as normal as possible. “Thanks,” she whispered to Ian. “For following me.”
“Don't thank me,” he replied, with forced calm in his voice. “You still want to solve this mystery?” The question was patient, like he didn't really expect her to reply yet.
“What mystery? Should we treat each creature as a mystery on its own? Or do we shove them all together, under the same category of the well?”
“I would go with the latter,” he answered. The conversation was helping their nerves settle. “There are carvings of all those creatures on the well. It would make sense.”
“There are?”
He nodded. “I never thought it was anything other than decoration.”
“There are moving garden statues carved onto the well?” Olivia asked, puzzled.
“No, not those. I still don't understand about those. But there are carvings of the creatures there are statues of…” He trailed off, confused by his poor choice of wording.
Olivia shuddered. “Hopefully they'll all stay out of my room.”
She heard a smile in Ian's voice when he said, “Well, you have my number now. Call me, and I'll protect you.” It sounded like he was only half joking.
They stood up, and Olivia realized her legs still felt like jelly. She couldn't let him go yet, though. She stepped forward and gave him a tight hug. “I'm sorry,” she whispered.
Olivia wasn't sure he knew what she was apologizing for. He didn't seem to remember her outburst from earlier. But he remained silent and hugged back, and Olivia took it that she was forgiven. Even if he couldn't recall her doing anything. She felt lighter, and it was with great reluctance that she pulled away and went inside the house.
Olivia took a cold shower and went to her room early, with a few snacks and the last of the lemonade. She turned off the light, so it would seem she was already asleep. Then she curled up in bed with her laptop, and began her research.
There was one thing she needed answered, though. She only hesitated for a moment before sending Ian a text message. He said, after all, the he would help no matter what.
What's the name of Averil's mom?
A little over a minute later, she got a reply.
Elisabeth Katharine Wilder is the name she went by.
Olivia searched the internet for that name. The woman wasn't very famous, but there were a few landscape paintings up. She disappeared from the public eye when Averil was two years old.
Nowhere did it say she was dead. She just vanished.