Though fall was close on the heels of summer, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Outside was warm enough to wear nothing more than a sweater or light sweater. Too perfect of a day to be cooped up indoors-which was why the Rainbow Elementary School kindergarten class trekked through the tiny wood behind the school.
"Mr. P, what's this?"
Will-(or Mr. P as his students called him)-approached Charlie, who stood away from the group. Her dark eyes were round and inquisitive behind her thick glasses. A nervous habit, Will noticed, was that she tugged on a tightly braided row of hair. Her mother did say Charlie had a penchant for learning, though her curiosity sometimes led to trouble. Not that that slab of rock was trouble, though it did look out of place. Manmade. And old, older than anything found in the area.
"They look like runes?" Will muttered to himself, crouching for a better look.
Sure enough, there were scratched markings lining the side of the rock. Feathery, faded, unreadable symbols he recognized from Scandinavian countries. They were supposed to be exploring for science class, finding bugs and plants. The last thing he expected to find was a rock with ancient runes etched into it. If the lichen, discolouration and deterioration of the stone were any indications, it had been there a long time. Which begged the question: what was it doing in the middle of the prairies? There were no records of Nordic nomads wandering that far inland. If they had, there would have been traces of them somewhere.
"What's 'runes'?" Charlie asked.
She scrunched her face at the unfamiliar word, and Will straightened, dusting off his hands. The slab of rock unsettled him. Something was off like it had been built with ill intent. A cold shiver brushed the back of his neck, a whisper of goosebumps forming in its wake.
"They're like a very old alphabet," he explained.
"That looks like the stuff on Lord of the Rings," came another voice-Alexandre. He jogged over with a triumphant grin.
"And who let you watch Lord of the Rings?" Will groaned. Every day, Alexandre had a story to tell, whether true or some elaborate version of the truth.
Alexandre shrugged. "My brother and his girlfriend was suppos'd to be babysitting, but they was watching Lord of the Rings. I was supposed to be in bed, but they didn't notice me... it was kinda hard to see because my brother's girlfriend kept climbing onto my brother's lap-"
"Okay, thank you for sharing," Will interrupted quickly. He would have to table that conversation later, perhaps with a meeting with Alexandre's parents.
He glanced around the woods to find his students scattered about the clearing. The five-year-olds were less interested in science and more about playing. Shrieks of laughter filled the air, crisp with the promise of fall. A wind picked up, whispering ominous whispers. Will shivered.
"Okay, but what is it, Mr. P?" Charlie asked, her round face shining with innocent curiosity. "Did a person make it?"
Will had a pretty good idea of the answer, given that the tablet was about human-sized and human sacrifice was a thing once upon a time.
"People used to worship their gods by presenting them with... offerings." Of a sort. "They'd offer food, drinks, sometimes an item they thought the gods would like."
"Oh! Like candy?" Charlie dug into her backpack and pulled out a baggie of colourful gummies. "If we put candy on the table, will a god hear us?"
She said it with such eagerness that Will didn't have the heart to tell her that gods were fairy tales. But he couldn't ignore the creeping suspicion crawling up his arms. Something told him to round up the kids and return to school. It was an absurd feeling, though Will didn't like the slab of rock that sat before them.
"Uh... well..." he cleared his throat and smiled. "We are not going to do that. Candy isn't good for the little animals in the forest, and we don't want them to get an upset tummy. Alright, let's head back- Charlie, don't!"
"Hello, gods, will you come out to play?"
Will should have known. He had been among little ones long enough to have known. Telling a child not to do something gave them the invitation to do it. Time seemed to slow as he watched Charlie, with a handful of candy, unceremoniously drop them onto the stone table. The gummies bounced, and several skittered off the edge onto the ground.
A hush fell over the forest. The little creatures hid in the branches, watching with rapt attention. The kindergarten class stood, transfixed, on Charlie and the stone tablet. Even the wind held its breath, waiting for... what? Something.
There was a long, agonizing moment before Will released a relieved breath. Then he laughed, the sharp sound startling his kids, echoing in the silence. An edge of hysteric relief lined the laugh. Had he believed something would have happened? The gods were myths. They weren't real, and now that he thought about it, that stone probably wasn't a genuine altar either. Some roleplayers probably abandoned the tablet when they'd finished their game.
"Are you okay, Mr. P?" Deirdre asked. She stood closest to him, her copper hair an untamable mass on her head. With more freckles than pale skin, the child boasted she looked like Merida from Brave. If he was being honest, she did.
"Oh, I'm fine," Will sighed, patting her head. Ben did say Will could use more sleep. Maybe he was right. "Mr. P needs to lay off the caffeine for a while. Charlie, next time, please listen."
Charlie dipped her head and scuffed her toe across the ground. "Sorry, Mr. P."
Will smiled and clapped his hands. "I think we've had enough outdoor time for one day. Let's go back to school and have some lunch-"
The ground rumbled with such intensity that Will was amazed he didn't topple over. It started at his feet and rippled up to his head. Wide-eyed, the kids huddled closer to their teacher, eerily quiet but afraid.
"Mr. P?" Alexandre whispered. For once, he had no funny remarks.
"Get away from the trees," Will instructed.
They were in the worst possible spot for an earthquake. Thankfully the trees remained rooted in the ground, though he grabbed as many kids as possible and pulled them close. Leaves sprayed around them, the loose dirt and debris jumping off the ground. His kindergarteners hid their faces in their hands, but Will watched the trees. Watched for any signs they would fall and crush them.
They were spared that unfortunate end. The rumbling stopped as soon as it started, like a light switch flicked off.
Wide-eyed, the kids disentangled themselves from their knotted circle. Squirrels chittered, and the breeze rustled the leaves. The woods were still as if the earthquake had never happened.
Yes, it was time to go back to school. Will had had enough of the outdoors for a lifetime.
"Find your buddies and let's sing a song," he suggested. Anything to settle the strangeness of their outing. "How about the Ants Go Marching?"
He ushered his kindergarten class away from the stone tablet and back down the path. Already they were bouncing back from the ordeal, singing off-key at the top of their lungs, clutching their buddy's hands. Will wished he had that sort of elasticity. He was coiled so tight he was close to snapping.
The school grounds were eerily quiet as the kindergarten class approached the fence. The silence was permeating-the class's rendition of the Ants Go Marching trailing to an end without ceremony. Will checked his watch-lunch hour. The playground should be teeming with children. The other teachers wouldn't keep their classes inside, given how limited they were on nice days. Perhaps the earthquake had scared them.
"Where is everyone?" Charlie asked, stopping at her teacher's side.
"Maybe the earthquake swallowed them all up. Like this-" Alexandre made a loud slurp to show how the earthquake swallowed everyone.
"I'm sure they're all safe inside their classes," Will assured them, giving Alexandre a warning look, "which is where we should be." He let them all file into a line ahead of him, ushering stragglers into line. Alexandre was alone. "Charlie?"
Charlie was staring at the trees. The sky had darkened, the wind biting with sudden viciousness. There had been no calls for rain, but that wasn't unusual. The weather constantly changed at the whim of Mother Nature. Besides, the day was proving to be an odd one.
Charlie seemed unphased by the change in weather, and she ignored her teacher. Will jogged over to her.
"Everyone's waiting for us," he said.
"There's something in the forest," was Charlie's response.
"What?" Will squinted but aside from trees, he saw nothing. "There's nothing there, Charlie."
The beads from her braids clacked together when the girl shook her head. "Mr. P, there's something in there. I saw it."
Later, Will would wish that he had listened to her. He should have run with his class and left the school. He should have taken the children to their parents, gone home to Ben, and let the events that were about to unfold without him.
If only it were that kind of story.
Will didn't know what lurked in the shadows of the trees and didn't believe in myths and monsters. His class consisted of five-year-olds who had vivid, fresh imaginations. But there was something intuitive about children even he couldn't deny. Even if he didn't acknowledge that truth at the moment.
Instead, he took Charlie's hand and led her back to the group. He assured her that nothing was in the forest except squirrels and birds. If he had looked at the forest one last time, he would have seen the giant shadow slithering through the trees.
Here we are! The first chapter of the ONC! It is unedited (finishing this up on my phone), so I expect to fill it out a little more tonight 😊 I would love to hear your thoughts on this first chapter! The next chapter will have the introduction of the trickster himself!