Page 72 of Jacob Michaels is Dead

Chapter 14

“NO!!!!” Andrew screamed and pushed off from the side of the house, still out of breath from his journey from Main Street to Esther Jean Wagner’s on foot—of which he now only had two.

Andrew raced across the yard, limping and skipping, the crack in the ground slowly inching shut, closing off the space where Esther Jean, Lucas, and Rob had disappeared. The sun slowly rose in the east as he awkwardly leapt the garden fence and dove towards the narrow crack in the garden, landing over it just as the last bit of Earth sealed shut. For the briefest of moments, the ground shook underneath, and then all was silent and still.

Rising to his knees, Andrew brought his hands to his head, a look of agony twisting his face as he gazed down at the Earth that was as smooth as it had been before this night. Bird song suddenly met his ears as the world came to life around him. A gentle, cold breeze blew in off of Lake Erie, over the trees, and greeted Andrew’s back. Andrew looked around frantically, wondering if anyone else was around, wondering if there was someone who could help him figure out what to do. Esther Jean was gone. Carlita was dead. Mr. Barkley was probably dead. Everyone he had been working towards this moment with was…no more.

There was no one around to reach out to, to ask for help or guidance. Andrew didn’t even have a pack to run off to in order to be consoled. He was all alone in the backyard of a house that no longer had an owner and a garden that might never see planting again. With nothing more to do, Andrew pushed off of the ground in defeat and rose to his full height. Slowly, reaching up to wipe his nose with the back of his hand, Andrew turned on his heels. His feet began to move of his own accord as he walked towards the garden fence.

Barely at the perimeter of the garden, about to open the gate so that he could once again leave, find somewhere to go, someone to speak with, to help him forget this night, the ground shook briefly for another moment. Shocked and afraid, Andrew whipped around, expecting Bloody Bones to suddenly pop out of the ground.

But Bloody Bones did not suddenly appear out of the ground like he had on Main Street when the Earth had shaken. The ground didn’t even crack. Instead, Andrew’s eyes landed on a small green sprout that popped out of the ground like a thermometer on a roasted turkey. Andrew’s eyes stayed on the sprout as it ever so slowly grew into a seedling. With ever-widening eyes, Andrew continued to watch as the seedling, nearly knee-high grew into a sapling. Though he didn’t know why, Andrew began to smile as the sapling began to grow faster, picking up speed as its trunk widened, and its branches began to split and elongate, reaching towards the sky.

Bit by bit, the tree grew taller and broader as Andrew stood there in awe, backing up to give it room to grow without knocking him over. The trunk became wide than four men bundled together and the branches continued to split and thicken and reach into the sky. Then the process was complete. In under a minute, Andrew had been walking towards the garden fence, wondering what to do, and then he had watched a tiny sprout grow into a fully mature tree. One that would have taken decades—if not centuries—to grow.

Andrew looked up at the tree in wonder, examining its thick bark and gnarly roots that surely anchored it securely and deeply into the Earth. Hundreds of branches adorned the massive tree that towered over him in the garden, reaching out in an umbrella of brownish-black over Andrew’s head. He continued to stare in awe as his eyes were drawn to one of the lower branches that seemed to shiver against the cool breeze coming off of the lake. Before his very eyes, a single bud appeared from a knot in the tree branch, slowly unfurling to show that the tree was announcing the coming Spring.

Smiling to himself, Andrew’s eyes closed languidly. He sniffed the air, hoping he would smell Esther Jean, Lucas, or Rob on the air…but all he smelled was fresh air and dirt. Frowning to himself, Andrew wondered why his keen senses from being a werewolf did not pick up anything else…just as they always had. His eyes grew wide as an idea struck him. As he had done, many thousands of times before, Andrew willed himself into wolf form.

And nothing happened.

He was still human-Andrew, standing before a tree that hadn’t existed just minutes before.

There was nothing for Andrew to do but smile and say his thanks as the warm, golden light of the sun kissed his skin.

It was the first time he’d ever had to thank a witch.