ACT 1

ACCRETION

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CHAPTER 2

It’s just that the night was weird from the start.

See, Chad Remington—yes, that’s his real name—was throwing the first party of the senior year. He’d been talking about it all over the break and, so, it’d morphed from not just A Party to The Party To End All Parties. We pulled up at the old barn a little after nine, and it was a wonder that the place hadn’t already shaken itself to pieces from the bass. I could hear the thumping dance music before Vince cut the engine of his beat-up sedan, which he did, and turned to give me a smile.

“Wow,” he said. “Tonight’s going to go off, man.”

“Looks like it’s already going off,” I replied.

It’s an odd expression, that. When you stopped to think about it, you’d realize that things that ‘go off’ included eggs, milk, and hand grenades. Nothing you wanted to be near when they went from ‘going off’ to ‘gone off.’

“You ready?” Vince asked.

“No.” But I got out of the car anyway.

There was a chill on the air. I contemplated pulling my hood up, and realized I already looked enough like a serial killer. Vince went straight for the barn and I fell into step behind him, wondering if I could’ve talked him into staying home and playing Halo instead. But foolishly, back in freshman year, we’d made a pact that we’d go to every single party that was thrown in our last year of high school.

It’d seemed like a good deal at the time. Problem was, Vince’s popularity had rapidly outstripped my own when he went from an ugly duckling to a muscular swan, and I’d ended up somewhere between Robbie Rotten and Severus Snape. People liked Vince. But on the topic of Caleb Cross, I’m pretty sure they were neutral—if they were even that.

So, when we entered the barn-turned-party-palace, everyone met Vince with smiles and fistbumps. Then, after a second, they greeted me. Like I was only visible due to my proximity to him. But that was okay, too. Sometimes, being an outsider meant you could see things more clearly.

“Hey,” Vince said, shouting to be heard over the music. “I’m going to track down Brit, okay? Y’know get some action?”

Brit was Vince’s girlfriend. One of those been together-since-middle-school couples. They’d get married, too, if Brit had her way. But I wasn’t sure where Vince stood on that front, and I think, for the most part, it was the quote ‘easy action’ end quote that kept him with her. Even with the pact, I’d say that was the only reason we’d come out to this party.

“Okay,” I said. “Cool.”

Vince slipped through the partying throng like an icebreaker through the Arctic. For lack of anything else to do, and feeling like a comet without a sun, I headed for the closest keg and filled up a red cup with whatever cheap beer was in it. I stood there for a moment, sipping from my drink, before I realized how I looked, standing there alone by the keg, and headed outside.

After being packed into a barn that felt about five minutes from collapsing and killing everyone inside, and maybe there was a little part of me that kinda-sorta hoped it would happen, it wasn’t the worst thing to be back out in the brisk air. Autumn had come early.

We were about an hour out of Stonestead proper, and I took a moment to look up at the clear night sky. Out there, removed from the town itself, the stars glittered back at me. It was peaceful, quiet. It was like the world fell away from me. Nothing but me, the infinite sea of stars, and my thoughts. It would be the last moment of peace in my life. Contemplating infinity before I really knew what that meant.

“Hey, asshole,” someone said. “You gonna pay for that beer?”

I jumped, startled out of my thoughts. Maxwell Cheong came marching over with a smile on his face that never seemed to fall off. The kind of guy who, before the year had even started, already had somehow locked down the twin monarchies of homecoming and prom. Just this combination of looks and personality that had Vince and I convinced that he was someone who indulged in blood sacrifices. Vince had confidence, sure, but Max had charisma.

“Wow,” he said. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t,” I replied.

“That’s cool. Helluva party, right?”

“Something like that.”

“You know, you might be having a better time if you stopped looking at the stars up there and started looking at the ones behind you, if you know what I mean.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

I did, but I didn’t know what to say. The orbital paths of Cheong and Cross did not intersect, and his easygoing charisma, the trick of lawyers and salespeople and DnD sorcerers, had me on edge. I tried on the one thing we might have had in common.

“Are you looking for Vince?”

“No way. I was actually looking for Emmie Bennett. You and her play video games, right? Is she here tonight?”

“Yeah, somewhere, I’m sure.” Part of me, desperately, wanted to know where. But I’d decided I’d go looking for her later, when it didn’t seem so desperate.

“Think you can send her a text? I’ve got something for her.”

I frowned and spoke before I could stop myself: “Is it your dick?”

Max laughed. “No way! Man, c’mon, Lisa would kill me if I cheated on her. Can you help a guy out? Just this once? I’d owe you, for real.”

I had Emerson Bennett’s number but never really used it. Always felt like she’d given it to me out of politeness, even now. “Alright,” I said, fished my phone out, and sent her a quick text. “There. Now, what’s this about?”

“She’s my hook-up.”

“You just said—”

“Weed hook-up, dude!” He laughed again. “But here, I’ve got an idea. You helped me, I’ll help you. Need a wingman?”

“Thanks, but I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Well, okay. But the offer stands, just let me know.”

We stood there for a time. I sipped at my beer. Someone came by to give Max another one. Before long, Emma said, “Well, well, well—two people I never thought I’d see interact. Hey Caleb, Max. Matter and antimatter, kaboom.”

She had in hands in her pockets and a crooked smile. Emma was the sort of girl who turned up to a party like this in a baggy hoodie and tight jeans. She was into video games, but not the ones that’d become cool to be into over the past few years, like Mario Kart and Guitar Hero. No, Emma played Halo and Warcraft 3 and once, when she was quite drunk, told me that Optimus Prime was her spirit animal.

My crush on her would’ve made neutron stars envious.

“Hey, Emma,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Max was looking for you.”

“I’ll bet he was,” she replied. “You got the cash?”

Max nodded. They completed the transfer in one smooth motion. “Well, that’s done,” he said. “Wanna come smoke weed in the woods?”

Emma shrugged. “Not doing anything else. Caleb?”

I chewed at my cheek. “I wouldn’t want to be a third wheel.”

She rolled her eyes. “As if you’re not the third wheel with Vince and Brit, come on.”

Well, he had basically abandoned me, hadn’t he?

“I’ve never actually smoked—” I began.

“It’s me-di-ci-naaal,” she added, in singsong.

“Well, I said. “First time for everything, right?”

Max grinned. “Then let’s get this guy high as a kite, Emmers!”

Emma nodded. “Then come on, this way, I know just the spot.”

She led the way, slight limp and all. A quad bike accident when she was young had left her with, among other mild imperfections, a bad leg. The party palace receded behind us, vanishing past the threshold of trees and brush. “I’m surprised the two of you wanted to bail on the party,” I said.

Emma looked back. “My ex was there. Y’know, Owen? Think he’s suffering from a major case of regretitis. Do not wanna deal with that.”

“Oof,” Max said. “For me, I just want some peace and quiet before senior year kicks off. And we’ve never talked or anything have we, Caleb?”

“Not really, no. Uh, hey—are we going to remember the way back?”

Max tapped his wristwatch. “Got a compass in this baby, and Miss Bennett’s got a gift for directions, right?”

“Something like that,” she said.

“See? Something like that.”

We walked for a while. It was like time stopped having meaning. Max and Emma rolled up some joints as the ground turned rocky and uneven, but I still wasn’t sure about actually smoking anything and, so, waved it off. The conversation was enough. Besides, I’d heard that your first time smoking could give you a bad trip, or something.

“Here’s the spot,” Emma said, standing before the mouth of a cave. “So, confession time—I’ve always wanted to get high in the haunted cave.”

“Haunted cave?” I asked. “Is that safe?”

“Extremely. There’s not even any warning signs. We won’t go far in, Caleb. Besides, I brought glowsticks,” she said, and showed them off. “This is a little pre-meditated.”

“Haunted?” Max asked. “Really?”

“That’s what people say.”

“Spooky.”

Emma led the way in, dropping a glowstick every few paces. We pulled out our phones, turned on their flashlights. I expected a swarm of bats to come flying out, but there was nothing. Just rocks and a passage that led ever onward. I glanced back. The mouth of the cave struck me as being much further away than it had been just a minute ago, the chain of glowsticks little more than stars in the deep. Was I nervous? Could you get all weed-anxious off second-hand smoke?

“No ghosts,” Emma said, sitting down on an outcropping. “Damn.”

I nodded. “If we see a bear or an ax murderer or anything, I’m outta here.”

Emma snorted. “Nope. Sorry, but one of you needs to get ax murdered so I can get out of here.”

“Whoa,” Max said, raising his arm. “Guys, check this out—my compass is going nuts.”

I leaned over. The compass in his watch was, in fact, going nuts. Spinning round and round and round, faster and faster.

“Okay,” I said. “That’s a little weird, isn’t it?”

“Told you this place was haunted,” Emma said.

Max raised a hand. “There’s probably just something in the rocks. Magnets or something like that. I don’t know, geography isn’t my thing. Besides, what kind of ghost would mess with my watch?”

“A poltergeist?” I half-asked.

“Right on, Caleb,” Emma said. “Trying to steal it right off your wrist, dude.”

Max laughed. I was struck by the fact that it didn’t echo, looking deeper into the cavern, and I felt my mind twist as if I was caught in vertigo, and there were three figures there, deeper into the cave. A blonde woman sitting on a rock, a guy in a Stonestead High letterman jacket, and the third who was looking at the second’s watch. The shadows stretched toward them, fingers reaching—

That’s strange, I thought. They look just like...

My throat went dry. I could hear my breathing. I remember thinking: what the fuck.

The world blinked. I stammered. “What was that?”

Emma cocked her head. “I said that the ghost was trying to steal Max’s watch.”

“No,” I said. “I just— You didn’t? Neither of you?”

“Neither of us what?” Max said, giving me that big, homecoming smile. “Oooh, haunted caves, right? Come on, man, it’s a good bit and that’s some amazing acting you’ve got going on, but I came out here to get high, not to get all paranormal.”

“I saw something,” I said. “Deeper into the cave.”

“What, like a bear?”

“No, I—” I tried to find the right words, but they wouldn’t come. The glimpse was already fading from my mind like rubbing alcohol evaporating from my skin. “Look, there’s no ghosts, and I don’t think I should smoke my first joint in a place like this, so, maybe we can get out of here, Emma?”

Pause.

“Emma?”

I turned and my blood froze over.

She was gone.

The rocky plinth that’d been occupied by Emerson Bennett was empty.