The Place Between Part 11

About a week ago I put out a request for a vintage or antique wooden ship wheel. My brother in law responded by saying if I found one, he would eat his leg. 

I found one.

Now, I do not expect him to munch on his limbs, I'm just amazed at how quickly I found this. This wheel is the first antique that I have purchased and I am quite proud of it, as I am sure you can tell.

However, as detailed readers you all may be thinking, "but that's not wooden!" Indeed. I am still looking for a wooden, unfinished wheel. Preferably one that is under 30" that was on a working vessel. If you happen to know someone who has one and is selling, let me know. 

We're coming down to the exciting conclusion! Only a couple more segments in this exciting tale of Cassie and the mystical Place Between! If you're just joining this adventure, flip back a couple of posts to The Place Between. For the rest of us, onward!

The Place Between, Part 11

Cassie's parents could tell that their eldest was experiencing more than a healthy dose of teenage "angst". Her temper was short. Her mind unfocused. Cassie's mom tried to begin a conversation with her by entering her room during the time of evening that was set aside for homework. It was a noble idea that unfortunately was not so great in execution. As was standard for any territorial beast, Cassie did everything short of screaming and foaming at the mouth to protect her sacred refuge. Her mother had pointed out the gross looking roots that Cassie had in a vase on her standing dresser as "odd." Cassie was immediately offended as this had been a gift to her from the Rooties in the Place Between. She snappily said that it was a biology experiment that was not to be touched. The excuse that finally scooted her mother on out was, "I just have a ton of homework to do before tomorrow, so can I please, you know, work on it?"

Cassie's mom was not pleased with her daughter's attitude, but she knew that her daughter truly did her best to do good in school, so she stepped out and kindly closed the door.

It was not within Cassie's typical string of behavior to bottle up news from her parents and it was difficult for her to keep her lips sealed. However, she knew that her parents had a lot on their minds. She did not want to cause them any more burdens of worry if she could avoid it.

The anchor weighted hours ticked away slowly, painfully until the last light in the house clicked out well after midnight.

As if the lamp's switch was connected to a spring in her mattress, Cassie ejected herself from bed. She slipped on her boots over her jeans. She had been waiting in bed dressed in the jeans she tore and her heavy sweatshirt. Slamming down her green beanie over the crown of her head, Cassie stood in the center of the room with the magical coin in her hand.

Holding it up, she whispered to the coin, "Take me to the Place Between."

The spinning sensation ended as quickly as it began. Her feet were planted once more in the entrance of the grand underground city.

No longer a stranger in these halls, Cassie bolted through the caverns headed to the chambers where Edgar and Martin called home. She knew well enough that they would be roused and alerted to her presence by the security measures in place, yet still she ran. She wanted to save time by rushing as fast as she could to Martin.

The hall leading to the terminus where Martin lived was alight, meaning that one of the residents was awake in the common area. The blue hued halls seemed incredibly dark compared to the midday warmth that glowed from the room she approached. As expected, there was Martin, pulling a dressing robe over his maroon colored pajamas. Cassie had never stopped to think about what people in the Place Between wore to bed, but for whatever reason, she felt a bit of commonality from this. This place truly was not so different and it only made all the more drive in her to try to protect it.

"Cassie, what's going on?" Martin's ring had been buzzing for the last five minutes, alerting him that his ward was within their space. He did not expect her to have found her way to this common area so quickly.

"We have a problem," Cassie quickly, yet quietly said. "I've gotta tell you about what happened today."

Though Martin was glad for her attempt to be discrete, any use of the "p" word was enough to cause hysteria down here. "Not out here," Martin looked around and then decided to bring her into his apartment so they could speak. "How important is this, Cassie?" Martin was trying to determine if he should call the President or if this could wait until morning. 

Cass paced the decent sized, simply decorated flat a minute before answering; "I think people above are on to the Place Between." 

Martin walked to his single padded chair and slowly sat. The idea of this seemed too immense to be real. "How do you mean?" His mind immediately flashed to the event on Friday night when things veered out of control. He kept himself from panicking to think that the eye, the recording camera had seen them as they bolted out from the ruins.  

Cassie began to explain: "We had these really creepy people come to my school today. They said they wanted us students to have internships where we would use a pesticide to clear a certain type of moth out from a historical site that was going to be restored. The ranch," Cassie pointed up, knowing that they were under the abandoned place. "That's the site. And the pesticide - my friends and I think it's this stuff called, um, sodium arsenite. It's really, truly bad stuff. It poisons the soil and it cannot be washed off produce. It kills everything and it makes the people who eat it or are around it very sick. It could be really bad if it reached you guys down here." Cassie was especially worried for the rooties who would surely die if exposed to that poison. 

Shaking his head trying to prioritize questions, Martin found this to be the most prudent; "Your friends? Have you told them about us?" 

"No," Cassie firmly denied. "I needed their help to figure out what the pesticide would be, so I told them that these creeps were probably trying to take over our apple farms by spraying out our trees with that stuff. It does also make sense, except for the fact that this is the site they want. Not our orchards." Cassie paused for just a second to take a deep breath and before Martin could get out another question, she added, "And these two people that came were really weird. My friends and I were passing notes to each other and they took my friends' notebooks and apparently they fine tooth combed every page to see if they were a part of a conspiracy. That's gotta be telling, right?"    

Martin considered a moment then said, "I don't know about telling, but it certainly is suspicious." He stroked his chin a moment with his thumb, considering more and more, before coming up with his next question, "These people - who were they? Did they give you their names or, what did they look like?" 

"Yeah, they're um, their names were Eddie and Angelica - I doubt those were their real names. One was blond, really perky - creepishly so. The other one, Eddie, he had curly brown hair, brown eyes, shorter than most guys. I'd say they were probably about the same age - mid thirties?" 

Scratching his memory and trying to analyze the situation, to think on what this all could mean, Martin hoped that he could help to iron out a few more answers before he took this to the president. "Let's see. Did these people say where they were from? How were they allowed onto your school's campus?" 

Cassie rolled her eyes. Getting on and off the campus was as easy as looking confident. They were starting to add more security to the school, but as it presently stood, it was only too easy to get on or off campus. Sighing, Cassie answered, "Well, they told us that they were from the district and that the principle had approved their coming or something like that."

"Your principle approved it?" Martin asked. This suggested that the headmaster of the school believed in the credentials of the people coming into their school. The pair of them must have presented something that made them appear trustworthy. With this notion, that the people were likely brought into the school using some sort of license to prove who they were, perhaps they really were blundering fools working for the district without any awareness of  the Place Between. And yet, something did not quite feel right about this story. The reason that the pair would think teens capable of conspiring with seemingly no foundation for this accusation was odd. Perhaps this was normal for the world above. It was easy enough to find out. "Tell me, Cassie, is it normal for adults and people of authority to be so paranoid of teenagers to think them to be connected to conspiracies?"

Cassie chuckled, thinking back to her friend who was excelled for having a joint in his backpack when it had not even been his; someone on the bus had ditched it in his backpack and because it was on him during a random search, the presence of marijuana on his person was enough to convict and evict him. Now he was a bitter kid finishing his high school degree online with nothing but too much time on his hands. But this was not the situation for which that response was proper. Cassie knew that the whole reason why she was here was to provide these insights. She could not betray that trust with a snide personal anecdote. "It depends. Teens are seen as rebellious and a lot are, but for the most part, the way that those two people treated us was beyond necessary. It was so bad that our teacher had them removed from campus and is trying to have them reported to the board. He said that the principle would take care of them, but my friends and I doubt it."

"Why is that?" Martin leaned forward in his chair. He had doubted that this late hour would allow him to pay close attention, but Cassie's story was as convicting as a strong cup of tea.

Shrugging, Cassie answered, "Well, 'cause we don't really know this principle. He's only been our principle for a couple of months. Mid semester they brought him in. Or last principle was promoted or something and Mr. Manslo came from the city apparently from a school that had been struggling and he saved, something like that. He said during his intro that he had always wanted to come back to the mountains."

"Come back?" 

"Yeah, I guess he grew up here. But it was a long time ago; neither of my parents remember him," Cassie answered.

Martin grew quiet, he was mulling everything over. He was concerned that there may be a fouler purpose here than he had expected or anticipated. The pair of them remained silent for a while. Martin wanted to play through this cautiously, but efficiently. He knew that in order to substantiate the claims being made by Cassie that a thorough investigation would have to be seen through. This was far too delicate a job for the sentinels - they were far too aggressive and obvious. It would be impossible for them to go to the town, as would be needed, to learn more about these people and their plot. There was but one bold move to be done and there would be many details to see through, but it was the best idea that he could muster at the moment. "Cassie, how difficult would it be for Edgar and me to come to your school to meet your principle?"

Cassie nearly doubled over. At first she thought it a joke, but then she realized. That Martin was serious. "Um, I can't even..." Cassie took a step back and truly considered the possibility. "I don't think hard, but we'd have to create a story as to why you guys are there and I'd need to get you guys clothes because what you two wear would not fit in at all above. You'd stick out like crazy."

Nodding, this was all easy to accept, but explaining it to President Andrea as he would need to do, was ever more intimidating. "We'll need identities. I'm sure that we will stand out and we will need legitimate papers to convince anyone if we are stopped that we are just like everyone else."

Sitting down on the plain carpeted floor, Cassie could not believe what she was about to say; "We'll need to make you guys fake IDs. Can you replicate one, if you saw it? You know, with magic?"

Shrugging, Martin couldn't see why not. "It shouldn't be terribly difficult, I imagine."

This was too incredible. To think of all the money and time kids wasted on fake IDs when for the people in the Place Between the process was likely as easy as tying their shoes. "I'm not going to lie, Martin," Cassie began. "My friends may get really suspicious if they know you two are with me. I'm going to have to tell them something. Any suggestions?"

If it wasn't after midnight and if there were not a thousand other questions running through Martin's mind, he was sure that something good would come, but for now, all he could think to say was, "Anything but the truth."

~*~*~

Wha-oooh! Will Cassie have to lie to her two best friends? Is there something more to the principle than meets the eye? Find out in next week's read, The Place Between!

But before you go, I have a very special Birthday shout-out to my dearest and bestest friend, VICTORIA!!!!! Happy birthday, comrade! May this be the start of yet another wonderful and beautiful year of life for you! I am so proud to call you my best friend and I cannot wait to see what our next spontaneous adventure will bring!

Until next week.
Your humble author,
S. Faxon

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