The whole time I talked, Gavin remained mostly silent, absorbing it all. He interjected a few times to clarify details, and Rob interrupted a lot during opportunities to make fun of me and insert stupid puns.

  But I have to admit, I was disappointed when I brought Gavin to the here-and-now, he didn’t seem all that fazed. His eyes glossed over as he digested everything.

  Finally he shook his head. "This is bad," he said. "So bad."

  "What do you mean?" I asked. "The Keening? The monsters? The state of things in the Bay Area? The hobgoblin?"

  He made a fist and placed it on his knee. "All of it. But mostly Mom and Aiden."

  I frowned. "I already explained they don’t know what’s going on. Remember that was the end of the first part of the story."

  "You don’t get it Sean," he said. "The whole reason I left, the whole reason Dad’s not around anymore..." he wiped a tear from his eye. "I left to keep the rest of the family out of it. I didn’t want you guys to get hurt." He rose from the chair.

  "Where are you going?" I said.

  "It’s where we’re going," he said. He motioning for my ‘Stang keys.

  I hesitated for a moment. "We’ve got to go somewhere, right now? It’s past ten."

  "Sean, please."

  "Okay," I said, then tossed him the keys. "Let me change."

  WE DROVE INTO THE SKYVIEW Memorial Lawn cemetery. I really hated being there, needless to say. Gavin led the way but I knew exactly where we were going. Rob didn’t though.

  "Are you guys anticipating a zombie uprising?" he asked.

  "No," I said. "That would suck over here though. There’s like three adjacent cemeteries all within a few hundred feet of each other. No, we’re going to see our family."

  Rob didn’t have anything funny to say about that.

  Anna’s was first. It looked like Mom or someone had been here lately. Wilted flowers lay next to her tombstone, a few days old.

  Anna M. O’Farrell.

  Dear Daughter,

  Sweet Sister,

  Bitterly Missed.

  It was surreal to think that my sister was so close to me at that moment and yet so far. Her body was a few feet away from me, but worlds apart. All deceptive hopes that she might have been alive were crushed. I’d seen her die. I’d been a pallbearer, for crying out loud. I knew she wasn’t still alive somewhere. I was mad at myself for even thinking such a stupid thought while I was in The Between. I shook off the train of thought before I could start crying.

  Dad’s tombstone was of course right next to hers.

  Geralt H. O’Farrell.

  Father,

  Friend,

  Fighter to the end.

  I thought I might need to hold back tears, but I just stood there. Numb. It wasn’t like his body was there. This was just a placeholder. My dad had disappeared off the face of the earth. When he didn’t turn up, my mom called it, legally.

  "This is what’s going to happen Sean if you keep this up," said Gavin.

  I jerked my head sharply at him.

  "I’m serious," he said. "This is why I left. To protect you, to protect Mom, and Aiden."

  "What are you saying?" I asked.

  Gavin held up his hands. "My curse developed earlier than yours. Dad knew about it. Saw the signs. Tried to guide me as to how to use it. But being involved in that stupid Shepherd’s Guild is what got him killed."

  My whole world shattered. Broke into a million tiny pieces, then flew through me, slicing me open and left me raw. "Dad fought monsters too?"

  Gavin nodded. "This is what happens when you live by the sword..." but he couldn’t finish the rest. “I left after he died because I realized we were in way over our heads and I didn’t want anything else to happen to the rest of the family. We already lost Anna, then Dad."

  "So you left," I said. "Without explaining anything?"

  "It wouldn’t have made sense to you then."

  "You could have shown me. Sat me down. Something."

  Gavin hung his head. "At the time running made the most sense. But I found new problems in Washington."

  I stood with my hands open. An icy breeze blew across my neck and sent goosebumps along my body.

  "What concerns me the most Sean, is this Nehemiah guy," said Gavin.

  "He's trustworthy," chimed Rob.

  "Is he though?" asked Gavin. "Even an ex-member of the Shepherds Guild should know exactly who Dad is and his relationship to you, Sean. Why does he act like he doesn't know you?"

  Gavin had a point. Nehemiah should have put the pieces together by now. Wouldn't he want me to know that my dad was also on the Shepherds Guild, that he also fought monsters as I fought them now? That he lost his life in the line of duty?

  "Maybe he's waiting for the right time to break the ice," I reasoned. "Maybe he didn't want to scare me off."

  "Then he's doing a real disservice to you by withholding all of the facts," said Gavin.

  I clenched my fists shaking off the frigid air. "I initiated all of our interactions from the start. I interfered when he cornered the Banshee. I showed up at his front door when I needed help with my girlfriend."

  "All the more reason to wonder why he acts like he doesn't know you or Dad."

  As I was contemplating the trustworthiness of my friend Nehemiah, my Keening pain spiked. I heard growling and smelled burning sulfur on the wind. Gavin went rigid and all of the color flooded from his face, his skin as pale as the moonlight.

  "Oh my gosh," he said, "I can't believe it followed me all the way here."

  I didn't need to ask him what followed him. Over the horizon of the cemetery field appeared a massive doglike creature. In form it was a bull-sized mastiff, except for the thorny exoskeleton armor and glowing red eyes. Oh, and the fire. Flames poured from its mouth and sparks flew in its wake.

  "The hellhound!" said Gavin.

  We bolted for the car, Rob whisking in the air alongside of us. "Gwyllgi! It's a flaming Gwyllgi!"

  Note to self, Gwyllgi was a type of terrifying death dog. We didn't make it to the Mustang in time though. The huge hound tackled Gavin to the ground. Its flaming jaw tried to latch onto my brother’s face.

  We’d left the apartment in such a hurry that I didn't have my gun. But I had my Luck. I drew from within until my hands glowed with emerald light and blasted the Gwyllgi in the back.

  The magic knocked the hellhound off my brother as if it had been hit by a three hundred pound football lineman. It flew through a thick slab of a headstone, smashing the remembrance of some soul into oblivion.

  It got up and shook itself off, confused, but barely phased. Rob helped my brother to his feet and they ran for the car.

  My Luck magic still coursing through me, I sent blast after blast at its armored body. The hound let out a howl that could have skinned a cat, emitting a wall of fire. My attacks were waves of water crashing into the cliffside coast, and were effectively absorbed by the flame. Sure the water can wear down the rocks... eventually. But I didn't have until eventually. I needed to put this beast down now.

  It charged through its own wall of fire leaping through the air. I rolled underneath it and it crashed into another tombstone sending an explosion of cement chunks everywhere.

  It tackled me and we fell into a fresh shallow grave, the smell of earth and embers filling my nostrils. Putting my hands out in front of me was all I could do to keep it from ripping my throat out. As my hands touched the armored exoskeleton a sizzling sound reached my ears, and steam rose from my hands. I screamed in pain.

  Next thing I knew the hellhound was hurled away from me. It crashed into a massive obelisk headstone. This time, the pillar of a headstone came down like a felled tree, landing on top of the beast, pinning it to the ground giving us time to escape. For a moment my brother stood there over me and his hands gave off an orange glow. His eyes were also emanating a blood orange light.

  "Holy crow," I said. "Did you just toss that thing?"

  Before my brother could answer he grabbed his forehead. Squinting his eyes shut, he screamed bloody murder. He looked like he was having a migraine attack. Together we stumbled back to my Mustang. By the time we got in the car his headache spell eased off enough that he could drive. I looked down at my hands and they were hot pink. I tried to access my Luck magic to heal myself but the pain was too mind numbing.

  "Oh that's bad Sean," said Gavin seeing the burns on my hands. He threw the car into gear and we peeled off down the road. "We've got to get you to a doctor."

  6 Magic or No

  "I CAN'T AFFORD GOING to the ER," I said.

  Rob hovered between us. "You could go to your mom's house."

  "Oh yeah that's right," I said. I recalled the healing power of the Oak tree. "All I need to do is draw power from the Oak tree."

  "We can't lead the Gwyllgi there and put them in danger," said Gavin.

  "That's not why I said to go to your Mom's house," said Rob. "Although the Oak tree could heal you, you can find sanctuary behind the closed doors of the house you grew up in. There's powerful magic in a home, a place full of love and memories."

  My eyebrows furrowed. "So you’re saying that back when I initially fought the Banshee, all we had to do was stay inside the house and we would have been fine?"

  Rob nodded. "The most she could have done was huff and puff, damage the exterior of the place a little, but no harm would have come to you from her Chaotic blasts."

  Nehemiah instructed me himself, several times on that very night, both when I intervened in the laundromat, and later that night after everything was said and done. Rob’s tip checked out.

  "So the only place to find rest from the pursuit of the hellhound is the very place that I'm trying not to go to keep my family safe," said Gavin with a sigh. "Figures."

  I lifted up my hands showing him the damage again. "I at least have to heal these," I scowled. "What about your hands? My hands are killing me over here."

  He shrugged. "They're fine I guess."

  His eyes had glowed, and the strength it would've taken to lift the Gwyllgi and throw it was outside of my comprehension. And his hands weren’t burned at all. What kind of latent power did my brother have?

  "So that’s the power Dad saw in you."

  "I guess," said Gavin. "I don’t really know."

  My eyebrows shot up when I recalled our last phone call. "That death dog... your powers. That’s what you called me about last week."

  He nodded.

  "So you have raw super strength. Invulnerability to fire?"

  Gavin turned and looked at me eyes wide. "And migraines. Terrible, horrible migraines."

  "And enemies apparently," said Rob.

  "Keep your eyes peeled for that Gwyllgi," I told Rob. "Don't let it sneak up on us again." Then I turned to my brother. "What kind of powers did Dad have?"

  "Extra strength. Healing."

  "But he didn’t use Luck magic, like me?"

  Gavin shrugged.

  "How could you not know?"

  "My powers kicked in days before Dad died. He didn’t have much time to show or explain much. His plan was to ease me into it. But he didn’t get to. That’s why I left so abruptly. I didn’t know if something killed Dad, and if it would come after me as the next of kin. And if they came after me, they’d come after the rest of the family too."

  In silence I absorbed it all while my hands throbbed. "But now you’ve ditched Washington because of the Gwyllgi."

  He nodded. "Also, I felt like it was time for a visit, especially after Mom informed me of the PCP lady, I mean, Banshee incident."

  All these thoughts raced through my head. Our whole life Gavin and I had been somewhat opposite. Early on I had developed a taste for heavy metal and later death metal. Gavin had always been more of a country boy. The heaviest band he listened to was Lincoln Park, which is radio mainstream metal at best. So to say that we had lots of disagreements and differing tastes was an understatement.

  But now for the first time in my life we had a common ground, a shared understanding of something that almost nobody else could grasp. And I saw the glimpse of what could be camaraderie, true brotherhood. "Gavin you have powers. I've got powers... just think bro, all the things we could do if we teamed up. If we combine our powers."

  "Like Captain Planet!" said Rob.

  Gavin glanced at us, a face of stone.

  I started talking louder, maybe because of the pain I tried to ignore, or because excitement took hold of me and a need to prove my point. "Dude I'm super stoked. I mean, don't get me wrong, Nehemiah is cool and all but I don't really know the guy. But us, we’re brothers, so we share a common bond. We’re family dude. We can get so much accomplished now that we’re on the same page."

  "But were not on the same page Sean," said Gavin gruffly. "We don't have powers, we have problems. Our family is cursed. I mean what don't you freakin’ understand about Dad's tombstone? We were literally just looking at it."

  I threw my head back and rolled my eyes. "Yeah I saw Dad's tombstone all right. It said Friend, Father and Fighter to the end. You can’t be any of those things in seclusion by yourself."

  "Are you calling me a coward?" Gavin snarled.

  "I'm saying you can't run from your problems man," I said.

  Gavin exhaled sharply. "You can’t go looking for problems either. You saved Mom and Aiden. Whoop-de-freakin-do. But did you even try to get rid of the Keening? You should be doing that instead of using it as some kind of spider-sense-bat-signal to seek out thrills and adventure."

  "I'm not some adrenaline junkie," I said. "A month may seem like a long time, but I've been so slammed with juggling school, work, dojo volunteering, and a girlfriend. Plus I happen to fight monsters at night. There’s been no time to research the Keening. I actually give a crap about the people around me and their well-being."

  "I thought that way too Sean," said Gavin. "And then Dad died. Right after Anna. It hurt me so much Sean, and I know it hurt you a lot too, but I knew the truth and had to take it with me. I left because I gave a crap about you guys. You think I took the easy way out? I managed to lay low in Washington all this time and then I open myself up a few times, to use my power to help people. All that resulted is more harm. Every time. And now the Gwyllgi is after us.

  "These migraines," Gavin continued, "these strengths or whatever I have, they’re a curse. It's all a curse. You may be having a good time with your pal Nehemiah but eventually what goes around comes around. You’re gonna figure out the hard way. Unless we shut ourselves off to this magic stuff we’re accepting the curse and giving it power over our lives."

  I rolled down my window and spit out the passenger side. "I don't think Dad viewed it that way. If he knew about my powers he would've trained me too. I don’t think he’d want us to run from our problems. He’d want us to face them head on."

  "And look where that's got you," said Gavin. "You didn't see how Dad changed after Anna died. Not like I did. He stopped training me, saw the error in his ways. He saw our powers for what they truly are. Curses. Anna didn't even die from supernatural means and it changed Dad."

  I shook my head. "That's where you're wrong. Anna did die by supernatural means."

  "Anna drowned herself bro. Not sure if you remember that," Gavin said coldly.

  "She and I were close," I said. "She wouldn't have done that just because she was depressed. Something changed her, drew her to the water. I'm telling you something supernatural killed her."

  "If that helps you justify what you’re doing, go ahead and believe whatever you want."

  I gritted my teeth. Gavin simply wouldn’t see things my way. He never had. Which was the real reason he left two years ago in the first place, no matter what he told me now.

  Gavin steered the car down Georgia Street, the opposite way to the freeway, not towards Mom’s house at all.

  "I need to get to Mom’s. To heal at least."

  "Nope. It's too far," he said. "You need an Oak tree to heal you? There’s plenty of those at Lake Herman."

  7 Stifled

  LAKE HERMAN IS ONE of the first known murder sites of the Zodiac killer. So whoever Herman was, he lost the spotlight a long time ago.

  While the Benicia State park is a level, scenic walk along the waterfront, Lake Herman is a bumpy landscape with all kinds of trees scattered about and a hiking trail that runs the perimeter of the lake. In other words it's not ideal for fleeing from an oversized beast dog whose mere breath can scorch you into BBQ. "Are you sure there's an Oak tree here?" I asked Gavin.

  "For the third time bro, yes."

  "I'm just saying because we could just go to Mom’s house and not have to answer to any park rangers or sheriffs." The park closed at sundown like most parks, so we’d be trespassing.

  "I'm one hundred percent positive there's at least five Oak trees around the lake," Gavin reassured me. "Besides, the park’s too small for rangers. They only have caretakers."

  We jogged along a gravel trail, me leading the way. We’d parked in a dirt turn-off a ways down the road because the parking lot would have been locked for hours at this point. My hands were killing me now and the thought of the lake gave me some relief that, Oaks or no Oaks, I could at least cool off.

  I had a whole bunch of thoughts racing through my mind. My Dad had been a magic user of some sort. Gavin hadn't really specified what Dad could do, but Dad knew enough to train Gavin. Wow. This practically reframed my whole life.

  I wonder if Mom knew. But how could she? She acted legitimately surprised when the Banshee attacked us and denied any possibility of the supernatural. If Dad was involved with that sort of thing and she knew about it, she wouldn't have freaked out.

 

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