The Price of Grace

by

Bek D Corbin

Edited by Steve Zink

We walked up the street to my house in a group, gaily chatting away. I looked at the sizable front lawn, and said, "Wow, it's getting pretty jungle-like. Mike, do you think you could come over this weekend and do some mowing?"

He wrapped his arm around me. "Geez, Grace, don'cha think your mother might want to have something to say about that?"

I smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that." I wasn't about to miss out on watching Mike push that old manual lawn mower of ours around the yard, working up a sweat in that tank shirt of his.

Linda made a crude remark, and the others laughed. They said good-bye and kept going as Mike and I walked up to the porch. We did a little token chatting, and then he took me in his arms. He bent his head and kissed me. I'm still amazed that his kisses can affect me that way. Before, I'd have thought that a being kissed by a man would have been one of the grossest things that could happen to me. But I was a man then. Now, I'm a teenage girl, and my goodnight kiss from Mike is one of the highlights of my evening.

I luxuriated in the strength and gentleness of his kiss. But all things must come to an end, and he broke the kiss. Regretfully, I gave him a last hug and broke the embrace. "See you in school."

He waved me good-bye as he walked off into the darkness. With a happy sigh, I turned to go into the house. Inside, I could see a bit of light from under the kitchen door. So, I didn't go in the front door, but went around the veranda to the back and let myself in the back door. Mom was rummaging around in the fridge. "Hey, Mom!"

"Well! It's about time that you got back in, Grace! I hope you remember that tomorrow _is_ a school night."

"Mooommm! I'm only, like, five minutes late! It's just after ten, fer the luvva Pete! And I got all my homework done in Home Room! What's the problem?"

"I just don't want you developing bad habits. Here, I was warming up some milk to help me sleep - want some?"

I shrugged. It wasn't the cool thing to do, but it was the nice thing to do. A mother has to get in a little mothering whenever she can. And Faith _is_ my mother. A week ago, she wasn't, but now she is, and has been all my life. So to speak.

"So, how was the movie?"

"Oh, it was horrible! Cheap special effects, lousy martial arts fight scenes, junk science, crappy dialogue, no plot that I could make out..."

"So, you enjoyed yourself."

"_Oh, Yeah!_" I grinned to let her know that I hadn't been paying that much attention to the movie. "Oh, by the way, I suggested to Mike that you might pay him to mow our lawn."

"Oh, I don't know about that, Grace."

"But, MOM-"

"I already promised Hope that her friend Steve could earn some money doing the lawn."

"So, put him on pulling weeds and trimming the edges! I mean, the kid's only thirteen! Pushing that lawn mower around would probably wear him out! And what good would he be to Hope then?"

She hummed a non-committal answer to that. She sat down and we shared a companionable glass of warm milk together. As I drank, I gave Faith an once-over. Even in her bathrobe and her hair up for the night, she was still a very good-looking woman in her prime. She looked to be in her early to mid thirties - she must have been a very young mother to have a sixteen-year-old daughter, not to mention a thirteen-year-old one. Her hair was dark and wavy, like Hope's and mine, and her eyes were gray, while Hope's were green and mine were blue. Her body was still trim - Yoga, ballet training and the running that she drags us along on every chance she can, will do that. If you can see a woman's future by looking at her mother, then I don't think I have to worry about losing my looks.

As I looked at her, it occurred to me that back when I had been a man, before I had walked down that long, winding, tree-lined road, I never would have dared approach a woman like Faith. Now she was my mother, and I loved her with all my heart. I loved her, and dear, sweet, beautiful little Hope, and Mike, and Linda and Kelly, and all my friends and neighbors, and this whole town...

I gasped as the fear gripped me again. This couldn't be true. This must be a dream. This much happiness could never be mine. There has to be a catch. It has to be a lie somehow, or some supernatural force trying to trap my immortal soul. Like most people, I'd only given the occasional passing thought to the concept of a soul, but in the impossible situation that I was in, I believed completely.

I hunched over my cup of milk, shivering. "Grace, are you all right?"

"Mom?"

"Yes, Dear?"

"What's the price?"

"The price? Of what?"

"Of all this. Of this glass of warm milk. Of the house. Of the town. Of my friends. Of the neighbors. Of Hope. Of you. What is it going to cost me?"

"What ARE you talking about, Dear?"

"You're not my mother. I mean, you ARE my mother, but you're not."

"Oh, THAT makes sense."

"Mo- Faith - ten days ago, I was a 48-year-old man who worked as a Security Guard in a Mall in Southern California. I was a loser. I was a guy with tons of potential, and no ability to follow through. Everything I tried, I failed at. I had no career, no real friends, my family had pretty much given up on me-"

"Grace, you're talking crazy."

"Faith, please, this is hard enough! Eight days ago, I was sitting back, taking it easy on the job. I mean, I was a fucking after-hours Mall Security Guard! Then, somehow, I was suddenly traveling down this long winding country road. It went on forever, or so it seemed. On and on, with no end in sight. Then I found myself no longer traveling, but walking down this road through green rolling hills. God, I still remember how _green_  those hills were! So green that they sang with life! You could just feel the life radiating out of everything in your bones! I walked through those hills, marveling at the rightness of it all. Then I came up to Mrs. MacKay's house, and though I know that I'd never laid eyes on it before, I knew it and her. I spoke with her as if she were an old friend - I don't remember what about. I remember looking at that stump of that great old tree out front of her house, and being very interested in those fungus patterns on the crosscut. Then I walked on, remembering the road that I walked down, even though I know that I'd never been there before. I remember meeting Sarah Postern, and feeling like I'd run into a long lost friend."

"And you knew that you'd never met her before."

"Yeah. From there, I walked into town. Same thing there - it was like coming back to a well-loved place, full of old friends, and yet my rational mind knows that I'd never been there before. Then I walked up the street to this house, and I knew that I'd somehow come home. I remember that you were here, in the kitchen, fixing something - Stuffed Green Peppers, I think.

"You welcomed me as if I were one of the family. You had me sit down and you asked me a bunch of things that I answered with vagaries. Then Hope came storming in, all a-buzz about something or nothing - you know how she is. It was all so homey. I never wanted to leave. Then I went up to my room. Yes, I knew which room was mine, without having to be told. I went in, and when I looked in the long standing mirror in my room, I was different. Instead of a fiftyish overweight loser with poor eyesight and bad teeth, I was a beautiful young girl in perfect health. I thought it was a dream, a beautiful dream, so I went along with it. I figured that I was just asleep and I'd wake up eventually. I hated to go to bed that night, because I figured that when I woke up, I'd just be back in that stupid Mall in my stupid male body. _But_, instead, I woke up in my bed. And I went about living this life in a state of almost constant deja vu, remembering places and people that I'd never seen before. Heck, I even remember my High School locker number!"

"And why didn't you say anything before this, Grace?"

"And say what? At first, I just thought it was more of the same dream. But as the week went on, I started to think it might just go on and on, if I let it. But I keep coming back to one unavoidable thought: there has to be a price for this. The world doesn't just drop unnatural treasures like this into your lap - there's always a price to be paid."

"Grace, sweetie, has it occurred to you that maybe you just had a really bad dream, and all this business about 'traveling down the road' and coming into the house was just your way of waking up?"

"That's very tempting, Faith, but it doesn't work. Faith, what do you do for a living? How do you pay the bills for the house, the car, our clothes and all the other things?"

"Grace, you know very well that I run a bookstore just off Courthouse Square! You and your sister help me out every so often!"

"_Exactly!_ You run a book store. In a small town. A book store with a coffee bar. That isn't a job, it's a hobby! Faith, what you could reasonably earn from that book store wouldn't pay the utility bills on this place, let alone all the other stuff!"

"Well, it does help that I own clear title to this house, but-"

"Not enough to cover our expenses. Faith, what state do we live in?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What State of the Union are we in? What part of the United States are we in? Are we even IN the United States? Are we in Canada? New Zealand? I doubt that we're in Great Britain or Australia, as I'd have noticed the accent."

"What are you trying to get at?"

"I don't think this place is real.  I don't know what it is, but it isn't a normal part of the normal reality that I know."

"Of course this is real!"

"Is it? Mom, I noticed today that at my school, there are no Anti-Drug posters, or any of those 'Sexual Education' or 'AIDS awareness' fliers, not even in the Nurse's Office. Why? Because teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases aren't a viable part of this reality. There's no dopers toking in the hidden corners of the school. There are cliques, but none of the usual inter-clique nastiness. The freaking Head Cheerleader is even nice to the Science Club president!"

"Grace, that just means we live in a civilized little town where the problems of the Big City haven't gotten in. I think you're reading too much into those 'social problem' programs on TV."

"Oh? Then explain this: none of the kids in my school have acne. Not one of them. Not even the fat kid who spends half his time stuffing his face with french fries. You only see that kind of hygiene in dreams or on TV! And speaking of TV, why is it that in this town, everyone has the symbols of material success - TVs, Cars, Cell Phones - but nobody ever _uses_ them? I haven't seen anyone vegging out in front of the Boob Toob; they play sports, they have conversations, they debate issues, they play music, they hold plays. In other words, they DO all the things that most people only watch on the Toob. And you hardly ever see anybody ever drive! They walk, they jog, they bike, they skate, they skateboard, but they only drive when they have to move something heavy! And the cell phones - I see them everywhere, but the only time anybody ever uses them is in an emergency! That is, if you can call forgetting to turn off the stove an emergency. No, people drop over, chat and discuss things face to face here."

"You make that sound like a horrible thing."

"No, it isn't horrible. It's very good. It's almost how I'd say life should be lived. This place is too ideal. Mom, what's the name of this town?"

"Grace, you know very well what the name of this town is."

"Humor me."

"It's Ashford Falls."

"Ashford Falls. It occurred to me today that if you changed it just ever so much, it becomes 'Bedford Falls'."

"And what sinister meaning does THAT have?"

"'Bedford Falls' is the name of the town that Jimmy Stewart lives in, in the classic Frank Capra movie 'It's A Wonderful Life'. Y'know, the one were the Angel shows Jimmy Stewart how different things would have been if he'd never been born?"

"A coincidence-"

"A coincidence? Mom, this is a small town, with no perceptible source of revenue! There's no factory or industry or packaging plant. The farms are all too small and picturesque to be profitable. There's nothing to attract tourists. We're not in commuting distance of a major city, so this isn't a bedroom suburb. And yet, for all that, everyone is comfortably well off. There are even a few genuinely wealthy families. I haven't seen any trains pull into the train station since I got here, and there's no access to any highway that I can tell. But, for all of that, the shopping mall is packed with all the latest fashions and gadgets. We even have our own radio and TV stations! Where does the money come from? What's keeping this place going? This place is impossible! Places like this only exist in dreams or on TV! It's just too good to be true! I'm living an Archie Comic! That's what's got me so spooked! I'm scared to death that I'm only dreaming, and that I'll wake up as that stupid security guard in that stupid mall! Or that I'm completely delusional, and that in reality I'm squatting in some filthy alley, drooling and pissing on myself! Or worst of all, that this is some kind of Twilight Zone thing, and that there's some supernatural price tag attached to all of this. And I'm afraid that I may not be able to pay the bill when it comes due. And that when I don't, all this will go away."

That took the wind out of Faith's sails. She settled back into the chair.

"Like I said, Mom, this place is very good. It's how life should be lived. But situations like this don't just happen. There's always a cost. Mom, I want to stay here. I want to live here, with you and Hope. Life here is sweet and good and fulfilling. But. I. HAVE. To. Know. What is the cost?"

She looked down into her cup of milk. Hollowly, she asked, "Are you going to be leaving now?"

"Mom, I don't want to leave!"

"That's what you said the last two times. But you did."

"What?"

"You've been here before. Twice. The first time you were barely in the door, when you asked me what the price was. I couldn't tell you, so you left."

"Hunh?"

"The second time, you stayed longer. But again you asked what the price was. Hope begged and cried for you not to leave, but you said that you had to go. You said you didn't want to leave, but you had to." She looked up at me, her eyes haggard with pain. "So, now you're here again. This time, you've stayed about a week. Long enough for us to really get to know and love you. But now you're going to go away again, because I can't tell you what the price is."

Hope burst into the kitchen from the hall, where she had been listening in. "No!" She wrapped her arms around me and started crying. "Don't go! Please, don't go!"

I comforted Hope as best I could. "Honey, I don't want to go, but I don't understand what's going ON here! I can't shake the feeling that if I just stay here, I'm committing to something that I can't afford! For all I know, the price for my staying here is my Immortal Soul!" I turned to Mom. "Can you at least give me some kind of guarantee that those aren't the stakes here?"

She sighed so hard that her shoulder shook. "No, I can't. I can't lie to you, either. I don't really understand what's going on either."

"What are you talking about? Isn't this your house?"

"It is, and it isn't. Some time ago, I came here down that long winding road that you were talking about. Like you, I'd been someone else before. I found this place pretty much as you had, only it was empty. But I knew that it was mine. I knew where everything was. I knew all the neighbors, and they knew me. I was home. I think you know what that feels like. All my needs were taken care of. Every time I go to the bank to take out some money, my account is well stocked with money. So far I haven't received a single credit card bill. The bookstore was just there, and everybody accepted that it was mine. Everything that I could possibly want. But there were two empty places in my life. Then, some time later - I'm not sure exactly how long - Hope came wandering down that long winding road. My little girl was home, where she belonged."  Faith reached out and laid a loving hand on Hope's shoulder. "All her things were here, just where she needed them. It was like another piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. She was already enrolled at the local Junior High. There were already children her age, who recognized her as a friend. But there was still a big hole in my life. An empty room, that was still waiting for someone to come live there. A sense that there was someone missing, someone important. Someone like you." Faith sighed and fell silent.

Hope looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "Why do you have to go?"

"I don't know, Honey- I just..."

"That's what you said the last time! And you just barely got to know the place! What's so great about wherever you came from? I came from somewhere else, too! I don't miss it at all!"

"I don't want to go. But.."

"That's what you said the last time! But you did!"

"Yes...yes...I remember...you begged me not to go, and I didn't want to - but I had to - because...I didn't know what the cost was. Just like I don't know now. And I remember why I had to go. It was because I was afraid that the cost was going to be my Immortal Soul. After all - isn't this the way the Devil is supposed to work? Take miserable people and offer them their heart's desire - at a cost? Their Immortal Souls. But - now that I frame it in my mind, I see that there IS a difference. The Devil offers them selfish things - priceless baubles, wealth, fame, sex, or power. But this? This is Love. The Devil can't offer love, because the Devil is selfishness. I want to give myself to you, without any pricetag attached. There is no selfishness in that... Love without desire or demand - that can't be the Devil's work."

I pulled Hope from my chest and kissed away her tears. "I'll stay. That is, if this isn't just a dream or a psychotic delusion. If I wake up tomorrow morning in my bed, and not in some alley or Mall, then I'll be staying for good. But if some tall, dark stranger of ominous mien comes demanding payment, then he'll have a real fight on his hands. Whether he demands my soul or threatens to take you two away, he'll have a fight on his hands."

Faith gave a glad, wordless cry and swept us both up into her arms. We laughed and cried and kissed and hugged. Finally, Faith put on her 'Mom' hat, told us that we had school the next day, and shooed us upstairs to bed like a goosegirl with an oversized flock.

*****

I woke up with the morning sun on my face. I luxuriated for a moment in the feel of my soft sheets and the smell of the powder. Then I remembered who I really was, and my strange situation. And then I remembered what had happened last night. I felt my cheek - it was smooth and completely hairless. I pulled down my sheets and looked down at my body. I was still here, in Ashford Falls. Somehow, after last night, I figured when I went to bed it was settled somehow. Either I would wake up back in the Mall, or I would stay here permanently. It looks like I'm here for good. I reached my arms up high and yelled "YES!" at the top of my lungs.

I jumped out of bed in my nightgown and ran down the back stairs. Mom was in the kitchen, scrambling some eggs,

I couldn't contain myself. "Mom!" The minute that she stepped away from the pan to look at me, I rushed up and wrapped myself around her in a big hug.

"You're still here!" She returned the hug. "Lord, you scared me. I don't think I could bear losing you after having you here for a solid week!" She let me go and took a look at me. "You're not going to go to school like that, are you?"

I looked down at myself and realized that I'd come down in my nightgown, without even pulling on a robe. I gave a squeak and hurried back upstairs, with Mom's laughter following me.

When I finished deciding on what to wear to school and came back down, Hope was at the table, eating her breakfast. "Grace! You're still here!" She burst up from the table and gave me big hug. It was that kind of morning.

"Yeah, I'm still here - and I appear to have eggs on me."

I sat down and helped myself to some cereal to go with the eggs that Mom was rustling up. I noticed that the 'cereal' was more like muesli than any of the over-processed breakfast candy that you see on the supermarket shelves. Come to think of it, the milk was in one of those old-fashioned round glass bottles that milkmen used to bring to your house, and you would leave the empties for them to take back. And there were croissants, which I don't remember being in the fridge last night. "Mom? Is there a dairy service in this town? The kind that drops off milk, eggs, butter and bread from the local bakery?"

"Yes, of course there is."

"Weird. I thought they stopped doing that kind of thing decades ago!"

"Yes, well, as you said last night, this town is rather different."

"No kidding. I just wish I knew what to expect. Mom, you said that you and Hope have been here for a while. How old was Hope when she came here?"

"The same age she is now."

"Ah. So, she's only been here a few weeks."

"Ah- No."

"Months?"

"No. More like years."

"_Years?_"

"Well, it's hard to say how long a time has passed in the world we knew, but at any rate, I can be certain that two turns of the seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, Holiday season, winter, and spring again - have passed."

"Yeah, the Holidays are great around here!"

"They observe Christmas here?"

"Well, more like Yuletide than Christmas - there's Santa Claus, and a deep sense of religious significance, but the religious specifics aren't there."

"Kind of like a non-denominational government holiday party?"

"Not that politically correct. It isn't that they aren't trying to offend anyone, it's just that the emphasis is more the spirit of the holidays than on the images."

"That's interesting. Wait, now what was I thinking about? Oh yes! So, Hope was in Grade School when she first came."

"No, I distinctly remember, she was enrolled at the Junior High!"

"But she's in her First Year Class! I remember, because she keeps complaining about the Second Year kids!"

"Yes, and every year she keeps going back to Junior High, for her First Year!"

"She keeps getting left back?"

Hope piped up, "No, I just keep having a Thirteenth birthday!"

"And nobody notices that your classmates get promoted, while you keep doing the same year, over and over?"

"Well, some do and some don't! Alice Brody has been my best friend since my first day here, and she keeps doing the First Year with me. But some kids go on to the Second Year, and some just don't show up at school anymore."

"Yes, I've noticed that, too," Mom added. "There are people who just kind of show up - sort of like we did - and they just fit in. And I vaguely remember that there were people here who were here when I first came, who aren't here anymore. Like the old librarian."

"You mean Sarah, the nice lady with the auburn hair and the big glasses?"

"No. Before Sarah showed up, there was another lady there. Her name was...mmm...Miss Archer! She looked to be in her early sixties, had silver hair, and had a faint English accent. Then Sarah showed up, and Miss Archer...just stopped coming to the library."

"Maybe she retired?"

"In a town this size, the head librarian retiring would be a subject of conversation."

"True. And people are always talking about one thing or another. So, what about the High School?"

"What about it, dear?"

"Is it the same? Will I be in the Junior class year after year, with the same people, or will they change? Has the school principal been the same guy since you came here, or has there been more subtle changes?"

"To be honest, I don't know! To tell the truth, before you came, I didn't have that much to do with the High School! I mean, I was aware that we had a High School, and that they had a Baseball, Football, Basketball and Soccer teams, but I don't remember ever going to a game!"

"How about classes? Will I be taking the same classes, over and over?"

Hope shoveled a big spoon of 'cereal' in her mouth and chewed very thoughtfully. "I dunno. I remember taking the classes, and something being taught, and I feel like I learned something, but I can't put what I learned into words. It's always something new, something that really pushes my noggin to wrap around it."

Faith gave an exasperated sigh. "Grace, why do you insist on asking all these questions? Why can't you just accept that this place is as it appears? Even if we could figure out exactly what's going on, what are the chances that we could do anything about it? Did it ever occur to you that by looking this gift horse in the mouth, you might be spoiling it?"

"Faith, your last question sort of puts my position into perfect perspective - 'looking a gift horse in the mouth': you check a horse's mouth to see how young and fit it is. To see whether it's a sound horse or a broken down nag. To see what you're letting yourself in for."

"Maybe, but even riding a broken down old nag is better than walking. Grace, why is it so important to you that you understand everything right now? Maybe if you go poking at things too much, it will all turn out to be a dream, and we'll all wake up."

"Mom, that's silly! How can we all be sharing the same dream?"

"How can any of this be true? You spent a lot of time last night pointing out the inconsistencies in this town. 'Possible' doesn't really seem to be a big thing." Faith walked over and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "All I'm saying, is don't go upsetting people pointing out inconsistencies. For all we know, these people - heck, WE - may need these inconsistencies just to keep going!"

"So, you're saying 'go with the flow'?"

"I'm saying notice things to your heart's content - just don't make me come to the High School and talk to your guidance counselor, hunh, Honey?"

After that we rather pointedly shelved the topic, finished breakfast and began our days.

*****

The days went on. I never really got used to waking up in my bed. Each morning, I woke up with a minor panic attack that I was waking up in the Mall or in a back alley or a psycho ward. Of course, it is a true blessing to be able to wake up genuinely grateful to have what you do. I had more friends than I'd originally had as a kid. And we did things! Most kids, most people, waste their time, doing the same old thing over and over. But we were always doing something different, something new. And we weren't trapped in Ashford Falls. Somehow, we were always in driving distance of someplace fun and exciting. The shore, the mountains, a forest, the big city - if we needed to go somewhere, it was always a few hours' scenic driving away. And no, I was never able to find out what the name of the city was - it was just 'The City'. Slowly, almost against my better judgement, I began to settle in and just enjoy my new life.

*****

There was a carnival in town. Like so much else about Ashford Falls, it was just right and it wasn't right, all at the same time. With that gimlet eye of mine, I noticed that the rides were sort of like the rides that I remember, but different and better. Well, for one thing, the seats weren't sticky. No, it was more than that. Most of the Carny rides and games that I remember from my old life are shabby affairs. This carnival had a touch of magic about it. Riding the merry-go-round was like flying, and the roller coaster (how the hell did they pack a freaking roller coaster for transport, anyway?) did things that mere centrifugal force couldn't account for. Their animals were clean, healthy, happy and improbable. I mean, it's no great shakes for a carny to phony up a unicorn, but where did the sphinx and the griffin come from? And the mermaid didn't look like a bimbo in a legstocking tail, either.

The whole gang went to the carnival, and I spent the whole time hanging on Mike's arm. Well, it was such a strong arm, why wouldn't I hang on it? He made sure that I didn't fall out of the roller coaster, helped me hold onto my cotton candy on the spinning teacups, and kept me safe from all the spooky stuff in the haunted house. While I admit that I didn't really need to be held all that much, who was _I_ to complain? And, y'know, there really was some really scary stuff in that 'haunted house'. The scariest were those indistinct little humanoid shapes with the pointy ears that were hiding in the shadows of everything. They never jumped out at you or shrieked or anything else that the other spooky stuff did, they just watched. And that was the really frightening thing.

I was actually shivering as we walked out of the 'haunted house'. "Hey, Gracie, you okay?" Mike asked.

I slipped under his arm. "Yeah, I'm just a little creeped out, y'know?"

Mike pulled me in tight and said to the gang, "Hey, guys, Gracie needs a little time out. You go on to the Tilt-O-Wheel without us, okay?"

It was night, and I needed a break from the bright lights and the noise of the carny. The dark and the quiet were good for my nerves. Of course, Mike's arm around my waist was better. We stood there and did the chitchat thing for a while. I could feel Mike bracing himself to make a move (it was about damn time!) and shifted my position to make it a little easier.

Mike took my face in both his hands and kissed me. His kiss was deep and long, and I could tell that it was a warming-up kiss, not a last-lingering kiss. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him right back. The gathering dark and the evening cool made the woods a perfect place to be alone. He ran his hands over my body, and I gasped into his mouth. This was going to go a lot further than we'd gone so far, I could tell. I pulled my mouth from his, and looked into his eyes. Did I really want to go all the way with Mike Allanger tonight? All my doubts and hesitation disappeared in a snap. Yes, I did want to go all the way with him. Even if the worst happened and Mike bragged about 'bagging' me to all his friends, having sex with him would be the thing that sealed my commitment to being here. With this, I completely gave up on that life that I'd once led. And good riddance!

I mashed my mouth against his and started running my hands over his body in return. Our petting grew heavier and more lustful. Mike slipped his hand under my sweater and cupped one breast. I pushed my chest forward, pressing my breast into his hand. He gave my tit a squeeze, and slipped his other hand under my skirt. He grabbed a handful of ass and started to slip off my panties. Then I saw it.

Or should I say, them. At first, I thought that they were just some kids, getting their jollies watching us. I focused in their direction, to give them a warning snarl not to bother us. Then I got a better look at them.

They were the faceless things with the pointed ears that had been in the 'haunted house'. There were about five or seven or so of them. They were creeping up on us through the shadows and along the minor obstructions. They froze when they saw that I'd spotted them. We were stuck there for a split second that lasted a century, looking at each other, neither wanting to make a false first move. I had no idea of what they were or what they wanted, but every instinct that I had told me that these guys were bad news.

Mike picked up on my freeze. "What's the matter, Gracie? Don't you want to?"

The hobgoblins (or whatever they were) broke and ran when Mike spoke. They blended perfectly into the night, with nothing to show that they'd ever so much as existed. Which was all for the best. There was too much that I didn't understand about all of this to involve Mike unnecessarily. But I thought Mom might have a better idea of what was going on that Mike did. At least, I knew that she knew that there was something strange about Ashford Falls, and I wouldn't have to make awkward explainations.

I gave Mike a fulminating look and said, "Of course I do, Mikey! But not here, not right now. Not out in the woods, where we'll be all rushed 'cause we don't want other neckers tripping over us." I took his right hand and placed it on my breast. "How about this? Tomorrow night, my Mom's got a date with Carl Proctor. If I tell her that I have a date with you, then I can get my kid sister to do a sleepover at her best girlfriend's house. We go out for our date and come back after she's gone out for the night. Then we can have the house to all ourselves. We can have the whole night together, in my bed."

Mike gave me a wide grin and gave my breast a friendly squeeze. "It'll be hard, but I can wait."

I rubbed a thigh against his groin, feeling the lump there. "Oh yes, I can tell how hard it is." Then I made out like my beeper had gone off. "Damn! I guess that it's just as well..." I reached into my purse, made a production of turning off my beeper and pulling out my cell phone.

I punched in Mom's number and whispered into the phone when she answered, "Mom? Something weird is going on - no, it's not the usual weird, it's really weird. No, I can't talk - Mike's right here." Then a little more loudly, I said, "Okay, Mom - if you insist..." I looked at Mike apologetically. "Sorry, Sweetie, my Mom says I gotta come home right now." I stood on my tippy-toes and gave him a big smooch. "Hey, there's no reason that you gotta miss out just 'cause my Mom is getting weird - you just go find the guys and have a good time, 'kay? And NO locker room bragging, y'hear?"

He laughed and gave me a long, deep goodnight kiss. Then we each reluctantly went our own way.

Once Mike was out of sight and earshot, I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and redialed Mom. "Mom? It's me. I'm at the carnival. The gang was going through their 'haunted house' and-" I outlined what had happened; without mentioning Mike having his hands under my clothes, naturally. "So, does this sound like anything that I should know about?"

"Honey, are you sure..."

"Mom, I know what I saw!" There was no sound on the other end. "Mom? Mom?!"

Then she was suddenly on the other end. "Grace! I just checked Hope's room, in case she came in and forgot to tell me!"

My blood ran cold "Hope? What about Hope?"

"She went to the carnival too, with a bunch of her friends. She was supposed to be home before dark! Grace, she isn't here!"

I took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. Get in the car and come and pick me up at the corner of Stewart and Bailey streets. You call Alice Brody's place while you're coming. I'll call her friend Steve's mom and Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Powell while I'm waiting. I have an idea of where she might be, but believe me, I'd rather be wrong."

Five minutes later, Mom picked me up at the corner of Stewart and Bailey. Hope wasn't anywhere. Alice Brody had come home alone after Hope ditched her at the carnival. Or at least she thought Hope had ditched her. But then, there was no reason for her to think anything bad might have happened to Hope. Bad things like that just didn't happen in Ashford Falls.

Mom looked at me with fear in her eyes. "So, what's your hunch, Honey?"

"The 'haunted house' at the carnival. I spotted them there when I went through with Mike and the gang. And think about it - if they have Hope and they're doing something to her, it would be the perfect place to hide. Her screams would be dismissed as just sound effects, and they have all those props to use. Even if she isn't there, it's best to get that possibility out of the way, right, Mom?"

The look of fear left her eyes and was replaced by the half-wild resolve of a mother protecting her young. If those hobgoblins so much as harmed a hair on Hope's head, Faith would have their heads on poles. "But why would the carnival people want to take Hope?"

"Dunno. We don't have enough facts."

"So, what do your instincts, your intuition tell you?" I gave her a questioning look. "You're the one who can't stop asking the why of this place. Hope and I just accepted it, but you kept asking things about the whys and the hows and the wherefores. You spotted those things, so you may be able to see them when others can't. My gut feeling is that you somehow are able to see things like this and put them together. I think if you just let yourself figure it all out, you'll know what's going on." A look of solid determination came over her. "I think tonight, we're gonna find out a lot of answers. And I think you're going to be a major part of it, sweetheart."

Whoa! Mom was coming over with some major intuitions of her own! I took a deep breath and let myself free associate. "Okay. The Carny people. All right, we know they aren't part of the usual set-up here in Ashford Falls. And Ashford Falls isn't a normal place. So, how did they get here? Did they just materialize, so that Ashford Falls could have a change of pace? No. Hold on. The forest. The mountains. The shore. The Big city. They all had their own sort of reality. But it wasn't the same reality as Ashford Falls, or the world that we used to live in. Carnivals and circuses by their very definition move from one place to another. Suppose this Carnival moves from one reality to another? It comes, it stays for a while, and then it moves on, just like a normal carnival. Only it doesn't go from town to town, it goes from world to world!" I gave Mom a look of awesome realization. "That's it! That's what Ashford Falls is! It's a crossroads!"

"A crossroads?"

"A place where different planes of reality meet! People come to Ashford Falls in order to pass through to other worlds!"

"But we don't see that many strangers-"

"Yes, we do! All the time! But the place just accepts them as being part of the landscape, just like it accepted us!"

"So, all those people who are here for a long time and then just 'move on'..."

"I think Ashford Falls is sort of like a 'decompression chamber' between the universes. A person comes here, acclimatizes to...whatever...and then goes to wherever they're headed."

"Hope did say she couldn't really frame what she was learning in school in terms of Math, History or Science. But if that's so, then where are we headed, Grace? Will we be going together?"

"We can figure that out later. Your instinct is that Hope is in some kind of danger. My instinct is that those hobgoblins are dangerous. Hope was last seen at the carnival. I know for a fact that at least some of them are in that 'haunted house'. Even if Hope isn't in that 'haunted house', then it's likely that we'll find something or someone who'll tell us where she is."

"Okay, what about the carnival people? Do we ask them to look for Hope? Do we ask them about the hobgoblins? Do we avoid them?"

"Nggg...I dunno. I don't get a threatening vibe offa them, but then if they do this regularly, they'd find a way to seem as non-threatening as possible, wouldn't they? We just don't know enough about what's happened to us to take any chances."

"Then we only deal with them if we absolutely have to. There are old wives' tales about carnivals that steal children and sell them as slaves in faraway lands. It was mostly provincial paranoia about strangers, but maybe these people are at the root of that legend somehow."

When we pulled up to the carnival parking lot, Andy's car was still there, so the gang was still around. Every instinct I had told me not to involve them in this. Mom and I went up to the 'haunted house' and got our tickets. The ticket lady said, "Hey, didn't you come through here before with your boyfriend?"

"Ah, yeah! GREAT haunted house!" Okay, it was lame, but I wanted to keep it short.

Mom and I threaded our way through the maze. It actually was a lot spookier, knowing that those things might be in there. But the hobgoblins were either onto us, or they were busy elsewhere, 'cause I didn't see hide nor hair of the little bugaboos. We couldn't call out to Hope, because they might not have her in the haunted house, as perfect a place as it would be. If we went crashing around, the carny people, whether they were with the hobgoblins or not, would throw us out of the carnival, and we'd lose Hope forever. We paced about, looking for anything that might give us a clue, but nothing showed itself.

Then an Angel passed. You know, one of those really weird times when suddenly everyone stops talking and everything stops making noise, all at the same time, and there's this brief uncanny silence. But no, there was ONE sound still there, one that we couldn't hear over all the din - the sound of a girl crying.

Then there was a loud mechanical clang, and everyone was talking all at once again. But I knew that I could hear crying, and I followed the sound like a bloodhound after a scent. I followed the sound to a false wall decorated with a really ugly mounted head of something with horns. "She's behind here!"

Together, we started slamming our hands on the partition and yelling Hope's name.

The crying stopped, and we heard a soft, timid voice say, "Mom? Grace?"

Screw the carny people, we tore the partition out baring a makeshift room formed by four partitions. The room was literally crawling with hobgoblins, and there were glass jars mounted on the walls. Inside the jars were swirling masses that every so often you could make out something like a face. The hobgoblins had Hope bent backwards over some bales. They had a glass jar over her mouth, and they were pricking and prodding her with knives and needles and shards of glass and other sharp things. As she cried out in pain, a little of a glowing vapor came out of her mouth to be trapped in the jar.

Mom totally lost it, and I was right behind her. We tore into the little bastards like a couple of she-tigers. They tore at us with their knives and pins and glass and teeth and fangs. We barely noticed. Mom tore the hobgoblins holding Hope off of her, and sent the jar they'd been holding at her mouth flying. Working on pure reflex, I grabbed the jar and kept the vapor inside it from escaping.

Mom was trying to get Hope to answer her, but Hope was only a shell of herself.

I handed Mom the jar, as the hobgoblins circled and tried to steel themselves for a second try. "Feed her this, Mom."

As Mom put the jar to Hope's lips, the hobgobins charged again. I tried to keep them off of Mom and Hope, but there were too many of them, and they just kept coming. I needed to do something else. Then I spotted the jars on the wall. The damn hobgoblins must want them for something!

I pulled at a shelf and brought a row of the jars down. They landed with a crash, and moaning vapors rose from the piles of shattered glass. The vapors coiled around the hobgoblins, who suddenly weren't quite as feisty. The vapors formed wispy bodies, which clawed and tore at the hobgoblins. As they wrapped their foggy forms around the hobgoblins, the vapors setup a howl of mixed rage, pain and despair that rattled through the 'haunted house'.

Mom finished pouring the glowing vapor from the jar back into Hope. Hope looked like she was ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And none of us had any bubblegum. She grabbed the jar and yelled, "YOU! You tried to put me in this jar! YOU belong in this jar!"

There was a...well, swirling is the best word that I could come up with for it. The entire _world_ seemed to spin for a moment. The vapors dug their claws into the hobgoblins and they all swept up into the reality eddy. The eddy swirled into the jar, cramming the ever silent hobgoblins into the jar. But not only the hobgoblins that had been packed into the small room were drawn into the jar. They came flying into the room, apparently drawn from every corner of the carnival, maybe even Ashford Falls. For some reason, Mom reached out and grabbed one of the hobgoblins as it flew past her. Finally, they stopped flying in from outside the 'haunted house'.

I admit it, I goggled. "Hope - HOW did you DO that?"

Hope looked at the jar, shaken. "I don't know. I just DID it."

"Why didn't you do it when they grabbed you?"

"I couldn't then. I don't know why, but for some reason, I couldn't. I couldn't even really see them. All that I could see were sharp things that poked at me.Then you two came in. Then I could see them. Then I knew that I could do what I did. So, I did."

Before we could go into it any further, a bunch of carny people showed up. "What is this? What did you do? Who's going to pay for this?"

Then an impressive looking man who I took for the boss of the outfit came through the crowd. "And what do you women think you're doing?"

Mom wasn't having any of it. She marched right up to him and said, "Does this belong to you?" She held the hobgoblin by its throat up to his face.

"A Sverlag? Why would we be keeping sverlags?" He said the last word with a slightly revolted sneer, as if we'd accused him of dipping live rats into the lemonade.

"Well, we didn't have any of the damn things here until you all showed up. And they had this little hideaway all arranged. They grabbed my daughter, and were poking her life's own essence out of her with pins and needles!"

"And how do we know that they weren't here already, and snuck in here looking for a way out?" the Carny Boss demanded.

"Those-" I pointed to the shelves and the broken jars, "-have been here for a while. It looks like they've pulled this stunt in several of your previous stops."

The Carny Boss chuffed defensively. "Well, we didn't know anything about it. How could we? Handling that sort of thing is YOUR job! You should have found them when we rolled into town!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you ARE this place's Guardians, aren't you?"

"We only came to this place recently. Nobody's seen fit to inform us of anything." That seemed to be important to the carny folk, but they didn't clue us in to what it meant. But Mom wasn't letting them off the hook that easily. She shoved the Sverlag into the Carny Boss' hand and said, "Even so, you brought this filth into our place, and into other places before. You apparently are more familiar with this situation than we are, so you should have seen the signs before we did. You brought this into our town, you take it out. Now."

"But we're scheduled to stay here for another week!"

"You didn't clear it with us, and you claim that we have some kind of authority. We can't be sure that you had anything to do with these Sverlag creatures, so we won't take any more drastic actions against you.  But we can't be sure that you didn't have anything to do with them, either. So, we're telling you to go. Now."

"But you're punishing us for something that we knew nothing about! We have business in this town!"

I jumped in. "Exactly. And we don't know what that business is. And you all know that we aren't completely clued into this situation. So, there's that temptation to try to pull a fast one while we don't know what's going on."

"We wouldn't-"

"We don't know that. AND there's always one wiseguy in every crew."

Mom took complete charge of the situation. "Listen up, Mac, you'll be gone by sunrise, and you won't come back for five years. By then, we should have this situation under wraps, and you can do your business as usual."

The Carny Boss drew himself up to his full height. "And if we don't go?"

Hope walked up to him, smiled acidly and said in a vicious little girl voice, "I've always wanted a toy circus! You can be the ringmaster! And she can be the trapeze artist!"

The Carny Boss blanched and said, "Pio, tell the crew to start breaking down the rides. We gotta be out of here by dawn." Then he looked at Mom. "Two years?"

"Three years. Period." She shoved the jar of Sverlags into his hands. "Dump these somewhere else."

He turned, handed the jar to one of his people and with a clap of his hands, set the rest of his people to work.

Nobody stopped us as we left. Only Hope's size kept Mom from carrying her like a little girl. We were all seriously rattled. As we piled into the car, Hope turned in her seat to face me. "Grace, what just happened?"

"How would _I_ know?"

"Well, you're the one who sees stuff and figures stuff out!"

It suddenly struck me as absolutely true. "You're right. I'm the one who can see things. And when you threatened that carny guy with being changed into a toy, he believed you. Why did you say that, anyway?"

Hope shrugged. "It seemed right."

"Okay, so, I'm the one who can see things, and you can make things happen. Well, you always were a dreamer."

"So, what does that make ME?" Mom asked as she pulled the car out of the parking lot.

"Well, Hope couldn't see the hobgoblins-"

"Call them Sverlags. It seems to be their name."

"Okay, she couldn't see the sverlags until I got there. And she couldn't do anything until you got there. Come to think of it, I knew instinctively that I couldn't really do anything until you were there. And the Carny Boss took you for the one in charge. Mom, I think you're the one that makes all of this real. Come to think of it, you were the first one here. You came here and made this place real. Then Hope came here, and things started happening. You just didn't notice that things hadn't been happening before. Then I came, and we all noticed that things were weird. So, you're the one that gives this place reality, Hope's the one that can change things, and I'm the one that sees how it all relates to each other."

"The Graiae."

"What?"

"The Graiae. The three weird sisters that Perseus goes to see, so that they'll tell him how to find the Gorgons, so that he can kill Medusa."

"Perseus? How does a Greek myth have anything to do with all this?"

"Listen to me, I'm the one that makes this all real, remember? In all different kinds of myths, there are three women who hold the key to great wisdom and power. I mean, think about the Perseus legend - a guy goes out and kills a really gross monster. So what? But what if there is more to it than that? I mean, why does Perseus need to ask the three sisters where the Gorgons are, in the first place? Anything that dangerous, all you'd have to do is ask, because people would know where they were, just to avoid them! But what if the Gorgons didn't live in the world that we lived in? What if they really lived in another plane of reality? Maybe the Graiae were kind of like customs inspectors, letting some things pass from one world to another, while keeping others out. So, Perseus goes to the three sisters to pass from the world of Greece to the world of the Gorgons. And he has to use the Eye of the Graiae to find the right world."

"The Eye of the Graiae?"

"Yes, think about it - between them, they all just had one eye. An Eye. An ability to see things. Your ability, Grace. They also had one tooth among them. A Tooth. An ability to bite and gnaw, as to change the world. In the orignial story, there was probably a third thing, to symbolize my ability to stablize and define things, which was lost in the constant retelling."

 I jumped on the idea. "Mom, Hope - we are the Graiae! Our job is to keep this place open, so that people can pass from one world to another, while keeping things like those Sverlags out! Mom, you have your nice quiet steady job at the bookstore, keeping things running. Hope, you go running around playing with your friends, dreaming things up, so to keep possibilities open, and handle things that do show up. And me? I run around with my friends, keeping busy, so that I can keep tabs on things. We let people come here, stay for a while, adjust to being in a new world, and then move on."

Mom pulled the car up into our driveway. "This is a lot of responsibility. I can't believe that nobody told us anything!"

I got out of the car and shrugged. "Maybe the people who know what the rules here are, don't know that we're the Guardians, so that they can't tell us. So, do we start telling people that we're the Guardians?"

Mom shook her head. "No. I think our anonymity is our best safeguard. This is a nice place, full of nice people. But, as you said, there's always a wiseguy. We'll just figure it out as we go along. Besides, now that you know you have your Sight, you should figure out who's who and what's what around here. You didn't before, because you didn't know that you could. Nope, no matter what's happened, we'll go on as before. If something comes up, we'll deal with it. No, I'm happy with things just as they are." She shot me a look. "Well, YOU look happy! Care to share this joy with us?"

"This. Being the Guardians. That's the price of being here. It's the price of everything. We love this place, so we'll defend it with everything we have."

"And?"

My smile was almost too wide for my face. "And, I accept the bargain! It was driving me crazy, not knowing what the price of all this was! But now, I can finally relax and enjoy it!"

Hope cheered and gave me a big hug. Mom leaned over, tears in her eyes, and kissed me. "Welcome Home, Honey."

As we trooped into the kitchen for a celebratory bowl of lemon sherbert, I asked Mom, "Oh, by the way, I made a date with Mike for tomorrow night. If you're still going out with Carl Proctor, can Hope spend the night over at Alice Brody's?" In my mind, I was already buying a lacey little nothing to wear when Mike came over.

ENDThe Price of Grace

By Bek D Corbin

edited by Steve Zink

We walked up the street to my house in a group, gaily chatting away. I looked at the sizable front lawn, and said, "Wow, it's getting pretty jungle-like. Mike, do you think you could come over this weekend and do some mowing?"

He wrapped his arm around me. "Geez, Grace, don'cha think your mother might want to have something to say about that?"

I smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that." I wasn't about to miss out on watching Mike push that old manual lawn mower of ours around the yard, working up a sweat in that tank shirt of his.

Linda made a crude remark, and the others laughed. They said good-bye and kept going as Mike and I walked up to the porch. We did a little token chatting, and then he took me in his arms. He bent his head and kissed me. I'm still amazed that his kisses can affect me that way. Before, I'd have thought that a being kissed by a man would have been one of the grossest things that could happen to me. But I was a man then. Now, I'm a teenage girl, and my goodnight kiss from Mike is one of the highlights of my evening.

I luxuriated in the strength and gentleness of his kiss. But, all things must come to an end, and he broke the kiss. Regretfully, I gave him a last hug and broke the embrace. "See you in school."

He waved me good-bye as he walked off into the darkness. With a happy sigh, I turned to go into the house. Inside, I could see a bit of light from under the kitchen door. So, I didn't go in the front door, but went around the veranda to the back and let myself in the back door. Mom was rummaging around in the fridge. "Hey, Mom!"

"Well! It's about time that you got back in, Grace! I hope you remember that tomorrow _is_ a school night."

"Mooommm! I'm only, like, five minutes late! It's just after ten, fer the luvva Pete! And I got all my homework done in Home Room! What's the problem?"

"I just don't want you developing bad habits. Here, I was warming up some milk to help me sleep - want some?"

I shrugged. It wasn't the cool thing to do, but it was the nice thing to do. A mother has to get in a little mothering whenever she can. And Faith _is_ my mother. A week ago, she wasn't, but now she is, and has been all my life. So to speak.

"So, how was the movie?"

"Oh, it was horrible! Cheap special effects, lousy martial arts fight scenes, junk science, crappy dialogue, no plot that I could make out..."

"So, you enjoyed yourself."

"_Oh, Yeah!_" I grinned to let her know that I hadn't been paying that much attention to the movie. "Oh, by the way, I suggested to Mike that you might pay him to mow our lawn."

"Oh, I don't know about that, Grace."

"But, MOM-"

"I already promised Hope that her friend Steve could earn some money doing the lawn."

"So, put him on pulling weeds and trimming the edges! I mean, the kid's only thirteen! Pushing that lawn mower around would probably wear him out! And what good would he be to Hope then?"

She hummed a non-committal answer to that. She sat down and we shared a companionable glass of warm milk together. As I drank, I gave Faith an once-over. Even in her bathrobe and her hair up for the night, she was still a very good-looking woman in her prime. She looked to be in her early to mid thirties - she must have been a very young mother to have a sixteen-year-old daughter, not to mention a thirteen-year-old one. Her hair was dark and wavy, like Hope's and mine, and her eyes were gray, while Hope's were green and mine were blue. Her body was still trim - Yoga, ballet training and the running that she drags us along on every chance she can, will do that. If you can see a woman's future by looking at her mother, then I don't think I have to worry about losing my looks.

As I looked at her, it occurred to me that back when I had been a man, before I had walked down that long, winding, tree-lined road, I never would have dared approach a woman like Faith. Now she was my mother, and I loved her with all my heart. I loved her, and dear, sweet, beautiful little Hope, and Mike, and Linda and Kelly, and all my friends and neighbors, and this whole town...

I gasped as the fear gripped me again. This couldn't be true. This must be a dream. This much happiness could never be mine. There has to be a catch. It has to be a lie somehow, or some supernatural force trying to trap my immortal soul. Like most people, I'd only given the occasional passing thought to the concept of a soul, but in the impossible situation that I was in, I believed completely.

I hunched over my cup of milk, shivering. "Grace, are you all right?"

"Mom?"

"Yes, Dear?"

"What's the price?"

"The price? Of what?"

"Of all this. Of this glass of warm milk. Of the house. Of the town. Of my friends. Of the neighbors. Of Hope. Of you. What is it going to cost me?"

"What ARE you talking about, Dear?"

"You're not my mother. I mean, you ARE my mother, but you're not."

"Oh, THAT makes sense."

"Mo- Faith - ten days ago, I was a forty-eight-year-old man who worked as a Security Guard in a Mall in Southern California. I was a loser. I was a guy with tons of potential, and no ability to follow through. Everything I tried, I failed at. I had no career, no real friends, my family had pretty much given up on me-"

"Grace, you're talking crazy."

"Faith, please, this is hard enough! Eight days ago, I was sitting back, taking it easy on the job. I mean, I was a fucking after-hours Mall Security Guard! Then, somehow, I was suddenly traveling down this long winding country road. It went on forever, or so it seemed. On and on, with no end in sight. Then I found myself no longer traveling, but walking down this road through green rolling hills. God, I still remember how _green_  those hills were! So green that they sang with life! You could just feel the life radiating out of everything in your bones! I walked through those hills, marveling at the rightness of it all. Then I came up to Mrs. MacKay's house, and though I know that I'd never laid eyes on it before, I knew it and her. I spoke with her as if she were an old friend - I don't remember what about. I remember looking at that stump of that great old tree out front of her house, and being very interested in those fungus patterns on the crosscut. Then I walked on, remembering the road that I walked down, even though I know that I'd never been there before. I remember meeting Sarah Postern, and feeling like I'd run into a long lost friend."

"And you knew that you'd never met her before."

"Yeah. From there, I walked into town. Same thing there - it was like coming back to a well-loved place, full of old friends, and yet my rational mind knows that I'd never been there before. Then I walked up the street to this house, and I knew that I'd somehow come home. I remember that you were here, in the kitchen, fixing something - Stuffed Green Peppers, I think.

"You welcomed me as if I were one of the family. You had me sit down and you asked me a bunch of things that I answered with vagaries. Then Hope came storming in, all a-buzz about something or nothing - you know how she is. It was all so homey. I never wanted to leave. Then I went up to my room. Yes, I knew which room was mine, without having to be told. I went in, and when I looked in the long standing mirror in my room, I was different. Instead of a fiftyish overweight loser with poor eyesight and bad teeth, I was a beautiful young girl in perfect health. I thought it was a dream, a beautiful dream, so I went along with it. I figured that I was just asleep and I'd wake up eventually. I hated to go to bed that night, because I figured that when I woke up, I'd just be back in that stupid Mall in my stupid male body. _But_, instead, I woke up in my bed. And I went about living this life in a state of almost constant deja vu, remembering places and people that I'd never seen before. Heck, I even remember my High School locker number!"

"And why didn't you say anything before this, Grace?"

"And say what? At first, I just thought it was more of the same dream. But as the week went on, I started to think it might just go on and on, if I let it. But I keep coming back to one unavoidable thought: there has to be a price for this. The world doesn't just drop unnatural treasures like this into your lap - there's always a price to be paid."

"Grace, sweetie, has it occurred to you that maybe you just had a really bad dream, and all this business about 'traveling down the road' and coming into the house was just your way of waking up?"

"That's very tempting, Faith, but it doesn't work. Faith, what do you do for a living? How do you pay the bills for the house, the car, our clothes and all the other things?"

"Grace, you know very well that I run a bookstore just off Courthouse Square! You and your sister help me out every so often!"

"_Exactly!_ You run a book store. In a small town. A book store with a coffee bar. That isn't a job, it's a pastime! Faith, what you could reasonably earn from that book store wouldn't pay the utility bills on this place, let alone all the other stuff!"

"Well, it does help that I own clear title to this house, but-"

"Not enough to cover our expenses. Faith, what state do we live in?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What State of the Union are we in? What part of the United States are we in? Are we even IN the United States? Are we in Canada? New Zealand? I doubt that we're in Great Britain or Australia, as I'd have noticed the accent."

"What are you trying to get at?"

"I don't think this place is real.  I don't know what it is, but it isn't a normal part of the normal reality that I know."

"Of course this is real!"

"Is it? Mom, I noticed today that at my school, there are no Anti-Drug posters, or any of those 'Sexual Education' or 'AIDS awareness' fliers, not even in the Nurse's Office. Why? Because teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases aren't a viable part of this reality. There's no dopers toking in the hidden corners of the school. There are cliques, but none of the usual inter-clique nastiness. The freaking Head Cheerleader is even nice to the Science Club president!"

"Grace, that just means we live in a civilized little town where the problems of the Big City haven't gotten in. I think you're reading too much into those 'social problem' programs on TV."

"Oh? Then explain this: none of the kids in my school have acne. Not one of them. Not even the fat kid who spends half his time stuffing his face with french fries. You only see that kind of hygiene in dreams or on TV! And speaking of TV, why is it that in this town, everyone has the symbols of material success - TVs, Cars, Cell Phones - but nobody ever _uses_ them? I haven't seen anyone vegging out in front of the Boob Toob; they play sports, they have conversations, they debate issues, they play music, they hold plays. In other words, they DO all the things that most people only watch on the Toob. And you hardly ever see anybody ever drive! They walk, they jog, they bike, they skate, they skateboard, but they only drive when they have to move something heavy! And the cell phones - I see them everywhere, but the only time anybody ever uses them is in an emergency! That is, if you can call forgetting to turn off the stove an emergency. No, people drop over, chat and discuss things face to face here."

"You make that sound like a horrible thing."

"No, it isn't horrible. It's very good. It's almost how I'd say life should be lived. This place is too ideal. Mom, what's the name of this town?"

"Grace, you know very well what the name of this town is."

"Humor me."

"It's Ashford Falls."

"Ashford Falls. It occurred to me today that if you changed it just ever so much, it becomes 'Bedford Falls'."

"And what sinister meaning does THAT have?"

"'Bedford Falls' is the name of the town that Jimmy Stewart lives in, in the classic Frank Capra movie 'It's A Wonderful Life'. Y'know, the one were the Angel shows Jimmy Stewart how different things would have been if he'd never been born?"

"A coincidence-"

"A coincidence? Mom, this is a small town, with no perceptible source of revenue! There's no factory or industry or packaging plant. The farms are all too small and picturesque to be profitable. There's nothing to attract tourists. We're not in commuting distance of a major city, so this isn't a bedroom suburb. And yet, for all that, everyone is comfortably well off. There are even a few genuinely wealthy families. I haven't seen any trains pull into the train station since I got here, and there's no access to any highway that I can tell. But, for all of that, the shopping mall is packed with all the latest fashions and gadgets. We even have our own radio and TV stations! Where does the money come from? What's keeping this place going? This place is impossible! Places like this only exist in dreams or on TV! It's just too good to be true! I'm living an Archie Comic! That's what's got me so spooked! I'm scared to death that I'm only dreaming, and that I'll wake up as that stupid security guard in that stupid mall! Or that I'm completely delusional, and that in reality I'm squatting in some filthy alley, drooling and pissing on myself! Or worst of all, that this is some kind of Twilight Zone thing, and that there's some supernatural price tag attached to all of this. And I'm afraid that I may not be able to pay the bill when it comes due. And that when I don't, all this will go away."

That took the wind out of Faith's sails. She settled back into the chair.

"Like I said, Mom, this place is very good. It's how life should be lived. But situations like this don't just happen. There's always a cost. Mom, I want to stay here. I want to live here, with you and Hope. Life here is sweet and good and fulfilling. But. I. HAVE. To. Know. What is the cost?"

She looked down into her cup of milk. Hollowly, she asked, "Are you going to be leaving now?"

"Mom, I don't want to leave!"

"That's what you said the last two times. But you did."

"What?"

"You've been here before. Twice. The first time you were barely in the door, when you asked me what the price was. I couldn't tell you, so you left."

"Hunh?"

"The second time, you stayed longer. But again you asked what the price was. Hope begged and cried for you not to leave, but you said that you had to go. You said you didn't want to leave, but you had to." She looked up at me, her eyes haggard with pain. "So, now you're here again. This time, you've stayed about a week. Long enough for us to really get to know and love you. But now you're going to go away again, because I can't tell you what the price is."

Hope burst into the kitchen from the hall, where she had been listening in. "No!" She wrapped her arms around me and started crying. "Don't go! Please, don't go!"

I comforted Hope as best I could. "Honey, I don't want to go, but I don't understand what's going ON here! I can't shake the feeling that if I just stay here, I'm committing to something that I can't afford! For all I know, the price for my staying here is my Immortal Soul!" I turned to Mom. "Can you at least give me some kind of guarantee that those aren't the stakes here?"

She sighed so hard that her shoulder shook. "No, I can't. I can't lie to you, either. I don't really understand what's going on either."

"What are you talking about? Isn't this your house?"

"It is, and it isn't. Some time ago, I came here down that long winding road that you were talking about. Like you, I'd been someone else before. I found this place pretty much as you had, only it was empty. But I knew that it was mine. I knew where everything was. I knew all the neighbors, and they knew me. I was home. I think you know what that feels like. All my needs were taken care of. Every time I go to the bank to take out some money, my account is well stocked with money. So far I haven't received a single credit card bill. The bookstore was just there, and everybody accepted that it was mine. Everything that I could possibly want. But there were two empty places in my life. Then, some time later - I'm not sure exactly how long - Hope came wandering down that long winding road. My little girl was home, where she belonged."  Faith reached out and laid a loving hand on Hope's shoulder. "All her things were here, just where she needed them. It was like another piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. She was already enrolled at the local Junior High. There were already children her age, who recognized her as a friend. But there was still a big hole in my life. An empty room, that was still waiting for someone to come live there. A sense that there was someone missing, someone important. Someone like you." Faith sighed and fell silent.

Hope looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "Why do you have to go?"

"I don't know, Honey- I just..."

"That's what you said the last time! And you just barely got to know the place! What's so great about wherever you came from? I came from somewhere else, too! I don't miss it at all!"

"I don't want to go. But.."

"That's what you said the last time! But you did!"

"Yes...yes...I remember...you begged me not to go, and I didn't want to - but I had to - because...I didn't know what the cost was. Just like I don't know now. And I remember why I had to go. It was because I was afraid that the cost was going to be my Immortal Soul. After all - isn't this the way the Devil is supposed to work? Take miserable people, and offer them their heart's desire - at a cost? Their Immortal Souls. But - now that I frame it in my mind, I see that there IS a difference. The Devil offers them selfish things - priceless baubles, wealth, fame, sex, or power. But this? This is Love. The Devil can't offer love, because the Devil is selfishness. I want to give myself to you, without any pricetag attached. There is no selfishness in that... Love without desire or demand - that can't be the Devil's work."

I pulled Hope from my chest and kissed away her tears. "I'll stay. That is, if this isn't just a dream or a psychotic delusion. If I wake up tomorrow morning in my bed, and not in some alley or Mall, then I'll be staying for good. But if some tall, dark stranger of ominous mien comes demanding payment, then he'll have a real fight on his hands. Whether he demands my soul or threatens to take you two away, he'll have a fight on his hands."

Faith gave a glad, wordless cry and swept us both up into her arms. We laughed and cried and kissed and hugged. Finally, Faith put on her 'Mom' hat, told us that we had school the next day, and shooed us upstairs to bed like a goosegirl with an oversized flock.

*****

I woke up with the morning sun on my face. I luxuriated for a moment in the feel of my soft sheets and the smell of the powder. Then I remembered who I really was, and my strange situation. And then I remembered what had happened last night. I felt my cheek - it was smooth and completely hairless. I pulled down my sheets and looked down at my body. I was still here, in Ashford Falls. Somehow, after last night, I figured when I went to bed it was settled somehow. Either I would wake up back in the Mall, or I would stay here permanently. It looks like I'm here for good. I reached my arms up high and yelled "YES!" at the top of my lungs.

I jumped out of bed in my nightgown and ran down the back stairs. Mom was in the kitchen, scrambling some eggs,

I couldn't contain myself. "Mom!" The minute that she stepped away from the pan to look at me, I rushed up and wrapped myself around her in a big hug.

"You're still here!" She returned the hug. "Lord, you scared me. I don't think I could bear losing you after having you here for a solid week!" She let me go and took a look at me. "You're not going to go to school like that, are you?"

I looked down at myself and realized that I'd come down in my nightgown, without even pulling on a robe. I gave a squeak and hurried back upstairs, with Mom's laughter following me.

When I finished deciding on what to wear to school and came back down, Hope was at the table, eating her breakfast. "Grace! You're still here!" She burst up from the table and gave me big hug. It was that kind of morning.

"Yeah, I'm still here - and I appear to have eggs on me."

I sat down and helped myself to some cereal to go with the eggs that Mom was rustling up. I noticed that the 'cereal' was more like muesli than any of the over-processed breakfast candy that you see on the supermarket shelves. Come to think of it, the milk was in one of those old-fashioned round glass bottles that milkmen used to bring to your house, and you would leave the empties for them to take back. And there were croissants, which I don't remember being in the fridge last night. "Mom? Is there a dairy service in this town? The kind that drops off milk, eggs, butter and bread from the local bakery?"

"Yes, of course there is."

"Weird. I thought they stopped doing that kind of thing decades ago!"

"Yes, well, as you said last night, this town is rather different."

"No kidding. I just wish I knew what to expect. Mom, you said that you and Hope have been here for a while. How old was Hope when she came here?"

"The same age she is now."

"Ah. So, she's only been here a few weeks."

"Ah- No."

"Months?"

"No. More like years."

"_Years?_"

"Well, it's hard to say how long a time has passed in the world we knew, but at any rate, I can be certain that two turns of the seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, Holiday season, winter, and spring again - have passed."

"Yeah, the Holidays are great around here!"

"They observe Christmas here?"

"Well, more like Yuletide than Christmas - there's Santa Claus, and a deep sense of religious significance, but the religious specifics aren't there."

"Kind of like a non-denominational government holiday party?"

"Not that politically correct. It isn't that they aren't trying to offend anyone, it's just that the emphasis is more the spirit of the holidays than on the images."

"That's interesting. Wait, now what was I thinking about? Oh yes! So, Hope was in Grade School when she first came."

"No, I distinctly remember, she was enrolled at the Junior High!"

"But she's in her First Year Class! I remember, because she keeps complaining about the Second Year kids!"

"Yes, and every year she keeps going back to Junior High, for her First Year!"

"She keeps getting left back?"

Hope piped up, "No, I just keep having a Thirteenth birthday!"

"And nobody notices that your classmates get promoted, while you keep doing the same year, over and over?"

"Well, some do and some don't! Alice Brody has been my best friend since my first day here, and she keeps doing the First Year with me. But some kids go on to the Second Year, and some just don't show up at school anymore."

"Yes, I've noticed that, too," Mom added. "There are people who just kind of show up - sort of like we did - and they just fit in. And I vaguely remember that there were people here who were here when I first came, who aren't here anymore. Like the old librarian."

"You mean Sarah, the nice lady with the auburn hair and the big glasses?"

"No. Before Sarah showed up, there was another lady there. Her name was...mmm...Miss Archer! She looked to be in her early sixties, had silver hair, and had a faint English accent. Then Sarah showed up, and Miss Archer...just stopped coming to the library."

"Maybe she retired?"

"In a town this size, the head librarian retiring would be a subject of conversation."

"True. And people are always talking about one thing or another. So, what about the High School?"

"What about it, dear?"

"Is it the same? Will I be in the Junior class year after year, with the same people, or will they change? Has the school principal been the same guy since you came here, or has there been more subtle changes?"

"To be honest, I don't know! To tell the truth, before you came, I didn't have that much to do with the High School! I mean, I was aware that we had a High School, and that they had a Baseball, Football, Basketball and Soccer teams, but I don't remember ever going to a game!"

"How about classes? Will I be taking the same classes, over and over?"

Hope shoveled a big spoon of 'cereal' in her mouth and chewed very thoughtfully. "I dunno. I remember taking the classes, and something being taught, and I feel like I learned something, but I can't put what I learned into words. It's always something new, something that really pushes my noggin to wrap around it."

Faith gave an exasperated sigh. "Grace, why do you insist on asking all these questions? Why can't you just accept that this place is as it appears? Even if we could figure out exactly what's going on, what are the chances that we could do anything about it? Did it ever occur to you that by looking this gift horse in the mouth, you might be spoiling it?"

"Faith, your last question sort of puts my position into perfect perspective - 'looking a gift horse in the mouth': you check a horse's mouth to see how young and fit it is. To see whether it's a sound horse or a broken down nag. To see what you're letting yourself in for."

"Maybe, but even riding a broken down old nag is better than walking. Grace, why is it so important to you that you understand everything right now? Maybe if you go poking at things too much, it will all turn out to be a dream, and we'll all wake up."

"Mom, that's silly! How can we all be sharing the same dream?"

"How can any of this be true? You spent a lot of time last night pointing out the inconsistencies in this town. 'Possible' doesn't really seem to be a big thing." Faith walked over and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "All I'm saying, is don't go upsetting people pointing out inconsistencies. For all we know, these people - heck, WE - may need these inconsistencies just to keep going!"

"So, you're saying 'go with the flow'?"

"I'm saying notice things to your heart's content - just don't make me come to the High School and talk to your guidance counselor, hunh, Honey?"

After that we rather pointedly shelved the topic, finished breakfast and began our days.

*****

The days went on. I never really got used to waking up in my bed. Each morning, I woke up with a minor panic attack that I was waking up in the Mall or in a back alley or a psycho ward. Of course, it is a true blessing to be able to wake up genuinely grateful to have what you do. I had more friends than I'd originally had as a kid. And we did things! Most kids, most people, waste their time, doing the same old thing over and over. But we were always doing something different, something new. And we weren't trapped in Ashford Falls. Somehow, we were always in driving distance of someplace fun and exciting. The shore, the mountains, a forest, the big city - if we needed to go somewhere, it was always a few hours' scenic driving away. And no, I was never able to find out what the name of the city was - it was just 'The City'. Slowly, almost against my better judgement, I began to settle in and just enjoy my new life.

*****

There was a carnival in town. Like so much else about Ashford Falls, it was just right and it wasn't right, all at the same time. With that gimlet eye of mine, I noticed that the rides were sort of like the rides that I remember, but different and better. Well, for one thing, the seats weren't sticky. No, it was more than that. Most of the Carny rides and games that I remember from my old life are shabby affairs. This carnival had a touch of magic about it. Riding the merry-go-round was like flying, and the roller coaster (how the hell did they pack a freaking roller coaster for transport, anyway?) did things that mere centrifugal force couldn't account for. Their animals were clean, healthy, happy and improbable. I mean, it's no great shakes for a carny to phony up a unicorn, but where did the sphinx and the griffin come from? And the mermaid didn't look like a bimbo in a legstocking tail, either.

The whole gang went to the carnival, and I spent the whole time hanging on Mike's arm. Well, it was such a strong arm, why wouldn't I hang on it? He made sure that I didn't fall out of the roller coaster, helped me hold onto my cotton candy on the spinning teacups, and kept me safe from all the spooky stuff in the haunted house. While I admit that I didn't really need to be held all that much, who was _I_ to complain? And, y'know, there really was some really scary stuff in that 'haunted house'. The scariest were those indistinct little humanoid shapes with the pointy ears that were hiding in the shadows of everything. They never jumped out at you or shrieked or anything else that the other spooky stuff did, they just watched. And that was the really frightening thing.

I was actually shivering as we walked out of the 'haunted house'. "Hey, Gracie, you okay?" Mike asked.

I slipped under his arm. "Yeah, I'm just a little creeped out, y'know?"

Mike pulled me in tight and said to the gang, "Hey, guys, Gracie needs a little time out. You go on to the Tilt-O-Wheel without us, okay?"

It was night, and I needed a break from the bright lights and the noise of the carny. The dark and the quiet were good for my nerves. Of course, Mike's arm around my waist was better. We stood there and did the chitchat thing for a while. I could feel Mike bracing himself to make a move (it was about damn time!) and shifted my position to make it a little easier.

Mike took my face in both his hands and kissed me. His kiss was deep and long, and I could tell that it was a warming-up kiss, not a last-lingering kiss. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him right back. The gathering dark and the evening cool made the woods a perfect place to be alone. He ran his hands over my body, and I gasped into his mouth. This was going to go a lot further than we'd gone so far, I could tell. I pulled my mouth from his, and looked into his eyes. Did I really want to go all the way with Mike Allanger tonight? All my doubts and hesitation disappeared in a snap. Yes, I did want to go all the way with him. Even if the worst happened and Mike bragged about 'bagging' me to all his friends, having sex with him would be the thing that sealed my commitment to being here. With this, I completely gave up on that life that I'd once led. And good riddance!

I mashed my mouth against his and started running my hands over his body in return. Our petting grew heavier and more lustful. Mike slipped his hand under my sweater and cupped one breast. I pushed my chest forward, pressing my breast into his hand. He gave my tit a squeeze, and slipped his other hand under my skirt. He grabbed a handful of ass and started to slip off my panties. Then I saw it.

Or should I say, them. At first, I thought that they were just some kids, getting their jollies watching us. I focused in their direction, to give them a warning snarl not to bother us. Then I got a better look at them.

They were the faceless things with the pointed ears that had been in the 'haunted house'. There were about five or seven or so of them. They were creeping up on us through the shadows and along the minor obstructions. They froze when they saw that I'd spotted them. We were stuck there for a split second that lasted a century, looking at each other, neither wanting to make a false first move. I had no idea of what they were or what they wanted, but every instinct that I had told me that these guys were bad news.

Mike picked up on my freeze. "What's the matter, Gracie? Don't you want to?"

The hobgoblins (or whatever they were) broke and ran when Mike spoke. They blended perfectly into the night, with nothing to show that they'd ever so much as existed. Which was all for the best. There was too much that I didn't understand about all of this to involve Mike unnecessarily. But I thought Mom might have a better idea of what was going on that Mike did. At least, I knew that she knew that there was something strange about Ashford Falls, and I wouldn't have to make awkward explainations.

I gave Mike a fulminating look and said, "Of course I do, Mikey! But not here, not right now. Not out in the woods, where we'll be all rushed 'cause we don't want other neckers tripping over us." I took his right hand and placed it on my breast. "How about this? Tomorrow night, my Mom's got a date with Carl Proctor. If I tell her that I have a date with you, then I can get my kid sister to do a sleepover at her best girlfriend's house. We go out for our date and come back after she's gone out for the night. Then we can have the house to all ourselves. We can have the whole night together, in my bed."

Mike gave me a wide grin and gave my breast a friendly squeeze. "It'll be hard, but I can wait."

I rubbed a thigh against his groin, feeling the lump there. "Oh yes, I can tell how hard it is." Then I made out like my beeper had gone off. "Damn! I guess that it's just as well..." I reached into my purse, made a production of turning off my beeper and pulling out my cell phone.

I punched in Mom's number and whispered into the phone when she answered, "Mom? Something weird is going on - no, it's not the usual weird, it's really weird. No, I can't talk - Mike's right here." Then a little more loudly, I said, "Okay, Mom - if you insist..." I looked at Mike apologetically. "Sorry, Sweetie, my Mom says I gotta come home right now." I stood on my tippy-toes and gave him a big smooch. "Hey, there's no reason that you gotta miss out just 'cause my Mom is getting weird - you just go find the guys and have a good time, 'kay? And NO locker room bragging, y'hear?"

He laughed and gave me a long, deep goodnight kiss. Then we each reluctantly went our own way.

Once Mike was out of sight and earshot, I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and redialed Mom. "Mom? It's me. I'm at the carnival. The gang was going through their 'haunted house' and-" I outlined what had happened; without mentioning Mike having his hands under my clothes, naturally. "So, does this sound like anything that I should know about?"

"Honey, are you sure..."

"Mom, I know what I saw!" There was no sound on the other end. "Mom? Mom?!"

Then she was suddenly on the other end. "Grace! I just checked Hope's room, in case she came in and forgot to tell me!"

My blood ran cold "Hope? What about Hope?"

"She went to the carnival too, with a bunch of her friends. She was supposed to be home before dark! Grace, she isn't here!"

I took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. Get in the car and come and pick me up at the corner of Stewart and Bailey streets. You call Alice Brody's place while you're coming. I'll call her friend Steve's mom and Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Powell while I'm waiting. I have an idea of where she might be, but believe me, I'd rather be wrong."

Five minutes later, Mom picked me up at the corner of Stewart and Bailey. Hope wasn't anywhere. Alice Brody had come home alone after Hope ditched her at the carnival. Or at least she thought Hope had ditched her. But then, there was no reason for her to think anything bad might have happened to Hope. Bad things like that just didn't happen in Ashford Falls.

Mom looked at me with fear in her eyes. "So, what's your hunch, Honey?"

"The 'haunted house' at the carnival. I spotted them there when I went through with Mike and the gang. And think about it - if they have Hope and they're doing something to her, it would be the perfect place to hide. Her screams would be dismissed as just sound effects, and they have all those props to use. Even if she isn't there, it's best to get that possibility out of the way, right, Mom?"

The look of fear left her eyes and was replaced by the half-wild resolve of a mother protecting her young. If those hobgoblins so much as harmed a hair on Hope's head, Faith would have their heads on poles. "But why would the carnival people want to take Hope?"

"Dunno. We don't have enough facts."

"So, what do your instincts, your intuition tell you?" I gave her a questioning look. "You're the one who can't stop asking the why of this place. Hope and I just accepted it, but you kept asking things about the whys and the hows and the wherefores. You spotted those things, so you may be able to see them when others can't. My gut feeling is that you somehow are able to see things like this and put them together. I think if you just let yourself figure it all out, you'll know what's going on." A look of solid determination came over her. "I think tonight, we're gonna find out a lot of answers. And I think you're going to be a major part of it, sweetheart."

Whoa! Mom was coming over with some major intuitions of her own! I took a deep breath and let myself free associate. "Okay. The Carny people. All right, we know they aren't part of the usual set-up here in Ashford Falls. And Ashford Falls isn't a normal place. So, how did they get here? Did they just materialize, so that Ashford Falls could have a change of pace? No. Hold on. The forest. The mountains. The shore. The Big city. They all had their own sort of reality. But it wasn't the same reality as Ashford Falls, or the world that we used to live in. Carnivals and circuses by their very definition move from one place to another. Suppose this Carnival moves from one reality to another? It comes, it stays for a while, and then it moves on, just like a normal carnival. Only it doesn't go from town to town, it goes from world to world!" I gave Mom a look of awesome realization. "That's it! That's what Ashford Falls is! It's a crossroads!"

"A crossroads?"

"A place where different planes of reality meet! People come to Ashford Falls in order to pass through to other worlds!"

"But we don't see that many strangers-"

"Yes, we do! All the time! But the place just accepts them as being part of the landscape, just like it accepted us!"

"So, all those people who are here for a long time and then just 'move on'..."

"I think Ashford Falls is sort of like a 'decompression chamber' between the universes. A person comes here, acclimatizes to...whatever...and then goes to wherever they're headed."

"Hope did say she couldn't really frame what she was learning in school in terms of Math, History or Science. But if that's so, then where are we headed, Grace? Will we be going together?"

"We can figure that out later. Your instinct is that Hope is in some kind of danger. My instinct is that those hobgoblins are dangerous. Hope was last seen at the carnival. I know for a fact that at least some of them are in that 'haunted house'. Even if Hope isn't in that 'haunted house', then it's likely that we'll find something or someone who'll tell us where she is."

"Okay, what about the carnival people? Do we ask them to look for Hope? Do we ask them about the hobgoblins? Do we avoid them?"

"Nggg...I dunno. I don't get a threatening vibe offa them, but then if they do this regularly, they'd find a way to seem as non-threatening as possible, wouldn't they? We just don't know enough about what's happened to us to take any chances."

"Then we only deal with them if we absolutely have to. There are old wives' tales about carnivals that steal children and sell them as slaves in faraway lands. It was mostly provincial paranoia about strangers, but maybe these people are at the root of that legend somehow."

When we pulled up to the carnival parking lot, Andy's car was still there, so the gang was still around. Every instinct I had told me not to involve them in this. Mom and I went up to the 'haunted house' and got our tickets. The ticket lady said, "Hey, didn't you come through here before with your boyfriend?"

"Ah, yeah! GREAT haunted house!" Okay, it was lame, but I wanted to keep it short.

Mom and I threaded our way through the maze. It actually was a lot spookier, knowing that those things might be in there. But the hobgoblins were either onto us, or they were busy elsewhere, 'cause I didn't see hide nor hair of the little bugaboos. We couldn't call out to Hope, because they might not have her in the haunted house, as perfect a place as it would be. If we went crashing around, the carny people, whether they were with the hobgoblins or not, would throw us out of the carnival, and we'd lose Hope forever. We paced about, looking for anything that might give us a clue, but nothing showed itself.

Then an Angel passed. You know, one of those really weird times when suddenly everyone stops talking and everything stops making noise, all at the same time, and there's this brief uncanny silence. But no, there was ONE sound still there, one that we couldn't hear over all the din - the sound of a girl crying.

Then there was a loud mechanical clang, and everyone was talking all at once again. But I knew that I could hear crying, and I followed the sound like a bloodhound after a scent. I followed the sound to a false wall decorated with a really ugly mounted head of something with horns. "She's behind here!"

Together, we started slamming our hands on the partition and yelling Hope's name.

The crying stopped, and we heard a soft, timid voice say, "Mom? Grace?"

Screw the carny people, we tore the partition out baring a makeshift room formed by four partitions. The room was literally crawling with hobgoblins, and there were glass jars mounted on the walls. Inside the jars were swirling masses that every so often you could make out something like a face. The hobgoblins had Hope bent backwards over some bales. They had a glass jar over her mouth, and they were pricking and prodding her with knives and needles and shards of glass and other sharp things. As she cried out in pain, a little of a glowing vapor came out of her mouth to be trapped in the jar.

Mom totally lost it, and I was right behind her. We tore into the little bastards like a couple of she-tigers. They tore at us with their knives and pins and glass and teeth and fangs. We barely noticed. Mom tore the hobgoblins holding Hope off of her, and sent the jar they'd been holding at her mouth flying. Working on pure reflex, I grabbed the jar and kept the vapor inside it from escaping.

Mom was trying to get Hope to answer her, but Hope was only a shell of herself.

I handed Mom the jar, as the hobgoblins circled and tried to steel themselves for a second try. "Feed her this, Mom."

As Mom put the jar to Hope's lips, the hobgobins charged again. I tried to keep them off of Mom and Hope, but there were too many of them, and they just kept coming. I needed to do something else. Then I spotted the jars on the wall. The damn hobgoblins must want them for something!

I pulled at a shelf and brought a row of the jars down. They landed with a crash, and moaning vapors rose from the piles of shattered glass. The vapors coiled around the hobgoblins, who suddenly weren't quite as feisty. The vapors formed wispy bodies, which clawed and tore at the hobgoblins. As they wrapped their foggy forms around the hobgoblins, the vapors setup a howl of mixed rage, pain and despair that rattled through the 'haunted house'.

Mom finished pouring the glowing vapor from the jar back into Hope. Hope looked like she was ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And none of us had any bubblegum. She grabbed the jar and yelled, "YOU! You tried to put me in this jar! YOU belong in this jar!"

There was a...well, swirling is the best word that I could come up with for it. The entire _world_ seemed to spin for a moment. The vapors dug their claws into the hobgoblins and they all swept up into the reality eddy. The eddy swirled into the jar, cramming the ever silent hobgoblins into the jar. But not only the hobgoblins that had been packed into the small room were drawn into the jar. They came flying into the room, apparently drawn from every corner of the carnival, maybe even Ashford Falls. For some reason, Mom reached out and grabbed one of the hobgoblins as it flew past her. Finally, they stopped flying in from outside the 'haunted house'.

I admit it, I goggled. "Hope - HOW did you DO that?"

Hope looked at the jar, shaken. "I don't know. I just DID it."

"Why didn't you do it when they grabbed you?"

"I couldn't then. I don't know why, but for some reason, I couldn't. I couldn't even really see them. All that I could see were sharp things that poked at me.Then you two came in. Then I could see them. Then I knew that I could do what I did. So, I did."

Before we could go into it any further, a bunch of carny people showed up. "What is this? What did you do? Who's going to pay for this?"

Then an impressive looking man who I took for the boss of the outfit came through the crowd. "And what do you women think you're doing?"

Mom wasn't having any of it. She marched right up to him and said, "Does this belong to you?" She held the hobgoblin by its throat up to his face.

"A Sverlag? Why would we be keeping sverlags?" He said the last word with a slightly revolted sneer, as if we'd accused him of dipping live rats into the lemonade.

"Well, we didn't have any of the damn things here until you all showed up. And they had this little hideaway all arranged. They grabbed my daughter, and were poking her life's own essence out of her with pins and needles!"

"And how do we know that they weren't here already, and snuck in here looking for a way out?" the Carny Boss demanded.

"Those-" I pointed to the shelves and the broken jars, "-have been here for a while. It looks like they've pulled this stunt in several of your previous stops."

The Carny Boss chuffed defensively. "Well, we didn't know anything about it. How could we? Handling that sort of thing is YOUR job! You should have found them when we rolled into town!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you ARE this place's Guardians, aren't you?"

"We only came to this place recently. Nobody's seen fit to inform us of anything." That seemed to be important to the carny folk, but they didn't clue us in to what it meant. But Mom wasn't letting them off the hook that easily. She shoved the Sverlag into the Carny Boss' hand and said, "Even so, you brought this filth into our place, and into other places before. You apparently are more familiar with this situation than we are, so you should have seen the signs before we did. You brought this into our town, you take it out. Now."

"But we're scheduled to stay here for another week!"

"You didn't clear it with us, and you claim that we have some kind of authority. We can't be sure that you had anything to do with these Sverlag creatures, so we won't take any more drastic actions against you.  But we can't be sure that you didn't have anything to do with them, either. So, we're telling you to go. Now."

"But you're punishing us for something that we knew nothing about! We have business in this town!"

I jumped in. "Exactly. And we don't know what that business is. And you all know that we aren't completely clued into this situation. So, there's that temptation to try to pull a fast one while we don't know what's going on."

"We wouldn't-"

"We don't know that. AND there's always one wiseguy in every crew."

Mom took complete charge of the situation. "Listen up, Mac, you'll be gone by sunrise, and you won't come back for five years. By then, we should have this situation under wraps, and you can do your business as usual."

The Carny Boss drew himself up to his full height. "And if we don't go?"

Hope walked up to him, smiled acidly and said in a vicious little girl voice, "I've always wanted a toy circus! You can be the ringmaster! And she can be the trapeze artist!"

The Carny Boss blanched and said, "Pio, tell the crew to start breaking down the rides. We gotta be out of here by dawn." Then he looked at Mom. "Two years?"

"Three years. Period." She shoved the jar of Sverlags into his hands. "Dump these somewhere else."

He turned, handed the jar to one of his people and with a clap of his hands, set the rest of his people to work.

Nobody stopped us as we left. Only Hope's size kept Mom from carrying her like a little girl. We were all seriously rattled. As we piled into the car, Hope turned in her seat to face me. "Grace, what just happened?"

"How would _I_ know?"

"Well, you're the one who sees stuff and figures stuff out!"

It suddenly struck me as absolutely true. "You're right. I'm the one who can see things. And when you threatened that carny guy with being changed into a toy, he believed you. Why did you say that, anyway?"

Hope shrugged. "It seemed right."

"Okay, so, I'm the one who can see things, and you can make things happen. Well, you always were a dreamer."

"So, what does that make ME?" Mom asked as she pulled the car out of the parking lot.

"Well, Hope couldn't see the hobgoblins-"

"Call them Sverlags. It seems to be their name."

"Okay, she couldn't see the sverlags until I got there. And she couldn't do anything until you got there. Come to think of it, I knew instinctively that I couldn't really do anything until you were there. And the Carny Boss took you for the one in charge. Mom, I think you're the one that makes all of this real. Come to think of it, you were the first one here. You came here and made this place real. Then Hope came here, and things started happening. You just didn't notice that things hadn't been happening before. Then I came, and we all noticed that things were weird. So, you're the one that gives this place reality, Hope's the one that can change things, and I'm the one that sees how it all relates to each other."

"The Graiae."

"What?"

"The Graiae. The three weird sisters that Perseus goes to see, so that they'll tell him how to find the Gorgons, so that he can kill Medusa."

"Perseus? How does a Greek myth have anything to do with all this?"

"Listen to me, I'm the one that makes this all real, remember? In all different kinds of myths, there are three women who hold the key to great wisdom and power. I mean, think about the Perseus legend - a guy goes out and kills a really gross monster. So what? But what if there is more to it than that? I mean, why does Perseus need to ask the three sisters where the Gorgons are, in the first place? Anything that dangerous, all you'd have to do is ask, because people would know where they were, just to avoid them! But what if the Gorgons didn't live in the world that we lived in? What if they really lived in another plane of reality? Maybe the Graiae were kind of like customs inspectors, letting some things pass from one world to another, while keeping others out. So, Perseus goes to the three sisters to pass from the world of Greece to the world of the Gorgons. And he has to use the Eye of the Graiae to find the right world."

"The Eye of the Graiae?"

"Yes, think about it - between them, they all just had one eye. An Eye. An ability to see things. Your ability, Grace. They also had one tooth among them. A Tooth. An ability to bite and gnaw, as to change the world. In the orignial story, there was probably a third thing, to symbolize my ability to stablize and define things, which was lost in the constant retelling."

 I jumped on the idea. "Mom, Hope - we are the Graiae! Our job is to keep this place open, so that people can pass from one world to another, while keeping things like those Sverlags out! Mom, you have your nice quiet steady job at the bookstore, keeping things running. Hope, you go running around playing with your friends, dreaming things up, so to keep possibilities open, and handle things that do show up. And me? I run around with my friends, keeping busy, so that I can keep tabs on things. We let people come here, stay for a while, adjust to being in a new world, and then move on."

Mom pulled the car up into our driveway. "This is a lot of responsibility. I can't believe that nobody told us anything!"

I got out of the car and shrugged. "Maybe the people who know what the rules here are, don't know that we're the Guardians, so that they can't tell us. So, do we start telling people that we're the Guardians?"

Mom shook her head. "No. I think our anonymity is our best safeguard. This is a nice place, full of nice people. But, as you said, there's always a wiseguy. We'll just figure it out as we go along. Besides, now that you know you have your Sight, you should figure out who's who and what's what around here. You didn't before, because you didn't know that you could. Nope, no matter what's happened, we'll go on as before. If something comes up, we'll deal with it. No, I'm happy with things just as they are." She shot me a look. "Well, YOU look happy! Care to share this joy with us?"

"This. Being the Guardians. That's the price of being here. It's the price of everything. We love this place, so we'll defend it with everything we have."

"And?"

My smile was almost too wide for my face. "And, I accept the bargain! It was driving me crazy, not knowing what the price of all this was! But now, I can finally relax and enjoy it!"

Hope cheered and gave me a big hug. Mom leaned over, tears in her eyes, and kissed me. "Welcome Home, Honey."

As we trooped into the kitchen for a celebratory bowl of lemon sherbert, I asked Mom, "Oh, by the way, I made a date with Mike for tomorrow night. If you're still going out with Carl Proctor, can Hope spend the night over at Alice Brody's?" In my mind, I was already buying a lacey little nothing to wear when Mike came over.

END