Samples From The Book "Fairies On The Altar"

The legends have lived on in oral history down to this day. Known only to a select group of people passed on from each generation, the land formerly known as Sita-Anahita, now called Eden Valley, was the most beautiful spot on earth and held more than secrets.

Divone and Gilda Amado, 15 year old identical twin girls, lived in a 300 year old cottage on the remote edge of town by the river near the forest, about five miles away from their high school. Although the twins were beautiful with their long, black hair, green eyes, thin, matured faster than other girls their age and very smart, they were considered freaks and weirdoes, especially for their heritage and choice in companionship. For the past three centuries, the Amando family has always lived here until a group of townies burned out most of the homes in that area.

Divone and Gilda lived with their great-aunt since their parents died in a mysterious accident. The police refused to investigate the case and wrote it off as a freak death. Most of the town just avoided them and refused to help the girls out in their time of need. When Divone and Gilda went to school, the popular kids, Elizabeth and Samantha Parker, from the wealthiest family in town, who normally wouldn't give them the time of day were suddenly too nice.

"Girls! Wake up! You're going to be late for school." Yelled their great aunt Agnes.

"Aunt Aggie," replied Gilda, "I'm not feeling well today. Can I stay home?"

"You know my answer to that one, young lady. Come on, get dressed now."

"Way to go, Gilda," said Divone, "You know aunt Aggie could never fall for that one. Mom said she was the queen of pulling that off with great-grandma."

"Oh god! I keep forgetting that one," Gilda continued, "Ever since Aggie moved in with us last week, I keep forgetting she's not some lame babysitter. I keep hoping Mom and Dad will walk through the door soon catching us getting into something before sending us to our room."

"Don't worry, I keep thinking the same thing, too. So, what do you think the kids are going to do to us today?"

"Frankly, I don't care anymore. I have tried to get along with all those snobby, rich valley kids, but every chance they get, they do something mean to us."

"I wonder what exactly Liz and Sami are up to. They are usually the ones who are meanest to us. Lately they have gone out of their way to be nice. Yesterday, Liz came up to me and gave me a big hug and said if I needed a friend to talk to she would be there. When she left, I could hear her giggling down the hall with her friends and saw them whispering back and forth."

"Somehow, I don't know how though, I get the feeling they know something about Mom and Dad. It would just seem strange for those two to show any sympathy to us when there is nothing in it for them."

Elizabeth and Samantha were spoiled rich brats born a year apart. Elizabeth and Samantha had deep red hair and dark blue eyes, but apart from that you couldn't tell they were sisters. Elizabeth was very thin almost tall enough to be a supermodel. Samantha was a full foot shorter and slightly pudgy.

When Samantha was only six and was supposed to start first grade, she contracted mononucleosis and was sick for five months. So by the time she was well enough to return to school, she was so far behind the rest of the class it was decided best if she would stay at home and wait out the year and return to grade one with her sister. The Parkers wanted the best education for their daughters, so in that rare occasion they would not buy Samantha's way out of embarrassment, but instead installed in both daughters the idea that since they had money, no one could dare mess with them.

Divone and Gilda ran down the stairs and gobbled down breakfast then hurried on their bikes to go to school. They arrived after the bell rang and were sent into the attendance office to get written up.

"Girls," lectured Father Stewart Marthan, "St. Vincent's Academy has a very strict policy on tardiness. This is your fourth tardy in a month. I am going to have to schedule you to serve detention on Saturday. You had better be there by 9 A.M., on time ladies."

"Yes, sir." The girls said in unison as they were getting up to leave the office.

As the girls were on the way to class, they talked.

"I hate being a sophomore. I can't wait until we graduate from this prison." Complained Divone, "I hate being guided by a clock."

"Me, too, but you know what those teachers always say to that, 'When you grow up your entire life will be ruled by the clock, so get used to it!' What a crock! At least we have only a month left to go before spring vacation."

"I wish we could live in a world where for once we could be on top and all of these teachers and snobs would be at our beck and call."

"Yeah, but instead we are the peons."

"Hey, freaks!" A voice yelled out as a boy ran past them, knocking over their books. And quickly left them to pick up the mess before a teacher came out to yell at the girls for making so much noise.

"This is exactly what I mean. People like that will pay."

As they were picking up their stuff, the bell rang and people raced outside the classrooms trying to get to their next class. They stood up, two gorgeous guys ran into them, knocking their books down again.

"Ooops, I'm sorry," said the handsome boy with light blonde hair, "Let us help you pick these things up."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, too," said the one who looked exactly like the other boy, "We're new to this school and don't really know where our next class is."

"Welcome to the school." said Gilda, "I'm Gilda and this is my sister, Divone."

"Hi! I'm Nathan and this is my brother, John."

"Can I see your schedule?" asked Divone, "Maybe we can help you out."

As they looked at the schedule, their eyes lit up, "Wow!" said Divone, "You have the exact, same classes as me and Gilda. Just follow us."

The group made it into the classroom and walked in. Liz and Sami were already seated at the back of the class sitting on the desk doing their nails. Sami looked up and motioned over John and Nathan.

"Thanks for taking us to class," said John, "I think we will be fine now."

Then the boys walked up to Liz and Sami as those girls made sure Divone and Gilda would see them embracing them in a passionate kiss and peeking over to give them the evil eye.

Divone and Gilda took their usual seats next to their friends, Sulis and Manuel Gilbert and Nerthus Williams. Everyone calls Sulis, Sue and they call Nerthus, Nertie. Sue and Manuel are cousins, but everyone keeps thinking they are sister and brother.

Everyone picks on them because Sue and Nertie are a lesbian couple and Manuel is a homosexual. Sue is short, fat with brown eyes and short brown hair. Manuel is also short, but very thin and almost looks like a girl from behind as his brown hair is shoulder length and his bangs cover his brown eyes. Nertie is about an average looking blonde with green eyes who people say she looks like the poster girl for white trash. These kids are also very smart and from the older part of town and poor. Together, they made the perfect target for bullies.

Teachers would always pick on them because they were so smart, but refused to apply themselves to their work and seemed to think they were encouraging the reaction from their classmates. Kids would pick on them because they were so different and could get away with taunting them, knowing no one would do anything about it.

Mr. Knowles, the history teacher, told the class to settle down, they had a test today. Gilda was finished first and sneaked a peek around class to get a view of the new students. She could see Liz and Sami passing notes back and forth to the boys.

"Mr. Knowles," yelled out Sami, "Gilda keeps looking back here."

"Gilda, if you are finished with your test, please keep your eyes forward. Sami, if you would pay more attention to your test than the notes you and your friends keep passing, then maybe you could get above a D this time."

Gilda sat smugly with her head resting on her hands, thinking to herself, "I am so glad Mr. Knowles is so fair. Out of all the teachers, he is the only one I like."

Then a voice popped in her head, "I like him, too." Gilda quickly held her head up and glanced at her sister as Divone looked at her. They stared for a moment and looked away.

"I must have been imagining that," both girls thought to themselves.

The bell rang and Mr. Knowles ordered everyone to place their test on his desk. As Sami and Liz whizzed past the desk of Gilda and Divone, they gave them a pinch and whispered in a mean way, "Stay away from our boyfriends!"

Nathan and John got up from their desks and seemed to want to avoid Gilda and Divone. That left the girls wondering what exactly was on those notes.

Gilda, Divone, Manuel, Sue and Nertie waited until the class was pretty much out to avoid most of the rude remarks, then went on their way to lunch. Sue and Nertie walked hand in hand as kids called them all kinds of names then called the rest of the group, "Freaks!"

"Did you catch the new boys in class?" said Manuel, "They were hot!"

"Who could miss them?" Gilda replied, "They were cute and nice."

"I'm not so sure about that," retorted Nertie, "If they are so nice why are they hanging out with Liz and Sami?"

"They said they were new to school," said Divone, "but apart from being told they are boyfriends of Liz and Sami, I don't know anything about them."

"How about I use my connections to find out more?" said Sue.

"Oh, please? Would you?" asked Divone.

"Sure. I am working in the records office next period."

"I still don't trust them." said Nertie.

The group sat down at their usual table to dine on their lunches from home. As they started talking, Liz and Sami walked by their table carrying a tray with their hot lunches and stopped to talk to them.

"If you think we were kidding, think again." warned Sami, "That means you, too Manuel, stay away from our boyfriends."

Nastily, Liz and Sami walked away.

"Well," said Gilda, "At least they are now back to their usual selves."

"I wish something bad would happen to them, just for once." said Divone.

Just then, Liz tripped and fell into her tray and Sami tripped on top of her, also spilling her tray. The girls were a mess and argued over whose fault it was. John and Nathan tried to help, but the girls started throwing food at each other, so they left. A teacher came to break up their fight and sent them to the office to clean up and for punishment.

"Well," said Divone, "I guess wishes can come true."

John and Nathan walked by their table. As Gilda called out to get their attention, the boys walked right by as if they didn't exist.

"I guess they're not so nice after all." Nertie said sarcastically.

The group got through lunch without much incident. Gilda and Divone packed up their things and headed for Religious Studies class. Sue went on her way to the office. Nertie and Manuel went to their advanced Physics class.

In the hallway, Nertie told Manuel to cover for her, she was going to ditch class. Nertie barely escaped the view of the teacher as she headed out the building to sneak a smoke. She has been smoking for a few years and can't seem to quit. The last time she was caught smoking in the girl's room by some nuns who made her serve detention. She didn't want any lectures from her friends, so she kept this habit in secrecy.

Nertie hid by some bushes to light up. As she sat there puffing on a cigarette, she saw Liz and Sami come out of the building. They were waiting for someone to come pick them up. Nertie decided to spy on them.

"I can't believe this. We just bought these at the mall last weekend and they are ruined." Liz angrily complained. "Why the hell didn't you watch where you were going?"

"Don't lay this one on me! Why the hell didn't you watch where you were going? You were the one to trip first."

"What really sucks is we have to cancel our appointment at the salon just to serve detention. I just hope there are some cool kids there, too. At least Nathan and John are supposed to be in detention on Saturday, so we can always sit with them. Usually seems it's only the scums, freaks, creeps and weirdos who get it. I could just imagine one of them thinking that we would actually want anything to do with them."

"Well, forget about that. We can sit in the back and snooze. Hopefully we can sneak out of telling Father and Mother. They would make sure we never will be allowed out on Saturday night. What should we tell them?"

"How about we forge a note saying we were sent home sick and have to come back to school on Saturday to make up some tests? Since we're covered in food, we could say we threw up and they might even buy us new outfits."

"Sounds good to me." Sami reached into her purse to pull out a pad of paper as some crumpled papers fell out.

"You dropped something."

"Oh, that's not important. Let the low life janitors clean it up. They should kiss our feet anyway. If it weren't for us, they wouldn't have a job."

Both girls laughed as a car pulled up near the sidewalk. Their butler stepped out of the car and approached them, "Ladies, please make haste. Your parents will need me to get them to the airport in less than an hour."

"Whatever!" Sami scoffed, "Walter, take our books. Just remember, we are very sick and we might throw up. So take it easy on the road."

The two pulled away in the backseat of the car while the harried driver rolled his eyes in disgust. Nertie took her cue to sneak out carefully from behind the bushes so as to not get caught and picked up the papers on the floor. It was a bunch of notes with different handwriting.

"Hmmm. This could be interesting reading material while waiting for my next class."

She opened up the papers and read the contents:

You and your brother better stay away from those two girls.

Which two?

You know, the ones you seemed to be drooling over when you came to class.

Oh them. So why?

See that group there in the front.

Yeah, so.

They are all a bunch of queers.

Are you sure?

Can't you just look at them and see? Look at those two dykes up front who can't seem to keep their eyes off each other. That guy with them is so goddamn effeminate he could be a girl. And those girls you showed up with are hanging around with them all the time, so they must be queer. They are probably queer for each other.

That's sick. They're sisters. Are you really sure? People can get hurt with that kind of lie and it usually gets back on the one who started it.

Oh, please! Don't get all high and mighty with me. If your rich uncle didn't come to you guys' rescue last summer, you'd still be in juvie.

Just lay off them. They seem okay.

Trust me, that bunch is nothing but trouble and if you hang with them, you will never have any friends at this school and it won't even matter who your parents are.

Just because they're gay doesn't seem to make them that bad. Does it?

Those girls live out by the forest. It is a well known fact around town about what happened there about 40 years ago. My father told me there was some trouble in town when some little boys went missing. The town searched everywhere for them and found their bodies buried right in front of the house where those girls live now.

Those forest people lived in this town forever and were dirt poor. They looked down on all of those who moved in and were jealous since we had money, power and prestige. Something they didn't have.

People say it was their grandfather and his Satanic Church who were doing a ritual for great wealth. They said it would also make them and the rest of their family in control of everyone, but if the truth was discovered, they would forever be cursed upon by the town. When they dug up the bodies, they arrested 13 men to charge them with murder, but had to set them free because there was not enough evidence. A group of people from town went into the forest and burned down most of the homes, except for the one where the boys were buried in case they could find proof later. They killed all those men along with most of the families. That area is haunted.

Sounds unreal.

If you don't believe me, ask around.

"I think some meddlesome girls need to get busted." Nertie thought to herself. "And I think I know a way to do it."

Meanwhile, Gilda and Divone were enjoying their substitute teacher, Mr. Knowles. He told the class that Sister Evonne was having some personal problems and needed a sabbatical.

The class was enamored by the approach of Mr. Knowles. Instead of sticking to the traditional course of study by the book and memorizing boring facts, he told the class to just talk about what they felt about God, religion, and the meaning of life. The class was enthusiastic since no other teacher ever cared about what they felt. They have always been told what to think and believe and to not question it. For some, it was a scary thing. For a few, they withheld thinking this was wrong. Most of the kids wanted this kind of freedom and wished it could be this way for all the classes.

Adam Kimmel, one of the students in the class asked, "Mr. Knowles, why must classes like this, literature, art and other subjects so cut and dry when there is a lot to interpret?"

"Well, Adam, most teachers feel you need a solid foundation before you start to explore what you feel."

Corolla Jimmie asked, "Why are you doing this now? Sister Evonne always makes us use the books. She says it is impossible to know God without a spiritually stronger person telling you what His word says. This just feels wrong."

"I can fully understand your fear and I will make you a deal. Anyone who feels the way Corolla feels, you can continue to work the lesson plan Sister Evonne left. I will set up a corner of the room for you to work relatively undisturbed by the rest of us. Who agrees with her?"

Only four hands went up and they proceeded to the back of the room, joining their desks together to work. The rest of the students decided to give his new method a shot.

"Thank you for staying you brave young men and women. I know you don't realize this yet, but you have taken the first step in becoming an adult - owning up to the fact that you have a mind of your own that needs to be used. Not that your other classmates are wrong. They are just as brave for making an unpopular stand for what they believe, even if I personally feel they are in fear of discovering a different point of view. But to each his own, correct?

"Now, how many of you believe in God?"

Immediately, every single hand went up.

"That was too easy people. Now come on. Really think about it. To just say you believe in God when you may have lingering doubts discounts any statement you make about your belief. Are you all telling me you know with 100% certainty that you believe in God?"

With a slight pause, all but 2 hands went up.

"Good. Now really think about this one. How many of you with your hands up believe in God so much that you know He can be proven to exist?"

Slowly, half the hands went down.

"Great. You have now made a courageous first step. You admitted to yourself you are only human without all the answers. Those with your hands up, you have proven that you are too afraid to admit the truth that you don't have all the answers. If God is all mighty, how can a lowly human truly know God? Perhaps God does not want there to be concrete proof because He only wants your faith. Perhaps there is proof in places we don't know. Or just maybe there is no God and only our creation.

"There is a saying in the Bible about the wise one who admits that the more he knows about everything, the less he truly understands. What do you think that means?"

John raised his hand and spoke, "Does that mean that just when you think you learned everything you needed to know, you find out more things there are yet to know?

"Very well put, except for one thing. I asked what you thought. Don't pose it to me as a question. I want you to feel free to speak your mind. There are no right or wrong answers when I ask you a question about what you think. The only correct answer is what you truthfully think. You can be the ultimate judge of that, but most who are honest will see right through you if you lie to yourself.

"It may be unpopular thoughts or things you have been told were wrong in your mind, but your thoughts need as much respect as your personal physical being. If your thoughts are leaning into a that could get you into trouble, it is my duty as a teacher to help lead you into a more safe path.

"By safe, it has absolutely nothing to do with trouble-free. Only when you are truly free to think and can confidently stand up for what you believe can you become safe from being the pawns of others.

"Now John, could you please rephrase? What do you think that quote meant?"

"When a person learns all he thinks he needs to know, there is a whole bunch of stuff he sees he needs to know."

"Great! Anyone else want to put in their two cents?"

Gilda raised her hand, "You also said the word understand, so to me that would imply knowing a lot of things is not the same as understanding them."

At that moment, John looked at Gilda to acknowledge her answer and Gilda felt as if she would melt. She was starting to fall for him.

"Good! Now we're on a roll. I am going to throw out another question for you. If God made everything, then God made both good and evil. Does this make God good or evil?"

The class was suddenly silent.

"Stumper of a question, isn't it. Tell you what. I am going to give you an assignment and I expect it finished on Monday. You don't actually have to write anything, but you have to research the questions and give it some serious thought. Write down these questions:

"1) What is the meaning of life? 2) Is God good or evil? 3) Do you have a soul and if so, what exactly is it? 4) Describe what happens when you die. 5) Can a person who died live again? 6) What is the one true religion and how can that be proven? 7) Is the Bible the word of God and how do you know? 8) What makes something good and another thing bad? 9) Do you think the world is a bad place to live or a good place? 10) How do you feel about yourself?

"I want you to give these questions some serious thought. You may surprise yourselves with the answers. While you are doing your classwork, I am going to set you up into groups of two to discuss these ideas. I will post the matches on the bulletin board, so be sure to check at the end of class.

"In the meantime, I want to present some viewpoints to you that are not anywhere close to the normal curriculum of this course. While you realize the focal point of a Catholic school is to give you a fully rounded Catholic education, most of you have been sheltered from the rest of the world.

"It may surprise some of you that there are many different religions in the world beyond the Catholic Church or even the Christian faith that are just as strong in their belief that they are the one true path to god. Some of those faiths believe there is no one path to god and we all eventually get there. And still others believe there is no god or put the idea of god off to the side and feel as equally confident in their life path as most of you do about yours.

"I am going to pass out this book to everyone. It is a study of religions of the world. I expect each and every one of you to finish reading the entire book by the end of next week. If you have questions, take notes and research it in the library. No matter what you believe, it is also very important to understand people who believe differently. Without this understanding, there can be no real compassion for those who are different."

The bell rang and only the pious four from the back were in a hurry to leave. Everyone else wanted to stick around longer, but Mr. Knowles had to shoo them off before they were late for their last class. Gilda went to the bulletin board and gleefully discovered she was being paired with John. Her sister was being paired with Nathan. They stepped out the class and was waved down by John and Nathan.

"Looks like we are partners, so you want to meet at the school library this Saturday?" Nathan asked.

"I wish we could," Divone said, "But we have detention this Saturday."

"Then that's perfect," John chimed in, "We also have detention on Saturday. Do you think they will let us work on it?"

"The nuns who supervise are rather strict, so they prefer quiet written assignments. If it's one of the priests, forget it. Some of those topics are probably going to get us forced into confession. How about this," Divone said, "If we don't have a cool teacher, let's use the school library after detention. It might be a bit late for wasting a Saturday, but at least we could get it done."

The boys then excused themselves to go to their lockers and told them they would see them at the next class. The girls ran to their lockers, greeted by Sue and Nertie.

"Hi Nertie and Sue!" Gilda cheerfully spoke, "We just got an assignment paired up with those two cute new guys."

"Guess what I know!" teased Sue, "Those boys are nothing but trouble."

"See," Nertie added, "I knew it. What did they do?"

"The record says these boys were recently kicked out of a military school, arrested three times, are currently on probation and were automatically made to serve every Saturday as a condition of their parole."

Gilda gasped, "What did they do that was so bad?"

"The record showed they were caught shoplifting, committed arson, and were among a group of other kids who stole and crashed a car."

Nertie huffed, "I really didn't want to show you this, but under the circumstances I think you two need to watch out for those boys."

Nertie pulled out the gossip notes and explained this fell out of Sami's purse.

"Well," sighed Gilda, "I guess that explains what they were doing during the test."

"That doesn't sound right," Divone defended, "They seemed so nice a moment ago. They were even nice to us when we first met them."

"Then why were they so rude at lunch? Why did they snub you in history on the way out?" questioned Nertie.

"Maybe they're shy." Gilda spoke, "If I were in a new town and in a lot of trouble, I probably would be shy, too."

Nertie warned, "I'd be careful if I were you. They sound just like every other spoiled rich kid at school. Come on! Their rich uncle got them out of some kind of big mess, read that note again!"

Manuel raced up to join the group. "What's up girlfriends?"

"We just found out some interesting things about the new boys." Nertie proclaimed proudly. "They are just like everyone else, but Gilda and Divone don't want to face the facts."

"Besides," Sue joined in, "They are from the rich side of town anyway and would probably want nothing to do with the likes of us anyway."

The warning bell rang and they quickly scattered to their classes. Gilda and Divone headed for Biology and were expecting to find the new male twin duo, but the final bell rang and the door closed. They figured the boys probably were bad after all for cutting class.

Nathan and John left to investigate the allegations made earlier by Liz and Sami, so they went to the school library and went through the film slides of news clips of every paper from the last 40-50 years.

They came across an article which mentioned, "Town Panics Over The Fate Of Six Missing Boys." The article said six boys from the town prominent residents, including the Parker family, were last seen in the forest area where they were allegedly fishing. Their poles and clothes were left behind, but there was no sign of the boys. A prayer vigil would be held in hopes of the return of David Kimson, Joseph Parker, Joshua and Isaiah Ryan and Matthew and Luke Spears.

They found another paper dated three days later. The headline read, "Losing Hope In Finding Lost Boys." The article mentioned how the entire town has searched the river and all over the forest and saw no sign of the boys.

Another paper, a week later, boldly proclaimed, "Amando Family Suspects In Missing Child Case." The article pointed to interviews from townspeople who swore the family was always so private and quiet and they suspected they had involvement in some Satanic Church. They said no one else could have possibly been in that area as the Armando clan occupied that area and were tight knit. Brighton Armando claimed to have seen the boys on the day they were reported missing and said he chased them off for teasing his stable of horses.

Then the newspaper of the next day announced, "Human Bones Found Buried" and noted that some unidentified bones, most likely human, have been dug up in front of the home of Brighton Armando. While the bodies of the boys have not been positively identified, there is suspicion that there may have been human sacrifices performed in the forest.

A paper, a week later, "Armano 13 Released - Lynch Mob Attacks." The paper said there was not enough proof to proceed to try a case and the men had to be released. Masked townspeople stormed the forest and burned down all but one of the homes they believed may contain the remains of the boys. All 13 men were killed along with 16 children and 18 women who lived in the homes.

There were no more articles about the case, ever, which seemed strange to Nathan and John, but they were convinced that perhaps Liz and Sami were right. They just didn't want to believe that those two girls could possibly be as evil as the paper said their family.

School was let out for the day and Nathan and John scurried past Gilda and Divone hoping to avoid them. Gilda and Divone tried to wave them down to see what happened, but were insulted that they were snubbed, yet again. Only this time, they were snubbed without Liz and Sami nearby.

"Maybe Nertie is right." Divone sighed, "Maybe they are no better than the rest of the snobs at school."

"Something tells me they aren't bad. I looked right into John's eyes during class and I felt like I could read his life story. He seems just as misunderstood as we are."

"Then why do they keep ignoring us?"

"Maybe we can ask them on Saturday."

The twin girls went home on their bikes as Nertie stayed behind with Sue to settle a score with Liz and Sami. Sue grabbed some school stationery and envelopes along with the business address where Mr. Parker's main office was located. They went into the school library to use the computer in order to type an official letter and copy it on to the school stationery.

The letter read:

To Mr. Joseph Parker:

We wanted to follow up on the disciplinary action taken against your daughters on Tuesday. As you know, they were sent home following an incident where they nearly killed Sister Slattery while threatening her with a knife after receiving a bad grade.

We know how your family feels about bad publicity, so have kept this matter quiet, so we sent a note home with your daughters and expected an immediate reply with your signature to avoid Sister Slattery from pressing charges. I urge you to sign the contract given to your girls so you can accept full responsibility for their actions and hand it into the office in person by Friday afternoon, or Sister Slattery will go to the police.

Sincerely,

Reverend Stewart Marthan

"Oh that will definitely get a response!" Nertie said gleefully.

"What do you think will happen?" Asked Sue.

"If all goes well, fireworks will go off on Friday. I just got to get this in the mailbox now so everything will go off as planned."

When Gilda and Divone came home that evening, Aunt Aggie was waiting for them with a plate full of hot cookies and a pitcher of milk.

"How was your day girls?" Aggie asked.

"Basically the same old things. Kids being mean to us. Teachers letting them." Divone complained.

"But there were new boys at school who were kind of nice to us and very cute."

"Yeah, but they were nice one moment and ignored us the next. Plus they hang out with those god awful girls. Plus they have a criminal record."

"Then there was the class with Mr. Knowles who replaced Sister Evonne. He was so on today. That was the only time I didn't want to fall asleep in Religious Studies."

"Yeah, he was great!"

"Sounds like you girls had an interesting day." Aggie then added, "Don't forget, if you two want to have your 16th birthday party to be big, you are going to have to start planning now."

The girls groaned in unison and Gilda spoke, "Aunt Aggie, I think you can forget about any big sweet 16 celebration for us. We just have three friends and almost everyone in town hates us."

"You know girls, there is a very good story as to why people hate us, and if you would pay attention to us adults more often, you just might learn something and can educate others in the truth of the matter."

"What do you mean, Aunt Aggie?" Asked Divone.

"Many times your parents tried to tell you the story. Your grandma tried. I even tried from time to time to tell you the story of the haunted woods. Each time we started, the two of you would groan and say you didn't want to hear some silly ghost story."

Divone scoffed, "Do you mean that silly rumor that grandpa Brighton killing some boys in a Satanic ritual and how their ghosts haunt the woods? I know that's just a story those yahoos keep using as an excuse to make us out as some white trash hillbillies."

"Yeah, Aunt Aggie," agreed Gilda, "What does that silly story about ghosts, murder and the devil have anything to do with educating others?"

"I'll tell you what girls, you are both too closed minded now to appreciate the whole story. But if you have any real interest in the truth, you will see if you can find proof of this in the newspapers. I'll even give you a choice, you can stay at home and do your chores or you can find out the truth and clear your family name."

The choice was easy. They went back to town to research the story involving their family and the woods. While at the library, they found the same set of articles Nathan and John saw earlier.

"Oh no!" Cried Gilda, "This can't be true!"

"That's what it says. It's just something seems out of place. Why did the story end there? There has to be another follow up story somewhere. I can't imagine the parents would just leave our house standing and not eventually tearing it apart to look for the boys. Surely the bodies would have been found by now. Or maybe they drowned?"

"Let's ask Aunt Aggie."

They raced back home and told Aunt Aggie what they found and asked her what happened.

"You see, I was a little girl when all these things were happening around me. Once upon a time, there were many families in this area and we were all close knit. When the Amado family as well as a few other immigrants from Spain wanted to take a stake in the New World, they came as a group to this uninhabited area, near a tribe of Natives with whom they made peace.

"The Natives helped the families survive during rough times and we helped them learn to read and write in Spanish and in English so they could have a decent chance of getting along with the other settlers. As this country started to grow, the settlers wanted to push the Natives off their land and take over. At first, we offered them protection and let them live within our community, but the moment the English tried to push the Spanish away, they wanted to take over our land as well. In the process, the English desecrated holy Native burial sites which instigated a fight causing many deaths. The Natives who died were said to haunt the area which kept the English from returning to this area for many years.

"Our family enjoyed communing with the friendly spirits who protected our forest area. We felt safe until about 60 years ago when some wealthy people came through the land and fell in love with the beautiful hills, valleys, forest, lakes and rivers of this region. He bought up land just outside the forest and developed homes which quickly filled up with wealthy business people who had no clue about the history of the area or of our families.

"These rich people didn't care much about morals or right and wrong. They would do whatever they could get away with to get their way. These were lessons they taught their children. They taught their children that we forest people were poor and dirty and evil and they should stay away from us. This didn't stop the kids from coming out and playing with the rest of us kids or fishing in our river.

"There was a group of boys from the rich families who were practical jokers. It's not that they were really bad boys, it's just they weren't taught limits. One day, these boys decided it would be funny to try and create a stampede inside your grandfather's stable. He caught them and lectured them that by doing that, they could cause the horses to get loose and the stampede could end up trampling them. The boys denied doing anything wrong, but Brighton was firm when he insisted from now on the boys stay away from his property.

"Then, the next day, I was at my house and was just waking up to someone pounding on our front door. There were a group of people anxiously asking if we had seen their boys. I knew I saw them the day before and let them know they were at Brighton's home teasing the horses before they were told to leave, but that was the last time I saw them.

"The people searched frantically for a few days. While searching, they overheard some of the kids talking to the spirits of the area who wanted to tell them where the missing boys went. One of the women saw they were talking to spirits about the missing boys and the rumor started that we were all practicing Satan worshippers and probably killed the boys. That rumor took on a life of its own.

"After days of searching, they went back to the place where the boys were seen last. That was in front of this house. Someone kicked the dirt and a bunch of bones started to surface. That was when people went into a rage. They gathered some of the bones and took it to the Sheriff's office to have Brighton and other men who were rumored to be in his coven arrested for kidnapping and possible murder.

"They dug in front of the house and indeed found some skeletal remains of six people. They did not want to listen to the facts that these were old skeletons and refused to hear about the flood of 1790 which flooded the cemetary causing some of the bodies to be shifted from the original graveyard.

"The facts were presented to a District Attorney who did not feel there was enough evidence to make a case and would have to release them. This outraged the town so much that they came through the forest to hunt down the men to kill them and burned down many of the homes. Only a few homes survived, yours included. The ones who survived the attacked moved in the few remaining homes, but as things were getting too crowded, a lot of the families moved out of town to start somewhere else where they were unknown.

"There were some of the families who decided to stay and fight for this area. My parents moved out shortly after the raid, but I returned when I was an adult. I had no idea what ever became of the rest of the case and no one would ever talk about it. I moved again since the hostility was more than I could handle, but when your parents died, I felt something within me calling me to do my duty to you girls."

"Wow!" Cried Gilda, "I had no idea this was for real. What's even more strange is when we went to look up the information, there was nothing more on the case after the raid."

"Aunt Aggie, was anyone ever charged with murder? Did they find the boys?"

"I really don't know girls. I have only been in town for a week and everyone is still as tight lipped as when I left town before. All I know is I hear the calling of the spirits wanting justice."

"What do you mean calling of the spirits?" Asked a confused Divone.

"If you girls were more in tune with yourselves, nature and the Divine forces, instead of worrying about the superficial things of the world, you might even hear them yourselves. They are in fact screaming for you which is why they called me. It is your duty to clear the family name."

The girls looked at Aggie as if she had lost her mind. Cautiously, Gilda asked, "How exactly are we supposed to do that?"

"If you girls would walk into the forest at night, get quiet, and relax until you feel your inner spirit melting in with the spirits of the Other Side, you just might know what was going on. No one can bestow that ability on you. It is up to you to reach out and grab it.

"Your ability to contact the Other Side is just like your ability to see, smell, touch, taste and hear. That is why it is called the sixth sense. If you don't use it, you lose it. It is your basic primitive instinct which many in our modern day society discounts as a fairy tale or even worse, an evil tool of a Satan.

What really is the difference between good and evil and who will win? Can the outsiders ever be accepted? Will the in crowd be brought to justice? Will an age old murder mystery be solved? These questions and more will be answered in the book Fairies On The Altar, coming soon.

©Copyright 2004, Callen Damornen