Mabel's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

By evening, the parents had told their neighbors. Mabel heard the whispers before she saw the crowd gathered near the western path. A woman pointed toward the mountain. A man shook his head and pulled his daughter closer. Someone said the word "candy" like it was poison. Mabel walked straight into the crowd. She needed to hear what they were saying—needed to know exactly what version of the story they were telling each other. The parents from the clearing stood in the center, and between them sat one of the purple crystals on a cloth. It glowed faintly in the dimming light, throwing soft colors across the faces around it. The father gestured at it like evidence. "He leaves these out to lure children," he said. "Candy and shiny things. What kind of creature does that?" Murmurs rippled through the group. A few mothers nodded and stepped back, as if the crystal itself could reach for them. Mabel picked up the crystal. The crowd went quiet. She held it up so everyone could see the light dancing through it. "Creepy makes these," she said. "He gave them as gifts because he wanted to share something beautiful." The father shook his head. "You don't understand. We saw the path markers. We saw the mountain. He's trying to draw our children up there." Mabel looked at the faces around her—some uncertain, some already decided. She set the crystal back down and pulled out her notebook. "I'm collecting stories about Creepy," she said. "Real ones. Not the ones fear invents. If anyone wants to know what he's actually like, I'll be at the clearing tomorrow morning." No one answered. The crowd shifted, and a few people walked away. But three mothers stayed where they were, watching her. By the time Mabel left, thin wisps of mist had begun settling outside several homes along the path—bowls of water mixed with herbs, meant to keep danger away. The parents were building walls made of fear. But those three mothers had stayed. They hadn't agreed with her, but they hadn't walked away either. Mabel wrote in her notebook as she walked: "Three stayed. Fear spreads fast, but curiosity is slower and sticks longer." She had lost the crowd, but she'd found her next three listeners. That was enough to keep going.