Club X by S.P. Somtow

Author:S.P. Somtow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult, fantasy, lgbtq, vampire, schoolboy
Publisher: S.P. Somtow
Published: 2021-12-24T16:00:00+00:00

Kim

We gathered in my room, way past the official lights out, because Club X wasn’t entirely safe territory yet. First, who knew when Dr. Strange might show up again? And whether he was one of us, or an enemy?

And second, Donut and Boom. There were things that we couldn’t talk about to people we’d just met. Donut slept at her father’s lodgings, and Boom was quartered in another wing, with little kids ... so that we, the elite of the elite, the original four, could see be completely ourselves.

Polo was sitting in one corner, staring at the compact.

“I don’t even know why he’s called Dr. Strange,” Polo said. “I thought that name only appeared in comics.”

“I think it’s just his name,” I said. “No one would choose a name like that.“

Danger said, “Anyway, the comic book character is Dr. Steven Strange. This guy’s name is Leopold.”

“Maybe there related,” I said.

“Every attempt to pin down Dr. Strange’s true identity,” Fluke said, “has fizzled out abruptly. The lights go out. Nuns pop into other dimensions.”

Polo said, “She was in here, I swear!”

I took the compact from him. I stared and stared and couldn’t for the life of me see a little nun running around in the mirror.

“Squint harder,” Polo said.

“I am.”

“Harder!”

I thought I saw something for a moment, but actually it was an ant. “That’s not a nun,” I said, “it’s an insect.”

Polo squashed it under a finger.

“Murderer!” said Danger.

“Wait. Maybe it is a nun after all.”

I just caught a flash of it.

And then we suddenly heard something else ... an eerie, operatic soprano voice emanating from the powder compact.

Fluke said, “Whoah! It’s Bach!” He started humming what he heard.

It didn’t sound like Bach to me. More like some kind of swooping aria from an opera. I started to hum what I heard and it was nothing like what Fluke was humming.

Then Polo and Danger began humming too. And what they sang was all different. But here’s the thing. It all blended in a kind of perfect harmony. Perfect ... but alien.

Above it all came a weird, swooping, operatic melody, and it came from inside the mirror reflection ... it was the voice of Sister Evangeline, but it was impossibly beautiful ... transformed into something more than the voice of our chorus master and school psychological counsellor. The nun’s melody rose out of our blended harmony and soared. It was transcendental.

And once we started, we couldn’t stop. This vocal quartet started with fragments of familiar tunes but it turned into an unearthly symphony of squeaks, buzzes, and bits of melody ... which somehow all made sense, but only when we all sang together. The music crescendoed. I could feel a force taking over my body. I was hypnotised. I was being absorbed into some kind of infinity. It was beautiful.

Suddenly there was bloodcurdling shriek. The music grated to a halt.

Danger had grabbed the compact and he closed it and threw it against the wall. The mirror shattered.

“Don’t you understand?” he cried out. “It wants us!”

“What wants us?” I said.

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