Chapter 1 - River Rock
Daria Morgendorffer braced herself as she heard someone try to get her attention while she walked to seventh-grade science class in Highland East Junior High.
"Excuse me, excuse me," a girl's excited voice spoke up behind her along with the pitter-patter of approaching feet sounding over the usual rush between classes.
Daria turned cautiously. She was so used to being mocked that she did not note that the speaker's tone indicated innocent excitement. She braced herself for the expected jeers and jabs of yet another classmate.
Daria made a point of not getting to know her new classmates from various elementary schools who were now crammed together in junior high so it was no surprise that she did not recognize the girl approaching as fast as no-running-in-the-halls rules allowed.
Daria was sure she had never seen the girl before as she would have remembered an appearance which seemed to suit her near breathless excitement. Long naturally curling hair so blonde it was on the verge of white parted in the middle and framed a thin, pale face set off by lips which were almost too full and red. Wide light blue eyes fixed Daria in a gaze which was at once focused, piercing and shy.
She wore clothes which looked like she thought Highland East Junior High was a private college-prep institution: white socks with low black Mary Janes, pleated blue skirt just over her knees, and a crisp white button-down shirt. Daria half expected to find an insignia on the breast of the blue blazer.
Her accoster's clothes were well made and new but as equally out of place at lower-middle-class, trend-conscious Highland East Junior High as Daria's yellow shirt, black jacket, red skirt and brown heavy boots over navy-blue leggings.
Smiling shyly, the girl dropped her gaze. "Hi, I'm Berit Fergus."
"Daria Morgendorffer," Daria returned stiffly.
"Morgendorffer!" the girl said in wonderment. "Now there's a name to conjure with."
Daria suppressed a smile at the phrase which sounded so learned and therefore so strange in Highland. She heard an intriguing hint of Irish brogue in a voice which softly sounded out more of a Texas twang than Daria's.
She loosened her shoulders-hunched, withdrawn, timid, threatened by the world pose. It didn't hurt that the girl was thin and barely an inch, if that, taller than Daria who was happy to have grown to five feet over the summer.
"Berit is a pretty name, Irish?" Daria ventured.
"Yipe, don't be too encouraging. Could be a trap," she reminded herself.
"Yes! It's Scandinavian too but I guess the 'Fergus' gives it away as Irish in my case," the girl enthused then added. "And proud of it."
The crowd was thinning out around them. Having let down a shade her usual guarded, carefully attentive to danger stance, Daria was only paying attention to the girl in front of her. Until…
"Batty Berit Fungus is talking to that stuck-up weirdo Morgendorker," a well-dressed girl Daria knew from science loudly told her friends. "Here's hoping those two will keep each other busy and not bother anybody else for the year."
Her friends added comments of their own. Daria stiffened as a couple girls got that push-your-books-to-the-floor look but the cluster moved on.
Berit stayed focused on Daria, "You've got an adder stone! I saw you holding it. Can I see it?"
She was looking at the stone Daria was looking over in preparation for the advanced version of show-and-tell which the science teacher held every other Monday.
Daria turned the round, smooth, off-white rock in her palm. Two notable features distinguished it from just another worn river rock: quartz inclusions glittered on the surface and a regular, round hole at least an inch across graced the center of the stone.
"You call it that? Yeah, I found this in the brook in back of our house," Daria said. "I found two but somehow I couldn't find the other one this morning to bring in for science."
With a knowing smile, Berit replied, "Yeah, stones have a way of doing that."
Daria didn't know how to respond but she replied, "Umm, we need to get to class."
Berit glanced around at the now almost empty hall. "Sure, sure, I gotta go to English now. Let's talk after school. If you'll let me, I want to get to know your stone."
Daria looked at Berit breezing down the hall then turned the stone over in her hand as she hustled off to science. The science teacher was as delighted as Berit by her rock; she gave Daria tips about researching the origin, composition and age of her find. The rude girl from the hall contented herself with rolling her eyes and snapping gum.
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"Hi Daria."
Daria turned away from the curb of the parent-pickup turn-around. She coolly suppressed a smile as Berit breathlessly approached.
"Oh hi, Berit. How was English?"
"It's good but I wish we'd read something for poetry besides Ogden Nash. I mean he's funny and all and I like that but I just started Sonnets from the Portuguese and I'd love to hear Mr. West talk about the Browning's."
"Be happy if everyone in your class can read The Duck without sounding out the words."
Berit chuckled. "Yeah, there are some interesting dumb clucks. I feel sorry that the school's too poor to afford remedial reading for them. But we're out for today, yay! I want to hold your adder stone, that is, if you'll let me." The request was asked in a hopeful, uncertain voice as if Berit were asking for a loan of tens of thousands.
A little mystified Daria took a small white cardboard box from her backpack. She opened it to show Berit the stone protected between two thick pads of cotton. Berit picked it up reverently.
"It's so warm!" Berit said turning the stone in her hands.
"Why do you call it 'adder stone'?" Daria asked. "Adder is a poisonous serpent and I bet you know that. What's that got to do with an unusually worn stone from our creek?"
"Traditional term for these stones," Berit explained. "The ancients thought a bunch of snakes got stuck together, spit up venom and that became the stone or ate the hole in a stone. Of course, we know better now, these stones are formed after rolling around in a river near a home of the Aes Sidhe."
"The Aes Sidhe? A home?" Daria asked. She was now looking at Berit with less curiosity than uneasy uncertainty. The stones she had found were interesting and unusual but Daria knew that the holes were formed after years of randomly rolling and bumping against other rocks in a fast moving stream.
"Yeah, you know, the faeries. It's Gaelic." Berit said in all seriousness. She was still turning the stone around, this way and that and cautiously holding it at arm's length and peering through the hole.
"You can see faeries through the hole, sometimes." Berit explained. "But it's best to be careful with that; the Aes Sidhe can be shy and vindictive."
Daria found herself taking half a step back. Most of her schoolmates she considered cretins and she did occasional empirical testing to verify her theory. There were enthusiastic Christian fundamentalists galore in Texas to be sure but she was familiar with their common beliefs and habits.
But fairies? She remembered Berit being declared 'batty' by their classmate, however, in Daria's eyes being mocked by such a being was an indicator of intelligence and good sense.
She had seen Berit carrying a copy of the textbook from her own algebra class; Berit must be in a different section. The class was proving fun and challenging to Daria and students had to test into the class. Daria had to conclude that Berit was not anything close to stupid. But fairies?
Berit gave the stone back with a small, thoroughly pleased smile.
Berit went on, "These stones have lots of other powers. For instance, it helps people who have big lawsuits."
"Lawsuits? Mom's a lawyer," Daria mused.
"Really?! Daria, there's a good reason you found this. And you've got another?"
While Daria was trying to form a question or statement both polite and insightful she saw her father approach in their new blue Lexus. She nodded to Berit even as she yielded to an impulse.
"There's Dad. Hey, are you waiting for someone too?"
"Nah," Berit said. "I walk. We live just five blocks away." Berit pointed the way.
"Berit, if you can stand my kid sister, Quinn the Annoying, let us give you a ride home."
"Huh? I offered her a ride home? Okay, careful, Morgendorffer. No more than that for now."
Berit nodded happily. Daria knew her father would readily agree to giving Berit a ride; her parents did all they could to encourage her getting to know people and Jake Morgendorffer was a genial fellow in general.
As he came to a stop Jake ran down the window and called, "Hey kiddo, does your friend need a ride?"
Berit tried for the back seat but Daria insisted she ride in front. Daria climbed in back next to Quinn. She was worried that Quinn would make fun of Berit's prep school uniform stylings but Quinn regarded Berit intensely, nodded and was quiet after initial introductions.
"Something wrong, Mr. Morgendorffer?" Berit asked as Jake performed contortions behind the wheel. Berit seemed unruffled by his driving and twisting although it put the cautious Daria's teeth on edge and caused her to grip the edges of the seat more than once.
"Ah, it's just this damn…I mean blasted tension headache I got at work. It's end of the month crunch time and everybody gets on each other's nerves." Jake rolled his head around causing an exclamation of 'DAD!' from Quinn and Daria while Berit gazed blissfully ahead.
"Headache? Tension? Oh, here."
Berit dug in her backpack and pulled out a pouch. She extracted a small cluster of beautiful purple crystals. After letting it glitter in the sun, Berit closed it back in the drawstring pouch.
"Amethyst," she pronounced. "Just keep it in your pocket at work or wherever. Sleep with it under your pillow."
"Yeah? Hey, thanks. That might beat drinking a martini. Oh, I mean if I were a drinking man."
Jake put the pouch in his suit jacket's inner pocket managing not to swerve widely in the process.
Berit giggled. "Well, the Greeks believed carrying amethyst helped them party longer and better."
Jake patted his pocket. Daria hoped he was not planning to put the theory to test that very afternoon.
"You know I feel better already. Thanks, Berit."
"My pleasure Mr. Morgendorffer. Okay, I'm in the third house on the left."
Berit hopped out as soon as Jake stopped in the driveway of the small, pleasant looking two-story.
"Thanks, Mr. Morgendorffer. It was nice to meet you. Same to you, Quinn. Daria, we'll get through another day in school tomorrow. See ya."
She ran to the front door almost before the Morgendorffers could bid her farewell. They stared after her a few moments before Jake started off for home.
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"Nice girl, Daria." Her father said. "Wow, I think this stone thing really works. Why don't doctors prescribe these?"
Daria was framing a comment about pseudo-science and the power of suggestion over weak minds when Quinn spoke up.
"Leave it to you, Daria, to find someone who's stylish and weird all together at once. I mean who wears private school uniforms at a public school, especially in a dump like Highland? Did you catch the tight stitching and thread count on those clothes? And Italian shoes, I'm sure. All high quality, obviously from American Preparatory Equipment Stores. Their line is required wear at all the best Eastern schools."
"Snotty prep students buy clothes from a place where the acronym works out to 'APES'?" Daria asked.
Quinn ignored her apparently pondering something heavy and significant. "Hmm, I wonder if I should start wearing pukka prep clothes. I could get even more popular for starting a unique fashion trend."
As Daria's eyebrows rose Quinn smirked.
"Pukka?" Daria questioned. "Okay, I'll bite. I admit I don't know that word and I bet you're not making it up."
Clearly pleased with herself Quinn stated. "It means 'genuine', 'the real deal'. See? You aren't the only Morgendorffer who can throw around fancy words."
They arrived home just as the girls' mother was pulling in the garage in her own red SUV. Helen stepped out to greet her girls. Daria was well past the age where a parent coming home was a big deal; so was Quinn but the two were curious why she was home from the office at three in the afternoon. As they approached her both noted that she looked tired and rushed all at once.
"Hi Mom," Quinn greeted. "Are you okay? Can I make you some tea?"
Daria wasn't to be outdone. "How about I make you a martini? Dad taught me how."
Helen glared at the hapless, about-to-object Jake but unexpectedly hugged both girls.
"Thanks girls. Could you show Quinn how to make coffee, Daria? But none for you, young lady." Daria suppressed a pout.
Helen continued, "I'm here to pick up some papers on a case that suddenly got moved up. The over-stuffed ketchup packets case is moving to trial soon. We've got to pull a late-nighter at the office prepping."
Jake and Quinn pouted while Daria maintained her practiced deadpan. Both girls were not happy about seeing less of their mother as Helen's career as a civil suit and criminal defense lawyer took off but they recognized that Helen was sacrificing for them.
Daria showed Quinn the intricacies of the Mr. Coffee and instructed her credulous little sister to listen carefully to its gurglings. On a strange whim Daria climbed the stairs to their shared bedroom.
She opened a drawer on her carefully demarcated side of the room and there was the second adder stone as she found herself calling it. Daria was sure she had searched the drawer fruitlessly that morning but there, resting on her clean socks, was the smooth black stone traced with jagged fine red lines.
As she carried the surprisingly heavy stone downstairs, Helen was already at the door with a bulging briefcase and accepting a travel mug from a proudly beaming Quinn.
"Mom, I don't think it works but a friend, I mean, a girl I just met at school said that these stones with holes bored by water were good luck or something for people with big law cases. At any rate, Mom, umm, it's fun to play with it; it makes a great fumble toy in your hands."
Daria almost blushed as she handed the rock over to a curious Helen. Jake came up with a speedily made martini.
"Was that Berit's advice, kiddo? Yeah, Helen, that girl knows what she's talking about. That bag of rock she gave me took away my headache just like she said! Now I can really enjoy my martini."
Helen gave him a skeptical glance but smiled at her older daughter as she hefted the stone.
"Thanks, Daria. I don't know about luck but lawyers learn to accept any help they can get. It's a very pretty, interesting stone and I can always use another paper-weight to keep different piles of documents sorted."
Daria blinked and nodded as Helen hugged them all and hustled out the door.
Jake announced, "I feel so good I think I'll get started on that new pesto and pasta recipe I've been meaning to try. Hope you girls are hungry! Now get to your homework, both of you."
As Daria pulled out her algebra homework in their room Quinn spoke up. "Wow, that amy-theist really worked for Dad. I hope Mom gets some good luck from that weird rock you gave her."
"Quinn, that amethyst is just a pretty, purple clump of crystals. It didn't do anything for Dad's headache."
"So you think it's just a, a, what do you call it when two weird things happen at the same time? Oh, I know, a coincidence."
She was about to say 'Yes' but paused to consider.
"Quinn, Dad's headache was caused by stress at work. He was away from work which already helped. Then Berit gave him the crystals and told him it would take care of his headache. He wanted it to help; he believed it would help so it did. No, wait, I mean his belief made his headache go away."
"But he took the rock and his headache was gone. So it helped," Quinn concluded with great finality.
Daria shook her head and both sisters got down to their schoolwork. In an hour or so Jake called them to partake of his fresh pasta dish which they found surprisingly tasty.
The three Morgendorffers tucked into large bowls full of pasta and pesto along with a Texas delicacy they all guiltily enjoyed, chicken-fried steak with peppery sausage gravy.
As they were all lazily pushing food around and trying to overcome carb-lethargy, Jake polished off another martini and smacked his lips.
"Daria, your buddy really knows her stuff. This is my third yummy martoony and I barely feel it."
The sisters exchanged glances. Jake was not a big drinker usually and an unspoken point of agreement between the girls was to do what they could to keep things that way.
"Umm, Dad," Daria began. "Berit told me the effects of amethyst make booze taste better too but only if you slow down and limit yourself."
"Daddy," Quinn joined in. "Daria and I can take care of the dishes. How about I turn on the Pigskin Channel and fluff up your favorite pillow in the living room?"
"Ah, that's my girls, looking after their old man. Sure, I tried to take care of my old man but did he care? 'Jake, you want me to become a little, weakling creampuff like you?' Well, my girls are the best!"
Quinn got her father settled in front of the latest gridiron contest then joined Daria in the kitchen.
"See, Daria? Berit's amy-itis-ist or whatever kept Dad sober."
"Quinn, Dad ate more pasta and steak than both of us together. All those carbs don't keep someone from getting drunk but it slows down alcohol absorption. You'll learn that in seventh grade health if you pay attention to more than skin care tips."
Convinced that Daria was only unwilling to admit she was wrong, Quinn smirked and nodded. The girls went off to do their own things until near bed time. Daria was grabbing a sugar tart snack before bed and barely listening to Quinn's advice to have yogurt and celery instead when they heard the garage door open and close. Helen came breezing in the door from the garage. She thrust a wrapped package into each of their hands.
"Mom, are you okay?" Daria asked while hefting the solid chunk in her hands. She noted that Quinn's bundle looked soft and yielding.
"The other side caved! No late nights on that overstuffed ketchup packets case. I reviewed the documents and found a big hole in their case. My boss was so happy he gave me a bonus. Here, you two, open your presents."
Jake swept Helen into an embrace even before he knew any good reason to as he came in the kitchen. Quinn oohed and ahhed and hugged her mother as she unwrapped a pair of the designer jeans she had begged to purchase just the previous weekend. Daria gave Helen a small nod of appreciation as she hefted the illustrated full-color encyclopedia of medical oddities she had eyed in Highland's branch of Books by the Ton.
"What do you say now, Daria?" Quinn asked as they were getting ready for bed. "That addy stone gave Mom good luck. You can't explain that any other way."
"Yes, Quinn, I can explain it another way. This one was just a coincidence. A coincidence and Mom's a good lawyer."
Quinn shook her head and smiled as she ran her hands over her scrumptious new jeans. Daria closed her book hoping the chapter on cranial deformities would give her sweet dreams. She didn't let Quinn see her slip her remaining adder stone under her pillow.