XI. Funhouse

This used to be a funhouse
But now it's full of evil clowns

It's time to start the countdown

I'm gonna burn it down, down, down…
-Pink

"Hi Will. Hi Grace," Brody tossed at them as he passed their lunch table.

"Hey, Rowan, if you ever need a real man…" Aaron started to say.

"Back off, Abbot," Hunter growled. Just because he was gay didn't mean he would let Aaron keep making moves on Rowan.

Aaron smirked that infuriating smirk he always had. Hunter wondered if he had come out of the womb with that shit-eating grin on his face. The brothers weren't at the table yet so Reid hadn't cocked a fist at his mortal enemy.

"Hey, Rowan's now yours anymore, fag-" Aaron continued.

Hunter merely glared up at Aaron, not needing to extend to his full height to faze him out . "Mine? I don't see any livestock around here, asshole. And if that's the way you're thinking, she'll never be yours either."

Aaron was about to say something else but Brody's eyes flicked passed him and Aaron turned around to see the Sons of Ipswich standing behind him like a sentry. Tyler was almost holding Reid back.

"Stay away from my sister, Aaron," Caleb said. His brown eyes were hard and there wasn't a trace of the normal amiability that the eldest son had.

Aaron scoffed, but knew when he was outnumbered. He winked at Rowan. "Remember what I said, babe. I'll be your valentine."

"A bloody valentine if you don't back off," Reid sneered.

"I'm scared," Aaron tossed back.

Reid almost went after him but his brothers were stopping him. He had to watch Brody and Aaron walk away with the last word. Shielding his eyes he used his powers to trip the two of them and they both did a face-plant right in front of the entire cafeteria providing much-needed lunchtime amusement. Caleb glared at him but didn't say anything. Reid simply smiled feeling slightly vindicated. They all took their seats at the table. Hunter sat to the right of Rowan, Pinkie to her left, Maria sat next to Pinkie. Pogue took a seat at the head of the table as Allison was sitting next to Caleb.

"He is, like, so unpleasant," Maria said.

"Oh, sweetie, you just don't know," Pinkie told her with a shake of his head.

"He's not always that bad," Allison said, and a collective silence hovered around the table. It was blasphemy to stick up for Aaron.

"On what fucking planet?" Reid spewed, his hackles up.

Allison's brow rose high at his language.

"Reid," Caleb said, not liking how he was addressing Allison.

Rowan tapped Reid's foot under the table and he simmered down.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "Let's dissipate this negative energy from the table. It's not good for the food."

Pretty much everyone but Allison laughed, she just didn't understand this oddness that was Caleb's little sister. She was so different from him that she wondered how they could be related. Caleb was so popular and personable, as were the rest of his friends, Rowan had to be somewhat of an embarrassment to them at times. But she had them wrapped around her finger and they practically doted on her. Caleb had even canceled a date with her when his sister had gotten sick back in December. Frankly, she thought their dedication to her was a bit over the top, but hesitated to say anything. Allison thought Rowan could alleviate a lot of the resentment directed towards her if she ditched all the weirdness. Right now she was wearing – what Caleb had told her – a camel velvet evil-eye wrap bracelet. She put charms in her locker, too, and kept animal feed on the uppermost shelf.

"Who will be your valentine this year, Rowan?" Maria asked.

"I don't even like Valentine's day," she replied.

Maria looked scandalized. She was an old-school romantic.

"I mean," Rowan continued, and everyone but Maria and Allison knew what was coming, "two of the Valentine's that the church recognized, Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni, were martyred for crying out loud." They thought she was finished, but she went on adamantly: "And the first Saint Valentine to be recognized in the fifteenth century was a Roman priest, but he was executed because he was marrying Christians, and it was a crime to aid Christians at that time."

Allison looked at her, appalled. She saw that no one else seemed particularly disturbed.

Continuing: "He was beaten and clubbed and stoned, and when that didn't kill him they beheaded him." She took a deep breath. "I don't see what's so romantic about that."

"You're hot when you get all worked up like that, Rowan," Reid said.

At that Rowan blushed.

"But you celebrate it," Pinkie said.

She shrugged. "I have nothing against romance. I just think that people should show love everyday and not just make a point of it one day out of the year."

"She's a romantic at heart," Hunter said.

"It's true," Rowan admitted. "Speaking of…" She caught Pogue's wandering eye. He was facing the direction in which a new student of Spensers was sitting. "The smitten kitten."

Pogue snapped out of his drooling and glared at Rowan but she just smiled sweetly. So he had seen Kate Tunney on the first day back at Spensers, he immediately pulled Maria aside and demanded information. Kate was from Manhattan, a freshman, and damned hot in Pogue's estimation.

"She's in my next class," Rowan said.

"I think I'll go talk to her," Reid said. "Introduce myself formally." He was already standing up with his play-boy mask on.

"Reid," Pogue ground out.

"First come, first serve fellas…"

----

Hunter turned out the lights in his room and settled in. It was raining and the thick drops splattered against the window with a fury. But nothing could mar his good mood at the moment. Gabriel had called to wish him a happy Valentine's Day and immediately his mind flashed back to New Years when they had kissed at midnight. Hunter hadn't been expecting it, but no doubt there was an attraction between them and they'd kept in touch since. His first kiss with a guy, he had hesitated for about a millisecond then threw caution to the wind. He might not get another chance, he'd told himself. And he'd never felt anything like that before. At first he had felt guilty for feeling something so intense in that kiss that he had never felt with Rowan, but when she'd confided in him about her kiss with Reid and how she was feeling guilty about how it had felt, they had come to an understanding.

But now Reid was back to his old self, flirting with his flock of chicks that never let up on him. Hunter hadn't asked Rowan how she felt about that, but knowing her she wasn't wishing anything ill on Reid.

Hunter drifted off to sleep with Gabriel in his mind, but was awakened when he felt a presence in his room. His eyes snapped open just as a cloth was put over his face.

"Hold him down!" a voice ordered.

His arms were held, but his legs weren't. He did a kick to the side, rotating his hips and caught whoever it was good in the ribs. With that one side free he clocked the other person and felt bone and cartilage break beneath his fist.

"Fuck! You fucking broke my nose!"

The third one came at him but Hunter dropped him with a three punch-kick combo, sending him flying into the wall. The commotion brought people to his door. Someone flicked on the light – Pinkie in his pink pajamas and eye mask hanging around his neck.

"Holy shit," Reid said. He saw Aaron, Brody, and one of their drones splayed out in Hunter's room.

"Dude, you're bleeding," Tyler said.

Hunter's adrenaline was still pumping. He looked at his forearm and there was a shallow cut about four inches long. Two pairs of scissors, shaving cream, and a razor were on the floor, one of them must have cut Hunter in the process of holding him down.

"I'm fine," Hunter ground out between his clenched teeth. He was pissed.

"You broke my nose," Brody cried. His hands came away from his blood-splattered face. "You fucking faggot."

"Shut the hell up, Brody," Pogue spat.

Pinkie was looking disturbed, not making any of his usual flippant comments. He went into Hunter's bathroom and got a wet cloth and brought it to him.

----

"You might get expelled?" Rowan railed. "They attacked you! With weapons!" She was in Hunter's dorm room where he had been quarantined until his uncle Fabian arrived to talk with the provost.

It was the six of them, all pretty pissed off on Hunter's behalf.

"This is so like this damned school," Rowan spat. "It's sick."

It was a scary thing to see Rowan genuinely angry. Not pissed off, or mad, but angry. Her voice was level but her tone was venomous. She was standing by the window not looking at anyone, but staring at the bleak gray sky.

"Just because their families donate money…it's always about money. That's what this is." She paused, her dark eyes turning to the side. "Toby said Provost Higgins is getting hounded by Brody's and Aaron's parents to have Hunter expelled."

"That's bullshit," Reid said. "They can't expel you for this man."

"Don't worry about it," Hunter said.

"You can get away with murder here," Rowan was saying. "And no one cares."

"Hey, it'll be fine lil bit, come here." Pogue had to tug her away from the window to get her to sit by him.

"It's not fine," she said.

Rowan was actually making the room tilt with her anger. If Hunter got expelled she'd leave this school, too. It wasn't right that Hunter was being seen as the aggressor when he was the one who had been attacked just because Aaron, Brody, and Nick had inferiority complexes. This school had been built by her ancestors, a place to harbor fugitive slaves and educate the young people of Ipswich, but it had turned into a place where sins were buried deep and there was more pettiness than goodness. Instead of worrying about the well-being of the students, the higher-ups worried about the parents of those students being offended if they didn't get what they wanted. Rowan had known this place was tainted, and this was just one more instance to add to the silenced injustices in Spensers Academy.

"Your uncle's here," Rowan said just seconds before a knock sounded at the door.

Hunter opened it and there stood his Uncle Fabian, all six feet five and two-hundred and ninety pounds of him. His dark hair was cropped short, his face was stern. He wore a business suit and tie with shined shoes.

He made eye contact with each of them and nodded. "Boys. Rowan." He turned back to Hunter. "Ready?"

----

Hunter and his uncle, the provost, Aaron, Brody, and Nick and their parents sat at a long table with the provost at the head.

Aaron was sporting a split lip, black eye, a couple of bruised ribs and a sprained wrist. Brody's nose was heavily bandaged, he also had some bruised ribs. Nick had three broken ribs and a black eye. Everyone's eyes had practically bugged out when Fabian Mercer had entered the room. The large man sat to the right of the provost, leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled beneath his chin, dark eyes sparing no one his basilisk glare.

"So let me understand this," Fabian spoke. "My nephew was assaulted in his dorm room, in the middle of the night, gagged and restrained to his bed, and he is facing expulsion."

"He was hardly assaulted, look at my son!" Brody's father spat.

"Now, let's-" the provost began.

"Come on, Gene!" Mr. Abbot exclaimed. "He" – he jabbed a finger at Hunter – "is a menace!"

"Refrain from addressing my nephew in that manner, Mr. Abbot," Fabian commanded him in a deadly tone. His posture had yet to change. "Provost Higgins, I was under the impression that this school had a zero-tolerance policy for violence, but obviously I was mistaken."

"There is a zero-"

Fabian interrupted. "But apparently the zero-tolerance is for the young people who threaten the status quo of this academy."

"Now, Mr. Mercer-"

"Let's be blunt. My nephew was attacked because he is gay. And it's no secret that these young men have been harassing Hunter for it. Isn't that right?" This time his dark eyes needled Hunter's attackers who shifted uncomfortably in their flesh. "Is this the sort of institution you're running, Provost Higgins? Where kids can get away with assaulting others with weapons just because they do not approve of their sexual orientation?"

Provost Higgins' mouth opened and shut, trying to make the words in his mind reach his tongue and leave his throat. "I assure you," – he cleared his throat - "that Hunter's sexual orientation has nothing to do with this. We're very open minded here-"

"I don't care if he's screwing the entire football team," Brody's dad interjected, "he shattered my son's nose."

"Then I suggest plastic surgery," Fabian said. "What's it going to be Mr. Higgins?"

----

Fifteen minutes later Hunter was walking Fabian back to his car.

"Thanks," Hunter said.

"You sure you want to stay here?" Fabian asked.

"I'm not leaving Rowan," he said.

Fabian smiled. "Your father would have been damned proud of you, kid."

"Yeah?" he asked hesitantly.

"No doubt, Hunter." He gave his nephew a hug and shook his head. "Fucking rich people."

----

"So you have three weeks detention, and they get suspended for two weeks and detention for a month when they come back," Caleb said.

"That's the gist of it," Hunter said, crunching on a Dorito.

They were in her sanctum sanctorum, gorging themselves on junk food while Rowan was behind the counter flipping through a very large book of spells.

"I wish I could have been the one to smash Brody's face in," Reid lamented wistfully. "Why do you get to have all the fun?" he griped, feeding Ernie a cracker.

"Quit hogging the cheese," Pogue sniped, grabbing the can of Cheez Whiz from Reid and slathering a Ritz cracker with it. Bubbe watched him earnestly.

"What are you doing?" Tyler asked, coming to stand beside her.

"I want them to squirm," Rowan said.

Tyler looked at the open page. There was a picture of the three wise monkeys, one covering its ears; hear no evil, one its eyes; see no evil, the other its mouth; speak no evil. And the enigmatic fourth monkey covering either his abdomen or crotch; do no evil. Tyler couldn't tell which.

----

The day after Brody, Aaron and Nick came back from their suspension they came down with a severe case of laryngitis. Two days after that they contracted an inner ear infection. The next day they were diagnosed with viral conjunctivitis. The day after that they had severe symptoms that indicated ulcers. They were taken out of school. And each time their bad luck seemed to be letting up, the illness came back.

"So, when does it go away?" Caleb asked her one evening, three weeks into it.

"When does what go away, Cay?" she asked.

"I know you put a spell on them, Row," he said. "Not that they don't deserve a taste of their own medicine, but they're sick with some pretty serious stuff."

"I know what I'm doing."

Two weeks later Rowan severed the spell. Aaron, Brody, and Nick woke up, illness and symptoms completely gone, to the astonishment of their doctors and parents. But whenever they had it in their minds to do something particularly vile, their ears, eyes, throats, and stomachs would throb for a single beat as a potent reminder.

----

Hunter knocked on Pinkie's door and went in when an acerbic pitch of consent was given. Pinkie was sitting at his desk with his school books opened.

"Yes?" Pinkie inquired, not looking at Hunter.

"Row, Diz and I are going out, you want to come?" Hunter asked.

"No, thank you."

Pinkie had been acting like this since Hunter had had his spat with Aaron, Brody and Nick. His usually enthusiasm was dried up, and he had no pithy quips to offer to anyone. Hunter had an idea what was going on in Pinkie's head, but hadn't pried. He took a spare chair turned it, so he could rest his forearms on the back of it.

Pinkie looked sideways at Hunter, who was only sitting there casually, unwavering eyes on the morose boy.

"What's up, Pinks?" Hunter asked.

"Nothing."

"That's bull. You hardly come out of your room, you've ditched gym class, and you spend lunch in the library."

"I am merely catching up on my studying," he insisted.

"We're worried about you," Hunter said.

"Don't be," Pinkie snapped. "I'm fine."

Hunter sighed. "Talk to me Philip. This has to do with those three assholes, right?"

"You invoked my birth name. You cretin."

Hunter smiled. "I thought that might get your attention." He let the silence go on, knowing that it would get to Pinkie.

"I…am just trying to avoid any conflict," Pinkie said. "All right?"

"You thrive on witty banter," he said.

"People like me have to."

"Like you?" Hunter knew what he meant, but he was pressing him anyway.

"Yeah," Pinkie said more loudly than he'd intended. He whipped around in his chair to face Hunter. "Fags, queers. You know?" He shook his head, trying to do away with the dark thoughts that had been plaguing him. "You could have been seriously hurt, you know that? The only reason why they finally decided to make a move on you is because you're gay. That's it."

Hunter raised his and shrugged. "But they didn't get to me. You're worried they might get to you."

"They've been screwing with me since we were kids. Because I'm gay. And while I have no problem with who I'm attracted to, it's still…scares the hell out of me that someone would hate me so much just because of it. I can't defend myself like you, Hunter. If that'd been me they'd gone after, I'd have been pulverized. I could have turned into another Matthew Shepherd, and they would have gotten away with it!" Pinkie bit back tears.

"They wouldn't. And I've got your back, you know that."

Pinkie deflated and hung his head. "It's easy for you. You took the three of them out like they were puppets. And they're never going to mess with you again."

"And as long as you're with me, they're not going to screw with you either. And if they ever did anything to you, you know me and Rowan wouldn't let them get away with it. I can promise you that."

Pinkie looked at Hunter's dead serious green eyes. He sniffed, and raised his head. "All right. I feel a tad better."

Hunter smiled. "I can even teach you some defensive moves if you want."

Pinkie looked at him dubiously. "That might be interesting. Nothing too vigorous though. I'm not made for hard labor."

Hunter laughed and got up from his chair. "Come on."

"So where are we going?"

"Dancing."

"Ooh!" Pinkie loved dancing. "I'll have to pick out a colorful outfit." He headed for his closet but pivoted to face Hunter. "Thanks, you know. You, Rowan, and Diz are, like, my best friends."

"Why the hell do you think we put up with you, Pinks?"

Pinkie laughed. He paused for a second then gave Hunter a hug. Hunter hugged him right back, giving him a slap on the back.

"Ow!" Pinkie said. "I'm not one of your manly-man friends. Sheesh! When you hug me you're going to have to be more conscientious of my dainty constitution."

"That's sad," Hunter said.

"Okay, help me pick out my outfit."

"Oh, hell no." Hunter looked scandalized. "Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm anymore into fashion. Let me get Dizzy in here." And he was beating a hasty retreat out of the room.

"Now, that is sad, sweetie," Pinkie called after him.


Just a note, the person I have for Hunter's uncle is Dave Batista from the WWE. I put a pic of him in my album.

Any comments are welcome. Thanks to those who are reading and commenting so far. :)