Penny Wise and the League of St. Claire

Chapter 1

The future’s headlong fall into the depths of Hell must be averted because it can affect the past, and only a group of teens with super powers can accomplish this impossible task. They are faced with overcoming unbelievable odds and fighting fierce battles with powerful evil creatures all the while trying to live normal teenage lives and avoid detection. Their ultimate success hinges on a single boy by the name of Jordan who is unaware of his true nature. Penny Wise, the leader of the League must convince him that he is absolutely essential to accomplish her mission of destroying the Beast of the Apocalypse.

This story takes place in the same locale as described in Kill Switch, but these are not people from the future. They’re precocious teens growing up in the forties. This story involves teen interactions, super hero violence, and battles with future soldiers and demons. It’s told from Jordan Hirsh’s aspect but in third person.

The name Clair is also spelled Claire. This is not a mistake.

All rights reserved, Copyright © 2014. The locations, names and events are fictional, despite the fact that some places are real. No offense is intended against anyone or anything in the past, the present or the future.

Chapter 1

Jordan Hirsh is a fourteen-year-old boy with sandy hair, bright eyes and an infectious smile. Like most teens, he is absorbed in everyday struggles to survive in a world that doesn’t consider kids like him to be mature, a confusing world that is on the verge of the greatest conflict in human history.

The time is the summer of 1940 when Europe is already embroiled in war and the United States is pretending to be neutral. Many older teens and men are being drafted and preparing for the inevitable conflict.

Jordan was young enough to cross that terror out of his mind. He was too busy spending a pleasant summer reading and hiking around the woods near his home. He’s always been interested in nature and science, but there is little opportunity to enjoy these rewarding pursuits.

He hates being around kids his age because they’re too rambunctious for his taste and not very erudite. He prefers intelligent conversation, something he seldom gets from his peers. He doesn’t feel as if he’s better than they are. He just likes difficult subjects like science, philosophy, history and literature. His peculiar interests made him a loner.

 Despite the improbable chances of finding someone like himself, he still enjoys going to St. Clair playground, which is directly across the street from his house on Arch Avenue. A playground and adjoining ball diamond occupy the entire bottom section of this centrally located park that extends from the railroad tunnel on its northern side to an alley that runs alongside his house on the south side and continues on the opposite side of Arch Avenue up to St. Clair Street, which intersects the park at its midpoint. The town that this park is located in has a population of twenty five thousand and is nestled in a hilly topography.

A hazy summer sun warms his face and a breeze adds a modicum of relief from stifling humidity. He’s dressed in a tee shirt, shorts and high-laced leather shoes with leather soles, the kind that are affectionately known as clodhoppers.

Jordan considers the playground to be a waste of time, but he comes here occasionally to lose himself in the joys of childhood uncompromised by adult criticism or control; although, a young adult does function as a playground attendant, the rest of the playground’s denizens are young and boisterous.

He immediately noted that this girl was not like the others. She wasn’t yelling or screaming like other kids her age. She seemed pensive and absorbed in a book while casually seated on a park bench. He couldn’t see what kind of book that she was totally immersed in, but it heightened his curiosity, enough so to wander over to the bench and sit down next to her.