Halfway Through the Wood

**Halfway Through the Wood** is an InCryptid short novel. It is thirteenth in the Alice and Thomas shorts.

## Synopsis

And now, a major milestone in the Buckley portion of the InCryptid timeline, as we drop a literal novel on the fiction tier.  (Seriously, it's a short novel, but it's a novel; this is your only warning.)

Content warnings for this month: death, major character death, injury, child death, descriptions of injury, animal death (non-graphic, especially compared to human death), ghosts having very bad days.

This is not the end of the Alice and Thomas portion of the timeline.  This is the story I had to reach before *Spelunking* came out.

## Plot

**Chapter 1**: An omniscient narrator sets the stage for Enid's death, telling how none of the Healys had any inkling of what was to come that day. Enid begins making the day's meals, as Alice sneaks in and cleans herself up before Jonathan can see her. After breakfast, Alice heads to school, and Jonathan and Alexander head to work. Some time later, Carol Gersh rings the doorbell and begs Enid to help save her daughter Nancy, who had been taken by monsters from the woods. Enid grabs her shotgun and heads off into the woods with Carol in tow.

**Chapter 2**: More backstory of the Healys is given, as Alice arrives home in the evening. The house lights are off, but she has no idea anything might be amiss as she opens the door. The scent of decay hits her, and she asks the mice what happened. They tell her of the morning's events, up until Enid gave them the order to hide. Alice approaches the kitchen and opens the door.

**Chapter 3**: Alice sees a horrifying scene in the kitchen; the floor is covered with a stinking sludge and the back door is propped open by a skeleton wearing Enid's clothing, still with her hair. Alice panics and runs out of the kitchen, managing to call to Mary for help before fainting.

**Chapter 4**: Mary arrives and asks the mice what happened. She goes into the kitchen and sees the gore. When Alice wakes up, she asks Mary to unlock Alexander's study so she can use the phone. Alice calls Thomas and asks him to come over, and bring waterproof boots.

**Chapter 5**: Thomas stops by the elementary school to pick up Alexander, telling the principal he's the older man's nephew. He explains the situation as they drive to the Healy house.

**Chapter 6**: The mice inform Alexander and Thomas of Alice's situation, and that Mary is haunting the kitchen, refusing them access. As Alexander comforts Alice, Mary shows Thomas the kitchen. Thomas establishes that the body is not infectious, and goes outside to find a trail leading from the woods to the house. With Alexander's permission, he uses magic to teleport the sludge to a trough in the barn. Jonathan arrives home and furiously grabs Thomas, only for Alexander to stop him and tell him what happened to Enid.

**Chapter 7**: Mary comforts Alice, and finally has the chance to explain to her the truth behind her kissing Thomas. Thomas arrives and sits on the porch with Alice, where they have a heartfelt discussion. Alexander calls them both back inside for a family meeting.

**Chapter 8**: They discuss what to do, and Thomas proposes creating a minor illusion to make Enid's skeleton look like it still has flesh, if only long enough for burial. When Jonathan floats the idea that whatever killed Enid may be so dangerous they may need to call the Covenant in, Alice storms off, and Alexander heads to the barn to be with Enid's remains. Jonathan is left alone with Thomas, who he interrogates about his relationship with Alice. Thomas stands his ground, and points out how little Jonathan knows or cares for his own daughter. Alice heads out to shoot a deer to use for the illusion.

**Chapter 9**: Alexander sits in the barn with Enid's skeleton, and wonders why she went into the woods alone. He realizes she didn't go alone, and calls around, finding out that Carol Gersh's daughter Nancy disappeared earlier that day.

**Chapter 10**: Alice shoots a deer behind the Red Angel, leaving the viscera for Cynthia's mother. She tells Cynthia what happened, and Cynthia drives her back home with the deer and her bike.

**Chapter 11**: Alice arrives back home with the deer, and Thomas helps her get the wheelbarrow. She gives him her gun and takes the stag to the barn. He goes up to the house, and then heads back to the barn with Jonathan and Alexander. Thomas performs the spell to make the deer flesh look like Enid's body, and stays in the barn to maintain it while Alexander heads back to the house after Alice. After yet another argument, Jonathan heads back as well.

**Chapter 12**: Alexander muses with Thomas on where he and Enid went wrong raising Jonathan, and why he ended up the way he did. The coroner arrives and takes away Enid's body. Thomas is exhausted from two spells in one night, and Mary drives him to the Red Angel, where she explains her troubles with the Crossroads. Alexander arrives and Cynthia makes a toast to Enid's memory. Thomas excuses himself and drives home.

**Chapter 13**: Mary arrives early in the morning to wake Thomas up in time for the funeral and drive him there. Alexander gives a eulogy for Enid, followed by Cynthia and many other guests.

**Chapter 14**: Thomas stays up all night researching what could have killed Enid, but is unsuccessful. At dawn, he drives over to the Healy house with Mary to help Jonathan and Alexander with their research. He has Mary bring his trunk full of notes on Australian cryptids to see if they can find anything.

**Chapter 15**: The Meyers, Thomas's nearest neighbors, suffer an attack by the same monster that killed Enid.

**Chapter 16**: Alice goes to Thomas's house and informs him about the Meyers. They head back to the Healy house, and after reading more of his notes, Thomas realizes the monster is a bidi-taurabo-haza. They prepare to hunt it down, but Jonathan tells Alice to stay at home, and the others don't argue with him.

**Chapter 17**: Jonathan, Alexander, and Thomas head to the Meyer place and search for the bidi-taurabo-haza. Finding no sign of it, they head into the woods, where they hear Alice scream.

**Chapter 18**: Alice waits until the men have left, then heads into the woods to hunt the snake herself. The frickens suddenly stop singing, and the bidi-taurabo-haza bites her. She screams.

**Chapter 19**: As Jonathan and Alexander shoot the bidi-taurabo-haza to death, a dying Alice tells Thomas that she loves him and would marry him. Thomas calls Mary to make a deal for Alice's life. Jonathan attempts to do the same, but Mary dismisses him, as he has nothing the Crossroads would want. Mary negotiates a deal where the Crossroads heals Alice and will never have any claim on her, in exchange for Thomas being trapped in an ever-narrowing circle, and eventually taking him away completely.

**Chapter 20**: Thomas carries an unconscious Alice out of the woods and back to the truck. When they arrive at the Healy house, Jonathan takes her inside. Alexander stops Thomas from following, and Thomas drives home. On the way, he tests the terms of the bargain by driving to the edge of town, where the world suddenly drops off to nothingness.

**Chapter 21**: Alice wakes up, and Alexander and Jonathan decide not to tell her about Thomas's bargain. Thomas sits at home and reflects on the day's events. Mary goes to Avery Township, Michigan, to confront Gwendolyn Brandt for releasing the bidi-taurabo-haza. After explaining the implications of promising the Crossroads "anything" and then letting their snake be destroyed, Mary unleashes the ghost of the bidi-taurabo-haza and lets it kill Gwendolyn.

**Chapter 22**: Mary agrees with Alexander and Jonathan to keep quiet about the deal, but warns that it will be worse if she hears it from Thomas, and if they send her away they'll eventually lose her for good. Mary goes to Thomas and once again offers him the option to back out of his deal. He adamantly refuses, telling her that he won't let Alice die.

**Chapter 23**: Alice is slowly recovering from almost dying, and discusses her future with Mary. Mary visits Thomas and finds him at the Red Angel, arranging meal deliveries with Cynthia. The boundary has already shrunk to less than a mile in radius.

**Chapter 24**: At Alice's eighteenth birthday party, she watches the road for Thomas, but he never arrives, afraid that if he's unable to come he'll have to tell her what he did.

**Chapter 25**: Alice goes into the woods with Mary two weeks before heading off to college, and follows the trail to the Old Parrish Place. Mary urges her to go and talk to Thomas.

**Chapter 26**: Alice and Thomas have an awkward conversation, In which Thomas can't tell her the reason he's staying at home. She leaves feeling that her love is one-sided.

**Chapter 27**: Alice gets on the bus to Ann Arbor and leaves Buckley.

## Characters

**Major**

* Alice Healy: Weeks away from graduating high school, Alice is feeling pressured by her father to leave Buckley and get a degree in library science. At the same time, she chafes at being treated like a child by her overprotective father.
* Thomas Price: Thomas is forced, in the most extreme circumstances, to acknowledge the extent of his feelings for Alice Healy.
* Jonathan Healy: Jonathan's temper, need for control, and hatred of the cryptid world come to a head when death strikes his family yet again.
* Alexander Healy: Alexander, ex-Covenant agent, husband, father, grandfather, must fight through grief and shock to defend his home from a deadly threat.
* Mary Dunlavy: The Crossroads tighten their hold on Mary, pulling her away from her babysitting duties in circumstances that will bring them the greatest gains.

**Minor**

* Gwendolyn Brandt
* Cynthia
* Juniper Campbell
* Laura Campbell
* Missy McClure
* Carol Bishop Gersh
* Nancy Gersh
* Cynthia's mother, an aspen grove
* Town coroner
* Petunia, dragon princess barkeep
* Donald Meyer
* Lucy Meyer
* David Meyer

**Mentioned**

* Frances Healy
* Rose Marshall
* Caroline Carew
* Annabelle MacLaine
* Muriel Chaseman
* Rose Marshall
* Bobby Cross
* Brian Osborne, childhood classmate
* The Gucciards
* Post office ladies
* Minna, Cynthia's spouse
* Deep gods of the dead
* The Hoffmans, Buckley family
* Miss Marion, children's librarian
* Charles Madison

## Field Guide

* Angler Tortoise
* Bidi-taurabo-haza
* Bogeyman
* Boo hag
* Crossroads
* Crossroads Ghost
* Crossroads Guardian
* Dragon princess
* Fricken
* Huldra / skogsrå.
* Kataw
* Kodama
* Loveland frogman
* Nanny ghost
* Sasquatch
* Sorcerer
* Tailypo
* Umbramancer
* Wadjet (unnamed)

**Mentioned**

* Ambulomancer
* Basilisk
* Carcolh
* Dire Boar
* Gorgon
* Haint
* Hitchhiker
* Homecomer
* Madhura
* Mongolian death worm
* Peryton
* Poltergeist
* Routewitch
* Swamp Bromeliad
* Sjörå, Bergsrå (Huldra)
* Swamp god
* Troll

## Locations

* Buckley Township, Michigan
	+ Healy home
	+ Galway Woods
	+ Old Parrish Place
	+ Old Mill Road (mentioned)
	+ The Red Angel
* Cedar Rapids, Michigan
* Avery, Michigan

**Mentioned**

* Montmorency County hospital
* Ann Arbor, University of Michigan
* Detroit (likely University of Detroit or Wayne State University)
* Carmichael Hotel, Chicago
* Connecticut, where Mary must witness a bargain
* Penton Hall, London, England
* The twilight, the starlight

## Objects

* Mesmer cage, binding seal, blood charm
* *Fang's Guide to the Crossroads* by Xiang Fang
* *Madison's Beasts of the Arctic* by Charles Madison
* Thomas's booby-trapped steamer trunk

## Continuity

**Family History**

* Both of Enid's sisters were married before her, and both of their husbands refused to accept the Aeslin mice. When Enid and Alexander were married, she held him at gunpoint on the honeymoon and made it clear that if he chose the Covenant over her, she would choose the mice over his life.
* Alexander and Enid arrived in America in 1905. Enid was already visibly pregnant with Jonathan. Alexander held the key to "the Old Norton property" in Buckley that he supposedly won from a cousin in poker.
	+ This account leaves out their first stop in Pennsylvania, where the Covenant found them.

**Prequels**

* Fran gave the fricken their colloquial name.
* References to Daniel's and Fran's deaths.
	+ Mary has been to three funerals since her death: her father's, Fran's, and Enid's.
* Mary died on Old Mill Road.
* Reference to Alice and Thomas's first meeting, with Alice chased by a dire boar.
* Reference to the Alkabyiftiris slime attack on Alice and her recovery.
	+ Alice shut Mary out for a full year under the impression that Mary was romantically interested in Thomas.
	+ Alice has been hanging out more with Rose, who suggests telling Jonathan to stuff it regarding future plans.
* Reference to the Parrish family and its crimes, as well as the swamp god that may or may not exist.
* Alice has Fran's "sometimes-uncanny, sometimes-disastrous relationship with luck, which seemed to put her in the right place at the right time far more often than could be explained with anything as reasonable as statistics."

**Main Series**

* The mice formally deify Thomas as the God of Inconvenient Timing.
* We finally see the oft-mentioned bargain that Thomas made with the crossroads for Alice's life.
* An unknown sorcerer "hurt the crossroads very badly, or is going to".
* A family of Madhura in Manhattan are mentioned, who may be the same family that Piyusha, Sunil, and Rochak are from.

## Trivia

* Aeslin mice never leave ghosts, as their absolute faith in their gods leaves no room for unfinished business. (Chapter 8)
* The Healys bury their Aeslin clergy in the same plot as their own dead. (Chapter 12)
* The Price family vaults are sealed behind blood wards that only open for a genuine descendant. (Chapter 14)
* Mary can use the twilight to move objects that she would have been able to lift in life, but nothing heavier. Things that she can barely lift off the ground still count. (Chapter 14)

## Inconsistencies

* Alice is mentioned as going to school in the beginning, but June 2, 1956 was a Saturday.
* Fran's time in Buckley (1928-1945) is described as "less than 15 years long", despite being at least 16 years.
* Alice thinks Thomas got his truck from the Covenant, when he actually bought it from Mary. She might not know that, though.
* Buckley has been previously described as being in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but this story places it in Montmorency County, which is not in that part of the state. (Chapter 20)

## Quotes

* “Having a ghost in the family can be really useful sometimes. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s looking to get something more interesting than endless second cousins.” —Alice on Mary
* **Mary:** Ann Arbor’s not so far. And it’ll be nice for you to meet some new people. People who haven’t already seen you come running out of the woods covered in blood and yelling at the top of your lungs.
**Alice:** It was *one time*.
**Mary:** It was *fifth grade*. Your peers were starting to think about social standing and hooking up, and you had a kidney down the back of your shirt.

## See also

* Dear Thomas, a song from the perspective of Alice at the end of this story.