And now it’s back. The magic is back.

Eric realizes he can’t see because his eyes are blurry with tears. He’s weeping in his ugly little kitchen as the ball of light winks out of existence.

But the magic is still there. He can feel it, coiled under his skin, running down to the ends of his nerves.

Like it was never gone in the first place. He’s a magician again.

He wipes his eyes to clear them, then looks at the invitation to the reunion.

And if he refuses, there’s a chance the magic will go away again. Which is not a chance Eric is willing to take.

He picks up the card and puts it back in the envelope.

He has to contact the others. He has to let them know. They have to go back. It’s starting again, Eric thinks.

But he’s wrong.

It never really stopped.

The End is near. And people will die tonight, because they all left. None of them are where they are supposed to be.

They are already too late.

From the Wikipedia entry for Middleton:

Middleton is a city located near the Sweetwater River, and is the county seat of Middleton County. Its estimated population as of 2016 was 56,702.1

History

Middleton was founded in 1826 by the pioneer Charles Colchester, who stopped in the valley while traveling west.2 Colchester could not understand why the nearby Native American tribes shunned the area, and established a trading post and supply depot for other settlers. The spot was initially called “Bugtown,”3 “Snakeville,”4 and “Manitowa,” the latter a mistranslation of a native word that was used to refer to the valley, which meant “place where the spirits dwell.” [citation needed]

As the town prospered and grew with the increasing number of travelers passing through on their way west, it was officially renamed “Middleton” in 1830 as part of its claim to be the closest settlement to what was then the geographical center of the United States.5 (This was often disputed by Centerville, Middleton’s nearest neighbor.)

The town is also located near Snake Hill, a Native American earthwork constructed around 300 BCE, at the time of a prehistoric indigenous culture that flourished in North America for centuries before European settlers arrived. Although the tribes that lived near the area were not related to the mound-builders, the mound and its surrounding forest were considered sacred by them. The early settlers of Middleton agreed, by an informal treaty later signed into state law, to leave the hill untouched.6 It was designated a National Historic Landmark and protected by federal law in 1901.7 Archaeologists and historians are in dispute about the actual uses and significance of the mound, with some calling it a site for religious ceremonies (possibly including human sacrifices, as in the Aztec culture), while others maintain it is an early observatory.8,9 Snake Hill is the largest serpent effigy in the world.

Economy