by Sara Clancy
Benton presented his ankle without prompting.
Zack chuckled in a failed attempt to hide his nerves. “But, if I black out again, wouldn’t I just take it off?”
“Not without wire cutters,” Benton croaked.
Nicole continued the thought. “I’ve woven the threads around a plaited strand copper wire. I mean, it won’t stand up against the proper tools, but there’s no way you’d be able to snap it by hand. Or scissors. I’ve checked. And the padlocks are small, but they work pretty well.”
“Why do you even have these?” Meg asked.
“Some nights, I sleep heavy,” she shrugged. “And with Benton sleepwalking now, I need to know if he gets up and moves around.”
“Yeah, that’s normal,” Zack muttered.
Nicole bristled up slightly. “Hey, I thought this was a pretty good solution to the problem.”
“So do I,” Benton said.
Zack cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Her dad was suggesting to just hog tie me,” Benton said. “Bells are better.”
“And much more cheerful,” Nicole said as she finished attaching the last one.
“But why do you have so many of them?” Danny asked.
“Hm?” Nicole both answered and dismissed at the same time.
“Don’t ask,” Benton grumbled. “Trust me. Don’t ask.”
“All right then.” Nicole swiftly got to her feet.
“Wait,” Meg snapped. “Why don’t you get a bell?”
“Because I’m trustworthy.”
“That’s not fair,” Danny protested.
“The monster has never used me to hurt Benton.” The sentence ended with a far-off stare.
Suddenly, she ran for her binders, flipping through the pages as she grumbled to herself.
“Does no one else feel a little insulted?” Meg declared, twisting her outstretched foot to test her new ankle bracelet.
The bells might have been tiny, but they made a ruckus.
“I’m trying hard not to,” Danny agreed.
Benton decided it was best not to comment and let the others continue their conversation in peace. Honestly, let them have their denial. It was easier than admitting that, if this creature was capable of overcoming the hurricane of Nicole’s thoughts, bells wouldn’t save them. Nicole was a force of nature that had proven she could kill a man. She hadn’t even hesitated to put a bullet between the man’s eyes. The fact that he was a serial killer who had almost led to all of their deaths had helped soften the blow for the group. In time, they had come to terms with what had happened as much as they could. They ignored the rest. Sometimes she still had nightmares over it. Everyone just assumed it was the guilt of taking a life. The only guilt she had was that she didn’t feel guilty.
Only Benton knew that part. It was their little secret.
Carefully swallowing a mouthful of ice-cream, Benton pondered how much worse all of this would be if she had kept that last bit of information from him. Months had passed and he still couldn’t figure out how to tell her how comforted he was knowing how far she’d go for him. He’d never had that before.
Well, not since the Banshee genes kicked in. That’s when his parents had taken a giant emotional leap back and left him to deal with it on his own. Not my parents, a little voice whispered it in the back of his mind. He quickly shoved it away. He was too exhausted to think about that right now.
Benton’s lack of interest had long since reduced the conversation around him to a bunch of sounds rather than words. It was the lack of noise that rekindled his interest. Following everyone’s line of sight, he noticed Dorothy coming around the back of the house. The approaching dusk had just started to dim the winter sky. Clouds thickened with the promise of more snowfall, deepening the clustering shadows. None of them were dark enough to offer any real hiding places, but Dorothy still eyed each of them with suspicion, one hand resting upon her service weapon. Benton tried to warn her about the booby-traps, but all that came out was a pained grunt.
“I got it,” Nicole called from the kitchen.
Benton must have missed the part where they discussed antipersonnel devices because Dorothy never made an attempt to open the door herself. She simply stood there, eyeing the back yard as she waited for her daughter. Logan beat her to it. Oh, so he taught her, Benton thought as he watched Logan dismantle the trap without hesitation. He still had deep concerns about her browser history.
“Have I ever told you how much I love a girl in uniform?” Logan asked.
“I’m armed.”
“And you just got hotter.” The soldier added a wink at the end for good measure.
“So,” Dorothy said sharply, moving into the room while Nicole swiftly reset the trap. “Zack tried to kill Benton?”
“Abduct,” Zack corrected. “What? Why is everyone looking at me like that? It’s a very important detail.”
Benton shrugged when the Constable threw him a questioning look, wincing with the movement of his neck.
“Do you need to go to the hospital?” she asked.
“No,” he croaked.
Dorothy cringed in sympathy. “How about some ice cubes to suck on?”
He held up his dripping ice pack by way of response.
“All right.” Dorothy nodded once and put her hands on her hips. “So, back to this whole attempted murder business.”
“Abduction!” Zack protested.
She quickly met Benton’s gaze again and they both hid a smirk. It was rare when their senses of humor lined up. Generally, it only happened when they were messing with Nicole.
“He wasn’t in control of himself,” Nicole defended.
Zack snapped his fingers a few times and pointed at her, “Yes! Also important. That makes me not legally responsible for my actions, right?”
Dorothy’s whole body rocked with her disgruntled sigh. “Is there any good news today?”
“We’re still alive,” Nicole offered, with a smile that a Miss Universe contestant would be jealous of. “That’s always one heck of a perk.”
“And I didn’t bludgeon a teenager,” Logan declared with a grin. “Really, I should get more get more credit for that.”
His wife whipped around to face him. “Sorry?”
He gestured loosely to Zack. “He hit my little angel. And I didn’t break every bone in his body.”
“I was possessed!” Zack squeaked.
Logan simply shrugged one beefy shoulder. A small movement that made it abundantly clear the details didn’t matter to him, and drew attention to his muscle mass.
Dorothy rolled her eyes. “Well, thank you for not making me arrest you.”
Flopping down into the armchair nearest his wife, Logan pouted and tapped his lips until he received a kiss as reward. Nicole released a sweet ‘aw’.
This is the Rider family, Benton thought. My last line of defense against the unknown. Dorothy somehow managed to hold onto both her dignity and authority as her husband tugged her down to sit on the armrest. It’s probably the stab vest, Benton decided.
It didn’t take long for all traces of humor to seep from the room. Dorothy’s gaze sharpened as she looked at each of the teens in turn.
“I’ve heard it from Nicole’s point of view. Do either of you boys want to weigh in?”
Benton pointed to his throat and cocked an eyebrow.
“I don’t remember anything,” Zack insisted. “I swear.”
“Can someone tell us what’s going on?” Meg asked.
Nicole happily took the lead and started from the beginning. Benton watched her parents carefully, trying to pick up any trace of emotion that crossed their features. They were both as emotionless as stone. The only way he knew that Nicole was elaborating on things she hadn’t been able to get into on the phone was when the couple cast quick glances at each other. The twins, however, made no attempt to hide their growing unease.
“Wait, you guys really think the Buffalo monster can do that to us, too?” Meg asked. “Tak
e over our minds, I mean?”
“Perhaps,” Dorothy said, clearly distracted by her thoughts.
Zack scrunched up his face. “Why would we lie about that?”
Mimicking Zack himself, Benton clicked his fingers and pointed to him. Good point. Both boys were ignored.
“My question is; why Zack?” Logan said.
Settling down next to Benton, Nicole piled the binders onto her lap and resumed flipping through them.
“We know that this creature has been stalking our house for a while,” Dorothy said, her eyes scanning the curtained windows. “It would have seen Zack and the twins coming and going. Perhaps it reasoned that Nicole would open the door to a familiar face.”
Nicole froze. Benton squeezed her knee. You couldn’t have known. With a little smile, she bumped their shoulders and went back to what she was doing. Meanwhile, Dorothy had been sizing Zack up thoughtfully.
“He is also the most physically imposing,” she continued.
“I’m not saying that he’s not a good option,” Logan said, waving a hand at the teenagers as if they couldn’t hear or see him. “Clearly, he’s the best out of the three.”
Nicole opened her mouth, but Benton cut in first.
“Really, Nic? You’re insulted you weren’t chosen to kill me?”
She clamped her mouth shut.
“This is what gets me,” Logan continued as if nothing had happened. “Why is everyone assuming that the other two were on the menu, to begin with?”
Dorothy licked her lips. “You’re suggesting that it doesn’t have the ability to take over anyone? That his victims must meet a set criterion? That’s a good point.”
“Wait.” A huge smile stretched Logan’s face. Leaning back, he balanced one ankle on his knee. “Did I just figure something out before you two?”
“Don’t gloat,” Dorothy said.
“Oh, no. I’m going to gloat.”
“I’m thinking that it might have something to do with family lines,” Nicole said, still skimming the pages.
Logan deflated. “Oh, come on.”
“At least we know of two family lines that are safe.” Nicole glanced up, seemingly becoming aware that she had everyone’s attention. “It just seems like it could have saved itself a lot of trouble by picking one of us. You know, we already live here. Benton spends all his time with us. And I’m sure it’s seen how easily we can lure him into a car. But it still picked Zack. His family has never married into either side of mine. Well, going back two-hundred-odd years. After that, the records get a little unreliable.”
“You know everyone’s family tree going back two-hundred years?” Meg asked.
“Oh, no.” Nicole chuckled. “Just mine. Wait, did you forget about our third-grade family tree project?”
“I remember that we only had to go as far back as our grandparents,” Zack muttered.
Benton smirked, repositioning the ice pack against his neck. “So, it can only possess annoying people?”
“Hey,” Zack snapped.
Holding his gaze, Benton removed the ice pack, exposing the dark lines that now crisscrossed his neck.
“I withdraw my complaint,” Zack replied.
“Aren’t we assuming a lot here?” Danny asked.
Dorothy looked them all over in turn. “We know it can’t be gender or age.”
“It could be something he ingested,” Logan offered.
“The whole town has the same food and water source. He wouldn’t have had anything out of the normal.” Dorothy hesitated to level a cold glare at the teen in question. “Isn’t that right, Zack? You haven’t been taking anything else?”
Zack paled as much as his tawny skin would allow. “No. I swear. I’m clean. Where would you even get anything illegal in this town? You do too good of a job, Constable.”
Logan’s laughter boomed around the room. “Yeah, buddy, flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere with her. That only works when I do it.”
“Logan,” his wife growled under her breath.
“Hey, it’s a good thing you’re a sucker for my charms. We wouldn’t have Nicole if you weren’t.”
Horror twisted up Nicole’s features. “If it’s hereditary, do you think it’s possible that Zack’s entire family be just as likely to fall victim to the Buffalo Monster?”
Ice trickled down Benton’s spine. “How many people is that?”
He remembered her telling him on numerous occasions that there was barely a family in Fort Wayward not connected by blood or marriage. It was pure luck that they were as separated as is. He should have known that it wouldn’t last.
“You know, it might not be everyone in his family,” Nicole tried to soothe, seemingly forgetting that she was a terrible liar. And clearly didn’t believe a word she said. “It might just be close relations. Like his parents and brothers.”
“Don’t bring my family into this,” Zack whined defensively, clearly trying to defuse his growing concern with some humor.
“All of that is just guesswork at this point,” Logan cut in. He hunched forward to rest his elbows on his knees as he continued, “What we do know for sure is that it has the ability to mess with people while they’re awake. It hasn’t done that before.”
“It’s either been holding back or growing stronger,” Dorothy noted.
“I love you more than cheesecake, honey, but I’m trying to drag us away from speculation for just a hot second,” Logan said. “It’s showed us a little bit more of what it can do. So, can we finally figure out what it is?”
He gave every indication that this was a joint problem, and he intended them to brainstorm the answer together. That didn’t stop the entire room from automatically turning to look at Nicole. Busy reading through her binder, it took her a few seconds to realize. She gaped for a moment, her dark eyes growing wide, before she balled her fists.
“Not really,” she stammered at last, rushing to add, “it narrows it down a bit, though.”
Logan’s massive hand clutched at the free armrest, the leather crackling and the wood beneath groaning. “I’m getting really sick of this. It’s right outside! Can we just try shooting it? Like, a lot. That has to do something!”
“Discharging a weapon in a residential neighborhood is dangerous and illegal,” Dorothy said.
“I’ve never shot anything I didn’t intend to kill,” Logan growled, his fingers tightening until the chair was at the point of snapping.
Dorothy rolled her eyes. “That sounds a lot less badass when you take into account target practice.”
“Hey, those paper targets can be dangerous,” he shot back, unable to fight back the kneejerk reaction to tease his wife.
The distraction spared the chair from destruction. Still, he glared at the windows as if they had personally offended him. The muscles of his jaws jumped as he ground his teeth. At that moment, Benton was struck with the clear, burning knowledge that he was sick of being afraid.
“Can we capture it?” he croaked.
Logan slowly turned his head to face Benton, a smile stretching across his face. “I’m starting to like this boy.”
“Is something like that even possible?” Dorothy asked. “It never seemed like an option with the other things we’ve encountered.”
Benton swallowed, steeling himself for the pain a long explanation would bring. Nicole mercifully picked up on his train of thought and took the conversation over from there.
“Unlike the others, this one hasn’t actually attacked Benton physically,” she said.
“Um,” Zack hummed, sheepishly lifting one hand.
Nicole waved him off. “You’re just a proxy. Like the stags.”
“A meat puppet, if you will,” Logan cut in.
“What I mean is that it hasn’t come after him as directly as the others have. The first time we saw it, on the road, it didn’t physically come at us when we got in the way. Even now, it keeps trying to lure him out rather than come in and claim him. And at the school, it backed o
ff when the stags didn’t work.”
“When you shot them in the eyes,” Logan broke in, nudging his wife’s hip with his elbow. “That’s our girl.”
Nicole preened under the praise before noticing the looks she was getting from the others.
Clearing her throat, she continued in a sober tone, “It still didn’t come itself for the next attempt. Instead, it chose a proxy that it knew I wouldn’t be quick enough to put down.”
“What do you mean ‘wouldn’t be quick enough?’” Zack asked, his voice creeping up an octave.
Without discussion, the entire Rider family decided to ignore that question.
“All this time, it’s been keeping a physical distance,” Nicole continued. “And it’s been careful never to let anyone get a full body look at it. I don’t think it’s shy. It’s possible that it can’t actually do physical damage on its own. We might be able to overpower it physically.”
“Or, it’s not corporeal,” Dorothy argued.
“That means that it’s not flesh and blood, right?” Logan’s shock was short-lived. “I like coming home. It’s full of new experiences.”
“If it’s not corporeal, then it can’t hurt us,” Nicole replied.
The Constable shook her head, absently hooking one thumb over the handle of her holstered weapon. “That’s dangerous speculation.”
“I saw it, mom.”
“A whole gym full of people saw it,” Meg added.
“Exactly. How often does that happen? Normally, only Benton can see them if they’re not solid to some extent.”
“The Leanan Sidhe was solid,” she poised. “Benton almost killed both of you in a pit.”
“And she’s now in a shallow grave,” Nicole countered.
Logan nudged his wife and Dorothy squirmed.
“The next time we’re near the old Fort, I’ll show you the corpse,” Dorothy whispered.
“The old Fort?” He hummed dramatically as he thought aloud. “The grass would have claimed most of the place by now. Untended, it’ll be at least hip high, easily hiding what you’re doing. All that’s probably left of the buildings would be a few basements and some hunks of wood and stone. No reason for anyone to go out there. Nothing else around for miles. Angel, you picked a good place to hide a body.”
