“Tristan.” I grabbed Tristan by the arm to get his attention, and stared intently at the front doors, while Celeste and the boys began arguing with each other about what to do. “Look! Isn’t that Simon over there, sneaking outside?”
He turned round quickly, just in time to see Simon shuffling slowly through the doors, his whole stance very suspicious and shady, as if he was trying his best to walk away unnoticed.
“Come on.” Tristan grabbed my hand and we hurried outside to catch Simon before he could slither away from us.
Simon was not pleased when Tristan and I caught up with him at the bottom of the steps.
“What now? What do you want from me?” he grumbled, obviously in a bad mood.
“We just want to ask you a few questions,” Tristan said.
“Look, I’ve answered a million questions already about those wasps. Ask the Harkers, they’ll tell you everything you need to know.” He made a motion to leave, but Tristan stepped in his way, preventing him from going any further.
“Why are you trying so hard to get away from us, then? Hiding something, are you?” Tristan suggested, crossing his arms.
Simon glanced at me, then quickly averted his eyes, but I still caught the flicker of fear in them. “Yes, he is,” I said. “He’s afraid and he’s hiding something.”
He took a step back, feeling cornered. “I-I don’t know what you mean . . .”
“Come on, man. You know she can tell when you’re lying. Please, stop denying everything,” Tristan berated him.
“What are you trying to hide, Simon? Is it about those wasps? Were you the one behind that?” I pressed on.
“No! No, I had nothing to do with that! I swear!”
“Then what is it?”
“Well, if you really want to know, I think we should start by asking what you are trying to hide, Gray,” he snapped back defensively.
“What?”
“My brother just called and asked me all sorts of questions. More stories about the camp have reached him, and he was very curious to know what is going on here. He kept repeating one particular question: if I had seen anything strange, anything involving . . . fire.” He stopped and gave me a pointed look. “He let out one more tidbit of information, and it happens to involve that Jonathan Gray you were so coincidentally asking about the other day.
“You know how everyone in the Top League has a distinctive ability?” Simon said, staring directly at my baffled face. I vaguely recalled that, but I had no idea where he was going with this. “Apparently, Jonathan Gray could create fire. Funny that, huh? It’s very a rare, very special ability. Could even be hereditary.”
“I don’t understand . . .” I did, but I needed to stall for time. Even though I couldn’t remember all the facts, I knew that I had been asking around about my father and this Top League. Now I knew this League had something to do with magic and people with special abilities. I also knew I possessed this one very particular ability involving fire. And so did my father, apparently. The puzzle pieces were starting to come together, and I was finally starting to get a glimpse of the bigger picture now.
I’d had so many things to worry about since my amnesia hit, that I’d forgotten to ask Tristan why he had lied about my father when we were in Simon’s cabin. But how had Simon connected fire to me?
“This Jonathan Gray . . . you’re related to him, aren’t you!” Simon continued. “The fire in the lake – it was you, wasn’t it?”
“What fire in the lake?” I asked, baffled.
Tristan’s expression was tense and urgent. “Look, let’s not jump to conclusions, here. A lot of strange things have happened around this place, Blaine.”
“Are you going to tell me she’s got nothing to do with that?” Simon accused deliberately. “Who’s lying here now? You tried to pin it on me, but it was her all along! Now you’ve got the League’s eyes on this place. That is never a good thing, believe you me.”
“What did you tell your brother, Blaine?” Tristan asked, looking really worried.
“Why? Scared that I told about your wife’s little secret, are you?” he jeered back, in the same accusatory tone Tristan had used with him. “I know what you are trying to do. You are trying to accuse me in order to keep your wife away from the crossfire. I’m not taking the heat for her, man. No way. You can quit what you’re doing.”
“She’s not causing these attacks, Simon!” Tristan protested. “Someone or something is really attacking her. In the forest, in the lake, here at the main house and at your cabin, too. All I’m trying to do is keep her safe, I swear to you!”
“B-but who’s—” he began to ask, but was interrupted by the boys running down the steps, calling out for us.
“Joey! Tristan! Celeste just got a call at the lobby. It’s that Craig fellow. He’s packing up and getting ready to leave this place right now! This is our last chance. If we want to get to him, we’d better run,” Harry said.
I glanced anxiously at Tristan. We were running out of time arguing with Simon, here, when Craig – who could be our last chance to find out what was happening – was leaving Misty Lake Camp. He could hold the key to solving this whole mystery.
“Let’s run, then,” I said.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chasing a Hunch
“WE HAVE TO hurry, if we want to catch him,” Tristan instructed. “Come on, his cabin is up that way.”
We all bolted uphill, following the trail to Craig’s cabin, afraid that we wouldn’t make it in time to see Craig before he left. We were halfway up the track when someone shouted from behind.
“Hey! Wait up!” Simon called out, running after us. “I-I need a minute . . . to talk to you . . .” he panted, out of breath.
I stopped for a second and turned to face him. “We’re kinda in a hurry, here, Simon. Can’t we talk later?”
“What I need to tell you is urgent, too! I don’t think you understand how serious this is. You’re not listening to me. I mean, about what I told you back there.”
I eyed him cautiously, but once I saw the level of distress on his face and the urgency in his eyes, I agreed to listen to what he wanted to say. “Okay, hold on.” Then I turned to the boys, who hadn’t noticed I had stopped and were continuing to hurry up the trail. “Guys, wait up for me for a sec!” I shouted.
Tristan halted and said something to the others, before tracking back towards Simon and me. “What’s going on?” He stopped next to us and crossed his arms, making it clear that he wasn’t going to leave me alone with Simon, not even if he was only a few feet away.
“Listen, I don’t think you realize this,” Simon began, looking very distressed as he passed a shaking hand through his blue-tipped hair, “but you have to stop whatever it is you’re doing. The more weird things that happen here, the more attention you’re drawing to this place. They will come for you!”
“Them? Who?” I asked, confused.
“The League! Are you not listening to what I’m saying? The League can send someone to look into these attacks! There are rumors flying around everywhere now. If they come, you’re screwed! They are not what they seem. They are a threat. Why do you think they are so secretive? It’s because they’re up to no good!”
“Why? What can they do? What do they want?” I asked.
“They want whoever is causing these things around camp! If they come, they will take you with them.”
“Me? What they will do to me?” He was really starting to worry me now.
“I-I don’t know, something bad, okay? You have to believe me. Everyone that knows about them tries to stay the hell away. You should, too. You have to stop making these crazy things happen, please! You have to listen to me!”
“I can’t make wolves, swamp creatures, poltergeists and wasps appear out of thin air, Simon! I swear to you, I can’t,” I told him firmly.
A few clouds rolled over our heads, filtering the warm sunlight. Simon’s eyes were flickering frantically towards Tristan then back to
me. “No, it has to be you! You’ve been there whenever these things have happened. I saw the fire on the lake – I know that was you. Listen, this is serious! My brother knows something’s up now. And he suspects it’s somehow related to this Jonathan dude, because of all the questions I asked him before. All he needs to do is ask around a bit, and he’ll figure things out! Everybody knows there’s a Joe Gray attending the Gathering this year. He’ll make the connection.”
“Simon, what did you tell your brother about me?” I asked, feeling distinctly uneasy. The wind had picked up speed, sweeping our hair in all directions. It looked like a storm was approaching, unexpectedly and fast.
“Nothing! Of course I didn’t say anything to him! They would have come immediately to get you, if I had!” he cried out. “You have to keep them away from you! You don’t need to worry, I won’t tell your secret, okay? But you have to be careful. If they find out—”
“Calm down, Simon,” Tristan said, as he saw how agitated he was getting. More and more clouds were gathering in the sky, rumbling ominously, heavy and dark with the promise of a raging storm.
“Simon, you’re overreacting, dude!” I told him. “These guys can’t be as bad as you’re saying. Even if they do come check things out, they can’t do anything to us,” I argued.
“No! You don’t understand! When the League took my brother away, after that pool accident at home – the one I told you about – they did something to him. Cillian was never the same again. They . . . they changed him, he’s been different – and not for the better. You can’t let them get to you, Gray! They’ll do the same to you!”
“What do you mean by ‘different’? What they did to your brother, Simon?”
He hesitated, afraid to say something he shouldn’t. “I-I can’t . . .”
“You have to tell us, Simon, please!” I insisted.
“It’s bad, all right? You have to trust me on this!”
“Bad, how? Tell us, Simon! What did they do to your brother?” I pressed urgently. “You can trust us. We won’t tell anyone, I swear to you.”
“Look, my brother was never the best to begin with, but after they took him . . . now he does whatever they want without questioning anything. He has no free will or even a conscience any more. They turned Cillian into this . . . amoral, unethical automaton. He doesn’t care if what he’s doing is good or bad. He doesn’t care . . .” Simon grabbed me by both arms, shaking me lightly. “You have to stay away from these people! If they realize you can do the same as your father, they will come running for you. They will take you away! They will do the same to you as they did to my brother!”
I tried to wriggle away from Simon’s grasp, but he was too terrified to listen, and his hands only tightened around my arms.
“Simon! Calm yourself and release her!” Tristan quickly intervened, pulling the boy away from me. A towering shadow flickered in and out of sight, looming right behind Tristan’s back, as if there was a cloud of smoke over his shoulders, making him seem bigger, darker and more threatening.
Simon and I gaped in astonishment at the flickering shroud hovering over Tristan, but then in the blink of an eye, it disappeared.
“Hey, what’s the hold-up?” Josh approached us with an upset frown, having seen the way Simon was manhandling me.
“W-what w-was that?” Simon asked me, eyes wide in fear.
I was about to reply, when a series of flickering shadows moved swiftly at Simon’s back. Leaves and tree branches thrashed in the rushing wind, adding more dancing shadows to the bushes and the vegetation beneath the trees.
“It’s you again, doing this, isn’t it, Gray?” he accused, taking a slow step away from Tristan, Josh and me.
“Doing what?” Tristan asked, confused.
“Are you guys hearing this?” Seth closed the distance between us, his grip tight on the iron poker and his expression full of alarm.
Harry, Sam and Josh surrounded us in a circle, looking cautiously at the forest bordering the trail at our sides.
“Hear what?” Tristan and Josh asked, at the same time as a low growling rolled threateningly in our direction.
“Oh, no.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Fearful
“OH, NO . . . NOT again,” I groaned, as I watched the suspicious rustle in the low vegetation on the side of the trail where the growl had come from.
“It’s the wolf!” Seth exclaimed, jumping in fright. “I think I saw it! Passing right behind those bushes!”
We all started to take small cautious steps back and away from the trail. “I told you, you have to stop doing this, Joey! Please!” Simon said in a shaky voice.
“Me? What? No!” I protested again. “I’m not doing this!”
“It’s payback! You’re doing this on purpose, just to scare me in front of your friends because I didn’t go back to help you in the lake!” he shouted, stepping further away from us. “You think this is funny, don’t you? Well, it’s not! I’m here trying to help you, and this is what you do? Try to make me look like a coward? Stop doing this! It’s mean and cruel and you can stop now!”
“Simon, I swear to you I’m not doing this!” I shouted back, while a threatening growl rumbled from the other side of the trail, and thunder rolled high up in the clouds in reply. The wind was slashing at the vegetation so hard that keeping track of whatever animal might be hidden in there had become increasingly difficult.
“Seth, pass me that iron bar,” Josh ordered, since he was at the front of the group and the most likely to be attacked first.
“Ah, now you want my poker,” Seth squeaked from the back. “I told you that you should all have come prepared, and you all laughed in my face. Who’s laughing now, huh?”
“Seth,” Josh growled, and turned to face him, a deadly look in his steely blue eyes. “This is no time for jokes. There’s a frigging wolf right there! Pass me the poker. Now. Or do you want to tackle the thing yourself?”
Seth seemed to ponder that option for a microsecond, before hastily handing the iron poker to Josh. A rustling in a nearby bush made us all jump and turn in the direction of the sound. Josh gripped the poker hard, and swung it a couple of times, preparing to defend us. Tristan and Sam stepped forward to aid him in defense, while the rest of us stood waiting helplessly behind.
“What the hell do they think they’re doing?” Simon hissed, watching the boys at the front.
“They clearly think they can beat the wolf with an iron stick. That’s not very smart, if you ask me. The best thing to do is climb up a tree. Everybody knows wolves can’t climb trees . . .” Seth reasoned, looking around for the most strategic tree to escape up, if push came to shove. “But that would only work if we are indeed facing a wolf, here, which we don’t really know for sure,” he continued. “I mean, this could be a bear. It’s common to have bears in woods like this . . . If this is a bear, then trees won’t be of any help. Nothing will be, to be completely honest with you. You can’t escape a bear. Iron poker or not, bears are killing machines! They’re better than humans at everything: running, climbing, swimming, ripping heads off . . .”
A few trees shook violently in a strange gale that passed by us, and the shadows lingering by the bushes seemed to grow taller, indeed reaching a bear’s height.
“But if this is really a wolf, though, it’s probably not alone. Wolves walk in packs. It’s not likely to be just the one; there must be more around,” Seth continued, rambling nervously. “And if that’s the case, we are royally screwed, my friends. We don’t stand a chance against a pack of wolves. They will eat us one by one, like a soft, tender, helpless buffet at their disposal.”
Once again the trees shook, and now we could hear low howling coming from various directions in the forest all around us. Everybody started closing together in a tight circle formation, since we were clearly surrounded. Seth started to ramble even faster in his panic, too nervous to remain quiet.
“You all make fun of me because I’m scared of for
ests, but now you can see what I’m talking about,” he blurted out, unable to stop himself. A storm gathered menacingly above our heads. “And bears and wolves aren’t even the worst! I mean, they are the worst, but there must be scorpions and spiders crawling all over the forest, too, not to mention poisonous snakes and—”
While Seth rambled about every little thing that could kill us, the wind kept sweeping incessantly and the shadows lingering by the trunks started to move oddly, as if hundreds of insects had just come alive, sprouting from every crack, nook and crevice of the trees around us.
A wolf howled from far away, and what sounded like a bear growled and huffed, dangerously nearby. I gasped in shock when I saw hundreds of tiny little spiders and black scorpions storming to the ground, crawling to meet slithering snakes by the roots of the trees.
Everything that Seth had been talking about was becoming dangerously real. Tristan was also looking at the forest with wide eyes, just as I was, and he too seemed to realize what was happening.
“Seth! Would you shut the hell up!” he ordered urgently.
Seth halted, startled by the sharpness in Tristan’s voice. “Why? All I was saying was—”
“STOP! Just don’t . . . Stop talking! Everything you’re saying is coming true!” I shouted in panic, as we all watched nervously as a wave of black insects descended to the ground.
“W-what?” Seth stammered, looking around in a panic and finally registering the black mass swarming out of the trees.
“It’s him, then? He’s the one causing all this?” Simon asked, scared. “Why is he doing this to us? Make him stop! Make him stop or I will!” He advanced in Seth’s direction, with his hands in fists and a threatening glint in his eyes.
“Seth’s not doing this!” I shouted, stepping between the two boys. Harry and Sam hurried to my side to block Simon’s path. “Everybody calm down!” I commanded, my arms spread wide as I tried to restore some order.
“If it’s not him, and it’s not you, then who is it?” Simon snapped angrily, spit flying from his mouth. He was so terrified that he looked on the verge of doing something really stupid, like beating us up to make it stop. “Oh, God! It’s coming for us! It’s all coming for us!” He pointed to the moving mass that was creeping in our direction now.
Lost and Found Page 20
