by C. T. Phipps
Somehow.
“Jane!” Emma said.
I almost jumped out of my seat. “Yo!”
“You’ve been out in space since the club,” Emma said, turning off the radio. It must have been serious because it was playing Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London”, which I knew to be Emma’s favorite song. I suspected she and my father must have shared a spiritual connection of some kind.
“Sorry, visiting Hell will do that,” I said, unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice. “Why didn’t you back me up back there?”
Emma looked confused. “What? What do you mean?”
“You told them I should go home,” I said, still ticked off about that. “We’ve come way too far to stop now.”
“You almost died, Jane!” Emma said, using more force in her voice than I ever heard. “Worse, you were almost stuck in—”
“Hell?” I said, sighing. “Yeah, I was there. It’s not a nice experiencing having your least favorite parts of your religion confirmed as true.”
Emma didn’t respond to that. “I can’t let you die.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, not paying too much attention to the anguish in her words. “I’m like a sister to you.”
“No, not even close.”
I blanched, realizing what I’d said. “I’m sorry, I keep forgetting your relationship with Victoria. That changes the context of what I said.”
Emma sighed, clearly upset. “No, Jane, that’s not what I feel at all.”
Okay, now I was just confused. “Well, I’m sorry anyway.”
Emma didn’t say anything for a moment. “Is this really about Victoria now?”
I paused. “No, no it’s not.”
“I thought not,” Emma said.
“It’s about my brother, Victoria, Courtney, that Thomas guy, and the fact that I almost got murdered along with Agent Timmons. It’s about anyone else who’s going to be murdered in the upcoming weeks. This is bigger than just one person. Sorry, I don’t mean to offend you.”
“All right,” Emma said. “I understand that.”
I looked out the window into the forest beyond the highway. “I’m sorry for turning your sister’s death into my own personal crusade. That’s on me.”
“It’s all right,” Emma said, mumbling under her breath. “It’s why I love you.”
“Hmm?” I asked.
“What?” Emma said, doing a double take. “So what do you think of that Lucien Lyons person? Wow, he is pretty.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” I said, trying not to agree wholeheartedly. “If you like egotistical jerks.”
“Who doesn’t?” Emma piped in. “Bad boys are all the rage…or so I’ve heard.”
“I dunno,” I said, thinking about my pair of visions. “The good guys aren’t so bad either.”
Chapter Fourteen
We had to stop on the way to Darkwater Preserve for gas because, well, the Millennium Falcon got a mile per gallon when it wasn’t raining. I think it was every fifty feet when it was storming outside. Also, I needed snacks as I hadn’t had dinner and fighting evil was hungry work. I ended up eating the majority of them in the car as we struggled to make up for lost time.
“You realize Twinkies aren’t the natural food of weredeer, right?” Emma said, shaking her head.
“I hunt in the manner of my ancestors. I graze.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “I’m lucky I’m a carnivore.”
“Yes, we can hunt a quarter-pounder and fries for you,” I said, sighing.
“I’m fine,” Emma said, taking a deep breath. “Recent events haven’t exactly improved my appetite.”
“Yeah,” I said, slurping my Root Deer. Yes, that was the name of it. Aunt Jennifer owned all of the gas stations in town.
Eventually, we came into sight of Darkwater Preserve. It was a small patchy forest around a small lake visible from the highway. There was something about the place that made my skin crawl and I didn’t just mean because of the bad memories associated with the place. A weird vibe permeated the place and radiated outward. Not necessarily evil, per se, but otherworldly. I’d loved the feeling when I was a child but now it was just a reminder of the dark times.
“Are you okay with taking me to the Lodge?” I asked.
“Don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Emma said. “You volunteered us for this mission.”
“Well, I’m un-volunteering you.”
“I’ve got your back,” Emma said. “Through and through. Even though, after this, I’m totally going on vacation to Disneyworld.”
“Try New Detroit instead,” I said. “It’s in-state and has better entertainment for adults.”
“Not until you’re twenty-one,” Emma said, making a face. “It’s also full of vampires.”
“Don’t be racist. Gerald seemed all right. He wasn’t responsible for what happened to Victoria.”
“What Victoria wanted,” Emma said, her voice low. Then it cracked and I could tell she was going to ask something important. “Jane, was she evil?”
I paused. This was heavy stuff. “Victoria?”
“Yeah.”
I had to think about my answer. After all, she was a rapist drug dealer involved with black magic. Evil was a pretty easy label to throw around, especially at her, but I wasn’t sure that was what she needed to hear. “Evil. I don’t like that word. I don’t think it really exists. Everyone has a reason for what they do. Good reasons or bad. Bad wiring or not.”
It was an attitude I’d stuck with since I turned sixteen and tried to reconcile what had happened with my cousin. It wasn’t a very good attitude to have in a world where there were verifiable demons and monsters. Still, it was the only one I could stomach.
“I believe in evil,” Emma said. “I believe there are people who do terrible things simply because it makes them feel better. It’s not because they’re victims themselves or because they believe it will make the world a better place. It’s because they get off on it.”
Wow. Where was this coming from? “You think Victoria was like that?”
“I think my whole family is like that,” Emma growled, her hands tightening around the steering wheel. “I thought Clara was different, but she’s been stonewalling this investigation since it began. Werewolves beat everything out of you that is good. Compassion, friendship, love, and understanding are the first to go. I hate that stupid ‘Alpha’ dominance thing. We’d be different if we were like real wolves.”
This was perhaps too much information for one go. “I’m sure your family still loves you, Emma.”
Emma didn’t respond and pulled the Falcon into a parking space next to the Preserve’s main entrance. The parking lot was empty except for the Sheriff’s police car, a black Cadillac I assumed to be Agent Timmons’s, and a third junky Ford I didn’t recognize. She turned off the ignition and the car set the mood by the loud clunk the engine made as it ceased revving.
“Do you think it will start up again?” Emma asked, pointedly ignoring my last question.
“Alex’s car is over there,” I said. “If it doesn’t, we’re good.” I hoped I sounded reassuring. I wished someone would reassure me.
“Oh, it’s Alex now, is it?” Emma ribbed me, all sign of her earlier melancholy gone. I hoped it was dark enough to hide my sudden blushing.
The sign on the gate read, “DARKWATER LAKE NATURE PRESERVE. NO ADMITTANCE WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE RANGERS’ SERVICE, $10,000 FINE.” It wasn’t really a nature sanctuary—more of an unnatural sanctuary. They just wanted to keep people out. Well, they wanted to keep tourists out; nobody who had grown up in this town would go in there.
Except we did. My cousin’s voice came and went so quickly that I wasn’t sure if I had heard it, or if my guilt was just a bit clearer since having gone to Hell. Goddess, I wish I didn’t have to think that and mean it literally.
There was no sign of anyone inside the cars present and that put me on edge. It was still raining and I pulled out the umbrella that Alex had given me. S
tanding underneath it, I checked my cellphone and managed to text one handed, “WHERE ARE YOU?”
No response.
Emma came out underneath me. “This is a little like an old horror movie.”
“Everything in Bright Falls is a little like an old horror movie,” I said, taking a deep breath. “In any case, I’m not actually going to enter the evil cursed woods without backup. I’m not an idiot.”
Emma stared at me. “You entered the crime lord’s office and broke into the sheriff’s office.”
“Once banished, twice shy,” I said.
That was when a midnight-black female crow flew through the air and landed on top of the Millennium Falcon before staring at us. Then, in a thick New Jersey accent she spoke, “What’s up, losers?”
I stared at the bird. “Maria?”
Maria Gonzales was the only one of my brother’s friends I actually liked. The fact that she was Rudy’s sister was something I didn’t hold against her. However, that was before I’d found out she was a drug dealer and now intimately involved in this whole murder-sacrifice business. I was less pleased to see her as a result than I might have been. In fact, my hand went to the Taser in the back of my pocket.
“Shouldn’t you say, ‘Nevermore’?” Emma said, looking at the raven.
“Do I look like I’m resting on a bust of Pallas?” Maria said, still in crow form. “Also, I’m a crow, not a raven.”
“There’s a difference?” I asked.
“Oh no you didn’t!” Maria said. “What are you two doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” I asked, suspiciously.
“I asked first,” she said, frowning. “If you didn’t know—”
That was when my cellphone buzzed. Checking my text messages, I noticed I’d gotten one from Agent Timmons. “GONE ON INSIDE THE WOODS. PATH OPENED UP TO LOCATION. EVERYTHING SAFE.”
Emma looked over my shoulder at the message. “Well, that’s ominous.”
I blinked. “Why is that ominous? It is the exact opposite of ominous.”
“We’re being reassured it’s safe to go in the spooky woods!” Emma said. “Buffy would know it’s a trap.”
“Buffy isn’t real!” I snapped. “In any case, Maria, you didn’t answer my question.”
The crow flew off the top of the Falcon (hehe) then transformed into a petite human woman about my age. Maria was an inch taller than me with dusky skin, smooth black hair, full lips, and a curvy, compact form incongruous for a werebird. She was wearing a black sweater and jeans with a piece of silver ankh jewelry that provided the tasteful goth counterpoint to my sister’s sexy goth dancer’s attire. She was also wearing hiking boots that had signs of mud on them.
“I am here to solve a murder,” Maria said, putting her hands on her hips. “The cops are after your brother and I don’t want mine getting caught up in this. Also, Victoria and Courtney were my friends.”
“Doesn’t that make you a suspect?” Emma asked, her voice a little more hostile than necessary.
“In the context, anyone who knew Victoria well was a suspect,” Maria said, showing a remarkable lack of concern to how that looked. “Wait, Jane, you’re a psychic, read my palm.”
Maria stretched it out.
I stared at her. “My power doesn’t work like that. Besides, we’re here to solve the murders too.”
“Sweet!” Maria said, showing a lot more enthusiasm than I expected. “We can be like the Hardy Sisters.”
“Wouldn’t that just be Nancy Drew?” I asked.
“Nancy Drew was the Hardy Boys’ sister?” Maria asked. “I’ll be honest, I never actually read those books. I was more into comics. Sandman, Hellblazer, Lucifer. All of the good stuff.”
I stared at her, irritated now. “Maria, there’s no way we’re involving you. We need to catch up with the police and you’re a person of interest so—”
“Ah, look at you, talking all police-y,” Maria said, pulling out her cellphone and then presenting me with dozens of pictures of her outside various locations across the city. McDonalds, the sheriff’s department, a gas station, and also a pet store.
“What is this?” I asked, looking at them.
“Evidence!” Maria said. “Check the time stamp. I wasn’t anywhere near Victoria when she was killed.”
I paused, checking the numbers then looking over at Emma. “Okay, that’s a point in your favor. Still, it’s pretty coincidental you showed up here.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine why I’d show up at the site of the latest murder,” Maria said. “I’ve been flying around here for the past few hours trying to find Rudy.”
My ears perked up. “Your brother is here?”
Rudy was on my shortlist of suspects, but that was mostly because I didn’t actually have any suspects. It was also just because he was a creep and a pervert. The fact that he was Maria’s brother, someone I considered to be a friend, put that accusation into perspective. Also, while I might be willing to imagine someone like him could commit a murder—well, I couldn’t imagine Rudy was some sort of magical genius. Whoever had attacked us back at the Lyons’ Den had been packing some serious mojo. Rudy couldn’t keep a job as a busboy.
“Yes,” Maria said, her voice lowering a bit. “That idiot has gotten himself into something serious and I’m getting him back.”
I narrowed my eyes, debating whether or not to accuse her brother right then and there. “You’re part of the group being targeted.”
“No kidding!” Maria said, snorting in a most un-crow-like fashion. “I hadn’t noticed that when my friends started dying.”
“Come with us,” I said, extending my hand. “You can tell everything you know to Agent Timmons.”
“No way!” Maria said. “You can’t trust the Feds. They want to round us all up and put us to work in zoos. That’s how they’ll make money from us! Gawking tourists! Tourists who want to see us turn into things!”
I blinked. “I don’t think they want to do that.”
“You can trust Jane’s FBI guy!” Emma said. “He went through Hell with her.”
“No puns!” I snapped.
“No, that was just being accurate,” Emma said, reaching over to put her hand on Maria’s shoulder. “You can tell us the whole story of you, Victoria, and the others.”
“Victoria said she used magic to become a shifter so she got us to join her in doing magic then we ended up selling drugs because she needed money to buy more magic from Lucien?” Maria said.
“Wow, the whole story was shorter than I thought,” Emma said.
“It also involved beer, sex, and some of us turning up dead,” Maria said. “Not fond of the latter.”
“Victoria is my sister, remember,” Emma said. “I care that something happened to her.”
“You’re probably the only one,” Maria said. “Not to be cruel—”
“Too late,” I said.
“But it’s true,” Maria said, sighing. “Victoria didn’t give a shit about us. We were just bodies for her to work magic that couldn’t be done by one person. I mean, yeah, I got what I wanted out of it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t resent Victoria screwing around with me and Jeremy.”
I got an ugly mental image. “By screwing around, do you mean—”
Emma interrupted. “We need to find the Lodge! It’s the key to all of those.”
“The Lodge finds you,” Maria said, her voice low. “It’s not a nice place.”
“You know how to get there?” I asked, ignoring the crux of what she said. “Please.”
Maria sighed. “All right, I’ll go see your G-man. However, if it gets dangerous, I’m blaming it all on the one-winged raven.”
I didn’t get it. “Uh-huh.”
“One-winged raven, one-armed man,” Maria said, looking confused. “Never mind.”
I pointed to the gate and sighed. “Listen, they’re probably just inside. Let’s just get inside. I want to hear everything you did with my brother.”
Maria rais
ed an eyebrow. “Everything? Including the sex?”
“No!” I snapped, horrified. “I meant the drug dealing and magic.”
“Then specify!” Maria asked. “Are you sure we should be doing this?”
“I’m sure all the signs are pointing us this way,” I said, heading to the barred iron gate in the middle of a much larger metal fence going in both directions. It circled the entire preserve from what I remembered.
“Can we do this in the morning?” Maria asked, hopefully not serious. “You two may be nocturnal, but sensible animals go around when the sun is out and you can see things.”
“Agent Timmons is waiting for us, and I’m not going to just leave him,” I said.
“Pity he didn’t have the sense to wait here,” Emma said.
I was torn between wanting to defend Alex and agreeing with her completely so I just stayed quiet.
“He went in through here,” Emma said, pointing at a gap between the fence and the gate. “I can smell the crushed grass. He’s not the first person to get in this way, either. It looks like this has been used regularly.”
“Victoria’s coven?” I asked.
“Don’t call them that,” Emma said.
“Why?” Maria said. “It’s what we called ourselves.”
Emma looked more and more irritated with every one of Maria’s pithy comments.
I didn’t feel like getting my clothes dragged through the bushes just yet, so I took a few steps back, got a running start, and leapt over the gate. Super Deer Jumping Powers Activate.
Emma and Maria shifted, with Maria flying over the gate and Emma walking through the gap in a more compact wolf form. Both shifted back quickly. On the other side, I saw a long twisted path through large foreboding pine trees with the clouds blotting out all but the barest hints of moonlight. The rain was letting up but it was still damp with the ground muddy and wet beneath our feet.
“I don’t know, maybe animal form would be better here,” I said.
“I don’t think either form is better here,” Maria said.
“If you don’t want to find what happened to your brother, you can wait in the car,” Emma said snappishly.
“Cool!” Maria said, about to turn around before I grabbed her by the arm.
