by Blythe Baker
Harriet really sounds like she was a flake…I thought. Any of these people had motive to kill her.
But it could just as easily not be any of them, Athena said. Let’s try and keep an open mind about all this.
You’re right, I said. I smiled at Bella. “Well, thank you for your time, Bella. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.”
“Anytime, dear,” Bella said. “And just so you know? As much as I disliked Harriet…she was still family. If you end up figuring out who did it…well, I know it would give a lot of people peace.”
I blinked, hesitating for just a moment. “Yeah…” I said. “I hope you all do find that peace you’re looking for.”
I turned and started walking away, feeling her eyes on the back of my head.
There’s something strange about that woman, I thought, passing it along to Athena. She really didn’t like Harriet, either.
Do you think she could have been the killer? Athena asked.
Not sure…I thought. But all I know now is that narrowing down the list of people who had a problem with Harriet is going to take a lot more work. At the very least, we have three suspects here. Not to mention the creature in the forest that Lucan told me about…and then there was that mysterious shadowed man who walked across my path the other night…
I smiled at people as I walked by, knowing they were all having a perfectly ordinary evening. None of them were probably trying to actively solve a murder mystery. They were just there to have fun.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” came Aunt Candace’s voice from near the speaker where my phone had been playing music. I’d set up a microphone for her to make announcements to the large group. “We’re going to start taking entries for the costume contest. If you wish to answer, head on over to the dining room and we’ll get your names and some numbers before we show you to the judges.”
I hurried out of the living room and walked over toward the coat room. Mr. Terrance was still hanging around there, and he gave me a small nod as I got closer.
I smiled at him as I ducked inside.
So what do we do now? Athena asked. She’d managed to find herself a little nest of sweatshirts. I was sure that some guests were going to be thrilled to receive their jackets back, covered in fur.
I don’t know, I said, not daring to use my actual voice. There are too many choices to narrow down right now.
I swallowed hard as I sat down beside Athena in the cool, dark coat room.
And the other thing I can’t stop thinking about is this ghost walker that Mrs. Bickford mentioned last night. How in the world could we possibly find someone like that?
I don’t know, Athena said. But this case certainly seems to be the stickiest one we’ve encountered yet.
Yet…I thought with a tightening in my chest. You say that like it’s going to inevitably happen again.
Knowing our luck? Yes…it’s likely going to happen again, Athena said.
I sighed, my head falling back against the wall behind me. I know…I was just hoping you’d give me something to look forward to instead.
11
There was a large part of me that half expected something huge and epic to happen on Halloween. I wasn’t really sure why, other than there was just this feeling in the air the rest of the night at the party. I just kept waiting for vampire bats to come streaming in through the windows, or to hear the howl of dozens of wolves out in the forest.
Part of me even wondered if something might happen to me, given all the magic that was surging through the air…
But nothing did happen. The party went on without a hitch, and Aunt Candace was pleased that everyone had a good time. I even slept relatively well that night, once I finally made it home, that is.
In fact, the next few days were quiet. I got up, went to work at the antique shop, and had dinner with Aunt Candace once or twice. Before I knew it, a whole week passed, and I hadn’t heard anything about Harriet, or the strange creature in the forest, or the shadowy man. Even when I saw Mrs. Bickford, she had nothing to say about the ghost walker again.
Part of me started to wonder if I’d imagined the whole thing; the conversation with Bella at the party, the things that Lucan had told me, and the things Mrs. Bickford had described.
I was lost, too. I didn’t know where to even begin with searching. Part of me debated about finding Bella’s information so I could call and ask how I could question Harriet’s twin, or her ex, or her old business partner…
And then there was the other voice in me that kept telling me, just like it did every time, that this had nothing to do with me. I didn’t have to get involved. I had no obligation to solve this crime, other than my own curiosity.
It wasn’t until I received an email at work one day that I remembered that I did, in fact, have a reason for being interested.
Good afternoon, fellow paranormal enthusiasts!
I hope this note finds you well, and I hope you all had a great Halloween. I wanted to reach out to you all and let you know that we are having another meeting this coming Saturday the 8th. I know this may seem in poor taste, especially since our group’s leader’s passing, but I know she would have wanted us to continue onward, regardless of what happened. Harriet once told me that the truth is more important than what people think, and it is only the truth that will give us freedom. I believe that wholeheartedly, and now more than ever, I’m determined to get to the bottom of the secret of Faerywood Falls.
This is not a joke. It never has been. I firmly believe we are surrounded by the presence of supernatural beings that are doing their best to hide the truth from us. But we are not as simple as they believe we are. We will discover their true identities.
So, if like me, you’re still interested in banding together in this matter, please join me for another meeting at 5 pm this Saturday. Same place where we met before. Brings others who might be interested, too. We are stronger together.
Regards, John Garven.
I looked up from my phone and stared blankly into the empty shop.
How had he gotten my email? I didn’t remember signing anything –
Then my stomach dropped. Of course. We had to fill out information for the police reports. If he was anywhere nearby, he could have easily overheard us all giving out our contact info.
I bit down on the inside of my lip. This was not a good thing.
Well…guess I’m going to another meeting this weekend, I thought.
That Saturday morning, I woke up early and spent most of the day just trying to find ways to fill the time before I had to go. I was worried, wondering what I might find. Would anyone even show up? Was the person responsible for Harriet’s death there? Would they reveal themselves? Would they attack again?
If it was a Gifted person attacking, then they might not think anything about taking someone else out, like this John Garven who had stepped up and taken Harriet’s place as the leader of the group. If that was the case, then my theories about the personal motivation for Harriet’s death would be tossed out the window.
More than anything, this meeting could be very telling about the sort of person that had decided to kill Harriet.
Just like last time, Athena came along, but stayed in the car. I made a comfortable nest for her inside a cardboard box, cut a hole in the side, and cut ample air holes so she wouldn’t have to crawl underneath the seat to stay hidden. She promised me that she was comfortable, and that I should just go and get to the meeting.
I locked the doors of my SUV – every time I looked at it, I thought of Cain and his generosity when he’d given it to me in the first place – and headed back into the doors of the old abandoned saw mill.
The same number of plastic chairs had been set up, but there were only half of the people that were here last time. The skeptical couple were absent, as were a few others.
“Hey, Marianne, right?”
“Yeah,” I said, taking a seat in the back row like I did the time before. “A
nd you’re Mitch?”
“Yeah,” he said, grinning down at me. I’d almost forgotten how huge he was; with broad shoulders and bulging muscles, he easily could have taken a place among some of the biggest football players I’d ever seen.
I moved over a few seats to give him space to sit down beside me. “How’s it going?” I asked.
“Oh, you know…” Mitch said. “Life is life, sometimes.”
“I get that,” I said.
My eyes drifted toward the front. John Garven was there already, of course, and was standing with the guy who’d been wearing the driving hat the time before, the one who’d been convinced he’d visited a real psychic. They were talking in low voices, and both had pale complexions. It made the knots in my stomach twist even tighter.
“I’m kind of surprised you came back. You buying into any of this nonsense?” Mitch asked, sitting back in his seat, folding his arms.
“Says the guy who came back a second time, too,” I said, arching an eyebrow at him.
He winked at me. “Good eyes. I gotta be honest. A year…even six months ago, I would’ve never listened to any of this. But I don’t know. Something is definitely different in Faerywood Falls. I’m not ready to pick up arms against supernatural beings or whatever, but I’m definitely more interested in finding out about what’s causing all this.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m wondering if Harriet’s death was just a fluke,” I said. If I could steer someone, even just one person away from all this suspicion, I’d be doing a good thing for the Gifted. That needed to be my goal. “I’ve found out since her death that she made a lot of enemies.”
“Really?” Mitch asked.
“Heard it straight from her family,” I said. “My aunt knows them, you see. But, yeah. Angry ex-boyfriends, an embittered business partner…even a vengeful twin sister.”
“Wow, her life sounds like it was a soap opera,” Mitch said.
“And the other thing is that she was always looking for something new to do. I’m thinking this paranormal group thing was just another stab in the dark for her, something exciting and unheard of,” I said.
Mitch didn’t need to know that Harriet had seemed really genuinely concerned when I’d met her outside Abe’s shop that day. It was better for everyone just to think she was some crazy lady and forget about this whole paranormal group. Better for them and better for us.
Then maybe the Gifted could start getting themselves in hand, and not freaking the poor Ungifted out so much all the time.
“Interesting,” Mitch said. “I guess I’m not all that surprised.”
He got to his feet, brushing some dirt off his thighs.
“Maybe this is just a waste of time,” he said. He looked down at me. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you want to stay, though, Miss Investigator.”
I smirked. “Don’t worry, I don’t think I’m far behind you.”
There couldn’t have even been ten people total at the meeting this time. Did I really have anything to worry about?
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around,” Mitch said.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you want to join the group in the first place?” I asked. “You seem too reasonable to join out of pure curiosity.”
He hesitated, looking down at me. “Don’t make fun of me, but I thought I saw a man in my backyard a few weeks ago. And not just any kind of man. A man that was…oh, never mind. It sounds stupid when I say it out loud.”
My heart was in my throat as I stared up at him, hoping my face wasn’t revealing too much of the fear and anticipation I was feeling. “No, it’s okay. Go ahead.”
Mitch sighed, rubbing his giant hand over the back of his muscular neck. “I thought he was a man made of shadows.”
My skin tingled. He saw him, too?
“I know, stupid, right?” Mitch asked, embarrassed. “I don’t even know what I was thinking. It was probably a downed tree or something in my backyard. Or it could have just as easily been my eyes playing tricks on me. Anyway…it happened the night before I saw the sign for the meeting at the café I always stop at on my way to work in the morning, and…I don’t know. I wondered if anyone else saw it.”
Chills made the hairs on my arms stand up straight, but I put on a convincing smile. “I’m sure it was nothing,” I said as calmly as I could. “It’s easy for our minds to play tricks on us, you know? I’d just as much assume that it was – ”
I didn’t get a chance to get the rest of my words out…because someone new walked into the sawmill.
My jaw hung open as a man who was taller, and broader, than the doorframe, ducked underneath the opening and stepped inside the room.
He was wearing a black trench coat, its hem scraping across the ground behind him, almost like a cloak. The black cowboy hat he wore was tattered and worn, with a nick in the left side. His boots had thick soles; he looked more prepared for combat than a meeting, as his footsteps echoed off the shabby walls around us.
His dark hair was long, hanging over his shoulders, and dark, thick eyebrows were pulled together in one, angry line across his broad forehead under his hat.
Everyone had frozen, their eyes fixed on this bizarre figure.
And I recognized him immediately.
The shape I’d seen on the road, the shadowed man…
“That’s him…” Mitch murmured beside me. “That’s the one I saw – ”
“Good evening,” John Garven said, stepping toward the man. He wasn’t exactly short, but standing in front of the man in the black leather coat, he might as well have been a child. He held out his hand to the giant man. “My name is John. Are you here to join us for our meeting?”
“I am,” the man said, his voice rumbling deep in his chest. “But I’m not here to join it. I’m here to take over it.”
John Garven blinked up at him, losing all composure. “I’m sorry, what?” he asked.
“Some of you might think that this is just a big hoax. Others might have come down here to try and prove us wrong,” he said. His shadowed eyes scanned the room, and when they fell on me, I felt like jumping up and running for the hills.
His hand swept aside his coat, and I noticed a leather hilt hidden in the shadows.
“But let me tell you this…these creatures are real. And they’re dangerous. And they’ll think nothing of killing you or the ones you love most,” he said, his voice darkening as much as the shadows that seemed to cling to him.
Marianne, what’s going on in there?
Athena’s tiny voice pressed up against my mind. I blinked, trying to clear my mind of the thoughts that were racing through it. Athena, the shadowed figure I saw – he’s here. He just walked in.
I felt a strange presence a few moments ago…
I don’t know what’s going on, but he is bad news…I said. I have no idea if he’s Gifted or not, but he’s no good.
I get the same feeling, Athena said.
There were nervous glances from the few people who were at the meeting.
“Who are you?” Mitch asked. He’d recovered his hardened demeanor, and was glaring at the shadowed man with equal ferocity.
The man in the dark coat turned and regarded Mitch. I saw something pale grey hanging from a leather cord around his neck; a large claw of some kind, something that must have belonged to a lion or a tiger, maybe something even bigger. “My name is Dante Fain,” he said, meeting Mitch’s gaze steadily, matching it even. “And I have come to rescue you all from the blight that is magic.”
There were gasps around the room, and my gaze hardened as I looked up at him. The blight that was magic? This guy wasn’t messing around.
He’s breaking the boundaries between Gifted and Ungifted, I said to Athena. And he knows it.
As soon as the other Gifted learn about him, they won’t stand for it, Athena said. They’ll ostracize him.
Or worse, I thought. He could end up like Harriet did. Except I don’t think this guy will go down quite so easily…
>
“You are all right to suspect creatures with dark magical powers in your midst,” Dante said, beginning to pace back and forth along the length of the mill. “I’ve been tracking a deadly creature that has wreaked havoc in other towns here in Colorado, and followed it all the way here to Faerywood Falls. And what do I find? A surplus of magic.”
“Magic?” asked the man with the driver’s hat. “What’s that got to do with these paranormal activities – ”
“How do you think they get their powers?” Dante barked, his voice booming across the room. “They pull the magic from the woods, bathing themselves in it, ignoring the natural laws of this world. They don’t care about you or me. All they care about is themselves, and what this world can do for them.”
My eyes narrowed as I watched him.
It was at this moment that he turned his back to those seated in the chairs, and I caught sight of something hanging off his back.
A quiver…with arrows sticking out of it.
My heart skipped. I recognized the feathers.
Athena, he’s got the raven feather arrows, I said. And that claw around his neck! That means he’s the one –
“You killed Old Scar-Face!”
I was on my feet, pointing in Dante’s direction, my chest rising and falling rapidly, and heard those words escape from my own lips.
Everyone in the room turned and stared up at me, their eyes wide.
Dante, however, didn’t seem fazed. He folded his thick arms, glaring at me down the length of his nose. “If you’re talking about that ancient bear that lived by the lake, then yes. That was me.”
Murmurs from the few people around distracted me.
“That bear never hurt anyone,” Mitch said. “He’d been living in those trees for as long as any of us can remember.”
I noticed the man in the driver’s hat nod glumly out of the corner of my eye, and John Garver lowered his head, as if in respect.
Dante shrugged his massive shoulders. “I thought that bear might have been a shape shifter. Can’t be too careful with these things.”
