by Jo Ho
The reservoir wasn’t popular amongst students and was considered the least exciting area of water in Boston. There were much prettier parks too for dog walkers, which is why Eve figured it would be safe for them to practice their powers here.
Staring at her reflection in her compact mirror, Cassie focused on her face, willing it to change. Eve sat cross-legged on the grass, hands touching the blades closest to her. Her black-ringed eyes were closed as she chanted something wordlessly. Marley knelt before a log, trying to push her hands through it, though it seemed nothing more than an exercise in futility. Sighing, she threw up her hands in frustration. “I’ve been trying this for an hour now, it’s not working!”
Eve opened one of her eyes, giving her a look, the kind of look a mother gives a child having a silly tantrum. “It’s been ten minutes, drama queen.” She was interrupted from her next words by Tyler’s arrival. Her eyes were wild, hair disheveled. Any irritation she felt at her lateness was immediately replaced with concern as it was impossible to miss the alarm she exuded.
“Are you OK?” Marley asked.
“No,” Tyler said, unable to hide the panic from her voice. “I accidentally heated up the chemicals in the lab and caused them to explode.”
The girls gasped as one. “Did you get hurt?” Eve asked.
“Glass and chemicals went everywhere, but my cardigan got the worst of it.”
“At least you weren’t injured,” Marley said, relieved.
“Apparently I’m the girl who changes or affects molecules. Like the rain that turned to glass last night? I made the solutions heat up until the bottles they were inside exploded.”
“At least one of you is paying attention — finally,” Christian said, having appeared behind them.
“Is that right?” Marley asked him. “Is that Tyler’s power?”
Christian shrugged. “Possibly.”
“I don’t want any powers!” Tyler blurted out suddenly. “I just need to get some money and get through school. Ally needs me! I can’t have all this weirdness mess things up for me. Look what happened today, I could have killed someone!” Tyler said without thinking. Seeing Marley visibly flinch, she was immediately apologetic. “I didn’t mean… What I meant to say was…” she began only for Marley to cut her off with a wave of her hand.
“It’s the truth. You don’t have to apologize every time you bring it up.”
“This is why I’ve been telling you that you need to focus,” Christian said. “With great power comes great responsibility. You must learn to hone your powers to fight Michael and any like him.”
“What if I don’t want to?” Eve said suddenly.
“You don’t get a choice,” Christian snapped as Marley repeated him, word for word. She even repeated his tone so the others could fully appreciate what she had to put up with, with him in her head all the time.
“Of course I do! Nobody makes me do anything I don’t want to, not anymore!” she yelled back at him. Even though she couldn’t hear him, she knew he could hear her.
“You stupid girl!” Christian shouted back, having lost all composure. “This is bigger than what you want, how can you not understand that? Do you not care that people have died, that more people will die?”
“No, not really,” Eve replied, shocking them all. “All I know is that my life has been hard enough without all this added to it, so I don’t want it, you hear? I don’t want any part of this!” She stamped her foot, emphasizing her point.
At that exact moment, ripples danced across the water as something moved below the surface. Marley caught it first but didn’t know what it was. Cassie, closest to the water, craned her neck for a better look. Lowering her face to the water, she peered into the blackness where something moved inside. Squinting, she tried to make out what it was when crabs launched out of the water onto the banks of the reservoir, waving their pinchers, swarming around them in the hundreds.
Cassie screamed, running back towards the others. They stood huddled in a group as the crabs circled Eve.
“What the hell is going on?” Eve cried.
“I think this is your power,” Christian answered. “Your command of nature. They come when you are in danger or feel threatened in any way.”
Eve gaped at Marley, her mouth opened in horror.
“Moths and crabs? What kind of twisted power is that? I don’t want any part of this. I’m done.”
Stepping over the ring of crabs, she stormed away, unable to hear Christian yelling after her. Determined not to have anything more to do with them, she continued on her way, disappearing over the crest of the hill. Without her to protect, the crabs scampered off in different directions until none were left.
“How Eve feels isn’t important. She’s in this now, whether she wants to be or not. Nothing else is important, only stopping Michael is.”
“For you maybe,” Tyler spoke up suddenly. “But I’ve got a sister who needs me and other pressing things to contend with. I don’t actually have time for this.” She took one last look at Marley and Cassie, shrugged, then she also went her own way. Stuck in the middle, Cassie didn’t know what to do. She shot Marley a helpless look then spun on her heel, following after her.
“Tyler, wait for me!”
Shaking his head, Christian vanished, knowing better than to try to get Marley to see his side leaving Marley sinking down onto the grass, not recognizing her world anymore.
Chapter 12
M arley didn’t know how long she had sat there.
Staring across the body of water, she felt the enormous weight of all they had learned in the last forty-eight hours. Yes, killing Christian had been an accident. She would still have to deal with the guilt for the rest of her life, something which might have been easier if he wasn’t becoming such a regular fixture.
She watched the sky become dimmer as the sun sank lower into the horizon. The wind picked up, whipping leaves in a circle around her. It probably wasn’t a wise idea to stay out here but quiet time was becoming so rare. She’d needed this moment of calm, and the water provided a peace she couldn’t otherwise feel.
Knowing she should get back, she was rising to her feet when her senses became suddenly alert. She knew immediately that she wasn’t alone anymore. Sighing, she steeled herself for the inevitable confrontation. “I just wanted a moment alone, OK? Things are getting to be a bit much,” she said to Christian, turning around.
Except it wasn’t him.
It was a woman.
Though the wind blew, her long black hair didn’t move, neither did her dress. It was as if the wind didn’t affect her at all. She stood several feet away, but Marley could see the noose around her neck from here.
It was the woman from the Hanging Elm!
In the second Marley realized this, the woman blinked away only to reappear inches from her face! Frozen with fear, Marley could do nothing but stare at the ghostly visage with the terrible darkness in her eyes. The woman moved her mouth as if she were trying to speak. Close to her now, Marley saw with growing horror that her lips had been sewn together. She stumbled back, desperate to get away from her when the ghost clamped her arms around Marley’s shoulders, holding her there.
Marley’s skin burned from the touch as she struggled to free herself. She twisted this way and that, but the ghost was too strong. She came even closer until Marley couldn’t escape that awful stare.
Then she screamed a howl of utter rage and terror.
Marley felt the world start to spin as the ground came rushing up to greet her.
One minute she was standing, the next she felt the cold grass against her face before blacking out completely.
Chapter 13
He should kill them himself.
Christian raged inside Marley and Cassie’s room, wishing he were able to do the deed. Instead, he had been rendered next to helpless, those years of training all for nothing. If Eric could see him now, he’d lose it.
Christian could picture it well.
As much as E
ric had raised him since he was a boy, he had quite the temper and was known to punch a wall or two, leaving a hole in the wake of his fist. Many’s the time they’d had to call a builder to fix their “demolition” mistakes. Christian swallowed the curses he could feel welling up inside although it wouldn’t have been a problem to let loose. It wasn’t as if the others could hear him. Oh no, that gift only belonged to the one who had killed him.
The universe had a perverse sense of humor.
He watched now as Tyler and Cassie discussed what they should do. They were worried about Eve and Marley being alone when what they should be worried about was Michael and whatever plan he was working on. To his knowledge, Michael had killed several people already, but that was only for starters; he knew the deaths were to fuel some darker motive.
He didn’t want to think what that could be.
“Should we call them?” Cassie asked, staring out at the black sky. “I know they wanted to be left alone, but look how dark it is out there.”
Nodding, Tyler took out her phone and dialed Eve’s number, setting the call on speaker so Cassie could hear. The rings continued indefinitely, however. Hanging up, Tyler tried Marley next. They waited, counting the rings, but she didn’t answer either, the call going to voicemail instead. At the tone, Tyler spoke into the phone.
“Hey Marley, it’s Tyler and Cassie. We’re worried. It’s late and you’re not back yet. I’m sorry I stormed off but could you call or message us so we know you’re safe?”
Ending the call, Tyler looked at Cassie.
“Neither of them are picking up.”
“Can’t say I’m that surprised by Eve not answering, just didn’t expect Marley not to,” Cassie revealed. “It doesn’t seem like the sort of thing she’d do.”
“I know,” Tyler said, worried. “I shouldn’t have left like that. It’s just too much, you know? It’s not like I don’t have a ton of problems already. I didn’t need anymore.”
“Do you want to talk about them?” Cassie offered shyly, a hopeful glint in her eyes.
Tyler looked at her as if she was considering doing just that until she shook her head. If she started talking, she might never stop. Cassie tried to quell her disappointment. She knew Tyler had spoken to Marley before about some of her problems, but apparently, she wasn’t good enough to confide in. She shouldn’t be surprised by this, but it still hurt. It seemed that all her life, people never really wanted to trust her or get to know her. They took one look at her and knew that there was nothing good inside, so they just didn’t bother. Feeling herself deflating, she sat down on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest.
“I’m fine. We should just focus on getting in touch with the others,” Tyler finally said.
“Why? They’re probably just off sulking,” Christian griped, though he knew they couldn’t hear him. Still, it was pretty dark out there he conceded glancing outside. It did seem strange that Marley wasn’t answering her phone given everything that had happened. Maybe he should go check it out himself. Since he’d last seen her at the reservoir, he pictured it in his mind, holding it there. He felt a pull inside his body, then what could only be described as a sunken feeling. When he opened his eyes again, he was back at the water.
There, he found Marley on the ground out cold.
Seeing her still figure, Christian felt a great hammer of fear in his gut. If she’d been attacked under his watch, while he had been having his hissy fit back at the college…
He left the thought there, unable to finish it.
Sprinting towards her, he took in her pale face. Unconscious, she looked so vulnerable that it tore at his heart. What an idiot he had been to leave her here. He was supposed to know better!
He checked over her body, eyes searching for a wound, relieved when he could see none. He reached for her wrist to feel for a pulse but his hand went straight through her. Letting out a hiss of frustration, Christian watched her chest, hoping to see it rise and fall. He was rewarded by the tiniest movement.
She was alive!
Leaning close to her, Christian placed his hands on the grass, yelling into her face. “Marley! It’s Christian! Wake up!”
There was no change in her condition. Raising his voice, he called out her name, over and over, until his voice cracked. He began to despair if she’d ever regain consciousness. Terror raced through him as he considered the ramifications of her not being able to fight Michael. Without her, the others wouldn’t be able to hear him. Without her, they were lost.
It was as he pictured the end of the world in his mind that Marley groaned. Her head moved to the side as she winced from whatever she felt there. Thrilled that she was coming to, Christian leaned closer to her. “Marley, wake up! You need to open your eyes now!”
She moaned, flinching away from him, not liking his loudness. He was rewarded by a flicker of her eyes as she opened them. She blinked up at him in confusion.
“Where am I?”
“You’re still at the reservoir. Are you OK? I found you passed out on the ground.”
She looked up at him with those hazel eyes with such confusion that Christian found the inexplicable urge to comfort her.
Which of course was ridiculous on many levels.
He moved away from her as if her very presence could burn him. If Marley saw his bizarre reaction, however, she didn’t mention it. She pushed herself onto her feet, staring around her in bewilderment.
“What am I doing here…” she began but then her eyes turned haunted. She gasped, trembling from the memory.
“What is it?” Christian demanded.
“That woman, the ghost I saw at the Hanging Elm, she was here,” Marley said, her voice shook with fear at the mere mention of her.
“What woman, what ghost?” Christian asked, confused. “Explain!”
“I saw her before, when I was out with Tyler and Cassie, at the common. We were in a juice bar but then the air changed and I saw a figure materialize in the trees opposite. She had a noose around her neck, and she was hanging from this big Elm tree,” Marley replied. “She pointed at me and this horrible sound came out of her…”
She stopped, shuddering as the sound and image assaulted her once again. “I did some research after that. I found out they used to hang witches there, on that very tree.”
“Yeah. There’s a lot of bad history around here,” Christian supplied.
“After you guys had gone, I sat here for a while, but then I thought I could feel you behind me… except it wasn’t you, it was her again. This time she got really close to me, she grabbed me by the shoulders,” Marley made a move to shrug out of her shirt, when she became self-conscious under Christian’s gaze. Still, needing to see if any damage had been caused, she examined her bare shoulders. There was nothing there.
“I was sure there would be marks, it felt like her fingers were burning into my skin,” Marley said, shivering from the memory.
“She touched you? How? I tried and my hands went straight through you,” Christian said.
“I don’t know, but it wasn’t pleasant. She tried to scream at me again but I saw that her lips had been sewn together. I must have blacked out after as the next thing I knew, you were here.”
A sob caught in her throat that she tried to hide but Christian heard it anyway. A tear ran down her cheek that she wiped away. “What does she want? Why does she keep appearing to me?” Marley asked tearfully.
“She must have something to communicate to you,” Christian replied.
“That’s a pretty terrible way of trying to talk to me,” Marley said bitterly.
“Maybe she’s not trying to talk to you.”
He trailed off, not wanting to finish.
If she can’t talk, then what does she want?
Marley couldn’t stop shaking at the thought.
Chapter 14
What was Cassie’s deal?
One minute they had been sharing their concern over Marley and Eve’s silence, the next she was huddled on
her bed looking upset.
Unsure what to do, Tyler left her alone. She went back to her own room. She sat down at her desk now, opening her laptop. While they waited to hear from Marley and Eve, she needed to take care of some important things.
Logging into her bank, she checked her balance, hoping that her Financial Aid had finally come through. The balance had changed since yesterday, unfortunately; it had gone down by another twenty or so bucks as her phone bill had come out. She tried to still the wave of panic that knotted her stomach whenever money matters were raised, but there was also anger behind it. Anger at her parents, who had lied to them about the state of their financial affairs. If she had known how stretched they were, how much they had borrowed to deal with Ally’s healthcare, she would have sold the ponies to help out. Her parents had kept the truth from her, wanting to live the American Dream… leaving them with nothing.
Thinking of Ally, her last text message flashed into her mind.
She still had her birthday present to get. Logging into Amazon, Tyler found the bag Ally wanted, added it to the cart. She clicked the checkout button but needed her card details to pay for it. Looking around, Tyler realized her bag wasn’t with her. More panic crept up inside until she remembered that she’d last had it just minutes before. Getting up, she walked across the hall, knocked on the door, opening it without waiting for an answer.
Cassie was inside Marley’s wardrobe trying on her clothes, while some of Marley’s things had obviously been rifled through in the minutes that she’d been gone. Cassie froze, taking off the shirt that she’d just been putting on.
“What are you doing?” Tyler asked.
Caught out, red with embarrassment, Cassie shrugged. “Nothing. Marley said I could borrow whatever I wanted, so I thought I’d try a few things on, just to see how they fit.”
Tyler didn’t want to dispute her claims, but if that were true, why was she looking so guilty? Wasn’t it a weird time too, to be trying on your roommate’s clothes when you were worried about them? As if she knew what was going through Tyler’s mind, Cassie quickly changed the conversation.
