“And you heard screaming?”
“Yeah, a woman. I think someone was hurting her, someone named Viktor.”
“What?” Tristan said, jerking his head toward me before composing himself and looking back at the road.
“Do you know him? Was that the man who was following me?”
“I don’t know who was following you,” he replied smoothly now. “So, you’re originally from Raleigh?”
You’re changing the conversation.
“Well, I was born in London, but I’ve lived in Raleigh since I was five,” I replied. There was no point in trying to press him for information. I didn’t know him well enough to pry. Kate, on the other hand, was a different story.
“Are you warming up yet?” he asked, turning up the heater more.
I nodded. “I think I’ve avoided hypothermia,” I mumbled, feeling the hot air warming up my skin. I looked out of the window and suddenly gained an appreciation for how far I had somehow landed out of Greyhaven—we were driving through the same forest that Kate had driven me through last night. Had I blanked out somehow? There was no way I would ever have been able to run for twenty miles.
“Something wrong?” he asked, probably noticing the frown now etched on my forehead.
“Well, it’s just that I could have sworn I was right outside of Greyhaven,” I admitted, still trying to find some sort of explanation for what had happened and how on earth I had ended up so far away. “I didn’t run this far, I know I didn’t.”
“It’s the fog,” he replied simply. “It confuses people.”
I frowned. There was no way that the fog would confuse me that much; I had tripped right after I got off the bridge. I would have been running for over four hours to make it twenty miles. Something was desperately wrong, but there was no logical explanation for it.
“Wait, what’s the time?” I asked, suddenly remembering that I left the house at nine-thirty.
“Almost ten,” he replied.
I leaned back in the seat. Half an hour, I had only been gone for thirty minutes.
This is impossible.
“How big is Greyhaven?” I asked, wondering if Kate had been driving down the streets searching for me.
“I think the more accurate question is, how small is Greyhaven?” He smirked.
“Do you live there?” I asked, wondering what someone like him could be doing in a wayward town like Greyhaven.
“Unfortunately,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “How long are you planning to stay?”
“Just till I’m finished with school, which is in six months.”
“I don’t get it,” he said. “Why didn’t you just stay where you were? You’re so close to getting out of school.”
“I-it’s-my parents, my brother—they were in a car accident—Kate is my legal guardian,” I mumbled.
“Ah,” Tristan said before I could finish.
I nodded, and a silence filled the car for a few excruciating moments. Was that how it was going to be every time I told someone?
“Do you have any other family here?” he asked, probably trying to pave over the mounting discomfort.
“No, just Kate. She’s my biological mother’s sister. “What about you, does your family live in Greyhaven?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation flowing.
“No,” he finished bluntly.
Why would you live here if your family isn’t with you?
“Thank you for saving me,” I said, breaking the momentary silence. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.”
Before I could say anything else, Tristan pointed at something ahead of us. The bridge to Greyhaven. I couldn’t believe it, and I definitely didn’t believe that the fog could have magically carried me that far away from town.
“How is that possible?” I whispered.
“It happens. Did you hit your head when you fell?” he asked.
I frowned.
Did I?
“I guess I could have,” I admitted.
“I think you may have just lost track of time,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road.
“How long does it take to walk twenty miles?” I asked, slowly watching his expression.
He tapped the steering wheel with his fingers and shifted in his seat, suddenly seeming very uncomfortable. “If you’re a moderately good marathon runner you could do it in three. Walking? Seven, maybe eight hours. When did you leave the house?” he asked.
“I’ve only been gone for thirty minutes,” I mumbled, shaking my head at my feet.
I bit my bottom lip and turned to watch the bridge go past as we entered Greyhaven. I glanced at Tristan again. The girls back home would go crazy for him; he’d have every female in a ten-mile radius swooning all over him.
“Maybe you’ll remember what happened someday, but it’s a good thing I decided to come back to Greyhaven today. That road isn’t used for weeks at a time,” he explained.
I was about to thank him again when I realized that he was pulling the car into a driveway. I recognized the three-story red brick house. I thought I would be relieved to be home, but instead, my fists clenched with anxiety.
Tristan was out of the car before I even realized we had come to a halt. Just as I leaned forward to open the door, he pulled it open from the outside.
“Let me help you,” he said.
“No, that’s all right—” But before I could even finish the sentence, he scooped me up in his arms and started carrying me to the front door.
“You don’t have to do this,” I muttered.
Stop smelling him. You are so weird.
His damp clothes were warm, and I realized that he was the first person I had allowed to get this close to me since the accident. Before we reached the door, Kate was outside walking toward us. How was I going to explain this to her?
“You found her, thank God,” she said. “What happened? Is she okay?”
“She’s okay, Kate, just cold, and her ankle is sprained,” Tristan explained, walking into the house, Kate following us now.
We entered the dark entrance hall, and my throat constricted when the familiar smell of dust and stale perfume reached my nostrils. “Should I take her upstairs?” Tristan said.
“No!” I practically screamed. The contents of my entire bag, including my underwear, were still on the floor. Tristan stopped walking and looked at me. My face heated up again, and I wanted nothing more than for him to put me down.
“What’s wrong, scared of being in a room alone with me?” he whispered, grinning. My eyes rolled again as I looked around for Kate, who was running up the stairs. “Towel,” she explained, not looking back.
“You can just put me down here. I’m sure I’ll manage,” I said through gritted teeth. He smirked and nodded, walking over to the gossip chair and carefully placing me down on it. “Are you going to phone the police?” The woman’s desperate screams echoed in my mind.
He leaned forward, and I held my breath as his cheek touched mine. “Yes,” he finally whispered in my ear and then leaned back, grinning.
“Ugh.” I had never rolled my eyes so much in my life.
So cocky. So charming.
“No kiss goodbye then,” he teased, leaning back and throwing one more charming smile my way.
“That was not___” I said, frowning.
“Kissing strangers on the cheek,” he muttered, now turning around and walking toward the front door before I could finish explaining myself.
I cringed.
“Ciao for now, America,” he added, glancing back as he reached the front door, which was still ajar. “Try not to get lost in the meantime.” He walked out, not turning back.
Kate bounded down the stairs a moment later with a pack of folded towels. “Did Tristan leave already?” she asked, frowning slightly. I n
odded as she handed me the towel. “Evelyn, how on earth did this happen?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea.”
I have no idea about anything anymore.
Chapter Six
Kate helped me up the stairs to my bedroom and left me to shower. My right side, which had been leaning on her, was still warm from her scorching skin as I peeled off the rain-soaked clothes that stuck to my body. I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally reached the shower and heard the rumbling of the pipes. I closed my eyes and allowed the hot water to wash over my trembling body.
As soon as you get out of here, ask Kate about Viktor and watch her reaction. What if you imagined it all? The man? The voices? No, Tristan definitely reacted when I said “Viktor.”
If Viktor was real, so was the screaming woman. My nerves stood on edge just thinking about it. Tristan hadn’t taken it seriously at all. What if she was still out there? You have to go and help her.
I turned off the water and hobbled out of the shower as quickly as I could, grabbing the brown towel and wrapping it around me.
“Kate,” I yelled as I walked out of the steaming bathroom.
“I’m here,” she said walking into the room with a first aid kit. Evidently, she had been on her way up here already. “What is it?” she asked, taking in my expression.
“There was a woman out there screaming. Please, can we go check if she’s okay?” I pleaded, my fingers gripping the edge of the towel.
“There was no one out there, Evelyn. They’ve already checked,” she replied quietly, avoiding my gaze and visibly clenching her jaw.
Did she think I was crazy?
“No one?” I stammered.
“Tristan just called. He even went back himself. The fog cleared, and there was not a person in sight,” she said, moving toward the canopy bed.
“If you lie back in bed and rest your back on the headboard, you can eat this while I bandage your ankle,” she said, handing me a sandwich. I nodded, feeling numb and carefully pulled myself onto the bed.
You’re hallucinating things.
“Eat,” she demanded as she carefully lifted my leg and rested it across hers.
I nodded and began eating small bites, forcing myself to swallow them down as she bandaged my swollen ankle.
“Evelyn, why did you leave the town borders?” she asked as she secured the bandage, having orchestrated the moment before I picked up the second half of the sandwich.
“Some vagabond,” I said, shaking my head and narrowing my eyes, remembering the state he was in. “He was filthy and had really strange dark eyes.” Had I hallucinated him too?
Thinking back to the man removed the little appetite I had left, and I set the plate down on the nightstand. “I think he was about forty. He had dark hair and these strange small scars all over his face like someone had cut him with a scalpel fifty times across his cheeks and forehead. He was following me and running after me. I panicked, and there was nowhere else to go but the bridge, so I crossed it. I was desperate.”
Kate kept her eyes on my bandaged ankle. “What happened then?” she asked, her tone suddenly sounding constrained.
“I fell,” I answered simply. “Apparently twenty miles out of town.” I looked up to see her expression. “I did not walk twenty miles on a sprained ankle. I didn’t even walk half a mile, Kate.”
“Did you hit your head at any point?” she asked, quickly glancing at me and then turning her head away.
“I don’t think so,” I replied, unsure. “Kate.” I looked directly at her. “Out there, the screams I heard, the woman cried someone’s name. Viktor.”
Do you know him?
Kate’s face immediately turned away from mine and toward the bathroom door. My eyes settled on her fists, which were clenching and unclenching. “I know many Viktors.” She looked back up at me, immediately shifting her deep frown into a forced smile.
“Is Viktor the man who chased me?” I asked. I tried to catch Kate’s eyes, but as she carefully placed my leg back on the bed and rose, she kept her gaze firmly on the ground.
“I don’t know who chased you, Evelyn,” she said, turning away. “Oh.” She turned back to me. “Are you done?” She pointed at the plate on the nightstand.
“Yeah,” I replied, passing it to her outstretched hand.
You know. You know, and Tristan knows, and you’re both lying to me.
“Get some rest, I’ll be at the hospital for the rest of the day,” she said flatly, turning around to leave before I could reply. She walked to the heavy curtains and pulled open, but the gray sky was so dark that it barely made a difference. “I’ll see you later.” I watched as Kate shut the door. What the hell is going on in this place?
I grabbed my phone on the nightstand and typed a message to Serena: Something is very, very wrong here. You probably won’t get this, but just in case you do. I don’t know what to do. I looked up at the landline phone that was sitting on the nightstand. Try it. I lifted the old receiver, ready to dial Serena’s number, but there was no dial tone. My eyes followed the cord as I leaned my head back. It was plugged in.
Why would Kate leave a phone that didn’t work in here?
If things don’t get better by the end of the week, I’m coming home. If you get this, please phone Mr. Ackerman and tell him that I may be in trouble. I paused. Was asking Serena to phone my lawyer taking it too far? I erased the line. I may need you to phone Mr. Ackerman at some point. I miss you. I pressed Send.
The hard wooden headboard creaked as I leaned back against it.
With my ankle, I was stuck in bed. Not that I wanted to go back outside anyway. I groaned, between the anxiety and the jet lag, I was too tired to lift my head off the pillow. At least Kate pinned back the disgusting Spanish lace, I thought right before it collapsed back down, billowing dust across the room.
The cluster of skeletal trees seemed familiar, but tonight the forest was bathed in an eerie dark-blue hue, the bare branches a stark contrast to the thick bushes and the luscious ferns tightly packed together, concealing entire parts of the forest floor. The dark night surrounded me as I stepped slowly forward, painfully aware of the twigs and rocks sprouting from the soft forest floor.
I tilted my head slightly at the pale dead moon, which seemed to be closer than usual and was radiating white light through a thin wisp of cloud. In the distance, the fog crept my direction, hovering just above the forest floor, giving everything a dreamlike feeling, as if all the color had gone from the world save dark blue and black and the ethereal cloud of white.
Not sure which direction to move in, I looked around the muted forest. A light but cold breeze broke the stillness, bringing it to life as my hair waved in the crisp air. Shivering, I wrapped my arms around my chest, hoping to contain some of the warmth.
My heart was beating rapidly, and blood rushed to my ears. I turned my head to the side, trying hard to hear anything at all.
Finally, it hit me. Deep voices shouted in the distance. I turned toward the sound or where it seemed to be coming from, straining my eyes to see anything other than darkness and trees. My fists clenched, and my nails dug into my palms.
I was just about to turn my attention to another part of the trees when the now familiar white dress became visible. Her silver-blond hair confirmed that it was her. My chest began to heave, and my rapid breathing suddenly became shallow.
At first, I thought she couldn’t see me. It was as if she was staring straight through me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see if someone else was standing there. But then she walked with purpose, her feet muddy and bare, and came to a halt right in front of me. Her face was etched with determination as her icy-cold hands grabbed my shoulders. I gasped. Why did this feel so real?
Her cold, shaking fingers dug into my shoulders as the hairs on my nape and arms stood on end. The heaviness in my shoulders where she
gripped me travelled to the rest of my limbs, and I slumped. It was as if all her sorrow was seeping into me. My heart clenched as I took in the dark circles that surrounded her eyes and her trembling lips, which had turned blue with the cold, her icy-blue eyes full of tears.
“How do I help you?” I whispered, hearing the desperation in my voice and glancing around to make sure the men, whose voices were still shouting in the dark forest, were not gaining on us.
Her mouth opened as her eyes glared into my own.
She suddenly let out a primal and piercing scream. I flinched and tried to wrench free as her fingernails dug into the back of my arms, and I watched in horror as she choked on the black dirt she coughed up. The sound coming from her mouth made me want to scream; as she finally bent double, her nails scratching my arms as she went, it was like listening to an animal in a snare, desperate to break free. In the midst of the scream, there was a mumble of words. I closed my eyes as the shriek became clearer.
“Help me.”
-
My eyes flung open in the darkness, and I immediately made out the pattern of the black Spanish lace I was gripping tightly between my fingers and hugging to my chest. I pushed myself up, desperate to get some air into my starved lungs.
In the silence of the room, my pounding heart sounded like a cleaver in a butcher’s shop. My eyes adjusted to the darkness. I began to make out the contours of my bedroom in Greyhaven. How long had I been asleep? My mouth felt full of wool, and pain stabbed at my hands, which were clenched into fists, my nails digging into the flesh of my palms. I relaxed the grip and felt the deep indentations left behind on my skin.
I shuddered as goose bumps formed all over my skin. I fumbled with the Spanish lace as I reached for the lamp switch. The deep-yellow light barely illuminated the room past the bed, but it provided me with a bit of comfort.
I leaned back on the headboard, lifted my hands to my face, and moaned. Why did I keep having the same nightmare of this woman?
Water, now. My throat was so dry I could barely swallow.
I gritted my teeth and threw the black quilt to the side. I had almost forgotten about my ankle. I gingerly set it down on the thick crimson rug and put a bit of weight on it; no pain. Odd. I stood up carefully and placed even more weight on it. It seemed absolutely fine. It must not have been sprained after all. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight function, not wanting to turn on any lights in the house and alert Kate.
The Eternal Page 5
