She Lies Twisted

by C. M. Stunich

  “It's gonna be okay, Neil,” he whispered, prying his fingers off of the car and placing them gently around mine. I nodded and tried to believe that. I tried to remind myself that this was the right thing to do. Boyd deserved to move on. He was selfless and had always, always, always put his problems on the back burner for mine. It was time to switch things up.

  “Let's go,” I choked out, tearing my hand away and stepping out of the car. I hoped the Orangutan wasn't home or this was going to be difficult. There was no way he would let us in his trailer and there was no way I was missing out on this. My love for Boyd was what had gotten me here, I owed it to him to see him off. James waited in the driveway for me to approach the front door. It was locked. I gritted my teeth in frustration.

  “The back window?” He offered softly. I nodded and he followed me around the side of the trailer. I climbed in first, my eyes locked on the fiberboard cabinets, the orange linoleum floor, the dirty fridge. I waited until James was standing beside me, his warmth like a lighthouse on a stormy night. I needed him to see clearly.

  I opened my eyes.

  Boyd's body was lying exactly where I had first found it but instead of something horrible, I saw something beautiful. Me. I was draped over his body like a blanket, my chest shaking as I'd gone to that place inside my head that kept me sane. It wasn't that I liked seeing myself in anguish or that Boyd's death didn't still upset me but what I saw was love. I had loved him, still loved him, as purely and as fully as I could. I blinked back tears and took a step forward, expecting the soft squelch of the blood infused carpet to take away that feeling and make me sick. There was nothing and I was reminded that this was just a memory. It was time to retrieve Boyd.

  I knelt down, my fingers trembling, and pressed the tips softly against my forehead first. It was time for me to come back, too. I'd been in a dark place for so long, I was beginning to crave the light. I moved over to Boyd next, hesitating just a moment before releasing him. The image of us faded away as if it had never been and I saw Boyd standing in what had been the circle of his blood.

  A thousand words clogged in my throat and silenced me. I waited for him to turn around, anticipation tearing at my ribcage and leaving my heart open for all to see. When he finally did, his eyes opened wide and his face blanched. Even a ghost could be surprised.

  “Neil?” I nodded but didn't speak. I wasn't ready for that yet. “You weren't the one that released me so I...” He trailed off. Someone else had released Boyd and sent him to the library. It made my soul burn with jealousy but I tried to push it back. James and I were here now. That was what really mattered. “But how did you...?” He didn't finish the question. It hung in the air between us like a cloud.

  Tell him you love, tell him you always have, tell him you're sorry for breaking his heart and let him know that he always has yours.

  I parted my dry lips to speak when I heard it. The sound of a flute, soft and low, filtered into the room and wrapped its tentacles around Boyd just like it had with Sydney. I screamed a warning but it was too late. Boyd was changing in front of my eyes. His back bent sharply, his vertebrae burst from his skin like knives, sharp and glistening with blood. I stumbled forward and reached out for him. I can't let this happen, not now. James grabbed my arm just as the trailer began to shake beneath us.

  “We'll come back for him,” James mouthed. I shook my head. I wasn't leaving Boyd as a monster. I couldn't, no, wouldn't do it. James snatched my bag with the harp from its place on my belt, snapping the clasp, and took off towards the back window. I had no choice but to follow. The Boyd-thing was fully formed now and it was angry. It took off after me with a scream of rage, like shattering glass, and burst through the island in the kitchen, sending wood and hardware across the room in a spray of shrapnel.

  James grabbed my arm and tugged me roughly through the window. The metal scraped my knees raw and sent us both sprawling into the grass. I sat up and slapped him in the face before I could stop myself. I hadn't meant it, James had only been trying to help me and I knew I wasn't thinking clearly, but it made me feel better. He didn't say anything, just stood up and handed me my bag. I tied it to my belt with the broken strap and knotted it twice.

  Boyd was snarling at the window like something from the movie Alien. It singed my heart to see him like that. I reached for my harp but James stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

  “She's here,” he whispered. I turned around and found Jessica lounging by the car, a sardonic smile on her face. I twisted my fists in my sweatshirt. It was taking all of my willpower not to charge her and slap her a hundred times harder than I'd slapped James. I loved her but I also loved Boyd. Fucking with him was not okay with me.

  “Let him go, Jessica,” I said calmly, trying not to panic. She didn't know about the harp yet. That was where I had the advantage. I couldn't give that away yet, not even to save Boyd, not if I could do it later. She frowned at me and her face was that kind of ugly pretty that makes movie stars famous. For a second, I almost wished she were still a demon. It would've been easier to send her on. I could've pretended that the ire in her eyes was something brought on by magic or death. I could've pretended that my sister wasn't like that, that deep down, she was still good. I closed my eyes for a moment to readjust my feelings and pulled my hood up like a blanket. I still had to believe that. I had to believe that inside of her, there was still something worth saving.

  I opened my eyes and tried to pretend I had on purple lenses. I would see everything in a different color. I had to try.

  Jessica glanced over at Boyd's demon, still snarling at the window, white spittle showering down like the world's worst snowstorm. James stepped away but I stayed. It was still Boyd in there, somewhere. Jessica sliced her hand through the air like she was cutting something and Boyd went silent. He pulled back from the window and I could see the trailer grunting and adjusting as he moved around inside. Fear gripped my heart as I imagined him escaping and coming after me. Would I be able to stand seeing Ehferea's arrow slice through his heart? I looked up the sky for signs of the harpies but neither had arrived yet. They wanted us to do this on our own, I got that, but I hoped they were nearby, just in case.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” I'd asked her that before but she hadn't responded. Maybe I could get her talking again so that I could understand why and I would be able to make peace with her memory. As things stood, it seemed like I was going to be traumatized by her lack of respect towards me for the rest of my life. If I could get her to talk, really talk, maybe I could get the harp out and strum it before she had a chance to sic one of her demons on me. I exchanged a look with James. His eyes told me not yet. I fingered the clasp of the purse and waited.

  “Tate,” Jessica laughed, low and hollow and forced. “I'm only trying to help you. You just don't seem to understand.” She turned back towards the forest and whistled. The trees swayed and shook and I grasped James' hand with force. She wasn't looking. It was time. I opened the bag and grasped the harp with one hand.

  A scream shattered the silence, breaking my concentration. It was Jarrod. Jessica looked over her shoulder and smiled at me.

  “Come down to the grove,” she said and began to disappear into the trees. “And we can start our new lives together.” I pulled the harp out and strummed a string. My fingers hit the chord but nothing happened, just a melodic spark and then nothing. I turned to James, suddenly afraid. He shook his head, eyes wide.

  “The harpies,” he whispered. I looked around but didn't see them. “No,” he continued, his voice breaking. “The harpies are tied to the instruments, Tate. They give them their magic. If it isn't working...” I almost choked. Dead, they were dead, too. I turned to the side and tried to hold back my lunch.

  “That might’ve been useful if you’d told me that before,” I whispered, wondering how much else he knew about the harpies that he wasn’t sharing. We had a connection with them, I could see that but I had no idea how deep it went.

  “Th
ey could just be in the Library,” he suggested and reached back for something in his jeans. He didn't sound like he believed that. Another scream broke the silence of the trailer park. It was faint and it was getting fainter. Not a good sign. James and I took off in unison and ran through the darkness of the trees, down the hill and past the edge of the school wall. Jessica was way ahead of us, having ridden yet another one of her demons down to the cemetery that Grandpa and Mom and even she, had been buried in.

  When we arrived, we were panting and I couldn't but wonder if I was going to burst a lung and feel rough stitches every time I breathed. I paused at the edge of the clearing and watched Jessica trace her fingers over her own headstone. At first, all I saw was her but as my eyes adjusted, I realized that Jarrod was there, too. He was on the ground in a fetal position, his body covered in red. Blood. I tried to go to him but James held me back, nodding his chin at the trees.

  There were demons everywhere. There were white monkeys with pink eyes and horse faces. There were pigs with bushy tails and long, slender legs like deer. There were even winged lizards that flashed with color and zipped along the tree line like dragonflies. There had to be at least twenty of them, all different shapes and sizes and colors. All people who had been manipulated by my sister, the necromancer who pulled demons from their graves.

  “I'm glad you decided to come willingly,” she said as she picked up a vase from her own grave and threw it. The faded glass smashed into an angel, breaking into pieces that fell to the wet earth and glittered like rubies. Jessica, don't. My heart contracted with pain. I had placed those there for her not long ago. The disrespect she had for me was liable to break my spirit. She turned around and smiled again, like a piranha, ready to tear flesh and wound souls. “Because I thought you might want to see this.”

  She raised her hand and a line of darkness appeared down the center of the grass between us. It slithered into place like shadows, sparking like a power line, and snapped over Jarrod's body like a whip.

  His scream cut through the forest like a knife, silencing birds, silencing the other demons, even the wind ceased to blow for a moment. Blood splattered my face and hair as I watched open mouthed. The creature that Jessica had been commanding crawled from the glass in a flash of dark lightning, flickered across the grove and smashed into me. Darkness wrapped around me and threw me forward, towards Jessica. I rolled across the grass and came up face to face with Jarrod's spirit. His eyes were wide, his mouth pleaded. I sat up and scooted away from him, watched as Jessica put the flute to her lips and played.

  Jarrod shifted from a red headed boy to a streak of color, like sunlight through a prism. He wasn't an animal like some of the others but a bit of light that caught my eyes and drew them in like a stained glass window. I was enraptured and found I could barely look away.

  “Tate!” It was James. The worry in his voice drew me to my feet and turned me to face him.

  The dark creature had pinned him to a tree. My heart exploded in my chest. Please no, don’t hurt him. I began to run. I don’t know what I thought I could do but I had to try. Where’s Ehferea with her bow and arrow when I need her? I tried to forget that she’d mentioned that Jessica had a weapon that could kill her. If she were dead, Jessica would kill me and bind my spirit with her music and James...She was jealous of him. I could see it in her eyes. She might not be able to kill him but she could hurt him. Over and over and over again.

  I made it about halfway there before I was pulled to the ground by Jarrod. I tried to kick out at him but I didn’t know where to aim. My foot flew forward again and again as I was dragged back across the grass. It felt like I was finding purchase but the blur of light that he had become was so foreign to me that I had no idea if what I was doing would deter him or just piss him off. My fingers itched to go to the harp but I couldn’t do it with Jessica’s eyes boring into mine. If she found out about the harp and it didn’t work, I might not get another chance.

  Spirits crowded around me like one of those paintings that Abe had liked where swarms of oni, Japanese demons, descended towards an honorable samurai. They reached out, touched me, brushed crooked fingers, featherless wings, hairless tails against my skin. Jessica’s touch was in each one of them. She was in complete control.

  I leaned forward, stomach muscles screaming in protest as I tried to get to the pocketknife in my boot. It might not help but I was running out of options. I managed to grab the wooden handle with the tips of my fingers and pulled it out, only to have it snatched away from me by what I would’ve sworn was a capuchin monkey.

  I screamed, partially from fear for myself, for James, and partially from frustration.

  A whistle cut through my shouts, like missiles dropped from a jet and flashes of color exploded like fireworks across the graveyard. The light cast shadows across the gravestones and the demons throwing up shadows that would haunt me for the rest of my unlife.

  Suddenly, Nethel was there, leaning down, tugging me to my feet. Jarrod was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t hesitate, just reached into my purse and plucked the harp while Jessica was distracted. Still, there was nothing. I turned to the pale faced harpy and wondered angrily why she wasn’t saving James. The fireworks were still exploding and I couldn’t see if he was okay. It was hard not to try and rush through whatever it was that Nethel had done and try to find him.

  “Last time I touched this fucking thing, I broke out into an aria. What the fuck is going on?” Nethel watched me carefully and if I wasn’t mistaken, I thought her pale skin might’ve been whiter than usual.

  “I cannot find Ehferea,” she said simply. I blinked at her, trying to get rid of the sunbursts behind my eyelids. Of course, one harpy wasn’t enough…

  “But…” Nethel grabbed my arm suddenly and turned me to face the forest behind us.

  “She is your guardian, Tatum, as I am James’. It is her soul that adds magic to your harp. Find her there, among the trees. Go.” She shoved me forward and when I tried to look back, she pushed me again. “Go!” It was the most emotion I had ever heard in her voice. I decided that was motivation enough. She wouldn’t let anything happen to James. I had to trust that.

  I moved through the forest, trying to feel that connection with my harp that I’d felt since they’d first given it to me. I could hear shouts and movement behind me. Jessica wouldn’t let me leave for long. I forced myself forward through blackberry bushes that stung like bees and over a crest that was cut in half by one of the school walls.

  Ehferea was propped against it like a doll, her head hanging between her knees and blood leaking down to drip from her nose to the forest floor.

  I collapsed beside her, unsure if I should touch her or not.

  “My apologies,” she said, startling me. She raised her head slowly and smiled a gentle smile. “I might’ve given you your gift in place of Nethel but I was afraid that you did not like me.” It took me a moment to understand what she was talking about. The harp. I shook my head.

  “It’s okay,” I told her, unsure of what I was supposed to do. She was bleeding profusely from a wound in her stomach but was too hunched over for me to see it properly. She reached out a hand and touched my chin with her nails. Across her wrist was a bracelet I’d never seen before in black gold. It sparkled in the little bit of sun that managed to reach us through the trees.

  “The soul tracker,” she whispered. “Its magic is interfering with my ability to power the harp.” I raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything about the blood. If she thought she was okay, I was going to have to trust her. In reality, I knew nothing about the harpies. “Please remove it.” I slid the bracelet off of her wrist and opened my purse.

  “No,” she said suddenly, her eyes wide and full of pain. “Put it on and go. Jessica will not be able to track you. Approach her slowly and use your single chance wisely.”

  “Are you going to be okay here?” I asked, hastily slipping the bracelet on and rising to my feet. The demons were getting closer. I could practi
cally smell them, one part anger and two parts desperation. Her eyes glittered and she nodded before letting her head hang loosely again. I bit my lip and backed away slowly. I had to trust her, too. It was hard but maybe it was some kind of test that I’d set for myself in a past life.

  I took a deep breath and followed the wall around until gravestones began to dot the ground around me. The cemetery was old and trees had sprung up over the years, obscuring the oldest graves. I used them as cover as I followed the trail of death to my sister.

  Unfortunately for me, she was across the field with Nethel, who was lying motionless in the grass. And James.

  “Jessica, don't!” I shouted, stumbling into the clearing. Blood was soaking the front of my sweatshirt making it heavy and cumbersome to move around. She ignored me like she'd done a million times before and put the flute to her lips. It was like I could see the music streaming from the silver metal, wrapping around the gathered spirits and twisting them until they were unrecognizable. In her eyes, I saw death. James and mine both.

  “Did you know?” Her wicked voice had whispered in my ear. “The only way to kill a summoner is with a knife, soaked in the blood of a loved one?”

  I pressed my hands over my head to block out the memory.

  “Neil!” James was screaming at me from across the grove. I looked up at him. He was still pinned to the tree by the demon that had thrown me. I pulled my sweatshirt off and started to run. This was my fault. I'd had the chance to stop Jessica before. I could've made her transition peacefully. Instead, I'd been selfish. I was going to have to deal with the consequences of that. Please let Boyd be okay, I thought. Please don't let his love for me be his undoing.