by Lily Webb
I looked him right in the eyes. “I remember you saying something to me along those lines on the morning of the announcement. Were you trying to get me to call it off because of these messages?”
“No.”
“Then why did you bring it up with me that morning?”
Wesley shrugged. “I just didn’t think holding a big press event like that was appropriate, and Heath didn’t seem open to hearing any objections. I worried something so showy would inflate the issue. It seems I was right.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Why do you think whoever’s behind these messages wanted you to get the announcement canceled, though?”
“I don’t know. Whoever they are, they have some interest or another to protect. Maybe they worried what Adam might reveal if given the chance to speak.”
“What makes you think so?”
Wesley shifted in his chair, flustered, and scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t know, it’s just a guess! I can’t think of any other reason someone would want to do that.”
“If you thought that might be the case, then why did you tell me all that stuff about Heath and his family when we spoke a couple days ago? Why not come clean with me about the anonymous messages then?”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to suggest.”
“Then let me spell it out for you: I think you’re lying about how much you know about the person on the other end of this, and I think you’ve been trying to shift the blame onto Heath to cover it all up. I just don’t understand why.”
Wesley’s fists slammed his desk, jolting both Leif and me. “That’s absurd!” he shouted. “More than that, it’s insulting. I’ve been on Moon Grove’s Council for nearly ten years now, and I’ve spent my entire life pursuing the betterment of the lives of everyone in this town.”
“Fine, then prove it. Log into your computer, please.”
Wesley looked at me in horror, his jaw hanging open. “What?”
“You heard me: Log into your computer. If you really want to serve the people of Moon Grove, and if you really have nothing to hide, then you’ll open up your p-mail and start writing a response to this anonymous person.” Wesley opened his mouth to object, but I cut him off with a raised hand. “Don’t worry about what to say. Leif and I will coach you through it. And if you get too nervous, no need to worry about that either. Leif has a handy dandy piece of software that can take your place.”
He blinked at me blankly. “You can’t be serious.”
“As serious as a killing curse.” I jabbed a finger at his keyboard. “Type your password. Now. You’re the only one we know of who has a way to reach this person, and we have some questions we’d like to ask them. Go ahead, we’ll wait. We’ll even look away while you do it, if you’re concerned about your privacy.”
Though Wesley glared at me with pure loathing in his eyes, he reached for the keyboard without objection. His fingers flew across it as he typed his password and smashed the enter button with far more force than necessary. I didn’t care how annoyed he was with me. We were long past the point of me playing nice with his feelings.
“There,” he said and shoved back from the desk to make room for us to take over.
“Thank you, but you aren’t done yet. Navigate to your p-mail and find the last message they sent you, then click reply.”
He mumbled something incomprehensible under his breath but did as I asked. “What do you want me to say?”
I turned to Leif. “What do you think?”
The fairy shrugged. “Start with something simple. Ask them what they meant by their last message.”
Wesley typed the words and clicked send. “Now what?”
“We wait for a reply.”
The wait wasn’t long. Just a few seconds later, Wesley’s computer dinged to indicate a new message had arrived.
“It’s from them,” Wesley whispered and Leif and I both came around to see the screen as Wesley clicked the message. He read it aloud: “It says, ‘I see you were no match for the Head Witch. What a shame; I expected so much better of a warlock of your stature. Oh well. You’ve more than served your purpose.’”
I whirled on Wesley, who’d turned so pale he might as well have been translucent. “What does that mean? What purpose?”
He let out a whimper as the lights in the room flickered several times. “No, please! I did everything you asked, I—” Wesley started, but froze when his computer screen turned fuzzy and distorted. The temperature in the room plummeted all at once, as if someone had flipped a switch somewhere in the building.
“Oh, no, not again!” I shouted as I backed away from Wesley and reached into my robes for my wand. “Get away from him, Leif!”
Wesley’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his body went slack in the seat. His jaw dangled, and the last thing I saw before the room plunged into complete darkness was Leif zipping through the air away from Wesley — and what I could’ve sworn was a ball of shadows swirling in his open mouth.
It had grown so cold in the office that my teeth chattered in the unsettling silence that followed. “L-L-Lumino,” I stuttered, and though my wand tip flickered a few times, it failed to ignite.
Wesley let out a long, low moan that slowly morphed into a mixture of a gagging and screaming sound. A few seconds later, he fell silent and something heavy thudded against the surface of Wesley’s desk with a wet-sounding slap.
Another thud followed, and a rustling like a snake slithering across a bed of fallen leaves sliced through the darkness. Though I couldn’t be sure, it sounded like it was heading in my direction. A shrill, panicked voice screeching in the back of my head begged me to call to Wesley’s gargoyle just outside the door to open it, but the frigid air in the room seemed to have frozen my tongue to the roof of my mouth.
Using my hands and my memory of the surrounding room before it went dark, I cautiously backed away toward the nearest wall and breathed a sigh of relief when my fingertips grazed it.
“Z-Zoe! Are you o-okay? W-where are you?” Leif hissed, but I couldn’t speak. Instead, I sank down to the floor, rested my head against the wall, and pulled my legs as close to my chest as I could — my bulging stomach didn’t make it easy. I rubbed my swollen legs to warm them. Why was it so darn cold? And what in Lilith’s name was going on?
The rustling sound I’d heard a few moments prior returned, this time so close it brought to mind a serpent approaching and made my skin crawl. Against my better judgment, I glanced to my left and would’ve screamed if the temperature hadn’t frozen my throat shut. There, unmistakable among the pitch blackness that had engulfed the room, a pair of flaming orange and red eyes floated mere inches from my face.
An unfurling, guttural growl filled my ears and I let out a strangled cry as I pulled my face away from the eyes. I’d never seen or heard something so horrible, so utterly terrifying. The eyes drew closer, so close I felt the otherworldly chill flowing off whatever it was staring at me, and the growl intensified until it was all I heard.
I imagined a snake’s dislocated jaw opening to swallow me whole — until a strange, warm tingle started in the middle of my chest and radiated out to my fingers and toes. A piercing shriek tore through the room, a sound so horrific that it clawed at my very soul. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the whole terrible ordeal to be over.
I stayed that way for what felt like an arctic eternity until light flashed across my closed eyelids. They snapped open of their own accord, and I found the room exactly as it’d been before the lights went out — the only difference was Leif standing with a hand over his mouth as he stared at the desk where Wesley lay face down, motionless, just like Adam and Morgan before him.
Sernux burst into the room with a crazed look on his face. He glanced from Wesley to Leif and finally to me where I still sat crouched on the floor. “What happened in here?! I heard all the commotion and tried to open the door, but it seemed magically sealed. While I pounded on it, this black, shadowy thing slithered out fr
om under the crack and disappeared.”
Leif reached out to rest his fingers on Wesley’s wrist. After a moment, he shook his head. “Whatever that thing was, it killed Wesley.”
As I struggled to gather my thoughts, I slowly let out the breath I’d been holding, not convinced I’d be able to draw in another. Just like that, the hellish beast that had cornered me — and our last connection to Erebus — had vanished.
Chapter Eleven
Mueller demanded that Leif and I accompany him back to the MGPD to get our account of events, which was all the same to me because I needed to talk to Heath — he was the only one who might make sense of what I’d seen in Wesley’s office. Besides, he and I had a lot of other catching up to do.
“So, just to be sure I heard you right, you said you saw a shadow snake? Is that it?” Mueller asked as he tried to clarify for the thirtieth time what Leif and I had told him. He dangled a pencil over the small pad of paper in his other hand, hesitant to commit any of what we’d said to record. He glanced over his shoulder at Officer Barrett where he sat at his desk, obviously looking for someone to bail him out.
Barrett made a face and shrugged. “Might as well write it down, Chief.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but that’s the best way I can phrase it. The whole room turned dark and as cold as a freezer, but before it did, I saw this ball of shadows form in Wesley’s mouth. I’m ninety-five percent sure that ball backed me into the corner and is also what Wesley’s gargoyle guard saw slither out from under his office door.”
Mueller tapped the eraser end of the pencil against the pad of paper. “Look, it’s not that I don’t believe you, Zoe — Lilith knows I’ve seen and heard stranger things than this during my time around here — but I don’t really know what to do with this.”
“Well, I can’t help you with that. You asked for a statement. There it is. Leif was there too. He saw all the same things I did. We aren’t making it up.”
“Obviously, Zoe had more direct contact with the creature or whatever it was than I did, but yes, I can vouch that she’s telling you the truth, Chief,” Leif said, and I gave silent thanks for my accidental foresight in bringing him. I didn’t want to think about what might’ve happened to me — before, during, or after the incident — if I’d gone into Wesley’s office alone.
Thankfully, some uninvited guests saved me from having to go through the timeline for the thirty-first time.
“Oh, Sugar, I’m so glad you’re okay!” Grandma howled when she saw me and came flying forward to throw her arms around me. “I knew you shoulda stayed home today!”
Beau waited for Grandma to release me before he hugged me too. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d gotten hurt.” When we parted, he rested a hand on my stomach. “Or if something had happened to them.”
“Neither do I. Trust me, if I’d known all this would happen, I would’ve listened. Anyway, how did you hear?”
Leif grimaced and leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Sorry, that’s probably indirectly my fault. I had to report the incident back to the Bureau.”
Which meant that Flora must have been the one to call Grandma and Beau, a realization I kept to myself to protect Flora’s undercover role. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter how. I’m glad you came, but I’m okay, really.”
It was probably one of the biggest lies I’d told in recent memory — truthfully, I couldn’t shake the image of the hellfire burning in the pair of eyes suspended in the darkness from my mind — but I couldn’t let either of them see my fear now. All of Moon Grove needed me to be strong and keep it together, including my family.
Beau stared at me skeptically. “You should come home and rest. You’ve done more than enough. Let Mueller and the MGPD take things from here.”
“He’s darn right. I ain’t lettin’ you risk your keister or them two buns in your oven over this again.”
Too bad neither of them had a say in what I did or didn’t do. Now more than ever, it was critical that I speak to Heath. I no longer had a shred of a clue who or what was responsible for the tally of three deaths in town, and though Jorah had granted a delay for the start of Heath’s trial, I knew it wouldn’t last much longer — especially now that we had another casualty on our hands, and a prominent one at that.
“Well, lucky for you I’ll be staying right here in the MGPD while I work.”
Grandma glared at me. “You gotta be kiddin’ me, girl! Ain’t you learned a darn thing from all this? You and your kiddos coulda died!”
I sighed. “I know, but that’s the thing: Three people have already died because of all this, and if I don’t help put a stop to it, more will join them. Like it or not, I’m Head Witch. This is my actual job now, and being pregnant doesn’t get me out of it, no matter how dangerous it might be. Besides, I dunno if you’ve noticed, but the other half of my office is in a maximum-security cell beneath our feet.”
Grandma chuckled. “All right, all right, when you put it that way… I know we’re always tellin’ you this, but please, for the sake of those two babies, be careful, Sugar.”
“Agreed. I wish I could magically bind you so you couldn’t leave the house for the next few weeks, but I know you better than to believe it’d keep you in place, anyway. Nothing can tame that wild will of yours.” Beau laughed and linked his fingers between mine. “Just promise me you’ll keep us in the loop as much as you can and that you won’t go rushing into something alone. Can you do that?”
I smiled and squeezed his hand. “I’d never make a promise like that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really need to get down to the dungeons to talk to Heath.”
Beau sighed and let go of my hand. “Okay. Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help. Whatever it is, we’ll do it, no questions asked.”
Grandma patted Beau’s shoulder. “Yeah, what he said.”
“Thanks, but I’ve got things under control.” I turned to Leif. “Would you do me a favor and escort these two home? Oh, by the way, Beau, Grandma, this is Leif Meadows. He’s with the FBI and he’s been helping me on this.”
“I’d be delighted,” Leif said with a smile and shook hands with the two of them before he led them to the door.
“No need, I can take care of it,” Barrett called from his desk as he jumped to his feet. “I’m heading over to Flora’s place anyway, and I’m sure Mr. Meadows has a lot of work to do.”
“Thanks,” Leif said, and though neither Grandma nor Beau spoke up, I saw the relief flooding their faces. They didn’t know Leif at all, and Barrett was at least a police officer.
“No problem. All right, you two, let’s get a move on, shall we?” Barrett asked Grandma and Beau.
Grandma shot me one last pleading look, and I didn’t need to hear her words to know what she was telling me: don’t do anything stupid. We’d have to see whether I lived up to her request.
I waved to her. “I’ll be fine, Gram. I promise.”
“Come on now, there’ll be plenty of time for reprimands later,” Barrett said as he ushered Grandma and Beau outside. Leif winked and waved at me before he followed them.
When I was sure they’d left and weren’t coming back, I turned to Mueller. “Do you mind taking me downstairs?”
He shoved his pad and pencil into his back pocket. “Like I have a choice. Come on.”
I followed him toward the back of the station without saying goodbye to Beau and Grandma. While he unlocked the door to the staircase, I tried to gather my thoughts, but it was hopeless. There were so many things I needed to ask Heath about, from his family history to what, if anything, he knew about Erebus and The Underworld and everything in between.
The cascade of thoughts pouring over me as we descended was so consuming that when Mueller stopped outside Heath’s cell, I almost crashed into him. Annoyed, he cleared his throat to tell me to step back while he unlocked the first door into the cell.
When he pulled it, I gasped at the sight of H
eath inside. It’d only been a few days since the last time I’d seen him, but he looked like he’d aged ten years in that time. Thanks to the full bush of salt-sprinkled facial hair that’d sprouted on his face and the distinct lack of his trademark eye twinkle, I almost didn’t recognize him.
Heath’s head slowly rose, and a weak smile appeared on his face when he realized it was me who’d come to see him. “Zoe,” he croaked.
I glared at Mueller. “Aren’t you taking care of him?”
“Don’t take it out on Mueller. Anyone would look like this rough if they’d spent as much time as I have in here,” Heath rasped.
With a look that dared me to say otherwise, Mueller reached for the stool I’d sat on the last time I was here and dropped it at my feet. Though I wanted to attack him, I thought better of it and lowered down onto the stool.
“You look like you’ve seen better times yourself,” Heath laughed, which turned into a dry cough.
“Is that really a surprise? You’re in jail, people are dying left and right, and here I am pregnant in the middle of it all.”
Heath licked his cracked, peeling lips. “Fair enough. Wait a second, did you say more people have died? Who?”
I sighed. “Yeah. A lot has happened since the last time I was here. That’s why I came. First it was Morgan.”
Heath grimaced like I’d pressed a red-hot brand to his chest. “No…”
“I’m sorry, but yes.”
“Who else?”
“Wesley Damon. Just a bit ago.”
Heath locked eyes with me, and it was unsettling. “Wesley?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell me everything. We probably have limited time.”
“Well, I got you a delay from the Court so—”
“That’s not what I meant,” Heath interrupted. “Whoever is behind this could attack again. If they’re killing Council members now, that just shows how desperate they are. Whatever you’re doing to catch them is making them nervous.”
“I’m not sure we’re dealing with a who here so much as a what.”
