by Alina Banks
When I stepped into the coffee shop, Sabrina and James had chosen the same booth as before, so I made my way over to join them. Alex wasn’t with them. I trusted him, but if we were going out to the cabins, I was certain I didn’t want him to be there, although I wasn’t sure why. There was just this feeling that if the two of us went out there together, it was much more likely something bad would happen. I couldn’t tell him that, because he already knew more than I really wanted him to, so I decided to not mention the next part of the plan to him. Keeping him out felt almost as wrong as involving him, but I was convinced that I was making the best choices I could with the limited amount of information I had.
Slipping into the booth, I looked at the two of them. They looked back at me. “I wanted to talk to you about what we should do next.” I looked down, gave myself a moment to think about what I wanted to say next. “That is, as long as the two of you still want to be a part of this. I don’t want to push either of you into something you don’t want to do, so this is the point where I need to ask you if you’d like to go through my plan, or if you would prefer not to be involved.”
“I’m already involved.” Sabrina’s eyes met mine. “People I cared about are dead, Ana, and I feel like I need to find out what happened to them.”
“Okay.” Nodding, I looked at James. “Do you feel the same way?”
“Not entirely. I want to be involved so I can keep the two of you from making any terrible choices.” He studied me and then did the same to Sabrina. “The two of you have a closer connection to Clermont than I do. I’m the one who doesn’t feel anything in particular about helping people, while the two of you are different.” He smiled. “Let’s hear what your plan is first, and then we can go from there.”
“Even though we didn’t make it back to any of the cabins, I am certain there’s a reason Sasha led us to them. Alex told me there are other cabins out there, so…I’m convinced that if there were any more tracks, they would have led us straight to the cabins, and the reason they didn’t is because whoever it was knew that. They don’t want us to see what they’re doing, so, to me, the most logical next step would be to go out and see what we can find. See if we can learn something more about who it is that’s killing people. It might not be the safest choice, but to me, it seems like the only option.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Checking out the other cabins does seem like the best thing we can do, but going out there again…I don’t know if that it’s the best idea.” James looked between us. I’d thought he was the one who’d be pushing for us to do more, but as it turned out, he cared about our safety. It was nice, but at the same time, I wanted this conversation to be easier.
He cleared his throat and sighed. “I understand wanting to find out the truth, but sometimes the truth can be something you aren’t truly ready for, and there’s a huge part of me that isn’t ready to learn the truth.”
I smiled at him. “I understand that.” It didn’t matter how complicated it was for me to learn the truth, because I was almost certain I would be missing out on a huge part of who I was if we hadn’t ended up in Clermont, and once I knew who I truly was, I’d be able to start working towards being who I could be. I thought about what Alex told me, and my thoughts drifted towards Alice and Dad as well. All three of them had done their best to help me understand myself, whether or not that had been part of the plan. “I am willing to go alone. I don’t want to drag the two of you into this. I just…if something happens to me, I wanted you two to be the ones to know where I was. Then you could tell someone.”
“You are not going out there alone.” Sabrina gave me a stern look. “We either do this together or it doesn’t happen at all. Going out there alone is definitely going to get you killed.”
I wasn’t so certain that was the case, but I was still grateful. “Not necessarily.” I shrugged. “It is definitely dangerous to go out there, but I honestly don’t believe whoever it is would kill me.” As I said those words, I knew they were true, but, again, I had no idea why. “I am a Conway, and that means something to the killer.”
Sabrina and James looked at each other. I was certain they were communicating about something. Then they both looked at me.
“Yeah, it does.” Sabrina shook her head. “I couldn’t tell you what, because Mom would never tell me. I’m certain she knows more about what happened than she’s ever told anyone, apart from the others who were involved. Like your mom. I…it’s been something that’s affected Clermont for a long time, and it’ll be something that affects it far into the future, because it did change so much. The police were lost, but there were those who were working to deal with the problem, and one of those people was your mom, along with your grandmother. I don’t know exactly what Mom was doing, but she did what she had to, from what she said, and she lost people. Now, even if Mom hasn’t said anything, I think we’re coming back up to one of those times, and I don’t want to be someone who isn’t willing to get involved just because it’s too dangerous. Life is dangerous. At least, by doing this, I’m trying to help other people.”
“I think we’d be one step closer to finding out the whole truth.” I smiled. “As scary as that is, I think we need to try, even if we don’t find anything. Whenever I think about who I am, I get this nagging feeling that I should be doing more. That being a Conway means I should be out there trying to stop this.”
James sighed and rubbed his temples. “If the two of you are that determined to go out there, then I’m going with you.”
Mom and Dad were asleep. I’d never climbed out the window before, but I had no reason to think it would be impossible, because there was a trellis going all the way up. When I first saw it, I couldn’t help but think it was probably something Mom used when she was a teenager, at least until I learned a little more. Even then, there was still a chance she’d used it to sneak out to meet Dad, I’d heard stories in the past about how strict my grandfather could be. They’d kept some details to themselves, and I was certain that those details related to whatever it was Mom still needed to talk to me about. Only, she’d been working too many hours for us to have that conversation, even though she kept promising it would happen.
Once we were all down the trellis, we headed in the direction of the school. The dim, orange glow of the streetlights lit the way until we reached the edge of the forest.
We glanced at each other before we peered into the darkness. With a flick of his hand, James created a ball of light. “This should be enough to get us to one of the closer cabins.”
I found myself looking at him more closely. There’d never been anything about him that made me feel uncomfortable, the way Principal Woods always had, but I felt something stroking up my spine. It was strange, but it was something I’d felt a couple of times before, connected to something Mom had done, although I’d never stopped to ask what it was, because I knew I wasn’t going to get an answer.
“Which one did you want to go to, Ana?”
“The cabin Alex said was owned by Principal Woods’s father.”
Both of them looked at me then. “Principal Woods?” Sabrina raked a hand through her hair. “Do you suspect him?”
“I wouldn’t say I suspect him, but there’s something about him, and I just want to put my mind at ease.”
James nodded, surprising me. “I agree. There is something about him, and I think it’s relatively new. Maybe something I connected with just before Lucas went missing, but I never thought to put those two things together, because it would mean the principal had something to do with what happened.”
“Why didn’t you say something before?”
“Honestly, Brina, I thought I was imagining things, until Ana said she felt it too. Having those kind of gut feelings…it’s not something you’re ever taught to pay attention to. Fortunately, now we have Ana, who does pay attention to those feelings, and you have no idea how glad I am that you do.” He smiled at me. “Let’s get moving. We’ve already been out here for long eno
ugh.”
Without giving us a chance to reply, he stepped into the forest, and we, not wanting him to be alone in there, followed him. The little light he’d created worked better than I thought it would, as we made our way through the trees. It seemed like he knew exactly which direction we needed to go in, so I let him lead.
Alex had known about the story of the demon, from the time when so many people died. That fact alone had me thinking about who Lucas and Wayde were. I hadn’t had time to properly read through the papers Alice gave me, but as we made our way through the trees, I couldn’t squash the feeling that both of them had some kind of connection to one of the people who died before. From what I could tell, it was about eight people who’d chosen to leave Clermont directly after that, and the other twenty-eight had died. But in the following year, at least twenty other people had left town. None of this made sense.
From the outside, the cabin looked just like any other cabin. I hadn’t really thought I was going to see something from the outside, but I was inexplicably disappointed because it seemed no different than all the other cabins. At least until we got closer, and I was able to see damage around the door, scratches, but when I went to touch them…
I snatched my hand away, pain sparking down my fingers. Slowly, in case touching the door sparked that same pain, I reached out to touch the handle of the door. I felt it again, but it wasn’t as bad this time.
Breathing in deeply, half hoping I wasn’t going to find anything, I opened the door.
Inside were far more candles than I thought would be safe in something so flammable, and it took a few moments for my eyes to get used to the light. Then, as they did, I was able to see symbols, all of which I didn’t recognize, but I felt as though I should. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, I stepped a little closer to get a better look, as though seeing them in more detail would help me to understand why I thought I should know them. Only there was nothing. No sudden knowledge. Just this little niggle in my mind that it was something I’d have been taught had Mom not left Clermont. I didn’t have a pen and notepad to scribble down any of the symbols, and, to be honest, I wasn’t certain I should, when I had no idea what power they might have. Maybe, just by copying them, I’d have done something that would have only caused more problems.
Just as I was about to say we should head back home so I could talk to Mom, there was a sound from outside. It was close.
I shared a look with Sabrina and James and tried my best to stay silent. I gently pushed the door closed before the three of us crept away from the cabin.
We didn’t move fast enough. Suddenly, there was something hurtling towards us, and we were running, sprinting away, probably in the wrong direction. I glanced back to make sure Sabrina and James were with me. They’d fallen behind and were standing still. I could barely see them through the foliage. I stood there for a second, watching them, afraid to go back but desperate to help. Finally, I backtracked enough to see that they were stuck in the mud.
I wasn’t fast enough. Even if I had been, I doubt I would have been able to do anything to help them. A creature came forth out of the darkness. James’ ball of light had died about the same time I opened the door to the cabin, and he hadn’t had time to make another.
When I saw the creature, I experienced the same sensation I felt any time I happened to be around Principal Woods, but nothing about the creature resembled Principal Woods in any way. Anyone in the forest was able to access that cabin. None of them had any locks on them, because they didn’t need them. People trusted each other. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible, as I ran towards the two of them. I was too late.
The creature’s huge arm came down, and I could see the claws on the fingers. They scratched down Sabrina’s back and her ensuing scream echoed through the trees. I kept moving as she dropped to the ground. James stepped forward, and something I’d never seen before happened - he transformed. The boy became something else, something that emitted a bright golden glow, lighting up our part of the forest, making it easier for me to get to Sabrina. For a moment, I ignored James and the creature as I looked down at her. The scratches on her back were bleeding heavily. I pulled my jumper off and used it to put pressure on her wounds. Mom had taught me what to do, but we were so far out in the woods, getting her to the hospital wasn’t going to be easy.
The creature was swiping at James now. James, in his other form, moved at a speed I didn’t think possible. I knew there was nothing I could do to help him, so I kept my focus on Sabrina, holding the jumper to her back as tears of pain streamed down her cheeks.
At times, it looked like she was trying to ask a question, almost certainly about James, but I don’t think she wanted to know the answer. Finally, she took a pained breath and looked at me. “What do we do?”
I glanced at James again and shook my head. James was doing everything he could to distract the creature, and I didn’t want to leave him behind, but Sabrina was losing a lot of blood. We couldn’t let James’ efforts amount to nothing.
I crouched by Sabrina and offered her my hand. “Can you stand? We need to get out of here.”
Chapter Seventeen
Getting Sabrina up wasn’t easy. The mud didn’t want to let go of her knees, and I was trying my best to keep my jumper pressed to her wounds. As soon as she was upright, we started moving. Then someone popped out from behind a tree. We stilled, uncertain if they were friend or foe, until they stepped forward, a staff in one hand. The creature suddenly stopped mid-advance on James, looked at that person for less than a second, and fled.
When the staff lit up, enough to blind me, I tightened my grip on Sabrina and braced myself to run. Then, I found myself looking at Miss Cane. Mom’s boss. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip and she studied me, her eyes twinkling slightly. “Everything is going to be okay, Ana.” She stepped forward. “I can help Sabrina, but only if you let me.”
That was the moment I realized I was the only thing holding Sabrina up. At some point, when I wasn’t paying enough attention to her, she must have passed out. “How…” I shook my head. “I want you to help her.”
“Bring her here.”
I stepped over to Miss Cane and realized it was solid ground. Gently, in the hopes that I wasn’t doing any more damage to Sabrina’s back, I laid her on her side before taking a step away. Then, James was next to me. He was back in his human form. For a few seconds, the two of us stared at each other, until I turned my attention back to Miss Cane. She was, it seemed, chanting over Sabrina’s back as she placed some herbs over the scratches, covering each of them with a fabric bandage. I could feel what she was doing, the same way I had when James had created his light. I looked at him again. He shrugged and turned his attention back to Sabrina.
“I was told to keep it a secret, Ana. So few people would understand what it is to be a kitsune.”
“Unless you want to tell her, I’ll keep the secret for you.” I smiled at him. “You saved us. If you hadn’t, I think we’d all be dead right about now.”
“I only did what was necessary.” He reached out to take my hand, which wasn’t something I’d expected him to do, but I was grateful for it. “Sabrina’s going to be okay, and we need to work out what we’re going to do next.”
Sabrina was resting comfortably in one of the hospital beds, so Miss Cane took us to her office. Mom, from the looks of things, wasn’t around, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been called. When we reached the office, Miss Cane closed the door. I knew something more had happened, and when I turned, there were symbols still lit around the door, nothing like the ones I’d seen before.
When I turned back to face Miss Cane, I realized that her eyes were on me. She smiled. “The two of you shouldn’t have been out in the forest tonight, because neither of you have spent enough time learning what you can do with the skills you have. I know that’s not your fault, Ana, but I need you to promise me something.”
“What?”
“That you won’t go back
into the forest until you’ve spent some time learning. At the moment, going out there is more dangerous than you can imagine, because there are things in this world you haven’t yet been introduced to. That’s due to the decision Lilah made, and, although I understand it, I believe she did you a great disservice. You should have been here.” Miss Cane stepped closer to me. “You are strong. Stronger than you know, but you’ll come to see what you mean to Clermont in the future.” She put her hand on my shoulder. “Normally, I would have left this to Lilah, because she is the parent in this situation, but she was also the one who chose to leave you in the dark, even when it became obvious you were far more Conway that Price.” She glanced at James. “This is something you can’t tell anyone, James, although I think you already know that. Because you are a kitsune, you understand that some truths need to be kept from those who are unlikely to accept them.”
James nodded in agreement. “I won’t tell anyone, unless Ana makes the decision to do so first.”
“Good.” Miss Cane looked at me. “You are a witch, Ana, but I think you already knew that, even if you didn’t have a name for it. You have magic. That is a gift that was passed down from your grandmother, who, rest her soul, died in a fight that I was hoping to never be a part of again. Unfortunately, considering what’s been happening recently, I believe someone is trying to bring back something that should never have called this world home.”
I raked a hand through my hair. “At the cabin, there were symbols, and I thought I should know them, but…”
“You would have been taught them if you had stayed in Clermont. Unfortunately, after what happened, most of those who survived decided to leave Clermont, even though they were needed here, to protect the town from what could happen, because there is one very special thing here that only those with magic know about.”
