by Willow Rose
"They were only trying to break you," Melanie said, pointing at Amy with a chicken thigh. "That's why they told you they had killed me."
She paused and looked at Amy, scrutinizing her. "Don't tell me they succeeded?"
Amy shook her head. "Of course not."
The oven dinged, saving her just in time. "Oh, my pecan pies are done," she said and approached the oven, then pulled them out, burning her fingers on the way.
"Ouch," she said. She nearly dropped the pies but managed to put them down on the counter first before she put her finger under water. Melanie came up behind her and looked at her hand in the water.
"Amy, you're shaking. Are you all right?"
Amy swallowed, then started to cry. "It's a little overwhelming. I…I thought you were dead."
Melanie chuckled, then threw the chicken thigh bone in the garbage can across the room before grabbing Amy and hugging her again. "I missed you too. I was worried about you when Kipp told me what had happened. I was ready to go and look for you, but they all told me it was too dangerous. I'll let you in on a little secret. When they came for me, I let them take me. I wanted them to take me to the place they had taken you, so I could get us both out of there."
Amy felt like she was being punched in the gut. Not only was she still alive, but Melanie had proven to be a lot more courageous than Amy could ever have been.
"Melanie. They could have taken your soul instead. Killed you on the spot. That was very dangerous," Amy said, sounding a little more appalled than she really felt. In reality, she felt such deep guilt because she knew she would never be able to do that herself, to risk her own life to save someone else's the way she had.
She was nothing but a coward…a coward who broke under the least bit of pressure.
Chapter Thirty
Much to my luck, my mom and grandma were going out. They had a yoga class, they told me, but I knew they were going out to meet with other vampires, probably celebrating the attack on the spiders. I was wondering if they were planning on going out at night as well, but so far, they hadn't told me anything. I knew it would only be a matter of time before they returned to doing that.
I could tell my mom was very concerned about my dad's disappearance, even more now that most of the supers they had held captured were released, and he still hadn't returned home. That was my concern as well. I still believed the killer had taken him and feared that he was already dead.
I told them both I was going to bed early when they left, then rushed to Veronika's room and told her I was going out for a few hours.
"Will you be all right?"
She nodded. "I have Tommy, remember?"
I gave her a look. Tommy was a boy from her class that she had a crush on. "What do you mean you have Tommy?"
“He comes to visit at night," she said. "Sometimes."
My eyes grew huge. "Excuse me?"
"He says he likes to watch me sleep. He doesn’t sleep himself."
"Okay, this has to stop, Veronika. He sounds very creepy. He has cold breath, you told me, and pale skin, and he doesn’t sleep at night? And he lurks in your room at nighttime? Sounds like a vampire to me."
Veronika shook her head. "He's not." She looked toward the wall, then smiled. "Oh, here he is now."
I glared at the wall as a boy oozed through it.
"A…he's…?"
"A ghost, yes," she said. "I told you he's not a vampire."
I swallowed as the boy came closer, smiling. I mumbled under my breath. "Oh, dear Lord, have mercy."
The boy waved at me, and Veronika chuckled, then looked at me. "Go on. Do your thing. We're fine here."
I nodded, thinking at least he wouldn't suck her blood. I didn't know much about ghosts, other than they creeped me out, but I felt pretty confident that Tommy wasn't going to harm her. They sat down and started a board game.
"I'll only be gone for an hour," I said as I approached the door.
Veronika looked up. "No, you're won’t. But that's okay."
"Okay, well, but I won't be gone for long."
"Yes, you will."
Talking to a girl who had seen parts of the future was annoying. I didn't know if she was saying this because she wanted to mess with me or if she had actually seen me come home late. I decided it didn't matter and left them. I could still hear them giggling as I walked down the stairs and out into the hallway. I wondered if I should have told them it was bedtime, that Veronika at least had to sleep soon, but decided she probably already knew that. She was often awake at night, especially when she traveled a lot. It wasn't something she could really control and she never really could keep up with ordinary timekeeping. Veronika lived in her own time-zone so to speak.
Once outside on the street, I spotted Jayden standing under a streetlight in front of the abandoned house, and I rushed toward him.
Chapter Thirty-One
"I don't understand why you keep asking me about it."
Amy snorted, and a small puff of smoke emerged from her nostrils. She waved it away as it drifted through the air. It was the first she had seen of her dragon since she had been drugged so terribly, and it wasn't much compared to how angry she was—enough that she would usually have changed by now—but it was a sign of life and made her happy. Even though she was angry with Melanie. She just wouldn't stop.
"I don't see what the big deal is. I’m just curious; that's all," Melanie said. "It's a very simple question. I don't understand why you suddenly got so angry."
"Could you two stop and at least let us enjoy this wonderful meal?" Kipp said, throwing his hands out.
Amy sighed and looked into his eyes. He was sitting next to her at the dining table, looking more handsome than ever. Her parents were there too and Alice and the strange man with the tinfoil hat who seemed very out of place, but still nice. He kept smiling at her awkwardly, and she smiled back. She felt like he wanted something from her but couldn't really figure out what it was or if she was just being paranoid.
Amy felt Kipp's hand in hers under the table. He had cried when she had let him in and he had seen her again. He had cried and held her tightly in his arms, telling her how terrible he had felt for not coming after her and how awful it had been without her. He was so scared he would never see her again.
"All I want to know is how she got free from the camp," Melanie continued. "We’ve all told our stories, and we haven't heard yours yet, Amy; that's all. I am only asking because I am interested in what happened to you because I care about you."
"I just don't…I don't want to talk about it," Amy said, looking down at her food.
"Let's leave Amy alone, shall we?" Kipp asked.
"Yes, she has suffered enough," her mother took over with a concerned voice. "And she has had a hard time remembering since she got back. She was drugged a lot, you see. When that is out of her system, she might be able to remember more. If not, then we'll just have to live with the fact that we will never know exactly what happened."
Her mom ended the speech by looking strictly at Melanie.
Melanie nodded. "I’m sorry, Amy. I didn't know. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
Amy looked up and smiled. "It's okay. You didn't know. I just want to move on."
"I think we all do," her dad said and lifted his glass. "I think a toast is in order. Let's drink to the future, to moving on and getting our lives back. It's time to celebrate now. The spiders are gone!"
They all lifted their glasses and exclaimed in unison.
"The spiders are gone!"
The only one who didn't utter the words was Amy, and as she looked briefly at Melanie and their eyes locked, she realized that her friend had noticed.
Chapter Thirty-Two
"Okay, so these are the words that Aunt Tina gave me to break the spell," I said and showed Jayden the piece of paper where Jazmine's aunt had written the words down for me. It was hard to read in the darkness, so I used my phone as a flashlight.
Jayden shook his head. "It just
looks like random words to me."
I looked up at the dark house in front of me. The windows were pitch black, staring down at us like deep, dark holes. The plants behind us seemed to be creeping closer by the second. It was probably just my crazy imagination, but I felt like they were closing in on us, whispering as they did.
"She says it's probably a home protection spell that has been cast on this house," I said.
Jayden gave me a look, lifting his eyebrows. "Probably? So, you're not certain that it'll work?"
"Well…not completely, no."
"Robyn, what are we even doing here?" he said.
"I want to get inside. I need to see if there is something in here that'll lead me closer to who this killer is.”
"And you think those words will lift the spell?”
"This is the spell that was probably cast on the house," I said. "She told me I am supposed to read it backward to lift it."
"Again, probably."
I exhaled. "It's worth a try at least, don't you think?" I asked.
Jayden looked uncomfortable. "Can't we just give it up and go home? I don't like being out at this time and lying to my parents. I don't like the plants, and this house gives me the creeps."
"You can go," I said. "No one is forcing you to stay here with me."
"So, you'll go home?"
I shook my head. "No, I’m still going, but if you don't want to come, I won't force you."
I turned to face the old wooden door. There was a thudding sound in my chest, and it made me feel sick. I took in a deep breath, then looked up at the towering house in front of me and said the words that were written on the note, backward:
"Suam domum in praesidium!"
I don't really know what I expected, but whatever it was, it didn't happen. Nothing happened, really, and I turned to look at Jayden. "Do you think it worked?"
He shook his head. "I don't know…" he stopped and looked around him. I could tell he was very uncomfortable.
"Do you think I should say it again, maybe?"
He shrugged. "Maybe we should just give up."
"I am not giving up, Jayden. I believe it did what it was supposed to. I am going in."
I reached over and grabbed the door handle, then pushed the heavy door open, staring into the deep darkness on the other side.
Chapter Thirty-Three
They were having a good evening. Everyone but Amy was. She kept feeling how her cheeks burned and she felt so uncomfortable that it was hard for her to sit still after they had stopped eating. It didn't take long before she felt the urge to get back into the kitchen.
Everyone was chatting, so she got up from her chair, hoping that no one would notice.
In the kitchen, she closed the door and let out a deep sigh of relief. She didn't enjoy sitting there pretending like everything was okay when she was being eaten up by guilt inside. And when she felt bad like this, there was only one thing in her life that would make her feel better.
Cooking.
So even though they had just had a feast, Amy pulled out a leg of lamb and started to prepare it, rubbing it with garlic, sea salt, and rosemary, and placed it in the oven. She then made cornbread and a sauce and garlic-roasted potatoes before she found a recipe for a soufflé, the one dish she had yet to master. Every time she tried, it would come out deflated. She was still feeling terrible and realized it was time to wheel in the big guns. She needed to conquer something that she had never been able to do before.
While digging deep inside of the recipe and after cracking the first couple of eggs, there was a sound coming from the sliding doors leading into the yard. Amy gasped and looked out, only to spot a spider running across the window.
With her hands covered in flour and egg, she stood like she was frozen and stared at it as it rushed across the glass, then stopped.
Did it just knock?
She shook her head. No, she was just imagining things. Not all spiders were the same as those…creatures. She wiped her hands on a towel, then approached the glass where a set of round black eyes stared back at her. She gasped and pulled back when realizing she was looking at Mr. Aran.
He was smiling from the other side, swaying on his skinny legs, then gesturing for her to come outside. She glanced toward the living room where they were all still engaged in deep conversation, then grabbed her boots and jacket and walked out to him, her heart throbbing in her chest.
"W-what are you doing here?" she whispered and signaled for him to follow her away from the house, so no one would hear them talking.
He smiled mischievously. "I believe you owe me. I have come to collect."
Amy grunted. "You told me Melanie was dead."
"So?"
"So, you lied."
He shrugged. "You still owe me. I let you come home. I placed you in your own bed, made sure you got to see your parents again and that…merman. For that, you owe me, and you know it. We made a deal."
"That was when I thought you had killed Melanie," Amy said angrily. "But now that I know you tricked me, I’m not so sure I want to…"
The spider hissed, then grabbed Amy around the neck and pressed her up against the fence. He then spoke very close to her face. Amy gasped for air.
"You listen to me, you little monster. We had a deal. If you don't do as I tell you, I will take your entire family down and that merman of yours as well. Hell, I'll even take the wolf while I’m at it. Do you understand what I’m saying?"
Amy spluttered and fought to breathe. Mr. Aran loosened his grip on her, and she slid to the ground, coughing and holding her throat.
Mr. Aran brushed off his hands.
"Good. Now, what do you have for me?"
"What do you want?" Amy asked, still gasping.
"After the attack on us, we are badly hit, but we're still here. We're keeping a low profile, exploiting the fact that the supers think we're gone for good. We need to get back at as many supers as possible in one strike like they did to us. My superior wants me to get Intel on an occasion where many of them are gathered at the same time. Do you know of any such events?"
Amy swallowed. It hurt. She looked at the house and spotted her family inside the living room, then felt a tear roll down her cheek. There was no way she could let anything happen to them. It was an awful situation, but she knew she had to protect the ones she loved.
"I do," she said.
Chapter Thirty-Four
I walked inside. Nothing seemed to stop me, and I walked straight into the great hall. Jayden stayed outside a few seconds more. When I reached out my hand toward him, he took it and stepped inside too.
I smiled triumphantly.
"That doesn’t mean anything," he said. "Last time we came in with no trouble too, remember? Last time we didn't get in trouble till later."
I remembered very well how we hadn't been able to get out of the house, but there was something inside of me telling me it wasn't going to happen this time.
As we stood there, the door slammed shut behind us, and the house made a loud creaking sound that startled me so much I shrieked.
"I told you," Jayden said, his voice shivering.
"We're in now," I said and grabbed his hand in mine. "Might as well make the best of it."
I pulled him through the hallway and into the huge room with stone walls and big paintings of men glowering down at us. We walked through it, and I saw the same tall vases I had seen the last time—the ones with hand-painted vampires and werewolves on the sides of them.
We walked till we met the stairwell, then stopped. Last time, we had gone up there, and that was where we had ended up getting lost. This time we would do it differently, I thought to myself and looked around. I spotted a door and rushed toward it, then pushed it open. Behind it, I found an old library. I used my phone's flashlight to light it up and admired the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with the old leather-bound books. I walked to them and pulled one out, then looked at several of the others.
"They’re all about vam
pires and werewolves, and here's one about dragons. Amy should be here," I said, hoping I would get to see her soon. I shouldn't have listened when she said she wanted to be with her family today. I should just have gone over there and hugged her. I know she would have loved that. I knew I would too.
"So, what?" Jayden said.
"So…the people who lived here back then, Tommy's parents, must have known about them, right? They must have known there were supers on the planet."
Jayden shrugged and touched the back of one book with his finger. "So?"
"What's with you today?" I asked and lit his face up with my flashlight. His eyes scowled back at me, and it startled me slightly. Then I chuckled. "Why do you look so gloomy? We're out on an adventure. Can't we just have fun here? This is interesting, Jayden."
He kept glaring at me, and I turned the flashlight to the rest of the hundreds and hundreds of books. “I would have loved to grow up in a home with so many books. I would never leave the house."
"Can we leave now?" Jayden asked. "You’ve been here. There's nothing but old vases and books. Aren't you happy now?"
I exhaled and let my flashlight scan the books, then stopped when it fell on an old wooden door in the corner.
"What's behind this one, do you think?"
"Robyn, don't," Jayden said, but it was too late. I was already at the door, pulling it open and revealing a set of stairs.
"They're going down, Jayden, come. Let's see where they go."
Chapter Thirty-Five
"I don't like this."
Jayden's voice was shaking behind me as we descended into the darkness. I was using my phone as a flashlight and holding it up, so it would shine on the path ahead of us.
We reached the end of the stairs, then followed a long hallway leading us in deeper. At one point, we had walked very far with only stone walls on each side of us, and I turned to shine my light on Jayden. As the light fell on him, I realized I could no longer see the stairs behind us. The sight made me feel suddenly claustrophobic. There was nothing behind us, and nothing in front of us. Nothing but those thick stone walls as far as we could see.
