by Sara Clancy
Holding her breath rather than fighting for it, she darted around the flailing arms of the melting minotaur and sprinted for the bench. Without pause, she tossed the scalpel into the microwave and set the dial. It wasn’t until she hit ‘start’ that she realized she had no idea how long it would take for the sparks to start.
Panic made her run faster than she ever thought possible. The shelves rattled wildly as she scrambled up, wiggling the bolts that attached it to the wall until the concrete chipped away. She clung to the window’s edge as the shelving toppled from under her feet. Buck latched onto the back of her shirt, dragging her faster than she could crawl.
“Run!” Basheba’s scream was broken by hacks and coughs. She could barely breathe.
Forcing herself up onto all fours, she was finally able to get her feet under her.
“Run!”
Through the tangle of her hair, she spotted Cadwyn and the others rounding the building. She could tell the exact moment that he caught the stench of mixing chemicals.
“Up the hill!” he bellowed, waving his arms to urge the gathering tourists to back up.
None of them listened. She didn’t bother to stick around and explain. Weaving through the first thin layer of onlookers, she followed Cadwyn’s advice and set her gaze on the crest.
Two more failed attempts to get people to move and Cadwyn decided to switch tactics.
“Toxic gas!”
His words incited panic. The flames that spewed from the windows of the building like it was the pits of hell caused a stampede. Explosions ripped the funeral home apart, creating fiery comets that rained down upon them. Black smoke billowed up from the points of impact, blurring her vision, leaving her unable to see the headstones before she was inches from them.
Weaving around the camouflaged obelisks and bashing into people, Basheba lost track of everyone around her. Heat filled the air as the inferno built upon itself, fed itself, grew into lapping flames that yearned to spread to the neighboring woods and shake the ground with new blasts. The hill seemed insurmountable until she broke free of the lingering smoke and the peak came into sight.
Her legs grew heavier with every step. Fire rippled down her throat and her eyes felt like embers. There wasn’t anything left within her when she reached the top of the hill. She dropped, propping herself up against the nearest headstone, and tried to steady her breathing.
I just need enough to whistle. Buck will come when I whistle.
Each attempt turned into ragged coughs.
“Basheba,” Cadwyn said as he dropped to one knee beside her. “Didn’t I say to leave the chemicals alone? I distinctly remember telling you to leave the damned chemicals alone.”
“I knew I forgot something,” Basheba croaked.
She flinched as he placed a small plastic dome over her nose and mouth, pulling the attached elastic back to keep it in place. Oxygen tank, she realized as breathing became easier. He comes prepared.
“Buck,” she whispered.
“I’ll get your dog in a second,” he said. “Just stay still.”
Basheba didn’t see Mina but heard her clearly over the crush of noise around her. “You set it on fire.”
“You are clever,” Basheba said, suddenly too tired to keep her head up.
She dropped her head back against the cool gravestone and surveyed the chaos around her. Some people screamed, grasping at fresh wounds, while even more stood in shock. Beside her, a man with an accent she couldn’t place was trying to gather people to go back down and fight the flames. In a clean leap, Cadwyn stood on the rounded top of a gravestone.
“Shut up!”
He roared the words, filled them with such authority the crowd quieted down to listen. Thrusting his bright red medical bag up over his head, he continued.
“Does everyone see the medical seal? That means I’m in charge! No one is to go down the hill!”
“We have to put the fire out,” the accented man argued.
Cadwyn was having none of it. “That’s a funeral parlor. It’s chock full of corrosive chemicals that create poisonous gas. Here, we are upwind and have clean air flow. Down there, the fumes will either kill you, or help you develop a lot of cancer later in life.”
The group shuffled anxiously but didn’t speak of going down again. Softening his tone, Cadwyn continued.
“I need all the able-bodied people I can get to help me tend to the wounded.” He crouched down and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Help me. Please.”
Basheba couldn’t understand how the forced contact actually calmed the man down. But that, matched with Cadwyn’s beseeching gaze, was enough to get the entire group of men to agree. Straightening once more, he allotted tasks to the tour guides. The first was to call the police and the other the fire department. Both of them had strict instructions to explain the dangers of the fire.
“Hands up if you’re a local!” He gave them a second to comply. “Call your family, your friends, that weird neighbor. Every number you have. Tell them all to get downwind. As far north as they can. Get in a house and keep all the doors and windows closed. Make sure to tell them to take their pets and any children they’re particularly fond of.”
Basheba watched with no small sense of awe as the crowd obeyed his commands.
“Everyone else, we’re going to set up a triage. Anyone who’s wounded but conscious goes by the Leanna Winthrop grave. Head injuries by Rebecca Bell. Anyone unconscious we’re going to move above the gas line. Work together. Be gentle. Then have someone sit next to them and put a hand up. I’ll come as soon as I can. Oh, and if anyone with minimal injuries gets in my way demanding immediate treatment, I will make sure you never feel pain again. Understood? Okay, let’s do this.”
He jumped down and, before setting to his tasks, grabbed Ozzie by the front of his shirt. “Stick close to me.”
“Yes, sir,” Ozzie nodded without hesitation.
Bag gripped tight, Cadwyn stalked away, throwing the order over his shoulder. “Mina, take care of Basheba.”
Mina stammered but slumped down on the damp earth. After a long moment, she shook her head and muttered.
“You set the place on fire.”
Basheba pulled the mask back enough to mutter, “Yeah, I know.”
Mina made no attempt to smother her scoff and Basheba didn’t bother pretending to care. Taking as deep a breath as she was capable of, she pursed her lips and blew. Still no whistle.
“And the minotaur?” Mina asked abruptly.
“I doubt it got out.”
“Convenient.”
“Not really. I almost died, you know.”
Finally, she was able to force a weak but full whistle. She held her breath until she heard the answering bark. An instant later, Buck was licking her face, leaving smears of minotaur blood as he tried to crawl onto her lap.
“You’re not going to get away with this,” Mina noted. “Destruction of property, arson, releasing poisonous chemicals in a residential neighborhood. All of it with witnesses. You’re getting arrested. You know that, right?”
She chuckled, “Okay, Mina. Sure thing.”
“Do you really think you’re this untouchable? That a whole town will turn a blind eye?”
Smiling bitterly, Basheba rested her chin atop Buck’s head. “Welcome to Black River. Where no one locks up the human sacrifices.”
Chapter 13
Madness or mass corruption? The question had kept Mina up all night. Even now, as the four families overwhelmed the small parking lot, it replayed in her mind. She couldn’t understand how Basheba had been allowed to walk free after what she had done. But no one had cared. At most, she had been chastised like a child and sent on her way. Leaning against the side of her father’s rental car, Mina examined her memories again, searching for any hint of an answer.
Black River’s fire department was astounding. They had swarmed over the burning funeral home in moments, their top of the line gas protection masks reflecting the dancing
flames. Organized, well-funded, and highly trained, there hadn’t been a moment of hesitation. They instantly knew what to do with the chemical fire, and they all played their parts to perfection. The building was lost, but the flames hadn’t spread to the woods mere feet away.
Not exactly a volunteer rural service, she thought, one finger absently tapping against the music box in her hand. Glancing around at the dense forest surrounding the parking lot, she thought she probably shouldn’t have made that assumption. One burst of wildfire would wipe this place off the map.
It seemed particularly unfair Basheba had escaped with fewer injuries than a lot of the innocent bystanders. The burning shrapnel that had rained down upon them had left many with broken bones and third-degree burns.
Evacuating the worst cases to the nearest town with a hospital hadn’t done much to lessen the demands on Cadwyn and the local doctor. It hadn’t taken long for Mina to insist she switch tasks with Ozzie. In part, because she couldn’t stand the utter indifference Basheba had for the misery she had caused. Mostly, however, she didn’t want to let such an opportunity slip away.
It wasn’t often an aspiring medical student could have such practical experience. On that hillside, she had learned Cadwyn was brilliant at what he did, Ozzie had the weakest stomach she had ever seen, and Basheba was most likely a sociopath.
It was hours of blood, bone, and misery.
She had never felt such a sense of purpose.
The memories brought the emotion back and she found herself smiling. Whatever traces of doubt she had still carried about her future had been obliterated. She was going to be a doctor.
Have to get through this first.
Lifting her gaze, she watched as the members of the four families continued to trickle into the tiny parking lot.
There wasn’t enough room to accommodate them all. Most had been forced to leave their cars along the single narrow street that had brought them there. Kids scrambled over the remaining vehicles like ants while the adults talked amongst themselves. Tension still filled the air, but it was nothing compared to the sheer panic they had brought to the graveyard.
But it wasn’t the explosion that bothered them, Mina recalled. They had been terrified one of the Selected had been killed. It begged the question; what do they think will happen if the Witch’s chosen ones die before entering the woods?
Mina carefully stowed the thought away for later examination. Right now, she needed to understand how an entire town could experience something like that and not care. It went against all logic that Basheba was here with them, casually rechecking her camping supplies, and not in a holding cell.
Basheba had a skill for knowing when she was being watched. The moment Mina fixed her gaze on her, the blonde looked up and met her eyes. Just as quickly, she dismissed her and went back to rearranging the contents of her bag.
Mina bristled, infuriated by the brush-off and disgusted by the way the blonde continued to treat her family. Basheba’s uncle had been trying to talk to his niece since they had arrived. Two hours later and Basheba had yet to say a word in response. She just walked away, leaving the little aging man to follow behind.
He keeps trying, Mina thought. No matter how many times he’s rejected, he never gives up on her. It’s more than she deserves.
“You’ll be okay,” Mina’s mother said for the hundredth time that morning. She pulled her once more into a tight hug, pulling back only to cup Mina’s cheeks with both hands. “Listen to Cadwyn. Keep him close.”
“I’m so sorry.” That had become her father’s mantra. Something he repeated while refusing to look her in the eyes. This was the first time in her life he had failed to keep a promise to her and the shame of it seemed to weigh on his shoulders.
“It’s all right, dad. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”
“I should have got you out of this. I should have found a way.”
We could just leave. She didn’t dare voice the words. Family pressures and tradition were hard things to break.
You don’t have to fix it. I will.
She wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but there had been moments in the past few days when doubt had started to build up. Pebbles of doubt can build a battlement if you let it.
Being here didn’t help. There was just something about the ancient woods that made her uneasy. Seeing her strong, proud parents broken like this did more to dispel her fears than any reassurances could have. Their tears hardened her resolve to end the charade.
Prove the hoax and set them free from this insanity.
“I’ll be fine, really,” Mina insisted, squeezing her mother’s shoulders once more.
“Don’t underestimate the Witch Woods,” her father warned. “It’s a dangerous place.”
“I think I’m taking the greater danger with me,” Mina mumbled, barely able to keep her gaze from darting over to Basheba. She wasn’t sure how she felt about sharing a tent with a girl who played with her dog as people burned.
Her father’s quizzical expression broke into a boastful smile. “That’s the attitude, darling. Give her hell. But come back to us.”
“I will.”
Her mother’s hand grasped her wrist, squeezing until Mina gasped in pain.
“Mom?”
“You have to come back.”
“I will. I promise.”
Lowering her voice to a whisper, her mother met her gaze with an unblinking stare. “You must come back. Do whatever you have to. But come back.”
Nails dug through the layers of Mina’s jacket to reach her skin. The small spike of pain made her mother’s meaning clear. Whatever it takes.
“It won’t come to that,” Mina insisted as she pulled her arm free and forced a smile. “We’ll work together.”
“The Witch can take the rest of them. But not you. Give her what she wants, you have the stomach for it, I know it.”
Mina glanced to her father for help but found only a matching conviction.
“I’m not going to hurt anyone,” Mina said.
“They don’t have to suffer. Make it quick. In the bottom of your bag, there’s a container of belladonna leaves. You only need one leaf for each person. Put it in their food. It’ll be over before they know it.”
Mina’s skin went cold. Her blood stopped flowing in her veins, and the earth crumbled from under her feet.
“I’m not a murderer.”
The words passed her lips as a whisper. She was afraid to say it out loud. Terrified to confirm that the woman who had raised her with gentle hands and kind words had just ordered her to kill.
“Listen to your mother.”
The weakness was gone from her father’s voice, replaced with something dark and cold. Mina didn’t have time to pull back. Someone unseen blew a horn, making the entire crowd fall into a tense silence. One more long bellow of the Viking-like horn and Mina noticed Cadwyn cutting through the crowd. He smiled and waved to his weeping family until he stood before the man with the horn. Basheba and Buck joined them on the little patch of grass that separated the parking lot from the start of the hiking trail.
“You have to go now,” her mother said. “Remember what I told you.”
Mina nodded. In her shock, she was barely able to mumble, “I love you.”
Turning, she was captured by Jeremiah’s arms. He hugged her until she couldn’t breathe.
“I’ll walk with you,” he whispered.
The walk itself was too surreal for Mina’s brain to understand. Everything came in small pieces unrelated to the others. The crunch of gravel under her feet. Whispered well wishes as the crowd parted before her. The weight of her camping bag. Sun-warmed skin and the morning dew sinking into the hem of her jeans. Within a blink, Jeremiah had fallen away, and she was standing next to Ozzie. She looked over her shoulder to find her brother again.
With the same disorientation, she followed Cadwyn and the others into the woods. The trees welcomed them with outstretched arms, quickly shielding them from
the morning sun and shrouding them in a damp chill. The trail twisted rapidly, sharp turns that weaved around the thickest of the old growth and quickly cut them off from the rest of the world. The rising sunlight made the leaves glow. Birds fluttered about overhead, preparing for the coming cold and a cluster of squirrels chased each other across the path before them. A lazy stream, unseen but heard, bubbled past to stir the silence.
“Did that man have a Viking horn?” The question cracked out of Mina before she realized she had formed it.
Cadwyn shrugged. “It’s tradition.”
“How?”
Her question overlapped Ozzie’s own.
“This is actually kind of nice. Is the whole walk like this?”
Both Ozzie and Mina turned to Cadwyn for a response. He looked to Basheba, wordlessly reminding them both that this was his first time as well. Refusing to pause for the conversation, she took the lead, Buck trotting by her feet. The dog had been outfitted with a backpack of his own and Mina was struck with the sudden curiosity to know what was in it.
“We’re not in the Witch’s Woods yet.”
“Huh?” Ozzie said.
“A nature preserve butts up against the Witch’s Woods,” she explained. “We’re just cutting through here so we can stay out of her territory for as long as possible.”
“So, when exactly will we cross over?” Mina asked.
“You’ll know.”
With that, Basheba settled back into silence. It didn’t matter what the rest of them discussed, she refused to engage, only acknowledging the presence of her dog.
They started at dawn and paused for lunch at noon. Already, Ozzie’s new boots were making his heels blister. Cadwyn tended to them and rearranged the bags between the four of them, trying to lighten the boy’s load. Mina’s stomach had squirmed as he had riffled through her pack, sure he was going to discover the poison her mother had supposedly given her. Despite her best efforts, he still noticed her relief when he handed the pack back. In a small mercy, he mistook it and smiled.
