by Blythe Baker
“Marianne, I’ve spent many years on this police force. I’ve learned a thing or two about people. Now, I’ve never suspected you of being the kind of person who could hurt someone else. In fact, I’ve felt downright sorry for you, stumbling into these terrible misfortunes that you keep getting tangled up in. But you have to understand my suspicion…”
“I know, I know,” I said. “Trust me, I realize how bad it looks. But I promise you, it was not me. I wasn’t anywhere near here.”
“What was your visit with Miss Cunningham about this morning?” Sheriff Garland asked.
“Oh…” I said. In that split second, I realized it was a lot smarter if I chose to tell him the truth instead of trying to evade it. “Well, you know how I asked you to help me figure out the DNA of that blanket?” I asked.
“Yes?” he prompted.
“I was hoping to get her help in locating some of the death records at city hall,” I said. “I was having a hard time finding records for my biological parents, and knew that she’d been the head of that department before retiring.”
“I see,” he said.
“And Sheriff?” I asked.
“Yes?”
“I also wanted to speak with her tonight because I think she stole something from Mr. Cromwell’s shop when she was there today,” I said. To my surprise, it gave me some relief to get that off my chest.
Sheriff Garland sighed heavily. “It can’t ever be easy, can it? Well, I hate to do this to you, Miss Huffler, but I’m going to have to ask you to stay put until my boys and I can get there. We’ll have to ask all the usual questions, but hopefully I can get you on your way home before midnight.”
“Right, okay,” I said.
“We should be there in about ten minutes,” he said.
“Okay,” I said.
“Bye,” he said, and hung up.
Athena was there at my feet, staring around us. No one else is here, she said. But there is definitely more than one scent. Whoever it belongs to must’ve been the one who killed her.
“I don’t suppose you have any idea who it is, do you?” I asked, fighting the urge to look over my shoulder into the kitchen again.
Sadly, no…not unless I wanted to go and smell every single person in Faerywood Falls, she said.
I sighed.
What did the box she stole look like? Athena asked. I thought I saw something in the office area that might’ve been it.
My mind cleared somewhat. “Really? It was a small, wooden box, with a seven pointed star on top – ”
Athena shook her tiny head. That wasn’t it, no. The box I saw was made of copper.
I stared around me. “Well, I have ten minutes to kill, and I don’t exactly love the idea of sitting here and thinking about the body in the next room.” I suppressed a shiver. “Maybe I should use my time wisely and look for that box.”
Careful not to touch or disturb anything the police might need to look at when they arrived, Athena and I wandered through the house, looking for the music box. We checked every room, and even the kitchen.
Nothing.
“It’s not here…” I said.
Maybe she hid it somewhere, Athena said. This is a large house, and who knows if she would’ve foreseen someone else seeing value in a magical item like that.
“I guess you’re right,” I said.
When Sheriff Garland arrived, I pulled him aside before I left. “Sheriff? Could you please let me know if you find a little wooden box with a seven pointed star on top of it? Don’t open it, though. The mechanism is broken, and it’s really valuable, so I don’t want to break it further.”
“Sure,” he said. “Is that what she stole from the shop?”
I nodded. “Mr. Cromwell said it had been at the shop for a really long time, and I know that he’d rather it went to someone who would pay for it, you know?”
He scratched his beard. “Yes, of course. Wooden, you said? With a star on top?”
“And make sure not to open it. It’s really delicate.”
He nodded, scrawling a few notes down on a notepad. “Noted. I’ll let the boys know. We’ll do a search of the house for it.”
“Thanks,” I said. I really hoped whoever found the box didn’t let their curiosity get the better of them and open it. That would take some explaining if they did.
I walked out of the house after being questioned, and Athena appeared out of the shadows to walk beside me.
He’s suspicious of you, isn’t he? Athena asked.
“I don’t blame him,” I said, glancing at the house over my shoulder. “Thankfully, though, I know I have nothing to hide.”
Except the fact that you’re a faery, and the dead woman in question was a spell weaver.
I swallowed hard. “Yeah. Except that.”
7
I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep that night, so I decided to go see my aunt and cousin at the Lodge overlooking the lake. I called Bliss and told her some things had happened that I wanted to talk with them about, and she didn’t even hesitate in inviting me over.
I had Athena crawl into my backpack before we got out of the car; the Lodge was busy, seeing as the fall festival was this coming weekend. The parking lot was nearly full of rental cars, and the sheer number of lit windows in the different guest rooms told me that not only was Aunt Candace happy, she was bound to be stressed, too.
I hoped I made the right decision in coming here.
“I wonder if she’ll tell me about the blanket…” I said to Athena in a low voice as I made my way up the wide steps to the front door.
You can’t be sure that she was hiding it from you on purpose, Athena said. You could always ask her about it, you know.
A twinge of anxiety washed through me. “I don’t know…when she’s this busy, I’m not sure it would be the best idea.”
That’s not all, though, is it? You’re afraid of the confrontation, Athena said.
“Maybe,” I said, reaching the front door.
I pushed it open and stepped inside the lobby.
It was relatively quiet this late at night, but a few people were hanging out in the living room, sprawled out on the couches, enjoying a roaring fire in the large fireplace.
“Good evening, Miss Marianne,” came a voice behind the counter.
“Oh, hi, Mr. Terrance,” I said, turning to look at the older gentleman standing at the check-in desk. “Still expecting some guests?”
“One more couple is supposed to check in this evening,” he said. “If you’re looking for Candace, she’s up in the office.”
“And Bliss?” I asked.
“I think she was down in the laundry room,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said, pulling my backpack up further onto my shoulder, and heading out of the lobby toward the hall off to the left.
“…left the room just a disaster,” said a voice drifting out of the laundry room at the end of the hall. “I understand that they had young children, but allowing them to color on the walls in marker like that?”
“Mom, you were just saying last week that you wanted to repaint those few rooms anyway. Maybe after the fall fest would be the best time before the Christmas crowd comes in.”
I knocked on the open door, and the two women inside looked up.
They had the same long, thick, dark hair, making it obvious they were mother and daughter. Aunt Candace was in front of the table that stood in the middle of the room, a pen tucked into the back of her thick braid. Bliss, her daughter, was busy folding fluffy white towels and tucking them into a laundry basket.
“Hey, Marianne,” Bliss said, a smile stretching across her pretty face. “I was wondering where you were.”
“You’re here awfully late,” Aunt Candace said, folding her arms in front of herself. “Is everything okay?”
“I was going to say the same thing to you,” I said. “It’s sort of late to be doing laundry, isn’t it?”
“Not when we have about a million people staying here,�
� Bliss said. “We’re starting to wonder if we even have enough towels in the first place. Especially when the people in room 4E can’t seem to go two hours without calling us for more. It’s not our fault they have five children under the age of ten. And apparently they all need to have baths twice a day. Or something. I don’t know.”
Aunt Candace sighed and gave her daughter a quelling look before turning back to me. “So, sweetheart, what’s going on? Bliss said something happened tonight.”
I sighed, sinking down into one of the metal folding chairs across from Bliss. Aunt Candace moved closer and rubbed my shoulder affectionately.
I set down my backpack and Athena hopped out, deciding to jump up on the table and tuck her tail around herself.
Just like I had with Athena earlier, I told them everything that had happened that day. Well, almost everything. I told them about Ruth Cunningham coming to the store, her stealing the music box, and me going to visit with Cain. I told them about my conversation with Abe about the box, and then going to Ruth’s house and finding her there, dead.
I didn’t say anything about the DNA test, though. Not yet. I really didn’t like the distance I was starting to feel from my aunt, but I also didn’t like the idea that she had been hiding something from me, knowing how much I wanted to learn the truth about my family.
“Oh my gosh…” Aunt Candace said, covering her mouth with her hand. “She was dead?”
I nodded.
“You know, I’m not a betting woman, but your streak has got me thinking I should be playing the lottery,” Bliss said, forgetting the towel that was crumpled up in front of her, the fresh scent of the fabric softener filling the room.
I groaned. “I just don’t understand why this keeps happening to me…” I said, running my fingers through my hair. I suddenly wanted a hot shower with some aromatherapy soap, and the ability to tune out the entire world.
Aunt Candace and Bliss just looked at one another, unable to formulate any kind of response.
“I mean…this can’t all be because I’m a faery, right?” I asked. “Because if it is, then count me out. I shouldn’t have ever come back to Faerywood Falls.”
“Don’t say that,” Bliss said in a dejected tone. “I don’t think it’s just because you’re a faery, no.”
“The truth is, sweetheart, there really isn’t a whole lot we know about faeries, right? So we can’t attribute these unhappy events to that,” Aunt Candace said.
The frustration was growing within me. “I thought I was finding peace when I moved to Faerywood Falls. My life had been really rough before I came here. But the truth is…things haven’t gotten any easier since I arrived. In fact, I think everything’s just gotten a lot harder.”
“Oh, Marianne, it’s alright – ” Aunt Candace said.
“No, it’s not…” I said, shaking my head. “What in the world has my life become? I left Missouri with a heavy, broken heart. Yes, I’d lost someone who I thought was the love of my life, but at least my reality made sense.”
Bliss’s brow furrowed across from me, and her green eyes were hard as glass. “Marianne, where is this – ”
My gaze was distant, my mind swirling, my cheeks flushing. “How in the world are werewolves a real thing? Or vampires? How is it possible that I can speak with a fox, who I’ve made this bond with that I never could have imagined?”
Athena’s tail twitched. I knew she could sense my fear growing, yet couldn’t do anything except watch me as I fell to pieces in front of her.
“And me? Being a faery? That’s….that’s unbelievable. Magic, spells…I – I didn’t sign up for this,” I said.
“Marianne, it’s okay, calm down,” Bliss said, reaching across the table toward me.
I withdrew my hands, and leaned back in my chair. “That curse…the curse my real mother mentioned in the letter she left with me. This must be it. She said that my life would be full of misery if I left Faerywood Falls – ”
“But you came back,” Aunt Candace said, her eyes sad as she looked down at me, pleadingly. “You’re back, and you’ve even said how things felt right being here.”
“Yeah, and your nightmares stopped,” Bliss said. “You said it felt more like home than any other place had before that.”
“I don’t know…” I said. “If I’d known that I’d end up being the grim reaper – ”
“Marianne, those deaths weren’t your fault,” Bliss said more forcefully. “You couldn’t control any of those things.”
“Then why do they keep happening around people that I have some involvement with, hmm?” I asked, my eyes snapping up to meet hers. I glared at her, my chest rising and falling rapidly, my ears ringing. “First, it was Silvia Griffin. She stole that book I had found from the shop, a book that would’ve been helpful to me. She killed that poor fisherman, and then when I confronted her, I ended up deflecting her spell and she…” My voice was cracking, my throat growing tight.
“You didn’t mean to kill her, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Bliss said. “You did it in self defense. She had attacked you!”
“But then what about that woman in the cemetery?” I asked. “She just happened to die when I walked past?”
“If you had come ten minutes before or after, you never would have found out about that poor woman or the ghost that attacked her,” Aunt Candace said. “But you did, and the true killer got the punishment he deserved.”
“And you didn’t kill him, either. The ghost did, and if I recall, it was revenge for waking the ghost in the first place. You, though, were able to put her spirit to rest. So it worked out in the end,” Bliss said.
“And that hunter?” Aunt Candace said. “You had nothing to do with his death, but because of your desire to see justice, you were able to stop the attacks that were happening in the forest to all those hikers and hunters.”
I frowned. “That makes me sound like some kind of hero…”
“Because you are a hero,” Bliss said. “That’s what we’re trying to tell you.”
“No one ever told me that being a hero would mean I had to go through so much pain…” I said, my head falling into my hands.
The tears came shortly after, and I felt an arm around my shoulders. I didn’t fight it, and instead leaned into it, allowing myself to be comforted somewhat.
I hadn’t realized how much these deaths had really been bothering me. They’d been weighing on me for a long time, and this last one with a woman that I’d just seen this morning was enough to put me over the edge.
“How do I know that I won’t find someone else dead when I leave here?” I asked, trying to wipe some of the tears off my face. My cheeks were soaked, and my lips tasted salty. “Or what if someone in the lodge died just because I was here?”
“Marianne, you have to stop,” Aunt Candace said somewhat firmly. “Nothing like that is going to happen.”
“How do you know?” I asked, turning my head to look up at her. “Every time I see one of these people dead, I tell myself it’s going to be the last time. Surely, it has to be the last time. And then I end up finding another, and I have to live through that nightmare all over again!”
Marianne…Athena said softly. She’d been quiet while I cried. You are letting your emotions run away with you. You need to calm down and think logically. You must realize that there is a lot more at work here than just your unfortunate ability to stumble into these situations.
I opened my eyes and looked over at her. “Like what?”
The warnings that you’ve been told time and time again…she said. You must realize that it is affecting everyone in Faerywood Falls, not just you. Remember, these people who died had friends, and family. They must endure the pain of losing someone they love. And think of the peace you’ve given to many of them for helping figure out the truth about the way they died. You must see it from the more positive side. No one here thinks any less of you for what you’ve gone through. And it certainly doesn’t mean that we don’t pity you for
having to experience it more than once. But remember to focus on the good that comes from these horrible things.
I swallowed hard, and nodded. “You’re right,” I said, my voice cracking, my body shaking a little less. “You’re right, Athena.”
“What did she say?” Bliss asked.
“She told me to remember the other people who are affected by these deaths,” I said. “And to remember that good has come from figuring out the truth.”
“She’s right,” Aunt Candace said.
“And the other thing is that these deaths are all just a big coincidence,” Bliss said. “A really horrible one, but even still – ”
I shook my head. “I wish I could believe that, but I’m really starting to doubt that coincidences even exist,” I said. “At least they don’t anymore.”
“But sweetheart, what if – ” Aunt Candace said.
“No,” I said. “I’ve heard warning after warning about something dark starting to stir in Faerywood Falls, and the sheer amount of deaths happening are more than enough proof that they were all right.”
Bliss and Aunt Candace looked at one another, Bliss’s face paling.
“And Sheriff Garland…” I said. “There is no way that if this happens again, he’ll believe that I had nothing to do with it. Four dead bodies, three of which I found?”
“The last time I saw him, before this happened, he told me that he was worried about you and your wellbeing,” Aunt Candace said.
I exhaled, but she shook her head.
“He doesn’t think you’re responsible for their deaths, but he told me that it can’t be easy on the mind of such a young lady to have to see all this death…” Aunt Candace said.
I frowned. “He’s going to be suspicious. There’s no way he’s not. You should have seen the look on his face when he showed up at Ruth’s house tonight…I told him exactly what happened, which was completely the truth, and he wrote it down just like he has every other time…” I shook my head. “But I could see the looks from the other officers. My name must be infamous around the station by now. If he’s not suspicious, then everyone else definitely is…”