Trees snapped behind us and I heard them crash, bringing other trees down with them. Professor Howard fell to his knees and the fire behind him no longer raged. It was dimming, losing its power, just like him. He stopped chanting and let out a tortured scream. He knew he would lose now. A branch, bigger than our whole line of defense, swung from a tree and struck his body, flinging him backwards. And in the blink of an eye it was over. The wind stopped, the fire disappeared, and the temperature dropped back down to normal. There was no longer a thickness in the air. It was easier to breathe. The demons and spirits were gone, all our connections to the great beyond broken, good and bad. But that meant my mother was gone, too. I looked over my left shoulder, searching for a sign that she was still here, but there was nothing. I only saw the destroyed forest behind me. All of us were silent and still for what seemed like a very long time.
It was me who broke the silence. Since my mother was gone, so was the strength she had lent me. My body was incredibly weak again and the sudden temperature drop sent me into small convulsions. I was so cold. “Miles,” I whimpered. His arms were around me instantly, holding me up. Everyone was moving then. Lillian rushed to my side and wrapped her arms around me. Her motions were quick and wild. She ripped off her jacket and applied pressure to my head. They lowered me to the ground and Lillian’s hands were moving rapidly, checking every part of my body.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” she asked with tears in her eyes. I imagined it was just as difficult for her to see me on the ground this way as it was for me to see her in that hospital bed.
“I’m okay,” I said in an attempt to calm them both even though it was far from the truth. My vision was going black again. I blinked hard to fight back against the darkness. I will not pass out.
“He’s alive,” I heard Professor Rose say. I looked to see her on the ground with Professor Howard’s head in her lap. He was unconscious and the branch covered the lower half of his body. And I felt sad for her. If the rumors of her and Howard were true, how would she feel now? How did she feel fighting against him?
Headmistress Craw rushed over chanting “auferetur,” and in one swift swoop of her arm the branch was lifted off of his body. “We need to get back to the school immediately.” Her black dress was torn and dragged the ground, and her arms were stained with her own blood. She helped Professor Rose lift Howard and Miles scooped me off the ground. I pressed my head against his chest and relaxed a little.
The trek back seemed short, but that was thanks to my fading consciousness. I drifted in and out the whole time, only catching glimpses of the tops of the trees, a full moon, and, eventually, a terrified Mr. Dan sprinting from his guard shack, calling for help on his radio. The sight of Mr. Dan signaled something in my mind. I was safe. We were back. And my mind shut itself down.
Safe and Sound
I woke up in a hospital bed. I realized quickly it was the same one Lillian had been in. It might have been alarming to most people to wake up here, but I had never felt more at ease. I was back at school. I survived.
I reached my hand to my eyes to wipe away whatever was making them stick together. It wasn’t blood this time. I could tell my face had been cleaned. My eyelashes were matted together. I must have slept hard. How long was I out? I surprisingly slept a dreamless sleep. Maybe it was because of my head injury, or because I had been through a traumatic situation. I pulled the covers down and noticed my black dress was replaced by a hospital gown, and I had a needle in my arm with clear liquid traveling through a tube into my bloodstream. I glanced around to see I wasn’t alone. Lillian was in the chair beside me with her eyes closed. She appeared to be asleep, so I stopped moving, not wanting to wake her. She was in different clothes than she had been in the forest. Obviously quite a bit of time had passed. My body felt sore and stiff, like I hadn’t moved in a while. I lifted my hand up to check the wound on my head. All I could feel was a bandage.
I heard voices in the hall then and footsteps heading for my room. “He’s been detained,” Headmistress Craw explained. Her voice echoed down the empty hall. “He will be banished now. Howard won’t be allowed to step foot on the island again. I will make sure of it.”
“Are you positive he won’t come back?” Miles asked anxiously. I could imagine his face coated with anxiety, his brow furrowed with worry. I frowned, longing for him to walk closer so I could stop his fretting.
“Yes. I am seeing to it myself,” Craw reassured him. “The administration is not taking this lightly.”
“Headmistress, I cannot express how sorry I am.” It was Professor’s Rose’s soft voice speaking now. Regret stained every word. “If I would have had any idea, I--”
“Rose, please,” Craw interrupted her. “None of this is your fault.”
The three of them entered my room and stopped the conversation immediately when they saw I was awake. Miles rushed to my side. “Josie,” he smiled. The company woke Lillian. She looked around groggily until her eyes met mine. They shot open, the purple in them blazing, and she jumped up from her chair. I smiled. I had been so worried I would never see that purple again.
“Hey!” she said cheerfully. “How are you?” She lightly placed her hand on my shoulder and Miles intertwined his fingers with mine on the other side of the bed.
“I’m fine,” I said, and I meant it. With the exception of some aches and stiffness, I felt as normal as I could expect to feel. “How are you, Headmistress Craw?” She wasn’t in a hospital gown, but she had a bandage on her head to match mine.
“I am fine, Josie. Don’t worry about me,” she laughed. “The situation has been taken care of, too, so you don’t need to worry about that either.”
“I heard you guys talking in the hall,” I admitted. “Is he really gone?”
“He will be tomorrow. He won’t see another day of freedom,” Craw said confidently.
“He won’t...I mean...they aren't going to kill him, are they?” I asked, hesitantly, my eyes glancing in Professor Rose’s direction. She was still standing in the doorway, keeping her distance. Her head was hung low and I could practically see the guilt weighing down her slumped shoulders. I didn’t blame her, of course, if she wanted him to live. I didn’t even want Professor Howard to be executed. Not just for Professor Rose’s sake. Even though he had almost killed us all, I couldn’t justify taking a life. It didn’t seem like the right thing to do after everything that happened tonight. We had to be better than that.
Headmistress Craw took one step closer to my bed. “No, dear. We will not put him to death, but he will not hurt you again.” I felt relief and squeezed Miles’ hand.
“What about Frances?” I asked, hesitantly.
Craw dropped her head and shook it. “We haven’t had a student wrapped up in a mess of this caliber in many moons.” I heard my heart rate increase on the monitor. They wouldn’t banish her too, would they? I thought of her face in the forest as she paced with worry and regret, then as she reached for my ties to free me. I pictured how Howard spoke to her, with an exasperated tone. He was the one in control. Not Frances.
“Headmistress, it wasn’t her fault,” I couldn’t stop the words from leaving my lips. “Truly. Professor Howard...he manipulated her. It was as if she was under a spell. She thought she could trust him. She thought she was following the Fallen Angel.” I knew this would strike a chord with Craw since she had once been a devoted Follower herself. She did terrible things, too. And she was given a second chance. Craw raised her head and placed her hands on her hips. “She was scared, Headmistress. And she tried to save both of us before it was too late, but Howard knocked her out, too.”
“Is that so?” Craw asked, seriously considering my words.
“Yes. She’s not evil. She was just caught up in something bigger than herself.” I had to stick up for Frances. I was the only one who had seen her guilt. She wasn’t going to go through with it. I trusted she had good in her.
I felt Lillian stiffen beside me and my heart sank. Fra
nces hurt her, too. And she had not been in the forest to see the power Howard had over her. I certainly didn’t forgive Frances for nearly killing my best friend, but I needed to show mercy. I turned to look Lillian in the eyes. They were tight slits and I could barely see their color.
“I know she hurt you, too, Lillian. I’ll explain everything, I promise.” Lillian’s eyes softened and she nodded. She trusted me. Once she heard exactly what I saw in the Black Forest, she would want to show Frances mercy, too, because no matter how angry we both were, we had to stand for what was right. And banishing Frances to a cell along with Professor Howard would not be right.
Headmistress Craw simply nodded her head before turning to leave the room. She looked back over her shoulder before exiting. “I think you’re right, Ms. Parker. I will keep it in mind when deciding her punishment.” She slid by Professor Rose and I heard her heels clicking down the hall. Even after a near death experience, she still managed to wear heels.
Professor Rose stepped forward next and stood at the foot of my bed. She looked down at the floor as she spoke. “Josie, you have no idea how sorry I am. I was close with Professor Howard. Very close.” So, the rumors were true. Not only did Howard make Frances believe he loved her, he fooled Rose into thinking the same. That couldn’t have been an easy task, and I shivered thinking of how manipulative Howard must be. “However, I had no idea about any of this.” She lifted her gaze from the floor and looked me in the eyes as she said the next words. “I would never allow anyone to put you in harm’s way.”
“I know that, Professor,” I assured her. She stepped back and ran her hands down the front of her baby blue dress like she was trying to straighten out wrinkles even though there were none.
“Thank you, Josie. You are very gracious.” She stepped back and looked at Lillian and Miles on either side of me. “Well, I will give you three some privacy. We will speak soon.” She exited the room and we listened as her footsteps disappeared.
“How long was I out?” I asked, looking at Miles and squeezing his hand lightly.
“Just over 24 hours,” he said, choking out the words as if they burned his throat.
“What about Frances? How is she?” Lillian’s face twisted into a look of confusion and slight frustration. She still didn’t understand how I could defend Frances. Part of me didn’t understand either. But I couldn’t help but remember how Professor Howard described Frances in the forest. “Someone desperate for love and approval. Someone who could be manipulated, who could be blamed if things went wrong. Frances was just the right girl.” Miles worked hard to keep his face neutral as he answered. His sympathy for Frances was also limited.
“She’s in the next room over,” he snarled. He was angry with her, just like Lillian.
“How do you feel?” I asked Lillian to change the subject.
“I’m fit as a fiddle. All healed.” She held out her arms, then shrugged. “Now we just have to get you better.”
“How did you know? How did you find us?” I asked them.
“I woke up sometime during the dance. I was confused at first and couldn’t remember how I ended up there, but then it all hit me like a ton of bricks. Everything that happened in the library. Everything I heard Professor Howard say. He planned to use you as a sacrifice the whole time. I knew I had to get to you. So, I screamed bloody murder for a nurse, and we got Professor Rose. On our way out we ran into Miles.” She looked up at Miles and smiled sympathetically. “The poor boy was running the halls searching for you. He was in total panic mode. I told him what I knew, and we headed for the forest out the back door. We made it just in time, too. His sacrifice was almost complete…” Her voice drifted and despair filled her eyes. I imagined she was thinking of what would have happened if they had been too late.
“What exactly happened in the library?” I asked. I never heard the full story.
“I was looking for a book for class. The librarian told me it was towards the back. I was in a section I never even knew existed. I thought for sure I would be alone back there, but I heard voices. They were talking about...awful things. I was scared so I started to leave, but then I heard your name. So, I walked closer. I held my breath the whole time while they laid out their plan. Howard admitted to killing the young girl. They said you and Headmistress Craw would be their sacrifices in the Black Forest. Everything. That’s when Howard told Frances she had to kill someone, too, if she wanted to prove her loyalty. I turned to run, but I think Professor Howard had already seen me. Or heard me. That’s why he told Frances she had to kill someone. He was talking about me.” She shivered beside me. “And that was it. I’m not sure what Frances did, but the last thing I remember is her voice whispering.” It was easy to let the anger take over me when I heard her spiel. Easy to think horrible things about Frances. She probably deserved some of them. But I fought hard to stop myself. This was all Howard’s fault. Frances showed her true colors in the Black Forest. Though she redeemed herself at least a little, it still wasn’t easy to push back the dark thoughts after hearing what she had done to my best friend.
I held out my arms to Lillian, and she curled her tiny body in them, climbing fully on the bed. “Ever since Mom died you’ve always tried to take care of me. I wish I had been there to take care of you this time.” Tears fell down my face before I even realized I was crying. Once they started, they were impossible to stop. It was understandable that my emotions were out of whack. I had almost lost my best friend, been poisoned, nearly sacrificed, and heard my mother’s voice all within the span of a few days. “I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I can’t stop crying.” I’d never felt so many things at the same time.
“It’s okay, darling,” Miles comforted me, wiping the tears off my face. I looked over to see Lillian had tears streaming down her face, too. “It’s normal to have an emotional reaction after you’ve performed a spell of that magnitude. That alone could send you over the edge. I haven’t felt normal either, and I didn’t go through half of what you ladies did. You’re both so brave.” He bent down and kissed my wet cheek. “I love you, Josie.”
“I love you, too.” I pulled his face towards mine to kiss him and Lillian sat straight up in the bed.
“Wait, what did you just say?” she gawked. “Did I just hear the word love?” It occurred to me that I hadn’t gotten the chance to tell her. She stared at me with her mouth wide open, and my tears stopped. A blush spread across my face and Lillian squealed. “Tell me everything!” She crawled to the end of the bed and crossed her legs and put her chin in her hands, waiting patiently for me to begin. So, I told her everything. All about the night we first said, “I love you,” the dance, the punch, the Black Forest, and finally how Frances tried to save me. When I finished, it felt like a weight was lifted from my chest. It was over. I had my best friend back, sitting on the end of my bed, and the love of my life in a chair beside me, holding my hand. I felt whole.
Winter Break
Ilaid on my bed and watched Lillian stuff her suitcase full. It was the first semester break at North End, and Lillian was packing to spend our week off with her family in Italy. Some of her clothes were sprawled on my bed, while the others were either crumpled on her closet floor or being squished into her suitcase.
“You know you’ll only be gone like six days, right?” I asked, even though I knew my words meant nothing. She did this every time we had a break.
“I’m just excited! Plus, we’re having a huge family dinner one night and I don’t know what I’ll want to wear, but I know I want to be the most stylish cousin at the dinner. So, I need plenty of options.” She pushed both her hands down on the pile of clothes in an attempt to make room for two more dresses. I rolled my eyes and laughed. Only Lillian would be worried about being the most stylish at a family dinner.
I rolled on my back and stared at my closet. I had no clothes sprawled across the floor, no suitcase to pack. I was staying here this winter break. It had only been four short weeks since the night in the Black Forest an
d traveling home to see my dad sitting silently in his chair was more than I could handle at the moment. I reach up to rub the scar on my head, the only physical proof that Hallow’s Eve had truly happened. I hadn’t needed stitches, but the gash had only fully healed a week ago. I rolled back over to see Lillian still struggling with her suitcase.
I hopped off the bed to offer my assistance. Once she had the last two dresses in the suitcase, I pressed down on the top as hard as I could while she zipped it closed. “There! It fits,” she beamed. “Barely, but it works.” She dashed across the room to shove a few more small items into the oversized purple purse I had gotten her for her birthday last year. It was the same shade as her eyes.
I tried to smile while Lillian ran back and forth across the room remembering last minute items she wanted to pack, but it was difficult. I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of her. Her family always got together this time of the year, and when she returned, she would have a glow on her face that only came from the kind of happiness you get when you spend time with your bloodline. It was the same thing I used to feel when I took family trips. I wanted to be happy for her. I was happy for her, but watching her excitement only reminded me that I would never have that again. I turned my attention to my nails, looking down and pushing my cuticles back to distract myself. Lillian must have noticed because she stopped what she was doing to flop down beside me.
“You can still come with me you know? We have plenty of room and I can get your plane ticket no problem.” She had already extended this offer twice before, but I declined each time. I loved Lillian and her family, but I was certain that seeing them all together would only make me feel empty. Lillian was just as close with her mother as I had been with mine and seeing their bond was painful.
“I appreciate the offer. Really, I do, but Miles is staying back so he will keep my company.” She didn’t look convinced, so I widened my smile until I knew I looked ridiculous. “Seriously! Look!” I said through my teeth. Lillian laughed half-heartedly.
North End: The Black Forest Page 18