Andrea glared at Monica. “What the heck are you talking about?”
The thumping sound grew louder. Monica smiled serenely. “She’s in the closet,” Monica said quietly. She jerked her head toward a door with a bolt. “Why don’t you go see her, Andrea?”
Andrea stared at Monica. Her face was pale, and she shook her head.
“I’m scared, Monica,” Andrea whispered.
“Tell us that you’re here, Sadie,” Monica hissed.
An unearthly wail floated through the room. It sounded like it was coming from inside the locked closet. As Monica and Andrea stared at the door, it began to thump and groan against the metal deadbolt. Wood splinters flew across the room as the door jerked against its restraints.
Andrea shrieked. She yanked her hands away from the planchette and covered her mouth. “Make it stop!” Andrea screamed. “Make it stop!”
The door burst open, and a gust of cold wind blew across the room. Andrea screamed as the wind whipped her hair and stung her face. She shrieked and shrieked, crying hysterically and rocking back and forth.
“Andrea, calm down,” Monica said. She smiled unpleasantly, and Andrea gasped at the sight of her friend’s face. Where Monica’s face had been youthful and free of wrinkles, now she looked like a wizened old crone. Monica threw her head back and began to laugh as the wind intensified. It whipped all around the two girls, scattering dust and the planchette. The Ouija board flapped and closed and skidded along the dusty floor.
A high-pitched, eerie voice filled the room. “Andrea…Andrea…I’m coming for you, Andrea. I’m coming to make you pay for your sins.”
Andrea screamed. She got to her feet and ran down the attic stairs, her feet thumping loudly on the steps. Monica sat there, watching her go. Her smile slowly faded, and her features returned to normal.
“You have seen,” Henrik drawled. He pulled me away from the fire. My heart was racing, and my skin was clammy and cold.
“I didn’t do that,” I protested. “That wasn’t me! You’re messing with my memory!”
“I’m doing no such thing,” Henrik said softly. He shook his head. “You just don’t remember.”
“I think I’d remember that!” My eyes filled with tears, and I shook my head. I was suddenly exhausted again, even though it felt like I’d been sleeping for days.
“You remember differently, a modified memory,” Henrik said quietly. He waved his hand over the fireplace, and the flames vanished. I gasped as the wall returned to normal. Within just a few seconds, it was impossible to tell that a fire had been in the place at all.
“That didn’t happen,” I said. As I tried to comb through my brain and recall the true memory, I was frustrated to realize that my mind felt veiled and obscured. I felt like I could put my finger on exactly what had happened, but when I went to reach for the words, they weren’t there.
“Then what did happen?” Henrik crossed his arms over his chest and laughed. For a moment, he looked almost youthful. “Tell me, Monica. Tell me what really happened.”
I closed my eyes. ‘Think, Monica, think! Remember what happened that day!’
“I can’t!” I wailed.
Henrik’s eyes blazed with fire. He put his hands on my shoulders and leaned in close, pressing his forehead to mine.
“Recall on your own,” Henrik said in a low growl. “You are stronger than this. You have power, Monica – very strong power, albeit untrained.”
Tears of frustration welled in my eyes and dripped down my cheeks. “I can’t!”
“Think harder!” Henrik thundered. “Try harder!”
“Andrea’s aunt died,” I said. “She…she said that she missed her. My friend, Elizabeth, told Andrea that I could help. I think she was just kidding, but Andrea really believed her.”
“And then what happened?”
“I…I don’t know,” I said. “All I remember is Andrea ran out of my house and ratted me out to her stupid parents. They called Jamie and Brian and told them I’d screwed with their daughter.”
Henrik’s lips curled into a smile. “So, you don’t remember, do you?”
“I know it wasn’t that!” I said hotly. “I never would have done anything to frighten Andrea!”
Henrik laughed. The sound sent chills down my spine, and I glanced down at my hands twisting nervously in my lap.
“You don’t respect Andrea,” Henrik said. He kept smiling uneasily. “That much is clear. You wanted to frighten her. Admit it: you wanted her to be afraid of you.” He nodded his head up and down. “Yes, Monica. You wanted Andrea to know that you’re powerful. You wanted her to know that you have something special, something sacred.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re a witch, Monica,” Henrik said. “You’re a descendent of the most powerful witch in all of New England – a witch who escaped death more than once.”
My heart thudded against my ribs.
Henrik leaned in close and grabbed my shoulder. His breath tickled my ear, and a cold chill ran down my spine.
“You have a history of getting your way, don’t you?” Henrik breathed. “You can’t handle the idea of being similar to everyone else; you have to be different.”
“That’s not true!” I swallowed. “I don’t care about that!”
“It’s obvious that you do,” Henrik said. His placid, serene smile was giving me the creeps, and I wished more than anything that I was home alone.
“You don’t believe me,” Henrik added. “But you will.” He leaned closer still until his lips were mere inches away from my ear. “Temperare inferiorem te esse.”
“What?” I pulled away and narrowed my eyes. “What does that even mean?”
Henrik’s eyes flashed. He whispered the same phrase, over and over, until the words sounded like gibberish. Instinctively, I knew to close my eyes.
A horrifying vision played out on the inside of my eyelids. A huge mob hurled angry epithets. Women dressed in long robes were tied to flaming stakes. Three of them were screaming and wailing with pain as the flames licked and shot up their bodies. The fourth woman was smiling serenely. As the fire reached her chest, she opened her mouth and began to cackle and laugh. There was a loud, angry cheer from the mob, and the woman smiled before opening her mouth and screaming.
The scent of singed flesh and hair filled my nostrils, and I coughed and gagged, trying to clear the smoke away. The crowd was roaring now, demanding blood and revenge. The three screaming women had silenced, and the flames were now licking around their disfigured, melted faces. But the fourth woman was still wailing and shrieking. The ropes binding her to the stake broke and melted, and she fell onto the burning kindling below.
“Temperare inferiorem te esse!” the woman screamed. “Temperare inferiorem te esse!”
My eyes flashed open. I felt dazed and exhausted as I stared into Henrik’s eyes.
“Control those weaker than yourself,” I said softly. “That’s what you just said.”
Henrik nodded wisely. “And now, you understand.”
Chapter Eight
Elizabeth
The next morning, I told Mom and Aidan that I was sick.
“She’s not!” Aidan said. He frowned and pointed his finger at me, suddenly looking much younger than his thirteen years. “She’s faking!”
Mom sighed. “Honey, Elizabeth is going through a lot right now, and we have to be supportive,” she said. I could tell she didn’t believe me, though.
“I’m just so tired,” I said. I faked a yawn, covering my open mouth with both hands. “I didn’t sleep at all last night.”
“Yeah,” Aidan said. His eyes flashed mischievously. “You were up all night, talking to Steven!”
“Aidan!” Mom and I hissed at the time same.
Mom turned to me. “Who’s Steven?”
“Andrea’s brother,” I said wearily. “And no, brat. For your information, I was up all night worrying about my best friend.”
Mom reached out and put her hand to my forehead. “Okay,” she said softly. “You can stay home, Elizabeth. I know things are difficult for you right now.” She gave me a sympathetic smile. “Just promise you’ll go to school tomorrow.”
I nodded, crossing my fingers behind my back. I didn’t know what I’d do if David and I didn’t find Monica. I had no idea where we were even going to start looking.
“Okay, honey,” Mom said. She pulled me close and kissed my forehead. “I’m going to drop Aidan off on the way into work. I should be home at the normal time tonight. Your father’s working late – again,” she added under her breath, “but I hope we can all have dinner together.”
I nodded and tried to look as sick as I could while I waited for Mom and Aidan to leave. They took a surprisingly long time, and I went upstairs to lie in bed until the front door slammed shut.
As soon as Mom was gone, I raced out the door and started jogging along the main road until I reached the grounds of our school. A beat-up, blue Oldsmobile was parked, rumbling like mufflers had never been invented. I almost groaned when I saw David behind the wheel. His black hair had grown even longer, and his dark sunglasses obscured the whole upper half of his face. When he saw me, he leaned on the horn.
I cringed. “I saw you,” I said through gritted teeth as I climbed into the passenger seat of his decrepit car. “You didn’t have to honk.”
David smirked. “You look a bit distracted,” he said.
“No shit,” I muttered. “My best friend is missing. She could be dead.”
David shook his head. “Don’t say that.” He shoved the car into gear, and we pulled away from the school grounds with a jerk. I heard the ringing of the school bell as David drove off.
“So,” David said, “show me around. Where’s Monica?”
I buckled myself into the seat and looked out the window. “I don’t know,” I said hotly. “That’s why we’re looking.”
“I don’t know my way around here,” David snapped. He cut sharply to the left, and my head slammed against the window. “Tell me where she hangs out.”
I was already regretting my decision of calling David and having him come visit and help me look.
“There’s a lake outside of town. Monica and I used to go there a lot,” I said. ‘Before she met you,’ I amended silently in my head.
“Cool.” David shifted the car into a higher gear and pressed down on the gas. We shot down the main road of town, through the center and stores until I couldn’t see anything but grass and trees. The air had turned colder in the few days since Monica had vanished; I hated to admit it, but that didn’t exactly feel like a good omen.
The air between David and me was frosty, too. I shivered and wrapped my arms tightly around my body. David steered the car off the main road, and I directed him down the short dirt path to the lake.
When we climbed out of the car, I shivered again. Jaffrey Lake was beautiful, but in the fall, it looked deserted, like the setting of a horror movie. ‘Stop it. You’re being morbid,’ I told myself. But now that I’d started thinking horrible thoughts, they just kept coming.
“We should walk around, see if she’s hiding around here,” David said. He jerked his head to the side before loping off at a fast pace. I sighed and then broke into a trot to keep up.
“Slow down,” I called.
“We gotta search the whole town before the end of the day,” David said. “I gotta get back to Vermont tonight.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. “And what if we don’t find her? What then?”
David shrugged. “I dunno.”
I glared. “Some help you are,” I muttered. “I feel like everyone around here has gone crazy.”
David frowned. “Why?”
“Like her parents don’t even care that she’s gone,” I said hotly. “My mom called the police, but she thinks Monica was, like, I dunno…kidnapped or something. And she’s always trying to tell me that things are gonna be fine.”
David shrugged again. He turned on his heel and kept walking at a brisk pace. “They might be fine,” he said. “You don’t exactly know that for sure.”
“David, come on.” I stopped dead in my tracks and crossed my arms over my chest. “That’s fucked up.”
David sighed. “I know,” he mumbled. He balled his hands into fists and shoved them in his pockets. Although his sunglasses were still obscuring his vision, I could tell by the deep commas in his cheeks that he was depressed.
“We have to stay strong,” I said. “But we can’t just think everything is going to turn out fine because that’s easier.”
“I just…I can’t believe it,” David said. “Monica hates spontaneity. She hates going away from home. She made me drive her back from Vermont one time at three in the morning because my bed was too narrow.”
I laughed out loud. The story was so like Monica that my heart hurt. “I know,” I said softly. “She’s very particular.”
David and I resumed walking. I kept looking in the woods, watching for a flash of her blonde hair, but the only things I saw were trees and dead limbs on the ground.
“So,” I said quietly. “How was the party?”
“What?” David pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head and squinted at me.
“The party on Friday,” I said. I rolled my eyes. “You know, the reason why you didn’t feel like coming here.”
David flushed. “Nothing,” he mumbled. “It was fine.”
I frowned. “What?”
“Nothing.” David glared at me. “Forget it.”
I scowled.
“I didn’t cheat on her, if that’s what you’re thinking,” David said. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“I didn’t think that,” I said quickly. “You just got so defensive!”
David sighed moodily. He raked a hand through his black hair. In the fall sunshine, his skin was so pale that it looked almost translucent.
We hiked around the lake three times. The second time, I thought I saw something floating in the water. But when I got closer to look, I realized it was just a piece of trash.
“She’s not here,” I said softly.
“Did you really think she would be?”
“No,” I said, too quietly for David to hear. “But I wanted her to be.”
David and I spent the rest of the day driving around Jaffrey. Around the time school let out, I had him drive me to my house so I could leave a note for my mom. I told her that I was feeling better, and that I’d gone out with Andrea. I knew she wouldn’t bother calling Mrs. D’Amico. Like the rest of Jaffrey, my mom thought Andrea and Steven’s parents were totally crazy.
By the time the sun was sinking low in the sky, I was starting to lose hope. David and I had been almost everywhere that Monica had loved. Between her favorite rock and magic store, to the diner where we’d gone almost every day after school the previous year, I was feeling hopeless and lost.
I sniffled as I climbed back in the passenger seat.
“Can you think of anywhere else?”
I shook my head. “No,” I said softly, “I can’t.”
David nodded. “I should be getting back to Vermont,” he said quietly. “I told my parents I’d be home later.”
I nodded.
“You okay?”
I nodded again, but I couldn’t stop the tears from welling up in my eyes. As much as I was worried about Monica, I couldn’t help feeling lonely. There was a giant hole in my chest where my best friend had once been, and I knew that it wouldn’t ever go away.
“What happens if we don’t find her?” I said listlessly, staring out the car window. Rain had begun to fall, and I watched the drops lash the window until my eyes burned.
“She’ll turn up.”
“You don’t know that.” Shifting in the seat, I turned to face David. “You don’t know anything. She could never come home. She could be gone. Forever.”
David sighed. “Look, Elizabeth, what do you want me to say? That I’m feeling fu
cking fantastic about my girlfriend missing? That I feel just great?”
“No…” I bit my lip. “I don’t know.” Tears came to my eyes, and I hunched over my lap, dreading the sobs. But when I started crying, it was like a dam broke. Emotion swirled loose in my brain, and for a moment, I cried so hard that all I could focus on was how much my sinuses hurt.
David reached over and awkwardly patted my back. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “Try not to worry so much, Elizabeth.”
“I miss her so much,” I sobbed. “I just wish she’d come home.”
“Me, too.” David’s voice was thick with emotion. When I looked at him, I saw that he was sobbing, too. I hesitated a second before unfastening my seat belt and wrapping my arms around his neck. David leaned into me, and I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder until his black shirt was soaked through with tears.
It felt strange to be sharing such an intimate moment with someone I hadn’t exactly had warm feelings for. I cried on David’s shoulder until my throat was raw and aching, until I felt like I had no more tears left in my body. He sobbed wildly against me, shaking and shivering until the skin of his face was burning hot. All I could think about was Monica. I wondered if she was cold, or scared, or hurt. I wondered if some sicko had picked her up in a van, if somehow, she’d been mistaken for a little girl. I knew that Monica had always thought of herself as a real tough girl, but in reality, she was fragile. Jamie and Brian – nontraditional though they were – had kept her shielded from the rest of the world. A villain to Monica was a Republican or a capitalist.
After what felt like hours, David pulled away. He wiped his nose on his sleeve, leaving a trail of iridescent, sticky slime.
“Sorry,” David mumbled. “I don’t know why that happened.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
The intimacy between us was deflating rapidly as David started the car and drove me home.
As I got ready to go inside, I unbuckled my seat belt and turned toward him.
“Thanks for coming down,” I said softly. “Even if we didn’t do all that much.”
The Uprising (Moonlight Wolves Book 3) Page 25