Whisper

by Krystal Jane Ruin

  “But—”

  He slips into the driver’s seat and slams the door. I pull on the handle and bang on the window. The car jerks forward, and I jump out of the way before a tire squashes my foot.

  Footsteps sound on the pavement behind me as I watch him drive away.

  “Where is he going?” Jerod asks.

  “To the office. We have to stop him.”

  “Why?”

  I sigh. I forget he doesn’t know anything. “Just…can you drive me? It’s important.”

  He glances at his watch. “I guess we have time.”

  Kaius and Griffin reach the parking lot.

  “What’s going on?” Kaius asks.

  “Dad’s headed to the office,” Jerod says.

  “Shit.” Kaius takes Jerod’s keys. “Let’s go.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Kaius is already jogging across the lot. “We’ll explain later!”

  32

  Last Chance

  We parallel park in front of the building, just as our father disappears inside. I hop out and race after him.

  “Dad!”

  He stops in the middle of the lobby and rolls his eyes. “I’ve had enough of this, Jade. I have something to do.”

  “Get someone else to do it. Kaius can do it. Astrid. Anyone.”

  He stares at me for a moment, his face set in hard lines. Then he says, “I’m calling a car to pick you up.”

  “A car?”

  He strolls to the elevators. “You’re insane. And it’s about time we get serious about your treatment.”

  “What?”

  He boards the elevator. I start in after him, and he pushes me so hard I fall back to the tile. I land on my elbow and pain vibrates up to my shoulder.

  “Jade!” Jerod kneels by my side and throws an angry glare into the elevator. “What the hell, man?”

  Our father just shakes his head as the doors slide shut. Kaius pushes the button for the second set of doors.

  “What happened?” Griffin asks, his eyes wide.

  Jerod helps me to my feet. “My dad has lost his mind, that’s what happened.”

  We hurry onto the elevator, and I carefully stretch my arm out and bite back gasps of pain. “It’s okay,” I say, mostly to avoid them crowding me. Anger settles over my head. Is it really worth it? Chasing after him? Trying to save his life? I shake the thoughts from my mind. It doesn’t matter. For all the problems I have with my dad, I don’t want him to die. At least, not in whatever way Aric has planned for him. Hopefully, we’ll be able to cool him down and get him to my grandmother’s house before he gets me thrown into a straitjacket.

  We rush for his office as soon as the elevators open and find it locked.

  Kaius beats on the door. “Dad!”

  Aric’s voice hisses around me, heavy and powerful, blocking out all other sound. “I will always protect you.”

  I slap my hands over my ears, even though it doesn’t help one bit. “Oh God…” I push Kaius out of the way and pop the lock.

  “How did you—” Kaius’s voice dies off, and his skin goes pale and then green.

  The fake Excalibur is lodged inside our father’s chest, pinning him to his chair. He chokes on his blood as he fumbles with the hilt, trying to pull it out. I cover my mouth with my hands and back into Griffin’s chest. He holds onto me as Jerod runs to Dad’s side.

  “W-what do I do?”

  Green mist disappears into the vent in the ceiling.

  “What happens if I pull it out? Kaius! T-tell me what to do!”

  Our father continues to choke.

  “Don’t pull it out!” Kaius enters the office, slowly. “We—we need to call an ambulance.” He reaches for the phone, but he doesn’t pick it up. Our father’s hands fall away from the blade. Then he shudders and goes limp.

  No one moves.

  Griffin’s arms tighten around me.

  Aric’s voice sighs along the walls of the office.

  Jerod’s eyes dart around, almost as if he can hear it, too. “What the hell is that?” He does hear it!

  “What do you hear?” My voice wavers.

  Kaius narrows his eyes. “I hear it, too.”

  “Hissing…” Jerod’s eyes widen. “Holy hell. What the fuck?”

  Kaius turns to me. “Grab Jerod. Get out of here. Get on that plane. Don’t come back until you have answers.”

  “What are you doing? You’re coming too, right?”

  Kaius shakes his head. “Someone has to stay and take care of this.”

  “Kaius!”

  “I’ll be careful, Jade, I promise. But we can’t just leave him like this.”

  “No, Kaius. Don’t be stupid.”

  He walks about of the office and grabs my arms. His hands are icy and shaky. “Listen to me. I have two days, right?”

  I nod. Although I’m severely uncomfortable with even that timeline right now.

  Jerod runs out of the office and heads in the direction of the bathroom. Griffin squeezes my shoulders and goes after him.

  “I have two days.” Kaius takes a deep breath. He looks like he’s going to puke, but somehow he’s managing to hold it in. “I’ll take care of this, and then I’ll stay out of the building as much as possible, I promise you. No one will blame me.” He swallows. “Now, please. Get out of here. Catch that plane before anyone else sees this and tries to stop you.”

  I nod and stumble away from the mess of blood. Griffin comes around the corner, his hand locked around Jerod’s elbow. He wraps his free hand around mine and holds it tight.

  “There was no one in the office.” Jerod’s voice breaks. “What happened to him?”

  “You did everything you could,” Griffin whispers.

  “I know.” But it wasn’t good enough. Hot tears spill down my cheeks. Nothing is going to be good enough.

  Griffin pulls me to the elevator since I won’t move on my own.

  Two days.

  33

  A World Apart

  We have a balcony overlooking the mountains, but with night stretched across the sky, all I see is gray. Jerod is asleep on one of the beds behind me, dry tears streaked across his face. We filled him in on what we could on the way to the airport, including Fallon’s death, though we didn’t elaborate. He hasn’t spoken since we boarded the plane.

  I’m not going to force him. It’s a lot to process.

  “Kaius is at my place,” Griffin says. He sets his phone down by the television and joins me by the sliding door. He drapes an arm around me and pulls me close. “He says the police are calling it a suicide. With his father and brother dying so close together and him having been locked in his office… They only found one set of prints on the hilt, but they’re going to run more tests to make sure.”

  “They don’t wonder how we got in?”

  “There’s an extra key in Astrid’s desk. Kaius found it and said that’s what we used. He told them that he was worried about him after he stormed out of the funeral.” He stares at me for a moment. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  “Yeah…”

  “I heard him breathing. Merlin? Aric. Did he say anything to you?”

  I nod.

  “Jade…I’m so sorry. I can’t stop wondering if there was more I could have done to stop this—”

  “Don’t beat yourself up. You’ve only known about it a few days. If I’m not allowed to, you’re definitely not allowed to.”

  He leaves my side for a moment to retrieve his laptop. “I think I found something on the plane. You know that paper with the faded script? There’s a signature along the bottom. I cross-referenced the name with the time period Gaelic would have been heavily used and found something interesting.” He leads me over to the other bed, and I sit down beside him and look at the photographed picture of the page.

  He has it pulled up beside a scanned page of a really old book. The text isn’t too legible, but I imagine I would be able to read it if I spoke the language. I lean in clo
ser. There are pretty conclusive similarities in the slant of the handwriting and placement of the letters.

  “Given the other documents we have, I thought it might mean something. It’s in a collection of poems and stories about different myths and legends in the region. This is a poem too, I think. The translation is rough, but the interesting part is that it looks like it speaks of a lake secured by magic and that passage is only granted to one with the right blood.”

  My eyes dance back and forth between the photos.

  “Here. Look at this.” He switches to a photo editing app where he has the pages lined up next to each other. He makes the faded script photo more transparent and drags it over the scanned page. The lines match up perfectly.

  “Motherfucker.” I run my hands over my face.

  “Sorry?”

  “Not you. Aric. I talked to him this morning…or yesterday…this morning, our time, and he told me that paper was a spell. Specifically, the spell that trapped him. God, I’m so stupid.”

  “You’re not stupid. He’s clearly trying to keep you away from this lake. Which means we definitely have to find it.” He clicks back over to the scanned page. “I thought this might be what I was looking for given how similar it is to the words written on the lake drawing.”

  “How did you even think to search for it like that? That’s brilliant.”

  He grins. “I’m not that clever. I was just thinking about the Bard Joey lyrics. I was hoping there might be other similar kinds of writings that might be helpful. Once I thought I had the author, I figured the chances were decent. There’s so much mystery surrounding the lake. You can find all kinds of more modern tales about it. There had to be something older, right? What do you think it all means?”

  Megara had been trying to tell whoever found the papers what the faded script said. She knew no one would be able to read it. “There is a lake hidden from the eyes of mortals. Only one marked may enter. All others perish.”

  “Hmm?” Then he nods. “The frozen lake.”

  “I think it means that I’m the only one who can enter the poisonous forest. I have to find the lake on my own.”

  Griffin starts to speak. Then he shakes his head and smiles. “I’m not going to argue with you after what happened today.”

  I yawn into the back of my hand.

  He closes the laptop and sets it on the floor by the bed. “Try to get some sleep.” He starts to get up.

  “Where are you going to sleep?”

  “I thought I’d cuddle up next to your brother.”

  I laugh a little. “You can if you want, but I don’t mind if you stay here.”

  He plops back down to my side. “I’ll stay here then.”

  I smile, briefly, and climb under the covers. Griffin cuts the lights and settles in beside me.

  “I wish Kaius was here,” he says.

  “Me too.” My throat tightens.

  Silence swallows us, and Griffin’s breath evens out. But I continue to stare at the ceiling, replaying everything that’s happened since my birthday.

  Almost everything Aric has told me has been a lie. He’s trying to protect himself, I get that, but how can I know that I’m not on the list of people he wants to skewer? He says it’s just the males, but he doesn’t need me anymore. Even if he’s not after me, I’m positive he’ll kill me the instant I get in his way.

  I roll over to my side and stare out into the night. What are we hoping to accomplish here? We find the lake and then what? I talk to the ghost haunting the woods? Assuming ghosts are things people can talk to. What is that going to help? But we have to go there. It’s the only lead we have.

  I ignore the pinch of grief in my heart and force my eyes to close. I immediately picture us coming home to find Kaius’s head severed by one of the elevator doors. My eyes pop open. I should have dragged him with us. We could have all left. He didn’t need to stay behind. But my brothers are obviously a lot closer to our dad than I am. Was.

  Griffin’s arm slips around my waist. I slide my hand over it and lace my fingers through his. “He’ll be okay,” he says, his breath close to my neck. “I’ve known him a long time. He won’t do anything stupid.”

  I scoot closer to him and close my eyes again, letting his body heat relax me just a bit.

  There are so many ways Kaius can die. I think about a hundred of them before I drift off into nightmares filled with blood and screaming.

  34

  Trees Everywhere

  The woods are easy to find. They’re flanked by signs warning passersby away, but they look innocent to me. People mill about on the surrounding hiking trails. The sky is a pretty blue, and the weather is balmy with a light breeze. There’s nothing supernatural about this place at all.

  Jerod looks up from the old-school compass he’s holding. “This is it. The coordinates are right.”

  “I’ll go in,” I say. “You guys stay out here.” I start for the cover of trees, and they follow me. “Guys. Seriously?”

  “If we start getting sick, we’ll turn back,” Griffin says.

  Jerod nods in agreement. “After yesterday, we stick together.” His eyes are still tinged red and puffy. And I have dark circles under mine from the pitiful few hours of sleep I got.

  I suck in a deep breath and then stalk into the shade. Old leaves and fallen branches crunch under our feet. It’s humid in here, so there might be a lake of some kind nearby.

  “The first time we flew across the pond,” Jerod says, “we stayed in a villa about three miles south from here. The guy at the front desk told us that the forest was unofficially off-limits after some travelers went missing about fifty years ago. Actual stories about it being haunted started way before that, though. That goes back nearly five hundred years. But the official story regarding the travelers was that they just got lost while hiking and couldn’t find their way out. Some say that’s why the forest is haunted, because their spirits are wailing for directions.”

  Griffin snorts.

  “That only made the area more popular though,” Jerod continues with a wide grin. “And that’s when reports of people getting sick trickled in. So they officially put up signs and marked it as an environmental hazard about thirty years ago. Men in masks have explored the area, but they’ve been unable to determine the cause of so many people falling ill, and they’ve also been unable to find any skeletal remains, leading some people to believe that the story of the travelers is an urban legend.”

  I stop and stare at him over my shoulder.

  “What? I mean, the stories were scary. Now that we’re here though, I don’t know what the big deal is. I mean, it’s dark in here, and that’s creepy, but I don’t hear anything.”

  Griffin stops and looks around. “Wait. I don’t hear anything either.”

  We all stop and peer around the trees. I stretch my senses out to see if I can find any other signs of life, but I can only feel apprehension building up in Jerod and confusion rising up in Griffin.

  “They have insects and birds in Scotland, right?” I mean, obviously, but I haven’t been outside of the States until now and we arrived in the highlands so late.

  Jerod shudders and runs his hands up his arms. “Okay. Now I’m uncomfortable.”

  We push forward, more cautiously than before. Jerod keeps an eye on the compass. Griffin inspects the trees. I strain my ears for any sign of life besides the three of us.

  “What are we looking for?” Jerod asks after a while. “A lake?”

  “I guess.” I pluck a large leaf from a low-hanging branch. It looks normal. I stop again and close my eyes.

  “Do we just walk around until one of us starts feeling ill?” Jerod asks.

  “I don’t know,” Griffin says. “I’m positive this is the same forest your great-great-aunt referenced. It’s in the right area. There are all those stories about it.”

  “I still can’t believe I have a great-great-aunt. Why would they hide that from us?”

  “I don’t think too many
people knew. She died before your grandfather was born, but your grandmother said she always believed there was some conspiracy around it.”

  It’s subtle, but I feel the tiniest bit of tugging to my right. It’s like an ant is pulling on my shoe. Except there aren’t any ants and that thought is ridiculous. I open my eyes and point right. “Let’s go this way.”

  “Did you hear something?” Jerod asks.

  “No.” I push deeper into the woods, and the guys exchange glances and follow me.

  “Are you sure?” Jerod squints down at the compass. “This is taking us back towards where we came in.”

  The tug grows stronger. “We don’t have anything else to go on. It’s better than just wandering around. We could be in here for hours and find nothing.”

  “Yeah, but…I don’t know. How is this going to keep Merlin from killing everyone?”

  “I don’t know, Jerod. I just want to find the lake. At least then we can rule it out if nothing else. But Megara was very interested in this place, and she got closer to figuring things out than anyone. Plus, Griffin made a good point about Aric always redirecting me away from it. It has to mean something.”

  “Aric…what kind of name is that for a sorcerer? What does he look like? Does he look like a magician?”

  I almost smile, but then I think about Aric and his eyes and I don’t. “Honestly, he kind of looks like that guy from that one video game. You know, the one with the mask and the claw thing and the braid?” The tugging suddenly stops, so I do as well. The guys bump into my back.

  “Hear something?” Jerod asks.

  “No. Shh.” The energy in the forest has changed. It’s no longer still and muggy. A light, icy breeze shifts the air around us.

  “Oh, shit.” Jerod’s eyes travel up, and we follow his gaze. I can’t be sure from this distance, but one green leaf above us appears to be frosted. The small amount of sunlight that squeezes in through the treetops reflects off the crystals.

  A smile stretches over Griffin’s face. “Onwards?”