Whispering Pines

by Heidi Lang

  “Plus he’s personally collecting all the victims and taking them off to some secret lab? If that doesn’t scream suspicious, then I don’t know what does.”

  “Okay,” Rae said slowly. “While I will agree he may be a little suspicious, I think we need a bit more to go on before shoving him into another dimension. Plus I don’t think he should be our prime suspect.”

  “Prime suspect?” Caden laughed. “What are we, detectives now?”

  “Laugh away, Detective Price, but I think Doctor Anderson seems like a much more likely candidate. Here’s why.” She ticked off reasons on her fingers. “First of all, he’s creepy. There’s no denying that.”

  “No denial here.”

  She smiled. “Second of all, he was there when we came out of the woods. Like, standing right there. And he had a camera on him. He could easily have been the one stalking us through the trees, taking our picture…” She shivered. “Third of all… I saw him on Wednesday. Before the woods. In his office.”

  “Oh,” Caden said. He thought of how anxious she’d been when Doctor Anderson recognized her outside his house. Now he understood: for some reason, she didn’t want anyone to know she’d been seeing the doctor. “Okay,” he said. When he didn’t ask her anything else about it, some of the tension seemed to slide out of her.

  “Anyhow,” she continued, “when I left, I saw that Jeremy Bentley was waiting to see him too. And then Jeremy vanished.”

  Caden fiddled with his pendant, debating. Then he sighed. “I actually have a fourth reason to add to your list. You know I said Aiden vanished during an exorcism?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, it was at Doctor Anderson’s house.”

  Rae gasped. “And you’re just now telling me that? Well, that settles it!” She leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table. “He’s got to be our guy.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Maybe? Come on, Caden. You told me this creature can possess people—”

  “I said it might be like a possession.”

  “—and here it came out of the wall in Doctor Anderson’s house?”

  “It was actually a doorway.”

  “Whatever. It’s gotta be him. I’m sure of it.”

  “To quote a wise person I know, I still think we need a bit more to go on before shoving him into another dimension.”

  Rae grinned. “Okay. That’s fair.” She leaned back in her chair and looked around his kitchen, radiating purpose and contentment. She liked doing this kind of research and discussion, Caden realized. And even more surprising, he kind of liked it too.

  “I guess we’d better investigate the good doctor, then,” Rae decided. “I mean, if we’re detectives now, and everything. We can break into his house on Monday when he’s working, and see if we can find anything.”

  Caden stared at her. “Break into his house? Are you serious?”

  Immediately her good mood vanished. “Look, Caden, in case you haven’t noticed, all of the victims of this Unseeing have been students from our school, aged twelve to fourteen. And as far as I can tell, I’m the next target.” She jabbed the photograph on the table. “So yeah, I’m very serious.”

  Caden couldn’t argue with that. “How are we going to break in?”

  “I have no idea,” Rae admitted. “But I’ll think of something, then text you.”

  “You don’t have my number.”

  “No, but I will before leaving here.” She smiled sweetly and held her phone up to him. Caden took it. His face felt too warm as he punched in his number, and when he passed the phone back, he had a hard time meeting Rae’s eyes.

  “Your brother disappeared in late December, right? Nine months ago?”

  Caden studied the rings on his fingers. “Yeah. Why?”

  “Well, I looked up missing people in Whispering Pines, and it looks like another kid went missing around that same time. A thirteen-year-old boy.”

  “Peter McCurley.” At Rae’s look, he explained, “His parents asked my mom to try to find out what happened to him.”

  “And did she?”

  “I don’t know. She hasn’t said.”

  Rae nodded. “After Peter, then, there was nothing for three months. And then after that, three kids from our school vanished in March, and then were found with their eyes removed, and again, nothing for three more months. Then those three kids playing hide-and-seek this summer. Late June.”

  “And nothing again,” Caden said slowly, “until this past week. With Brandi. And then Jeremy. So he’s looking for his final victim.”

  “At least for this round,” Rae said. “It’s like that story said. Threefold. Right?”

  Caden hadn’t considered that. “Possibly. But what about Peter? He doesn’t really fit the pattern.”

  “Maybe Peter’s disappearance is unrelated.”

  “The timing seems rather coincidental.”

  “Hmm…” Rae tapped her lip in thought. “Well, I’ve read that often a serial killer’s first kill is different from the rest. It takes one victim before they establish a trend.”

  “Been doing some light reading, huh?”

  Rae smiled. “I know, it’s a little weird.”

  “My family hunts ghosts,” Caden pointed out. “I’m not about to accuse you of weirdness.”

  “That’s true,” Rae laughed. She stood up, grabbing her photograph and stuffing it in her back pocket without looking at it.

  Outside came the rumble of a car up the driveway. “Want me to walk you home?” Caden asked quickly.

  “That would be nice,” she said.

  Caden grabbed his jacket off a hook by the door and slipped outside just as his dad got out of the car. “Did I beat your mom home?” he asked. Then he noticed Rae, and his eyebrows shot up. “Oh! Why, hello there!”

  “Hi,” Rae said shyly.

  Caden knew he was stuck. Better to get it over with quickly and hope his dad waited to be embarrassing. “Dad, this is Rae. She lives across the street. Rae, my dad. And we’d better go,” he added, before his dad could say anything, “because it’s almost curfew.”

  “Wait just a second,” his dad said. “I want to know more about this mysterious beauty you’re trying to hustle out of here.”

  Caden’s cheeks burned so hot, he thought his hair must be smoldering. “Dad. Seriously.”

  “What’s your name?” his dad asked Rae.

  “Rae.”

  “A drop of golden sun, eh?”

  Caden winced. This was so, so awful. But to his surprise, Rae actually laughed at that. “My dad used to make jokes just like that,” she said.

  “He sounds like a man of good taste.”

  Rae’s smile faltered. “Yeah,” she said.

  “We really have to go,” Caden cut in.

  “Where are you going?” his dad asked him.

  “I’m just walking her home.” Caden nudged Rae forward.

  “Oh you are, are you? How gallant.”

  Caden winced. “Hurry,” he whispered at Rae.

  “That’s not very gallant,” she whispered back, grinning. They crossed the street, stopping outside her door. “I’ll text you tomorrow so we can plan.”

  “Sure.” Caden shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and shifted his weight. Should he say something else?

  “I might invite Vivienne, too.”

  “Okay. It’ll be nice to share a jail cell with more people.”

  “We’re not going to get caught,” Rae said. “Worst case? We get grounded for skipping school.”

  “You remember Vivienne’s mom, right? She might literally murder us.”

  “Then we’ll be very careful.” Rae unlocked her door. “Thanks for walking me home.”

  “You bet.”

  Rae glanced once more at the trees looming over them. “Good night, Caden.” She closed her door, and he heard the sound of the lock and the deadbolt turning.

  “Good night, Rae,” he whispered. He headed back to his house, his skin prickling like he wa
s being watched. The feeling grew stronger, and by the time he was back in his driveway, he was almost running. He stepped over his dad’s salt line, then turned and studied the woods. Nothing. Then he looked at Rae’s house.

  Something moved on the roof. A shadow, darker than the rest. It dropped from the roof and scuttled down the side of the house like some sort of enormous spider before slipping away into the woods.

  23. RAE

  Rae wasn’t used to breaking rules. She didn’t like to get in trouble, and tried hard not to do anything that would upset her mom. Skipping school and breaking into someone’s house? Definitely not her usual style. But if she was going to do it, she was going to do it right. So she spent her whole Sunday planning and watching how-to-break-into-houses videos online. And then she very carefully deleted her browsing history.

  When she woke up Monday morning, she knew she was really going to go through with it. Someone was targeting her. Or something. She could tell her mom about it… but would her mom even believe her? Doubtful.

  She got dressed and headed down to the kitchen, trying to act as casual as possible. Her mom was still up from her night shift at the hospital, drinking coffee and chatting with Ava. Both of them looked up as Rae entered.

  “Top of the morning to you both,” Rae said cheerfully in her best I’m-not-planning-on-skipping-school voice.

  “Top of the morning?” Ava blinked. “What’s wrong with you?”

  Rae frowned. Maybe she’d overdone it? “Nothing. What’s wrong with your face?”

  Ava scowled and went back to her coffee.

  “Rae,” their mom said.

  “Sorry,” Rae said. She resisted looking at the kitchen clock, ticking away all her minutes, and instead made herself pour a bowl of cereal and sit down. Nice and casual. Then she realized that usually her sister would be heading out the door by now. “Don’t you have class to get to?” she asked Ava.

  “I have study hall first period, so I’m going in late.” Ava took a sip of coffee. “Why?”

  “No reason. Nope. None at all.” Rae slurped a spoonful of cereal. Man, she was really terrible at this. Time for plan B: get out of here quick.

  She ate the rest of her cereal as fast as she could, then stood, dumped her bowl in the sink, and started for the door. “See you both later!”

  “Wait, Rae?” her mom called.

  Rae stiffened, her hand on the doorknob. “Y-yes?”

  “You know how I feel about dishes left in the sink.”

  Rae relaxed. “Oh yeah. Sorry.” She went back in, rinsed her bowl, even gave it a cursory wipe with a sponge, and stuck it in the dishwasher. The whole time she could feel Ava staring at her with her beady eyes.

  “Why are you leaving so early?” Ava asked. “Your bus won’t be here for another ten minutes.”

  “Why are you policing my time?” Rae said.

  “You started it.”

  “Why are you leaving so early?” their mom asked. Of all the days for her to be sharp and present.

  “I, um, thought I’d enjoy the sunshine before school.”

  “It looks like rain,” her mom said.

  “Even better,” Rae said quickly. “I love the rain.”

  “No you don’t.” Ava frowned. “Why are you being so weird?”

  “Why are you being weird?” Rae shot back, sweating. This was so not going well.

  Her mom cleared her throat. “Speaking of weird, I caught our neighbor’s kid pouring salt around our house yesterday.”

  “What?” Ava and Rae both said. “Why?” Ava added.

  Their mom shrugged. “No idea.”

  “Is this the neighbor across the street?” Ava asked. “Because I heard he murdered his brother and stuffed him in the walls.”

  “That’s not true,” Rae said immediately.

  “If you say so.” Ava gave her a look, one that made Rae’s cheeks go pink. It was a smug I-know-something-about-you look, the kind that only an obnoxious older sibling could give. It made Rae wonder if Ava had seen her hanging out with Caden. She remembered Ava’s comments about Ivan being cute and she scowled. Her sister always got the wrong idea.

  Rae grabbed her backpack. “I’m going to enjoy the rain. See you later.” And she stomped out of the house before her mom or sister could stop her.

  As soon as the door shut behind her, she got that feeling again. That eerie, shoulder-blade-prickly feeling of eyes on her back. She glanced at the trees around the house. They seemed dark and forbidding. Or maybe that was the gray clouds roiling overhead. Hunching her shoulders, she hurried over to the spot where the bus usually stopped, but the feeling of being watched didn’t go away.

  She glanced over her shoulder, then ducked into the nearby woods, walking slowly, cringing at the snap of twigs under her feet. Something darted across her path, and she froze, her heart beating too fast.

  Just a squirrel.

  She relaxed.

  “It’s about time,” Caden said from behind her.

  Rae shrieked and spun around.

  Caden put up his hands. “It’s just me.”

  Rae put a hand to her chest, gasping. “Sorry. I’ve been a little jumpy lately.”

  “Understandable. I guess I’m just lucky I didn’t get Mint Attacked in the eyes.” Caden smiled. “Speaking of, is Vivienne joining us?”

  Rae shook her head. “Since she got caught out past curfew on Thursday, she’s basically under extreme surveillance now.”

  Caden nodded. “I told you her mom is scary. She’s one of the senior project managers at Green On!, and I’ve heard everyone in her department is terrified of her.”

  Rae pictured Vivienne’s mom, the way she’d been so furious the night they got back from the woods, and could believe it. Rae was a little terrified of her. It was hard to believe she and easygoing Vivienne were related.

  Rae followed Caden over to the little camouflaged lean-to they’d made yesterday out of an old tarp covered in leaves and branches. “Anyhow,” she said, wedging herself inside next to their bikes, “I promised I’d text her when we got to the house, and then when we got out again. She said it was one of the first rules of backpacking: to have a designated safety person.”

  “We’re not backpacking.” Caden shifted into the space next to her.

  “No, but we are going into unknown territory.”

  “Not entirely,” he muttered, and Rae remembered that Caden had been to Doctor Anderson’s house before. Nine months ago. When his brother disappeared.

  Would it be hard on him to go back to the place where it happened? Guilt swam up in her chest. She hadn’t even thought of that. “Did you want to stay here?”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  They heard the bus rumbling up, and both went quiet, waiting. A minute later and it drove on past.

  “So, I hear you’ve been pouring salt around my house?” Rae whispered.

  Caden’s cheeks went pink. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice. I know it’s kind of strange.”

  “Is it?” Rae asked dryly.

  He laughed uncomfortably. “It’s for a protection spell. I thought it couldn’t hurt.”

  That was pretty weird, but at this point, really any protection was probably good. Even if it came in the form of a pourable spice. “Thanks,” she said.

  He smiled. “I’ve got your back.”

  Rae grinned, then pushed herself to her feet. “Let’s do this.” She rolled her bike out of its hiding place and onto the street, Caden right behind her. This was the most vulnerable part of their plan, because if anyone looked at the road right now, they were both in plain sight. Rae and Caden hopped on their bikes as soon as their tires hit the pavement, and started pedaling as fast as they could.

  They reached the end of the street in record time and turned left, still pedaling hard. Rae didn’t relax until after the next turn.

  And then a familiar car pulled up right in front of her.

  Rae skidded to a stop, almost falling over her handlebars.


  Ava rolled down the driver’s side window. “You are so busted.” She looked past Rae at Caden and smirked. “I knew you were up to something.”

  Rae didn’t realize there was a shade more painful than red, but her cheeks felt like they’d gone right past it into fluorescent territory. “It’s not what you think.”

  “I’m sure it isn’t.” Ava’s smirk grew larger and more irritating. “Skipping school to go off somewhere with the neighbor boy? Of course there’s a perfectly innocent explanation.” She leaned on her elbows out her window. “And I can’t wait to hear it.”

  Rae glanced at the woods to her left. She could ditch her bike and run. Ava wouldn’t be able to follow… but then she’d absolutely tell their mom, who might be worried enough to call the police, and then people would be looking for her, and it would be a whole mess. She looked over at Caden. He could go on without her, but that idea was almost as bad. She wanted to be in on the investigation.

  “Well?” Ava demanded.

  Rae decided on the truth, something she hadn’t shared with her sister in a long time. “Several kids from my school have been attacked lately, and Caden and I are looking into it.”

  Ava frowned. “You mean that whole serial eye snatcher thing?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m pretty sure the police are handling it.”

  “I’m pretty sure they’re not doing a good job of it,” Rae countered.

  Ava sighed and rubbed her temple. “This is so like you, Rae. Sticking your nose in things that you should leave alone. Let the authorities handle this, okay?”

  Rae scowled. “Is this about Dad? Because I know what happened, even if you don’t believe me. And I’m not going to sit on the side and do nothing. Unlike certain sisters of mine.”

  Ava flinched. “I’m not doing nothing.”

  Rae snorted.

  “I’m not!”

  “You’re right. You’re doing worse than nothing. You’re running away. And you dragged us all out here with you.”

  Ava pressed her lips together, her nostrils flaring.

  Rae could feel Caden watching this whole exchange, but she didn’t care. She was just so, so angry. It felt like all the hurt and frustration she’d ever felt about her dad, and his disappearance, and how no one believed her, was about to come pouring out of her mouth, and she couldn’t stop it. “You want to pretend we don’t even have a dad. That he just left us, and it’s totally normal, and we can move on and live our ordinary lives without him. Well, I’m not going to do that.”