by Flynn, Mac
I held up my hand. "Wait a sec. Don't go pointing fingers until you've got some proof."
She sneered at me. "One of us would never desecrate this sacred place, nor do we own such a primitive weapon as that which was used on my sisters."
I furrowed my brow. An echo of a memory came to mind. "A blow dart. . ." I shut my eyes and bit my lip, but the memory escaped me. I stomped my foot on the ground. "Damn it! Almost had it!"
A long, low howl echoed down the passage. I perked up my ears and frowned. "What was that?"
The woman rolled her eyes. "Your man wishes for you to return to the surface. He pretends to be concerned about you."
I arched an eyebrow at her. "You ever think maybe he really is concerned about me?"
She scoffed. "I highly doubt that."
I shrugged and turned away from her toward the stairs. "You're missing out on a lot of fun."
We resurfaced and I was glad for a breath of fresh air. Orion stood at the entrance to the cemetery. The other female guard stood in front of him.
He cupped his hands over his mouth and called across the expanse. "What did you see?"
I did likewise with my hands and yelled back to him. "A headache!" The fumes from the hawthorn still swam in my head and irritated my nostrils. I glanced around the cemetery. "So any idea where the thief might have gone?" I asked my companion.
My guide nodded at the lower-right corner of the graveyard. The town lay in the same direction. "We followed the hawthorn scent in that direction, but it was lost in the underbrush."
I furrowed my brow and rubbed my chin. "Followed a scent, eh?" My eyes flickered to Orion and a grin slid onto my lips. "I think it's time for a hike."
I strode over to the cemetery entrance. Orion wrinkled his nose. "Did you get into a fight with a hawthorn tree?"
"A bush, and I won," I retorted as I reached him. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the boulder. "Their founder was stolen."
He arched an eyebrow. "There seems to be quite an epidemic of that these days."
"Any of the were-cat people around here into being copycats for a crime, or do you think we have a serial stealer who's a couple of cheerios short of a full box?" I asked him.
Orion shook his head. "I can't say. Most people around here leave the dead alone."
I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. "I wish the dead would leave us alone."
He frowned and stepped up to my side to encompass me in his warm arms. "You okay?"
I shook my head. "No, and it's getting worse." I frowned as the cold within me pulsed with life. "It's almost like he's trying to warn me about something. Like he's pushing me along somewhere."
He pursed his lips and gazed out over the cemetery. "Do they know where the thief went?"
I nodded at the south-easterly direction. "They lost the hawthorn trail in the woods."
Orion grinned. "That sounds like it's my turn to take the reins."
I smiled. "Just don't get bucked off the trail."
He glanced over his shoulder at Mirela and her troupe. "We'll follow the trail. If you want to come along this won't need too many people of your people to help."
She nodded. "Only I will go with you."
The women around her gasped. One of the guards stepped forward. "This thief is brazen and dangerous. Allow me to go with you."
"And me!" shouted a horsewoman.
"I will go!"
Mirela held up her hand and they silenced. "We need stealth for this hunt, and the fewer the number the greater the chance of catching this thief. You will remain here until I return." The women reluctantly bowed their heads. She returned her attention to us. "Let us begin this hunt."
CHAPTER 21
Orion led us at a job down the fence line and into the woods. Even my inexperienced nostrils picked up on the hawthorn scent.
I clapped my hand over my nose as my other arm pumped at my side. "How could the thief stand this smell?"
"Maybe they gained an immunity to the scent like I did to wolf's bane," he suggested.
"Is the danger in town so great that you all insulate yourselves from poison?" Mirela spoke up from behind us.
Orion glanced over his shoulder and grinned. "And you're going to tell us you don't?"
Mirela turned up her nose and averted her eyes from ours. "It is a precaution against those of the town."
He snorted. "Then it looks like your guards forgot to take their hawthorn vitamins tonight."
She glared at him. "We wouldn't need such precautions if your fellow citizens weren't so intent on breaking our pact."
Orion stopped and turned to her. "Not everyone outside your camp is out to get you."
I stepped between them and held one of my hands up in front of each of them. "Stop arguing or I swear I'll turn this group back around." They both frowned but quieted. I glanced from one to the other. "We have a trail to follow and a thief to catch, now let's do it before the guy inside of me decides to break loose some ghost moves."
Mirela started and blinked at me. "A man inside of you?"
I nodded. "Yeah, there's the ghost of a murdered guy inside of me. Why?"
Her eyes widened and her words came out in a strangled whisper. "No man shall be allowed to pass the gates nor enter the tomb."
I raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"
She reached into her coat and pulled out her mortar and a packet of powder. "Those are the rules of the burial grounds, and punishment must be meted out."
I stepped back away from her and bumped against Orion's chest. He pulled me behind him and frowned at her. "What exactly is the punishment?"
She poured the powder into the bowl. "It is death to the violator."
I frowned and wrinkled my nose. "But technically he's already dead."
Mirela paused and furrowed her brow. "So he is." She glanced down at her powder. "But someone must be punished."
I cringed. "How about you save that for whoever broke into the boulder and punish them double-time for the double break."
She blinked at me. "'Double-time?'"
I nodded. "Yeah, you know, kill them, cast life on them and kill them again. That kind of stuff."
She frowned and tucked the bowl back into her coat. "We do not revive the dead."
I slipped out from behind Orion. "Good because that's creepy, and we're wasting time." I turned to Orion and looked past him. "How far does this trail go?"
He glanced over his shoulder and pursed his lips. "All the way to town."
"But the scent doesn't go as far as that," Mirela spoke up.
Orion grinned. "We'll see. Come on."
We continued on our hunt. The scent of hawthorn wandered for a few miles until we were within two miles of the town. I jogged into a wide spot on the trail and stopped. Mirela nearly tumbled into me.
"Why did you stop?" she questioned me.
I lifted my nose and frowned. "I don't smell it anymore. The hawthorn."
Mirela mimicked me and looked around. "This is where my hunters lost the trail."
Orion walked around the perimeter of the clearing. "Whoever we're following knows their scents, but their trail's still here. I can smell it." He crouched beside an overturned, rotten log and brushed aside some leaves. His face darkened. "Mirela."
She and I walked over and stood on either side of him. Mirela's eyes widened. "My god."
Buried among the stench of the rotten leaves was a mummified face of a wizened old woman. Mirela fell to her knees and brushed away more fallen foliage to reveal the upper body.
I glanced at Orion. "Well, there's one body. Anybody smell another one?"
Orion shook his head. "No, but is that cold feeling inside you telling you anything?"
I shook my head. "Nope, except that I need a thicker-" A whisper of a breeze blew over us and forced me to pause. I furrowed my brow as my ears caught a few faint, wispy words.
"The cemetery."
I blinked. "Um, did you guys just here that?"
Ori
on frowned and shook his head. "No, what?"
"Like a voice telling us to go to a cemetery."
Mirela stood. Her eyes were an illuminated green and her lips were pressed so tightly together they were white. "We will not return there until the punishment for this sacrilege has been performed."
Orion stood and furrowed his brow. "I don't think that's the cemetery the voice would be talking about. The pact with the cemetery hasn't been broken until tonight."
I frowned. "Hasn't been broken until tonight."
Orion and my eyes widened at the same time, and we whipped our heads around to face each other. "It's a distraction!"
"Only something this big would get us off the trail!" Orion added.
"And it's the same crime as stealing the skeleton so somebody would think it's someone stealing bodies!" I added.
Mirela glanced from one of us to the other and arched an eyebrow. "Of what are you two speaking?"
"We're speaking of murder, my dear Mirela," I told her. "Murder, deception, and desecration."
She narrowed her eyes. "Do not refer to me like that again."
"Fair enough," I replied. I turned to Orion. "We need to get to the old cemetery."
He nodded, and we took off for the cemetery with Mirela following behind us. By the time we reached the edge of the woods and the beginning of town my chest ached with cold. I stumbled from the trees onto the new cemetery around the church and clutched my flesh over my heart.
Orion stopped beside me and grasped my shoulders. "We need to get you to Bentley's house."
I gritted my teeth and shook my head. "I'm. . .I'm fine," I gasped.
Mirela walked up on my other side and studied my face. "The man may be correct this one time. You are as pale as death."
A piercing cold throbbed in my chest. I cried out and stumbled forward. Orion caught me before I fell and swept me into his arms. "I'm at least taking you to Bertha," he insisted.
I was in no condition to argue as he rushed through the graves to the tiny cottage. The little house was decorated like it was a long-forgotten addition to the cemetery. Everything was covered in dead vines and cobwebs. The windows had cracks created with stickers on their panes, and the front door was replaced by a half-rotten, peeling-paint one. The windows were dark and no smoke rose from the chimney.
A group of trick-or-treaters scampered away, their bags loaded with candy. Orion hurried to the door and banged his fist on the entrance. The door flung open and a gargoyle jumped out.
"Boo!" it cried.
"Not now!" Orion shouted as he shoved his way past the gargoyle.
The gargoyle pulled up his mask and revealed himself as Preacher Aude. "What are you doing! You can't barge in here!"
Aude made to shut the door, but Mirela slammed her palm on the entrance and slid inside. "I will not be lost so easily," she commented.
Bertha hurried from the parlor and her eyes widened. "Orion? What's the matter?" Her gaze fell on me and Orion and she met halfway across the house. "Is she all right?"
Orion shook his head. "I'm not sure, but it's the spirit."
Bertha laid her hands on my arm. My body jumped and the world around me vanished. In its place was a different, darker one. This world was faded, old. It was like being inside one of those old black-and-white movies.
I stood in the middle of the old cemetery. There were fewer grave markers, and the stones were free of vines and weeds. The sky above me was dark with clouds and the shadows of night crept over every stone and blade of grass.
Movement caught my eye. I turned to my left. The dark figure of a man moved among the tombstones. His feet carried him toward the large willow tree at the rear of the cemetery.
I followed him. I couldn't help myself. Something demanded I watch this scene play out. My feet didn't make a sound, but his footsteps were muffled by the thick bed of trees. I stopped at the last tombstone before the small gulf between tree and tomb and lay my hand on its top.
The young man came to the willow and stood before its large trunk. He looked left and right, and in doing so I was able to recognize the face of William Mallory. His lips were pursed and his brow furrowed.
"Bertha? Are you here?" he called out. He set his hand against the tree and peeked around one side. "Are you-" He stiffened and swung around. His hand grabbed something from his neck. He stared down at a small, thin object with red feathers at the back. "What the-" He swooned and clutched his head.
Bill stumbled forward, but his dragging feet tripped over the uneven ground. He collapsed face-first onto the ground and lay still.
"Bill?"
I spun around. Bertha in all her years stood one tombstone behind me. Her shaking hands covered her mouth and her eyes were wide with horror. She slowly shook her head as tears ran down her cheeks.
"Bill!" Bertha rushed past me. I reached out and grabbed her arm. She twisted and tugged. "Let me go! He needs me!"
I grabbed her shoulders and turned her so we faced each other. I shook her hard. "This is in the past! There's nothing you can do for him!"
A heart-wrenching sob escaped her lips. Bertha's knees buckled and I lowered her to the ground. Her deep, shaking sobs echoed around us as the world of the past faded into darkness. I glanced up one last time at the body of William Mallory. My eyes widened as I beheld a small form kneel beside him and remove the object from Bill's hand. I couldn't see their face, but their hair was parted in the middle.
Then the world went black. Bertha's heavy body disappeared. I flailed around as a suffocating darkness nearly overwhelmed me. Each breath was a struggle, like slowly drowning without knowing which way was up or down.
"Trixie!"
My eyes flew open and I gasped. My back arched and I whipped my head from left to right still fighting that infinite darkness. Someone pinned my arms to my sides.
"Trix! It's Orion!" the figure over me shouted.
My eyes came into focus. I lay on the couch in Bertha's parlor. My hostess herself sat in a chair opposite me. Her shoulders shook with her sobs. At her side was her husband who held her as she cried into his gargoyle costume.
Over me hovered Orion, and behind him was Mirela with a concerned expression on her face.
I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "I know who killed William Mallory."
CHAPTER 22
The whole room quieted. Bertha raised her head. Her cheeks were stained with tears. "Who was it that killed him so cruelly?"
Her husband shook his head. "There'll be no more excitement for you tonight. Watch you go into that trance was terrible enough a shock for both of us."
Bertha gently pushed aside his hands and stood so she faced me. Her voice was loud and steady. "Who killed him?"
I pursed my lips. "It was Mike Leto."
Bertha's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "Mike? But why?"
I shook my head. "I don't know, but I know it's him. I'd recognize that ugly parted hair anywhere."
Aude frowned. "What does parted hair have to do with murder?"
I nodded at Bertha. "We both saw it when she touched me. It was some sort of a vision about the past. We watched somebody murder William Mallory, and that someone had hair parted down the middle."
Bertha lowered herself onto her seat and shook her head. "But I just don't understand how he could do that."
Orion furrowed his brow and his eyes flickered to me. "As the son of pharmacist he would've know a lot about drugs and had access to them, including hawthorn. He also told me he was a crack-shot at blow darts when he was younger."
Mirela stiffened and her eyes narrowed. "Then he is the one who desecrated our tomb?"
Bertha pursed her lips. "To desecrate a tomb is one thing, but to murder Bill? They never argued once!"
Mirela turned her nose up and sniffed. "Men have murdered for nothing before."
Aude set his hands on Bertha's shoulders and stood straight. His severe gaze swept over us. "This is a serious charge, and such a charge involves more pro
of than a vision, even within Apple Hollow."
I froze and my heart quickened. "I think I know where we can find that proof."
The five of us piled into Aude's old station wagon and drove to the main street. The night's festivities had resumed after Mirela's attempted bonfire of the populace. We parked one block down beside Orion's car and I led the gang to the corner where sat Leto's drug store. The blinds were down and the lights off. A folding lawn chair sat outside and to the right of the door. It was empty.
"Damn it!" I muttered. The others came up behind me.
"What are we supposed to be seeing here?" Aude asked me.
"The perfect hiding spot," I commented as I spun around and looked over the main street. There was no sign of the 'prop' or Leto. "Leto hid Bill's body in plain sight."
Orion frowned. "You mean the pirate skeleton?"
I nodded. "Yeah. I got a cold chill earlier standing next to that thing. I thought it was just seeing Mirela give orders to light everyone on fire, but it must've been because that was Bill's body."
"But where is it now? And where's Mike?" Bertha spoke up.
I glanced at Orion. He pursed his lips and nodded. "The old cemetery."
"If any of this is true then the police need to be called," Aude suggested.
I frowned. "Then we'd-ahh!" I clutched my chest as a burning cold struck me.
My legs buckled, but Orion caught me before to the sidewalk. "We need to get you to Bentley," he told me.
I steadied myself and shook my head. "No, there's-" I grimaced as another wave of cold pain hit me. There came a ringing in my ears like the din of an echoing voice screaming over a vast void. "I think. . .I think Bill's trying to tell me there's something wrong. We need to get to that cemetery. Now."
Aude grasped Bertha's shoulders. "We'll get the police."
Bertha pulled herself from his hold and turned to him. She clasped his hands and smiled up at him. "I need to go with them, Connor."
"And we need to go fast!" I spoke up.
Aude pursed his lips, but nodded. He rushed to the police station and we to Orion's gallant steed. The four of us squeezed inside.
Mirela sneered at the messy interior. "A wagon full of horse manure would be more comfortable."