Forks, Book Two

by A. E. Davis

  Ken limped over to a dead end. I followed him and stopped just short of a big hole that was dug in the ground. The smell of freshly turned dirt was more prominent here and a shiver of unease flitted over me. Rubbing my arms, I moved away from the hole, which kind of reminded me a grave.

  “Jack eventually released the Devil but he made him promise not to bother him for another year. The year went by and when the Devil came for him again, Jack tricked him again.”

  “How’d he do that?”

  Ken smiled eerily. “He had him go into a tree and carved a cross in the trunk so the Devil couldn’t leave.”

  “So he’s still stuck in a tree?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Jack made him promise not to bother him for another ten years and on the condition that if he died before, the Devil would not take his soul.”

  “He agreed?”

  “Yes. He did. But unfortunately for Jack, he died soon after.”

  “That sucks.”

  Ken laughed. “It gets worse,” he said. “Being an undeserving soul, God, wouldn’t let him in heaven and the Devil, keeping to his word not to claim his soul, wouldn’t allow him in hell.”

  “And that was a bad thing?” Sounded to me like Jack lucked out.

  “Yes. You see since he couldn’t get into heaven or hell, the Devil sent Jack off with only a burning coal into the dark of the night.”

  “I don’t see how that is a bad thing compared to the alternative.

  “It is,” he said solemnly. “You see, Jack had no place to go, so he took the coal and put it into a carved out turnip. To this day, his ghostly aberration, dubbed by the people as “Jack of the Lantern,” has been roaming aimlessly over the Earth ever since.”

  ”Wow. Okay. So the answer would be…?” I asked not really getting the story.

  “A Jack- O- Lantern, of course,” he said smugly.

  “Of course.” After I wrote the answer down, we started walking again. The cornstalks rustled in the wind and a rather large crow flew overhead, cawing loudly.

  There was another little alcove created in the stalks with a sign propped up. We stopped. “What kind of monster appears on a full moon?” Ken and I looked at each other.

  “Werewolf,” we blurted at the same time and then laughed.

  “Which way now, do you think?” I asked after I jotted down the answer.

  “I think we should keep going to the left.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” I told Ken.

  “Let’s go before those kids beat us to the next one.”

  “Okie Dokie.”

  We took off at a fast-paced walk… well, as fast as we could with Ken limping, which was still pretty fast, considering. We ducked into the next alcove cutting off two kids. They grumbled behind us.

  “Who is Ichabod Crane afraid of?” I looked up at Ken waiting for his answer even though I knew what it was.

  “Well?” I asked, lifting my brow when he didn’t answer.

  “I know, do you?” Ken gave me a smug look.

  “Yep, I sure do,” I said.

  “Who is he afraid of?” Ken asked.

  “The Headless Horseman, of course,” I said, acting just as smug.

  “Good job!” He reached out and ruffled my hair. I felt like a little kid but I didn’t mind it one bit. “Let’s go,” he said smiling.

  “Okay.” I smoothed my hair back down.

  We hit a dead end twice, which were both thankfully absent of holes and had to double back. Now we were standing in front of another sign, waiting behind the two kids we cut off earlier. They were taking an exceedingly long time and I had to wonder if they were doing some payback.

  They finally moved.

  “Go on,” Ken said, glancing down at his phone.

  I stepped up to the sign. “What type of monster eats brains? Well that’s not too hard. What do you think?” I turned and looked at Ken. He was frowning down at his phone. “What’s wrong?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing.” But his frown remained as he shoved his phone back in his pocket.

  “Oh—kay,” I said slowly.

  After that, it wasn’t nearly as fun. Ken’s mood seemed to have done a one eighty. In fact, I couldn’t wait to finish. We were at the last stop. The sign was crooked and looked like it had been beat up pretty bad. I pulled it back up and read the question. “What is another name for bloodsucker?” My breath caught. Underneath a name was written down, and not just any name either. The name was Viktor Roth.

  Panicking, I shoved the sign back on the ground. “That’s it,” I said, trying to keep my voice even…calm. As I jotted down my answer, prickles rose on my skin, but when I turned, no one was there except for Ken. His eyes glittered strangely.

  “You ready,” I asked, taking a deliberate step backward.

  He shook his head as if to clear his mind and a slow smiled pulled at the corners of his mouth. “I’m ready when you are.”

  “Let’s go.” I turned and fled, not even waiting for Ken.

  “I’m pretty sure we got some free cider and pumpkins coming our way,” Ken said cheerily to Mom as we stepped up to her from the maze.

  Mom turned. “That’s great,” she said, making eyes at us. She was sitting beside a heavyset woman with short brown hair wearing a red jacket. When the woman turned, I immediately recognized her from the La Push tour.

  “Amber, this is Shirley,” she said. “She’s been keeping me company.”

  “Hi.” I automatically looked for her husband.

  “Oh, hello,” Shirley said dismissively, and looked around me at Ken. “And who is this handsome devil?”

  “That’s Ken, my Knight in Shining Armor,” Mom practically purred.

  “Now, Eileen,” Ken chided, but was smiling from ear to ear from the compliment.

  “It’s a pleasure.” Shirley grabbed hold of Ken’s hand and pumped it enthusiastically. “Did you really meet Edward and Bella?”

  “Yeah, I did.” Ken pulled his hand away and shoved it quickly into his pocket.

  I did a double take. That was the first time I heard of that.

  “Will they be back?” Shirley asked looking expectantly at Ken.

  “I doubt it…”

  Shirley’s face fell.

  “But, there is a really great troupe of actors, the Olympic Coven, who look just like them and they come here for the Twilight festivities,” Ken added quickly.

  “Oh, really?” Shirley’s face brightened considerably. “When is that going to happen?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Oh, darn it.” She jutted out her lip.

  “You might want to check in town at the Visitors Center, they should have some information.” Ken was trying to be helpful, I could tell, but Shirley didn’t seem too impressed. Instead, she pulled out a map from her purse and looked at it.

  Ken tried to back out of the line of fire but he wasn’t fast enough. Shirley looked up and caught him. “What about Jacob? Will he be here?”

  “Um…” Ken looked anxiously at Mom for help.

  “She means the one who played the wolf.”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Shirley, I got the answers!” A balding Mort came running from the maze, flapping a piece of paper in his hand.

  “It was nice meeting you.” Shirley stood up and grabbed her purse. “What took you so long,” she yelled at Mort.

  “There were a lot of questions,” he huffed, trying to catch his breath.

  “You better hope all the free stuff isn’t gone.” She swatted him on the arm with her map and stomped away.

  Mort heaved a heavy sigh and chased after her.

  After we picked pumpkins from the field, the tractor carried us back to the barn, which was more of a store with fresh fruit, baked goods, vegetables, flowers, and jams. Since our answers were right we also got cider and small pumpkins.

  Mom and Ken browsed the store for some goodies to take home. I leaned back against one of the bins of pumpkins, sipping
my cider. To preoccupy my mind from thinking about the sign I’d seen, I looked for Shirley and Mort but unfortunately, they were already gone.

  forty five

  “That was fun,” Mom said cheerily as she hobbled over to the couch and sat down.

  “Yeah, it was,” I agreed. “Thanks, Ken.”

  Ken beamed. “I’m glad you girls had a good time.”

  I looked between Mom and Ken, wondering how I could excuse myself.

  “Would you like a glass of wine?” Ken asked. His face was ruddy, chilled from the wind.

  “I’d love one,” Mom gushed appreciatively as she shrugged out of her coat and pulled the afghan over her legs.

  “I’ll get some newspaper,” I said quickly trying to hurry the carving along since it was already six o’clock and I wanted to get fix myself before Viktor showed up.

  “Wouldn’t you rather wait until after dinner? Mom asked.

  “Well….” I hemmed, trying to think of a good reason not to wait. My mind blanked. Dangit.

  “Now, Amber...” Mom lifted her brow.

  I knew that look. She was on to me. “Well, I was hoping I could maybe go out tonight.”

  “Amber…we talked about this,” Mom sighed.

  “I’ll just get the wine.” Ken took off out of the room, leaving me to fend for myself.

  Once Ken was out of earshot, I walked over and sat on the couch.

  “Don’t even try it,” she warned.

  “But…Mom…”

  “What?” She was scowling.

  “Viktor asked me out.”

  “The Viktor?”

  “Yes.” I nodded my head enthusiastically.

  “What about dinner?”

  “Can’t I skip it?”

  “Well,” she sighed. “I guess so.”

  “Thanks Mom!” I reached forward and gave her a big hug.

  Ken walked back into the room just as we broke apart, carrying two glasses of wine. “I hope you’re hungry,” he said, looking pointedly at me.

  “Ah,” I flustered and looked at Mom. She made eyes at me. Well that helped…not. “I kind of have plans,” I said.

  Ken’s brows creased. “Oh.” He handed a glass of wine to Mom.

  “Can you save me a plate?” I said, thinking he was upset about me missing dinner.

  “Of course,” he said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Are you headed out with Glinda, again?”

  “No. Not with Glinda,” I evaded.

  “Who then?” He took a sip of his wine.

  “Um…”

  “She’s going out with a boy,” Mom finally added her two cents to the conversation.

  “Oh.” His lips pressed into a firm line like he was mad.

  Mom averted her eyes and chugged her wine.

  “Well, I should get ready…unless you want to carve pumpkins?”

  “It can wait,” he said snappily.

  “Cool. I didn’t want to miss out on the carving contest.”

  “If you were really worried you would stay home, wouldn’t you?”

  “Ah…” I looked at Mom for help. As usual, she had her head down acting oblivious.

  “I was joking.”

  “Oh, ha, funny,” I said even though it wasn’t funny at all. And by the look on his face, he didn’t think so either.

  “Well, thanks again, Ken. I had fun.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  I gave him a sheepish smile but he didn’t smile back.

  Ken’s phone rang. “I need to get this.” He turned and walked towards the kitchen.

  Thankful I was saved from the hot seat, I looked at Mom.

  “Well?” She lifted her brow. “What are you waiting for?”

  I wasn’t sure what she was getting at. “Huh?”

  “You better go get ready.” She gave me a sly smile and then shooed me away.

  “Thanks Mom! You’re the best.” I gave her another quick hug and ran upstairs to get ready for my date with Viktor.

  It was almost eight o’clock when I finally finished getting ready for my date. I changed three times and finally settled on a comfy, ‘I’m not trying too hard’ casual look by wearing faded jeans and a black sweater with a white t-shirt underneath. Lifting Mom’s scarf, I twirled it around my neck, like Glinda had done the night before but it looked stupid. I took the scarf back off and tossed it on my chair on the way out.

  Voices floated up the stairs. Thinking Viktor was here already, I quickly ran into the bathroom to brush my teeth again and put on some cherry lip balm. Once I was done using the bathroom, I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs.

  Ken was blocking my view of the door. Mom was over on the couch, her head twisted around, staring. She looked freaked.

  I frowned and tried to catch her eye but she didn’t seem to see me. Taking a breath, I stepped around Ken and stopped.

  Ken turned and looked at me with a freaked look on his face that matched Mom’s. And I could now see why. It wasn’t Viktor standing at the door but Vincent.

  His hair was windblown and he was wearing a jean jacket over one of his super hero t-shirts, this one had a Captain America shield on the front—as usual, he looked really good.

  My heart picked up pace. “Hey,” I said a little breathlessly, freaking out.

  “Hey.” He smiled cheerily at me like nothing had happened last night with him and Cressida.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Ken’s brows pulled together as he looked between us both. “I guess I should let you two kids talk.” He turned and left the room. For once, I wish he had stayed.

  Vincent’s eyes followed Ken as he made his way back to the living room and then turned his attention back to me. “I brought pumpkins.” He gave me a big cheesy earsplitting grin. Two big pumpkins were on the floor by his feet. They looked a lot better than the crappy ones we picked.

  “I already got one.”

  “Yeah, I know.” His brows creased. “Ken, I mean Officer Warren, just told me.” He dipped his head down and made eyes at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t get why you’re here?” I wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to keep it together.

  “I promised to get you a pumpkin.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, looking unsure suddenly. “So we could have a carving contest, remember?” His brows creased.

  “That was before,” I said, keeping my voice low so Mom and Ken couldn’t hear me.

  “Before what?” He looked at me like he didn’t have any idea what I was talking about. My blood pressure rose.

  “Before you left me,” I snapped.

  “I told you I was going into the Social.” Now he looked confused.

  “But you didn’t wait for me.”

  “Was I supposed to?”He gave me a questioning look.

  “Ah, yeah,” I deadpanned.

  “How was I supposed to know that?”

  “You said you wanted me to come.”

  “I did.”

  “But you left me.”

  “Yeah, so,” he said. “What was I supposed to do?”

  “If you don’t know then I don’t see the point in continuing this conversation.”

  Vincent glanced back towards the living room and then angled his body so his back was blocking Mom and Ken’s view of us. “What did I do?”

  “You kissed Cressida.”

  “So what,” he said, looking oblivious.

  I gaped at him.

  “We were on a date,” he added.

  My breath caught and I felt like he just punched me in my gut. “But you asked me to go with you.”

  “Yeah, I did. So?” His brows pulled together.

  I took a deep breath. “Why did you ask me if you were going on a date with her?”

  “Because I thought you might want to come, too.”

  Heat climbed to my face. “Why would I want to go with you when you asked out Cressida?”

  “You didn’t come with me,” he reminded me. “I went with Cr
essida and Curtis.”

  “But I thought…” I shook my head.

  “I asked you because we’re friends.” His voice dipped lower. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

  Oh. My. God. I felt sick.

  “Amber?” He searched my face. “You told me you couldn’t date…remember?”

  “You came over here, though.” I lowered my voice, “You spent the night.”

  “Yeah. I did. We had fun didn’t we?”

  “Why?” I felt sick. Everything started crashing into place.

  “Because you called me,” he said.

  “But you stayed…”

  “Because you were scared and you wanted me to.” He scrubbed his hands over his face and expelled a breath. “Am I missing something?”

  “Why did you come over tonight?” I was barely able to speak at this point.

  “Because I promised you that I would.” His face showed his confusion.

  “I know that—but why?”

  “You know why.” His brows creased.

  “No. No, I don’t.” I shook my head.

  “You do know,” he said. “I told you.”

  “Well obviously I don’t.” I did now, but I didn’t want to admit to it. I grappled for something to say. To relieve the sickening tightening I felt in my chest. “What about Cressida?”

  “What about her?”

  “You’re dating her.”

  “Yeah, so,” he said. “I told her I was coming over here.”

  “And she was okay with that?”

  “Why wouldn’t she be?”

  God. I felt like I was running in circles. I could feel Mom and Ken’s eyes on my back. “Let’s go outside.” I opened the door and stepped out on the porch.

  Vincent followed me out and shut the door. “What’s going on?”

  The porch light was glaring down my head. I stepped back in the shadows. “I’m sorry.”

  “What are you sorry for?” He took a step forward.

  “I didn’t know,” I said, nearly hyperventilating at this point.

  “Amber, you’re freaking me out. What’s wrong?”

  “I…I…”

  Just then, bright lights flashed in the driveway.

  Vincent turned and looked. His body tensed as he turned back towards me. “What’s he doing here?”