“I thought trees were supposed to give oxygen, not squeeze it out of your lungs?” My cranky voice sounded too loud, almost offensive in the quiet of the woods.
Keith didn’t reply, but kept traveling, shifting branches out of the way and holding them for me to step through. I heard a noise from the ground. The ground I couldn’t even see. I halted.
“Magic?” I whispered. I strained to hear more, but there wasn’t another peep.
“Come on, keep moving,” Keith urged.
He pulled me slowly through the bushes and trees, heading towards an unnamed and unknown destination.
“What’s the rush?” My voice squeaked. “You think the cable is out at the funny farm?”
“The Institute is not the funny farm.” He kept moving, pulling aside branches, traveling deeper into the forest. I studied his back as we plowed through. What made him so eager to get to whatever waited for us in there? Whatever was threatening my mom? I wondered how he thought we would get her out once we did find her. A branch flung in my eye and scratched my face. I yelped and dropped Keith’s hand to cover the scratch. Distracted, I lost my balance, tripped and stumbled. I slipped and crashed to my knees, my hands falling through tall weeds, my fingers touching mossy cold ground. The smell of evergreen and wild flowers went straight up my nose. The pain eased and then disappeared, but there I was on the forest floor.
Cursing, I brushed off and got to my feet. All I could see around me was thick gnarly branches that looked like they may or may not want to eat me.
“Keith?” I called.
There was no response. Fear bubbled in my belly.
“Keith,” my voice went up a couple of notches.
No reply. My chest tightened. “Hey. You said you wouldn’t leave me,” I shouted. Panicking, I started to run. I yelped, hyperventilating as branches scratched my cheeks up and marked up my arms. Then disappeared.
“Keith,” I shouted. “Keith where are you?”
No one answered. I shivered as a sense of horrible deja vous gripped me. The darkness seemed to close in on me, the branches trying to grab me, hurt me. I shivered and stopped moving, wrapping my arms around myself, too terrified to move.
“Don’t panic, don’t panic,” I mumbled out loud. “You can handle this, Sydney. You’re not a little girl. You’re a kick ass witch.”
I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut. “I wish I could find Keith in the forest.”
I looked around. “Keith?” I shouted. Nothing.
“Oh, this is just great. When I really need this stupid magic stuff, nothing.” I waited. Nothing. “Okay. I wish this would all just stop now. I’m not having fun in case anyone out there in witch land is wondering.”
I heard a slight rustling behind me.
Relieved, I turned. “Keith, you are so dead for losing me.”
The trees parted. A body flew towards me. It wasn’t Keith.
I gasped.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cody plowed through the trees, crashing straight into me. Stevie was right on his tail. She looked ridiculous in a short jean skirt with her big clunky black boots in the middle of the wilderness. I snorted and hiccupped in relief. Seeing them made me hope all this crap wasn’t really happening.
“What the heck is wrong with you?” Stevie shouted. She hurried forward and slugged me on the arm. Cody followed her but luckily he didn’t punch me, too.
“What is wrong with you?” he yelled.
I wrinkled up my brows and tried to look indignant. In the presence of my obnoxious best friend and my brother, the forest lost some of its brawn.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, using my Queen voice. As if finding me in the middle of a forest outside the city ranked up there with everyday occurrences.
I kind of hoped Keith would pop out of the trees, laugh with us and tell me everything had been an elaborate hoax they’d been playing on me. We could all go home and laugh at how I’d fell for all their elaborate pranks. Believing I had powers. Ha!
Except how did I justify all the things that didn’t have a logical explanation?
“Listen,” Cody said. ”You’ve been talking to yourself for two days now. You’ve been sleeping in mom’s room and now you’re running around a friggin forest, while the police are looking for you.” By the end of his little speech he was shouting, but his anger didn’t mask his fear. His eyes shone bright as if he might burst into tears at any minute.
“Sleeping in her mom’s room, I totally get. I mean even I missed my mom the first time I got my period. Of course, that was sooo long ago, I can barely remember.” Stevie glanced at me apologetically, but I saw a glitter of satisfaction in her eyes. Ew. Trying to impress my brother with her PERIOD.
“Don’t worry. Cody knows you’re a real woman,” I snapped. Didn’t she realize how transparent she was?
Stevie ignored me. ”But talking to yourself? Sydney, that’s so not normal. And hiding from the police in a forest?” She wrinkled her nose and looked around us. “You hate forests. Why would you be running around one? And where the heck is Keith? I thought he was with you.”
“I don’t know. He was here. I lost him somehow.” We all glanced around us as if Keith would jump out of the bushes and shout hello. “And I’m not hiding from the police in here. Um. I mean, not really. I came here with Keith, to…”
I tried to think of a rational reason. I didn’t want to freak out Cody even more.
“Are you and Keith hooking up?” Stevie demanded.
“NO!” I yelled a little too loudly.
Cody crossed his arms. “Are you doing drugs out here?”
“I’m not doing drugs. God. I just came out here with him to um look for some stuff. And I lost him and now we have to find him,” I told them. “I might kill him when I find him. I wish he would appear right now,” I shouted. I waited. Nothing. No stupid wish power.
“What were you two looking for? I might kill you by the way,” Cody said. “Nana is going to ground you for a month for this when she finds out what you’ve done.”
“Nana is just as lost as we are,” I yelled. “Did you ever think of that? Our entire family is lost in the forest.”
He stared me down without blinking until I looked away out of habit. He glanced at Stevie. “She’s losing it. Take her back to the car. I’ll go look for Keith myself and then we’re all leaving this place. It gives me the creeps.”
“No,” Stevie and I said at the same time.
“You can’t leave us alone in this forest,” I added.
Cody looked back and forth at us and shook his head.
“Chicks.” He stepped in front of me. “Fine. I’ll take you both to the clearing and then I’ll come back and find Keith. If I leave you two in the woods, you’ll fall apart and be no use to anyone.”
He mumbled to himself and started walking; turning his head to make sure we followed him. I wanted to tell him Mom was in the forest, in trouble, but going home sounded really good, too.
Crap. I couldn’t leave my Mom in the friggin’ Institute in whatever trouble Keith sensed she was in. I trusted him. He knew something.
I didn’t know how could to rationalize any of this to Cody.
“Um. We should look for Keith together. In case he needs us or something.”
Cody didn’t answer, but picked up his pace. I wasn’t about to run off by myself so I followed, but I tried to convince him to turn back. “Um. He might want my help or something.”
“What the heck can you possibly do to help?”
What indeed. I shut up and fumed.
Stevie hurried behind me, her breath warm on my neck. I glanced over my shoulder. “How did you guys even find us?”
“I was watching the parking lot during Science class,” she panted as she hurried to keep up in her boots. ”Like I always do. Mr. Michaels is boring. Anyway, I saw you and Keith talking to Jenny and then you ran to his car, and peeled out of the parking lot like you were being chased by zombies. I knew somet
hing was up. I’d heard people talking about police being at school and asking questions about Mike Cameron, so I thought that’s why you were bolting. I stood up in the middle of his instructions for our quiz and shouted that I was going to be sick. I ran out the door before he even knew what happened.” She giggled. “Mr. Michaels was yelling at me as I took off down the hall. But lucky for me, Cody was waiting right outside the front doors of the school. I told him what happened and we jumped in his car and followed you guys here. We pulled in just as you ran into the forest. Cody had to convince me to follow. I wouldn’t let him leave me all alone.”
“What were you doing in front of the school?” I called up to Cody. “You had class.” Cody Grant never cut classes. It was against his personal code of ethics.
He didn’t look back. “I don’t know. I had a feeling something was wrong…” Cody stopped. I wanted to scream. All these stupid feelings floating around.
“Here’s a path.” He held out his hand and pulled back a branch and waited for me to pass. I stumbled past him and fell into the clearing, dropping to my knees and hanging my head, breathing in the open air.
Stevie walked up beside me and held out her hand and pulled me up. “Hey Drama Queen. It’s over. You’re out of the woods. So to speak.” She snorted and I only resisted stepping on her toe.
She glanced at Cody. “I swear the whole police force raced to the school as we were leaving. I suspect you’re in some sort of trouble for taking off. Did you and Keith have something to do with Mike going missing?”
“What? Like we murdered him or something? I haven’t even seen Mike since he came to the house. Actually, I didn’t even see him, Cody did.” I brushed myself off and glared at Stevie.
“Yeah. And I murdered him,” Cody interrupted. “Who the heck knows what happened to Mike and who cares? You can talk to the police like a normal human being instead of running away from them like you’re crazy.” Cody raised an eyebrow at me and stared down Stevie.
“You’ve got some serious mental issues, Sydney. With the history in our family it hardly surprises me but you seriously have to get looked at. Seriously. The sooner, the better.” Cody tugged at his hair as if he wanted to pull it from his head. “We are not losing another person in this family to insanity, okay? You will not go crazy.” His voice cracked under the weight of so much Cody emotion.
“I’m not crazy,” I said.
He gave me a dirty look. “I’m going to find Keith. I want you two to wait right here. Do not move. Do not go anywhere. When I find him, we’re taking you home.”
“Wait,” I called.
Cody turned back.
“It’s Mom, Code. She’s in there. In the forest. We came to find her. She’s in trouble.”
Cody shook his head. “A doctor, Sydney. You need a doctor.” He turned and slipped back inside the woods.
Stevie and I watched in silence as he disappeared.
“You know, in his own way, I think he just told you he cares,” Stevie said.
I continued to stare into the forest wondering what I should do. “God. I hope my Mom is okay.” I had a bad, bad feeling of my own now.
Stevie blinked her eyes at me and actually seemed a little frightened of me. “You’re not going crazy are you, Sydney?”
“God. No. I swear, Stevie, I’m not. There’s so much that doesn’t make sense, but I’m not nuts.”
A tiny smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “God. What’s up with you and Keith? Is there something going on, I should know about? You two have been doing googly eyes for a while now.”
“Stevie. Gross! We have not.” My face roasted up as quickly as a marshmallow on a stick. “We’ve been looking for my Mom.” I rubbed at my nose and gave her my dirtiest look.
She stared at me and then glanced purposely at the forest. “In there?” She arched her eyebrows high. “You think your Mom is in there. Riiiiiight….”
“There’s a lot going on you don’t understand. Neither do I for that matter. For now let’s just say that things have been. Well. Messed up. God, I need to talk to Keith.”
What if he was right about my Mom and I was standing there doing nothing.
“Keith’s not going to save you, Sydney,” a deep male voice piped up from behind us.
My hand went to my throat and I swiveled to see who had spoken. My necklace pulsed against my neck. Warm. I looked around. There was no one there, except Stevie.
“You hear that, Stevie?” I asked.
“What do you think? Of course, I did.” Her eyebrows furrowed together as she darted her head around, searching for the person who’d spoken. “Who’s there? What the heck is going on here?”
Her panic was tangible. I reached for her, and when my fingers touched hers, an image of Stevie crying, tucked into a fetal position filled my brain.
I pulled away and the vision vanished. The hair on my arms stood at attention and saluted me. I glanced at Stevie trying to stay in the moment. I needed my wits about me. Stupid visions.
Jenny Truman stepped out of the bushes.
In relief, I giggled.
“What the heck are you doing here? Yoga class?” Stevie demanded.
Jenny glared at Stevie and raised her hand in the air. The air crackled a little and a puff of blue dust sprinkled from her fingers. Stevie crumbled to the ground in a heap.
I yelled and crouched down to make sure Stevie was still breathing. Her eyes were closed but her chest rose and fell.
I shook her. “Stevie?”
“She won’t be waking up for a while,” the male voice said.
I glanced up. Jenny stared down at me, her eyes dark, and her expression callous. “I haven’t hurt your little friend. I put her to sleep.”
The deep voice growled out of Jenny’s mouth.
I stood up slowly, not taking my eyes off her. “Wake her up,” I demanded. “What’s wrong with your voice, Jenny? And what did you do to Stevie?”
Jenny opened her mouth and her lips moved, but her voice sounded deep and evil. “Don’t worry about Stevie. She’s fine.”
I stepped back, glancing at Stevie and then back at the forest. More than anything, I wanted to see Keith, even Cody trotting out.
“You’re a witch?” My voice croaked with fear.
“Why?” Jenny threw her head back and laughed. “Do I seem different to you? She is no witch. Maybe rhymes with B, but not magical. She’s got nasty thoughts inside her, this one.”
I shivered and stepped back. Jenny’s body stood in front of me, no doubt about it, but it certainly wasn’t Jenny the obnoxious teenager I knew and loathed talking. Someone or something had taken over her body and was talking about Jenny in third person.
If this was an example of what I’d be dealing with in life as a witch, I understood the family fondness for the Cuckoo’s nest completely. Hello Funny Farm. Room for one, please.
Jenny stepped towards me and reached out. I shrank back and she lifted her hand flicking away some of her long blond hair dangling in her eyes.
“Don’t touch me you body stealing creep.” I shouted. I glanced down at Stevie glad she’d been put asleep. This would be too much for her to handle. It was too much for me.
Anything seemed possible. Maybe Jenny was possessed by a demon? Jenny chuckled but her black eyes fixed on my neck. My hand went up and I gripped my necklace tight in my fingers. A rush of strength and bravery coursed through me.
Jenny took a footstep backwards, her movements awkward, not graceful or pretty. I glanced at her feet. She’d ditched the high heels. Her feet were bare. Honestly, if it wasn’t so disturbing to see Jenny’s body moving with clumsy male mannerisms and a deep voice that did nothing to compliment her sundress, this whole thing might have amused me.
“I want your powers. And I will have them. You can make it easy. Or. You can make it hard.”
“Who are you?” I demanded. “What are you?” I took a quick breath. “I wish you would go away.”
My wishing power seemed t
o have halted.
Jenny giggled in a deep male voice. It sounded like death coming out of her pretty mouth. I cursed myself for not watching more Buffy the Vampire Slayer re-runs.
“Are you some sort of witch hater you awful wanna-be?” She was after my powers. Jenny. Whatever she was.
Unfortunately I had no idea how to use them properly to make her go away.
Jenny’s lips stretched over her teeth in an unattractive grin. “Au contraire mon petite. I love witches.” The deep voice quivered. “I, my dear, am a Sentry. At your service.”
My thoughts popped back to the book in my mother’s room. Sentry? What had the book said about Sentry’s?
“Someone who helps witches?” I remembered out loud.
Jenny stared at me for a moment before flashing her teeth in a scowl.
“You are not someone who helps witches.” I stared at the freak- show in front of me trying to remember what the book said. Something about dormant powers.
“Oh. Lighten up. I’m not going to hurt you,” Jenny said.
“You can’t,” I snapped without thinking.
Jenny’s face contorted in a furious motion, and then her features settled back. “You’re right. Of course I can’t. What I am is a Sentry. From the Order of Grant Witches. I assume you’ve seen the book, n’est pa? The book your mother had hidden in her closet.” Jenny rolled black eyes. “It’s a direct quote I believe. That is what a Sentry does- “help witches.”
She grinned. Pure evil. “I’ve seen the book, too. I’m quite familiar with it.”
“If you’re a Sentry, and you help witches, why are you using an innocent teenage girl’s body to torment me?”
“N'importe Quoi. Innocent? This girl. I don’t know about that. Besides, my own form might prove distracting,” she said in her disturbing voice. “I didn’t want to cause hardship where I didn’t need to.” She stuck out her hip, imitating the way a girl might stand. If she were a girl. Waving a hand in front of Jenny’s body the thing inside Jenny continued. “I am a powerful Sentry, my dear. I can borrow bodies as it were, as long as they are willing to be borrowed. I haven’t hurt her. This girl, this Jenny, practically begged to be used. Her fixation with you oozed out of her every pore. I zeroed in on her at your school. Jenny is obsessed with you. I can’t blame her really. You did try to steal her boyfriend after all. She’s been a bit angry with you.”
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