Grim Hill: Forest of Secrets

by Linda DeMeulemeester

  “Like they were going to try and eat me,” said Skeeter, shaking his head.

  “The wolves are gone,” Clive reassured his brother.

  “Oh, I wasn’t scared,” Skeeter said. “If they come back I’ll take a branch like this, see?” He reached down and grabbed a forked branch and jabbed it fiercely into the air, forcing us to scatter. “I’ll hit them with this stick right between the eyes and those wolves will run away.”

  Amarjeet stared at Clive’s drawn face as he watched his brother battle invisible beasts. “We’ve got more to worry about than wolves,” she said quietly.

  I nodded mournfully.

  “What?” asked Mitch. “I’m missing something here.” Jasper glanced nervously upstream. Amanda had taken off her shoe and was soaking her sore ankle in the water again.

  Sookie stepped forward and crossed her arms. She waited.

  “Those creeps are closing in on us, and they’re not going to give up,” Clive said bluntly.

  “Then I’ll just do this,” bragged Skeeter, jabbing the stick again.

  “I’m afraid that won’t be much use against guns,” said Clive. Then he tried a half smile. “Though I’m glad you’re on our side.”

  “I’m on your side,” Sookie said to me, still waiting.

  “All right,” I said louder than I meant to. Everyone turned. “Okay, Sookie. You can help.”

  CHAPTER 13 - A Treacherous Choice

  I FELT AS if we were all hanging on to the edge of a cliff by our fingernails – and my sister had the rope that could save us. That was the only reason I’d just told Sookie she could use a tiny bit of magic to help us. I hoped I had made the right choice, but it didn’t help that Sookie squealed with glee.

  The rest of the gang didn’t appear as ecstatic. “What can she do?” Clive asked suspiciously.

  “Use the mirror to summon help!” yelled Sookie with too much enthusiasm.

  “Calm down,” I shushed her. “I just want you to …”

  “Give it to me, Cat.”

  I didn’t like the way Sookie’s face lit up when she talked about the mirror – as if there were more going on than her wanting to get home. More like, she couldn’t get the fairy object out of her mind. I had a bad feeling …

  “Maybe we should wait,” I said, backpedaling. “Help is close. The police must have discovered the abandoned bus by now.” By the look on their faces, I could tell Clive and Jasper weren’t so sure.

  “Your sister can call for help? I thought none of us had a cell phone,” said Mitch. “What’s she waiting for, I can’t live off of duckweeds for dinner much longer.”

  The early light was breaking through, warming up the morning air. A faint buzz told me it would only be seconds before the mosquitoes began to harass us. Even just the sound of the pesky bugs made me want to scratch my arm.

  “Your sister’s not talking about a cell phone … is she …?” Amarjeet said slowly, as if she were trying to dig up a buried memory. “Sookie’s not like other kids.”

  Mia stopped flicking stones in the creek and turned. Her face grew puzzled. Then Skeeter piped up. “Cool. Sookie, are you going to use some magic? Let’s get those bad guys.”

  “Magic?” Clive’s eyes bored into me. “Why does this seem familiar?” Then he shook his head. “Why does even saying, ‘this seems familiar’ uh, seem familiar.” Mia nodded in agreement.

  “Because it is,” Jasper broke in. “Sookie has special talents, and weird things have happened before to all of us.” He didn’t go on to explain that only he and I remembered this because of our white feathers – the feather I kept on a fine silver chain linked around my waist – the feather that at this very moment heated against my skin in warning. As if I had a choice …

  The eerie howls of wolves echoed across the valley. That was weird – they should have gone back to their den by now, even if they were traveling in a pack. Something about their howls disturbed me – aside from hearing a wolf in the first place. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

  “Those guys at the camp aren’t going to like the wolf cries either,” Clive said. Then more urgently, “They are going to want to get their diamonds and get out of this valley fast.”

  I got his point: that meant those guys would be in a hurry to get rid of us, and judging from my friends’ wounded expressions, they understood that too. Skeeter thought this was a stupid game or adventure, like in the movies, and Sookie – well, at the moment she seemed preoccupied. Her hand was still stuck out, waiting for me to hand over the mirror. Maybe she wanted this just a little too much.

  Skeeter leaned over and began chanting loudly, “Use your magic. Get those bad guys.”

  Clive huddled with the others and updated them about the diamonds as well as the driver and pilot’s plan. I felt a sense of foreboding tighten around me like a noose. Clive was right – those crooks would find us in an hour or so tops, if the wolves didn’t find us first. Suddenly I knew what had made me uneasy. The howls reminded me of a spy show I’d watched on television, where the spies used Morse code. Those yowls sounded eerily like signals. The pack was closing in, but I hadn’t read anything about wolves knowing how to communicate like that. I was beginning to think there was a reason those howls sounded different. There was something uncanny in the air

  – I could feel it.

  Clive broke away from the group. “Even though I should be saying this is all a load of crap, I … I won’t.” Clive looked pained to admit it. “If there’s some way your sister can help us, now would be a good time.”

  “Fine,” I answered, almost in defeat. I couldn’t see another way out. Then I held Sookie’s gaze with mine. With a sigh, I said, “If there’s some way you can get help with your magic, then let’s do it.” My sister nodded enthusiastically. I reached in my pack and pulled out my mirror. Everyone crowded around me, and Amanda gasped at its strange light. Reluctantly, I handed it over to my sister. She yanked it from my hand greedily.

  “Uh, is it just me or do you think we should, like, get moving rather than stand around staring at some mirror?” said Mitch.

  “It is going to take a while,” said Sookie. “Mirror magic doesn’t just happen. It needs to be lunar charged.”

  “Right …” I said slowly. Like we had time to wait until the moon came out. Nothing came easy – not in our world or the magic world. But it hadn’t occurred to me that this wouldn’t happen instantly.

  “Besides moonlight,” Sookie explained, “we’ll need to find a place of power.” Then, as if I were the little sister, she started lecturing me. “Those are earthly points that are linked to the Otherworld.”

  I stared blankly.

  “You know,” Sookie said, slightly exasperated. “Like Grim Hill or Blakulla in Sweden.”

  “Oh,” Amarjeet said quietly as if it were all coming together. “Places where strange things happen …”

  Mia grew thoughtful, mumbling, “My grandfather used to say something about places like that. He called them ley lines …”

  Amanda nodded. “The Dene and lots of First Nations people have places like that. I saw one once when I was with my grandmother.”

  I was about to ask what it looked like because in my experience, getting to a place of power usually involved climbing hills or mountains. That didn’t seem possible, trapped as we were between the wolves and the outlaws.

  “Did you hear a branch snap?” Mitch stared wildly at the bushes ahead. “Let’s get out of here.” He turned to Sookie. “Can you buy us some time while you figure out what to do with that mirror?” Already my friends were looking to my kid sister, letting her take charge.

  “I can use a foot-track reversal spell to throw those desperados off our trail,” offered Sookie.

  “Why didn’t you do that yesterday,” Clive complained. “They wouldn’t be on our backs now. Not to mention it would have saved us a trek through the icy creek.”

  “Cat wouldn’t let me,” Sookie said in disgust. Then, apologetically, she look
ed up at me and said in her sweetest voice, “Don’t worry. I’ll conjure just a little hex.”

  Hex. The cat was out of the bag and it wasn’t me. My sister was unleashing her powers.

  CHAPTER 14 - Dead Lost

  “QUICK,” ORDERED SOOKIE. “Hand me something that belonged to those unscrupulous outlaws.”

  “Huh?” asked Mitch.

  That was my sister – all about the drama. I sighed. “She wants a diamond.”

  Clive slung the duffel bag off his shoulder and opened it up. He hesitated for a second.

  “Come on,” Sookie said with a hint of impatience. “If it’s a shiny object it will work even better – it will distract them like a flashy bauble would distract a magpie.”

  “What’s a magpie?” asked Mitch.

  “Could we just get this over with?” I said. Clive snatched a diamond out of the duffel bag and handed it to my sister.

  The moment would have been very funny, if I weren’t so busy fearing for my life and for my sister’s fate. To see Sookie boss Clive around, and have him obey, brought back memories of him lecturing his brother about doing whatever Sookie told him. Then, Skeeter began chanting again.

  “Use your magic, get those bad guys.”

  It was eerie, as if he too were falling under the magic’s lure.

  This is the right thing to do, Cat, I repeated to myself.

  This is the only way.

  Sookie gathered dirt from each of our footprints left in the muddy silt and sprinkled it over the diamond. Her voice grew ominous as she pronounced, “Bow la.” That’s what it sounded like, but I knew my sister was saying, “Bear leat,” which is Celtic for “take this away.”

  Sookie began singing her own peculiar song, which I swear was one of those creepy tunes she’d learned from the evil witches in Sweden. I gulped. Sookie flashed a wicked smile before she looked up at me and dropped her grin. Suddenly a murder of crows erupted from the trees and flew into the air, cawing and screeching. I followed the flock with my eyes and spotted a strange sight that froze the breath in my lungs.

  “Wow,” said Amarjeet. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  “What … what was that?” asked Mia.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off the strange bird with its cream-colored feathers and arched wings spread like ivory fans.

  “A white raven,” Amanda gasped. “Some First Nations people say a white raven is a harbinger of the end of the world.”

  “Harber what?” asked Mitch, his eyes riveted on the sky.

  “Harbinger – a sign of something bad to come,” said Jasper. “I can’t believe seeing an amazing creature like that would be a bad sign.”

  Amarjeet shook her head. “In my culture, if something appears in white, it means it could be a ghost.”

  “Bad sign, good sign, we have to stay focused,” Clive broke in. “Our lives are in danger. Let’s get moving.”

  “There’s no rush,” Sookie said coyly.

  “Why? What did you do?” asked Clive.

  “Sookie kicked their butts.” Skeeter grinned.

  “Those men won’t see our footprints,” said Sookie. “And they’ll keep on circling back the way they came – for a very long time.” Then my sister suppressed a giggle. “Oh, and their feet are going to get a terrible rash that will make their skin horribly itchy.”

  “Awesome,” Skeeter said with approval.

  “Clive still has a point,” said Jasper. “We need to escape while we can. Those guys won’t keep circling forever.” Then he fastened Sookie with a serious stare. “Will they?”

  Sookie shook her head. “Not … forever …”

  We dived into the sea of trees and hiked deeper into the valley. But we’d had little food and sleep, and soon we began stumbling over the twisted roots that spread across the ground. It was almost as if those trees were tripping us on purpose.

  “I can’t take another step until I get something to eat.” Skeeter sank to his knees.

  “Should we take a break?” I said, and before I’d even finished my sentence, Amarjeet, Mitch, and Sookie slumped to the ground. Even Clive didn’t object. We passed around the last of Mom’s snacks, sharing peanut butter crackers and apple juice.

  “Ouch.” I slapped a red bump forming on my neck. In the shadowy gloom of the forest we were becoming breakfast to a steady onslaught of mosquitoes.

  Batting away the bugs, Mia asked, “If those guys are looping from the creek back to their camp, can’t we head back to the road?”

  “What if we cross paths with the driver and his nasty friends as they are circling – we just got rid of them,” grumbled Clive.

  We slowly pulled ourselves up from the damp ground. I wasn’t happy about plunging deeper into this forest.

  “Hey,” said Mitch. “But if we could hike back to the bus, then we could use the radio to get help while those crooks are under Sookie’s spell.”

  “Whoa, now you’re talking,” Clive said.

  I liked that plan too – then my sister wouldn’t have to use her hocus pocus on that mirror.

  “Good idea, Mitch,” said Jasper.

  “Hello, I was the one who came up with the idea,” Mia shook her head. Amarjeet nodded in agreement.

  “No, you didn’t,” argued Mitch. “You didn’t mention the bus or the radio.”

  “I said we should hike back to the …” began Mia.

  We all started arguing until Jasper said, “Hey, does anyone have any idea which way the bus would be?”

  I looked around in the gloom. This place seemed different from the creek path we’d followed. The ground had grown springy again, and I didn’t like the way the air smelled – like toadstools and rotting stumps and dark secret things.

  “Remember,” began Amanda. “Moss grows thickest on the north side of trees. That’s the way we headed, so we should turn around and go south.”

  “Uh, that moss stuff is not going to help,” said Amarjeet.

  She was right. In this stretch of the forest, moss hung like beards on stooped and twisted trees. It was impossible to tell on which side of the tree it grew thicker. Not only did this seem like a place where you’d find Red Riding Hood, it reminded me of the dark and dangerous forest that Hansel and Gretel had stumbled into. I used to think those were simply fairy tales, until I began living under a fairy hill.

  One glance at Jasper and Clive’s faces forced me to admit the truth.

  CHAPTER 15 - A Sinister Turn

  “WE HAVE TO pick a direction fast,” I said. “It’ll be getting cold soon.” The wind seemed to agree with me – it blew through the crags of the surrounding rocks in shrill, urgent gasps.

  “I think the creek’s this way,” Mia pointed right. “If we could follow it, we’d get back to …”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s the other way,” said Mitch.

  Half of us thought the creek was to the left, the other half believed it was to the right. “Maybe the mirror would help,” Sookie suggested.

  “It’s not a compass,” Clive shot back impatiently.

  “We don’t know what that mirror is,” I said slowly. I dug it out of my pack and handed it to my sister. I told myself that fairy object or not, the mirror had belonged to Lea and couldn’t bring us harm. Sookie grasped the gilt edge, her knuckles turning white as she scrunched her eyes and stared into its foggy glass.

  “We should turn left,” Sookie said. No one argued this time.

  *

  Blackflies plagued us as we plowed our way through endless trees and bushes. After a long time, we stopped to pass around the water container. It was hard not to gulp it all down at once, but we didn’t dare finish it off until we found the creek again. Everyone had glum expressions and even Sookie, as excited as she was, began stumbling with exhaustion.

  “This is taking longer than we’d planned,” Mitch pointed out. “Why don’t we gather some more plants to eat?” We all agreed, and even the thought of bitter leaves made my mouth water as my stomach practically
gnawed through my spine.

  The air began turning cold, which got rid of the flies, and the shadows grew long in the dimming forest light. We set out again, gathering edible plants and berries on the way.

  “Oh no,” Amarjeet cried out in utter despair. “We’re going in circles.”

  “What do you mean?” Clive looked around. “We haven’t been here before.”

  Everywhere looked the same to me. I shrugged my shoulders.

  “Check that out,” Amarjeet pointed to a bush of salmon berries. “I remember breaking off those branches to get to the berries.”

  Amarjeet was right. I could make out our footprints in the dirt. I blinked back tears as I tried not to think about how tired, hungry, and frightened I was becoming.

  “Good one, Sookie,” Amanda complained. “We’re not getting anywhere.”

  Sookie crossed her arms and stubbornly said, “The mirror meant for us to go left.”

  “I knew we should have gone right,” said Mia. “No one ever listens to me.”

  “It doesn’t make any difference,” Jasper pointed out. “We’re traveling in circles – so what if we’re circling left or circling right?”

  “Like I said, that mirror’s no compass,” argued Clive.

  Sookie’s lip quivered. “I shouldn’t have given the mirror back to you,” she said looking up at me. “I should have kept checking it while we were hiking. Oh, Cat,” she sniffled. “I want to go home.”

  Slapping a smile on my face, I ruffled her hair and promised, “Soon.” I grabbed the mirror from my pack and handed it to my sister. “I guess it’s okay to look one more time.”

  Once more, Sookie pointed left. With no other choice, we set out again, grumbling and sniping at each other as we trudged in exhausted misery, until …

  “Awooooo.” The shuddering howl ripped through the trees and froze our blood. It was almost as loud as a clap of thunder.

  “Awooooo.”

  Those howls sounded closer than ever before! For cover, we dove deeper into the trees and broke into a panicked run. Trees and branches bit my skin and snatched at my hair. I was gripping my sister’s hand. When she tripped, I wrenched my shoulder again. I noticed the ground below my racing feet was springy. At least this time I knew to watch out for the tall, reedy grass. “We’re headed into a bog,” I warned them. We backed away and, panting, stopped our crazed run to catch our breath.