by Tess Lake
Even as we complained, we were packing clothing that we didn’t mind being completely ruined. As we’d discovered in our research, everything you wore in a mud run would be wrecked by the end.
I set up the automatic cat feeder and told Adams that if I wasn’t back, Molly and Luce would feed him. He barely woke up for us leaving.
Given my car was on its last legs, we took Molly’s, driving to the main part of the mansion to pick up Aunt Cass. She threw a huge duffel bag that was almost as big as her into the trunk and then made me sit in the backseat so she could have the front.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” she declared and pulled a flask of whiskey out of nowhere. She took a deep gulp before offering it to me over the backseat. I don’t like whiskey very much but after the tension of today, I drank deep.
Chapter 19
“Well, this is nice,” Luce said, looking around the cabin.
“You and Molly are staying in that one out there. This one is me and Harlow,” Aunt Cass said.
Luce looked out the window at the much more decrepit and run-down cabin Aunt Cass had pointed to.
“Why do we have to have that one? It looks like it’s about to fall down,” she said.
“Because I called dibs on this one. It’s not my fault you don’t know the rules of dibs.”
“I didn’t hear you call dibs,” Luce said.
“A hearing problem at your age? Not good news,” Aunt Cass said.
Luce muttered something snarky under her breath, but before it could escalate Molly grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out the door. They trudged across the grass to the run-down cabin.
I had a look around our cabin. It was a really nice. It was open plan with a gas stove, a modern kitchen and an adjoining lounge and dining table. The bathroom was white and clean and smelled of pine. There were two bedrooms, each with a queen-sized bed.
“Put your stuff in one of the bedrooms. Then we have to go,” Aunt Cass said.
“Go? Where are we going?”
“The cave your grandma had to stay in is not far from here. I want to take you there so you know where it is. Now get moving.”
I arbitrarily picked the left room and threw my bag on the bed. Aunt Cass didn’t give me a minute to look at it, calling out for me to come with her. I followed her away from the cabin and into the forest. We walked a narrow path that was so indistinct it could be easily mistaken for simply a slightly wider gap between some bushes and trees.
We walked for about ten minutes, Aunt Cass refusing to answer any of my questions before she stopped and pointed ahead, where the path became clear.
“The cave is up there. You need to go on by yourself.”
“Why can’t you come with me?”
“Such a distrustful family,” she said, shaking her head. “Here I am, a kindly old woman trying to do her best, trying to get along in this world, help out her nieces, but all I get is mistrust and suspicion. It’s enough to make a body wonder what’s the point of going on…”
“Yes, yes, I’ve seen the poor unappreciated act before. Fine, I’ll go.”
I followed the path into the forest and kept walking for another ten minutes before it opened up into a clearing with a cave on the far side.
At the entrance it looked dark, so I summoned up a small magic light. I walked in and discovered the cave went around a slight bend before opening up into a sort of amphitheater. Inside it was dry and cool and smelled like stone and dirt. I looked around but didn’t find anything more than a few random pieces of garbage that had obviously been dropped by tourists.
I wandered the cave looking around and saw there were a few wide stone ledges where you could set up a sleeping bag, if you really wanted to stay there. I guess if the Slip witch power didn’t wear off by the end of the mud run I’d be sleeping in here.
After a few minutes of wandering around and not seeing very much, I was getting bored, so I decided to go back to Aunt Cass.
I was about to leave the main cave when I heard crying behind me. I turned around to see a teenage girl on her hands and knees, sobbing into the dirt. She was wearing a pale blue dress and couldn’t have been more than sixteen years old. I stood stock still, watching her, not really wanting to find out if she could hear me at all. When I’d seen that skinny pirate I’d definitely felt that he could see me. After my visit to the police station, I was now sure of it.
After a minute or two, the girl slowed to a hiccupping soft cry. She pulled herself up from the ground but she still hadn’t turned around to face me. I was standing there watching when another girl rushed past me and they hugged.
I saw their faces and I swear my heart stopped and my body froze. It was no doubt that it was Grandma and Aunt Cass.
“I can’t see anything! Everything keeps going black and flickering on and off. It won’t stop,” Grandma cried.
It felt weird to think of them as Aunt Cass and Grandma considering they were teenagers. Cass moved and I saw my aunt in the way she used her body. She hugged Grandma.
“It will be over soon, April,” she promised.
They hugged for a moment before Cass told April that she would be back soon and left the cave, walking right by me. She didn’t so much as glance in my direction. I let out a silent sigh of relief, glad they couldn’t see me. The moment Cass passed me, April vanished. I turned and walked out of the cave and into the daylight to find Cass pacing, clearly trying to hold back tears.
Old Aunt Cass is sprightly enough, with more than enough energy to take on practically anyone, but she simply couldn’t match the power of her sixteen-year-old self. She was so young and beautiful with slender limbs, strong. Pacing in bare feet, she looked like the child of Nature itself.
Was this why Aunt Cass had told me to come out here? Had she known that I would see this? My guess that she knew I would was quickly proven wrong when none other than a young Hattie Stern came rushing out of the forest carrying a basket full of food. She put it on the ground and then she and Cass gave each other a fierce hug.
I’d known that my Grandma and Aunt Cass had been beautiful when they were younger, but no one had ever spoken about what Hattie Stern had looked like. This sixteen-year-old nymph looked like she should be on the cover of a fashion magazine. She was wearing a short red dress and around her neck was a thin gold chain that curled down to sit between her breasts. Her hair was golden blond, her eyes were blue and her lips were as red as rubies.
Hattie and Cass broke apart, Cass wiping away tears.
“I can’t help her, I can’t do anything,” Cass said, her voice pleading.
Hattie looked around as though she was checking if she was being watched.
“I have a spell we can try. I think it will work,” she said to Cass.
“Okay,” Cass said.
It was the fastest I’d ever seen Cass agree to anything.
They held hands, forming a linked circle. I couldn’t hear what Hattie was whispering but I felt the magic from the past. It was a spell of incredible power. As I watched, a swirling vortex of energy appeared between them and began to spiral into the sky. I didn’t get to see the result, though. I blinked and they were gone. I was standing outside the cave alone.
I followed the path back, intending to ask Aunt Cass what exactly I’d seen, but when I got back to where I’d left her she was nowhere to be found. Molly and Luce were waiting for me, though.
“Where’s Aunt Cass?”
“We don’t know. She made us wait for you and now she’s gone,” Molly said.
We followed the much smaller trail back to the cabins and on the way I got to hear Molly and Luce complain about the state of the cabin they were staying in. Apparently the stove didn’t work, the furniture was run-down, the window was cracked, they’d found four dead cockroaches and Luce was fairly certain there was a snake living in the roof.
I considered telling them what I’d seen in the cave but held back at the last moment. I don’t know if Aunt Cass had intended for me t
o see it, but it felt like a very private moment. Something between two sisters and then something between two friends. It did open up more questions than answers, though. From what I had seen, Aunt Cass and Hattie had been the best of friends when they were teenagers. There was also the very puzzling fact of the age difference that was now between them.
“How old do you think Hattie Stern is?” I asked Molly and Luce, who at that moment were bickering over who got the worst bed.
“She’s in her sixties, I think. Why?” Luce said.
“Do you think she’s one of those people who are actually a lot older than they look? Could she be in her eighties like Aunt Cass but looks really young?”
“Nah, she frowns at everything. There’s no way she’s in her eighties. By the time she gets that old, her face will be so wrinkled up she won’t even be able to open her eyes,” Molly said.
We got back to our cabins but there was no Aunt Cass. She had, however, left a note sitting on the dining room table telling us to eat all of the carbs we possibly could and that she would see us in the morning.
“That witch is up to something,” Molly said, dropping the note back on the table.
“That witch brought everything good in the world,” Luce replied, unzipping Aunt Cass’s duffel bag the whole way and pulling out a gigantic bag of salt and vinegar chips. The bag was full of food and none of it would be described as healthy. It was all baked or fried and covered in salt and sugar and oil. I rummaged in the bag until I found a package of pasta and a jar of spaghetti sauce. It was about the healthiest thing in there.
The late afternoon quickly became night and soon I was cooking dinner while Molly and Luce looked through the movies they’d found in a cupboard. It was a fairly good selection, provided you enjoyed old westerns…
We carbed up like super athletes while we watched a lone gunslinger fight off a corrupt sheriff to save his land and win the woman he loved. We talked on and off about the creepy murder house, Franklin Cordella and how he might be connected, but we honestly had no more clues and so it went around in circles.
It was about eight o’clock when someone banged on our door, just as we were reaching the end of the movie.
It was the moms.
“You girls go to bed! We have an incredibly early start tomorrow and you need to get up to eat a lot of carbohydrates so we can do the bakery, the bed and breakfast, Traveler and the Harlot Bay Reader proud,” Mom instructed.
They were staying in the two cabins on the far side of Molly and Luce’s wreck. When Molly and Luce saw them they started complaining, angling for a switch, but the moms wouldn’t do it. I was expecting another lecture but the moms merely said good night and headed off to their respective cabins.
It wasn’t long after that that Molly and Luce both received messages from their boyfriends telling them that they’d arrived and were staying in the cabin on the far side of the moms’. It seemed the mothers had arranged this deliberately.
Molly and Luce had a short conversation about sneaking out but when they looked outside, the moms were sitting on their verandas watching like hawks. They reluctantly messaged back that they would see them in the morning and then left.
I went to bed, no Aunt Cass to be found.
Chapter 20
Two days in a row, I woke up with Adams’ paw in my mouth. I pushed him off me and sat up, seeing that the sun was only just coming up.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“You forgot to feed me.”
“Did the automatic feeder break?”
“Yes, it’s broken. I haven’t had any food this morning or yesterday either.”
“I fed you last night.”
“You forgot. I’m really hungry,” Adams said, rubbing his face against me.
I yawned and got up. I stumbled into the kitchen to see if I could find anything for my (allegedly) hungry cat. He told me he would be happy with a chicken to eat but we didn’t have any meat in the cabin.
Adams looked over the available food and requested a bowl of cornflakes. Lacking any other alternatives and against my better judgment, I gave it to him. He settled in to eat, the crunch of the flakes echoing across the cabin.
I checked Aunt Cass’ bed, but it hadn’t been slept in. It was just past five in the morning, which meant I had to get eating because I had to digest enough food before the beginning of the mud run. We were starting at seven and didn’t expect finish until late in the afternoon.
I was shuffling through the bag of junk food, pondering whether to simply have a bowl cornflakes like Adams or stuff my face with sweets and chocolate (hey, it’s all carbs), when Adams lifted his head and looked out the door.
“Someone dead is out there,” he said.
I dropped the bag of cookies I was about to open and edged over to the door. Outside, a few feet away, was the same skinny pirate that I’d seen a few days ago. He was nodding and smiling, and beckoning me to come with him. I looked around but apparently no one else had had the pleasure of a cat’s paw in their mouth to wake them this morning. Was I crazy to do this? I remembered what Will had said about the hidden treasure of Truer Island. If I could see the past and sometimes it seemed the past could see me, perhaps this pirate could lead me to some gold. Maybe I’d find more money than we’d ever need.
I grabbed a few cookies and then went outside and followed the past. He led me through the trees, heading down the same path that went to the cave. After twenty minutes of walking we reached the cave and he waved for me to follow him in. I admit I stopped outside and pondered simply bolting back to my cabin at that point. I mean, following a ghostly pirate/past thing into a dark cave would really be crazy. I eventually got my courage up and followed him in, a ball of light in my hand.
I walked around the slight bend into the larger amphitheater and let the light float up to the roof of the cave.
It illuminated the skinny pirate, who was waving and pointing at a spot on the ground. He vanished and then six scrawny pirates appeared.
Two were guarding a large wooden chest while the other four took turns digging in the center of the cave.
I stood perfectly still. I didn’t want this past to notice me!
They completed their hole and then carefully lowered the chest into it. Two pirates had to climb into the hole to help get the chest in. One of them was the skinny pirate beckoning me to follow.
As soon as the chest was in place, two of the pirates pulled out long single-shot pistols and executed the ones in the hole. The gunshots echoed through the cave and I gasped in fear.
The remaining pirates started looking around as though searching for the source of the noise.
It was only a temporary distraction though.
The pirates soon focused on each other, murder on their minds.
Guns and swords were drawn and the fight began. Unlike in every pirate movie ever, there wasn’t a lot of diving, ducking and rolling while swords clanged. No one swung from a rope or made some witty joke after dodging a knife.
The fight was short and brutal.
Surprisingly, it was the pirate with a sword who actually succeeded over the other two armed with both guns and swords. One pirate was shot and fell into the hole. Then the pirate with the sword killed the other two, but not before being stabbed himself.
Bleeding heavily, he dragged the bodies into the hole and then picked up the shovel and began filling it in.
The past vanished, leaving me standing alone in the cave. My phone buzzed in my pocket (surprising me given how poor reception was here).
Mom asking me where I was and telling me to get back to the cabin immediately for breakfast.
I went to the middle of the cave and scuffed my feet in the dirt. No sign of a treasure chest and five dead bodies. Maybe there was a treasure buried here, but it would have to wait.
I was sure if I told Mom we should spend the day digging for treasure, she’d insist that we compete in the Gold Mud Run anyway.
I rushed ou
t of the cave, but then stopped at the entrance. In case anyone else arrived, I cast a quick concealing spell. It took a bit of my energy but I’d eaten a lot of carbohydrates in the past day. Now the cave would be hidden to virtually everyone else.
I jogged back to the cabin, feeling like I’d already done enough exercise for today and still knowing I had miles to run and obstacles to overcome.
At the cabin, the moms had taken over and prepared a giant breakfast of pancakes, pasta, cookies, and cake. Aunt Cass was still MIA.
Molly and Luce were forcing down the food, filling themselves to the gills.
“Harlow, where have you been? You need to eat breakfast right now,” Mom said and served up the plate of food.
“Hey, Harlow,” I heard from behind me. I turned around to see Jack, Ollie and Will dressed in matching Roman gladiator outfits. They had the short wooden swords, the leather skirt, the golden breastplate (complete with abs of steel), the sandals, the whole bit. They were even wearing flimsy gold helmets.
“Good morning, Jack, or should I call you Gluteus Maximus?” I said.
“That’s a good name considering Team Gladiator is going to be ahead of you for the entire day. All you’ll be seeing is us from behind,” Jack replied.
“Come in and get some food,” Aunt Ro called out.
Jack passed by with a cheeky grin, closely followed by Ollie and Will. Everyone sat down and dug into the breakfast. I sat down beside Jack and followed Molly and Luce’s lead – get as much as possible into my stomach.
Maybe was the company, or the change of scenery, or the fact that I believed I had possibly found the long-lost pirate treasure of Truer Island, but I was feeling great for some reason. Sure, there was probably some crazy murderer out there somewhere. And, yes, they’d tried to burn down the lighthouse with us at the top. But after Sheriff Hardy telling me off yesterday I knew he was on top of it. Today I’d be with my cousins, family and possible future boyfriend, having fun and doing something very different for a change. I could only hope it would distract me from any Slip witch past events appearing.