by Tess Lake
We all climbed down the steps at the back, utterly exhausted and soaked in mud, having been electrocuted, frozen and everything in between. I couldn’t feel my body but I knew I’d be covered in bruises tomorrow.
The final jog was only a few hundred feet and we went together, climbing one last hurdle and then collectively staggering past the finish line.
I had no idea what time it was but it was quite late in the day.
There were volunteers handing out cans of soda and headbands with Gold Mud Run inscribed on them. I gulped down the soda, feeling the sugar hit my bloodstream and again finding this incredibly hilarious for some reason.
We gathered in a circle, hardly able to talk, drinking our sodas and grinning at each other through the mud.
Eventually we all staggered over to the outdoor showers to wash the worst of the muck off our clothes. The water was lukewarm but felt incredibly good.
We all met up again, somewhat cleaner, but definitely exhausted.
“Proper showers, then the closing ceremony? They have food there,” Molly asked.
No one had the energy to speak, so there was a lot of nodding before we trudged off back to the cabins.
We’d done it!
Chapter 21
“Because I called dibs, that’s why,” Aunt Cass yelled from the bathroom.
“I didn’t hear any dibs,” I grumbled, standing in the doorway, feeling completely exhausted while I waited for her.
I was still muddy – the outdoor shower had only really taken the top layer off. All I could smell or taste was mud.
While I waited for Aunt Cass to stop hogging the shower I sat down on the step and pulled off my running shoes and socks. My feet were waterlogged and I definitely had a few blisters forming, but I couldn’t feel anything right now.
Soon Aunt Cass was out of the shower and cleaned up.
I trudged in there fully dressed and showered, getting undressed under the hot water. I think I used practically an entire bar of soap getting myself clean and then when I was about to get out I still found a streak of mud behind my ear.
I felt like I could sleep for twenty-four hours, no problem. The idea of walking back to the main stage for the presentation was looking less and less attractive. What did I care who won it? Carter was there to report to the townsfolk. I’d write a first-hand account of what it was like to compete. I finally cleaned myself up and left my wet, muddy clothes in a pile in the corner of the shower.
My clean, dry clothes felt divine.
Aunt Cass was sitting at the table eating cookies when I came out. The sun was rapidly descending, the shadows growing long, and in the distance the thunderstorm that had been growing all week was grumbling to itself.
The air had a kind of electric feel to it. I felt wonderful, except for one thing nagging at me.
“I wish we hadn’t cheated,” I said, sitting down.
“It was a placebo, so calm your farm, Princess,” Aunt Cass said, chewing a cookie.
Princess? Okay…
The sarcastic look on her face dropped away when she saw something behind me.
“You stupid fool,” Aunt Cass said, disdain dripping from her voice. I turned around. A man dressed in all black wearing a balaclava emerged from Aunt Cass’s room. Draped over his shoulders was some of that army camouflage netting. He had a black pistol which was pointed right at us.
I think I stopped breathing. If I hadn’t been sitting, I might have collapsed in fear.
“Are you the stupidest person in existence?” Aunt Cass said.
The man seemed taken aback by the fact that Aunt Cass wasn’t scared.
“Shut up, old woman. Both of you get outside, right now. We’re going for a walk.”
He waved the gun at us.
Army camouflage netting. Something prodded at my brain, but I was too exhausted to think.
Aunt Cass stood up and then reached across the table to touch me on the arm.
“Let’s go, Harlow. Time to get this done with.”
With the exhaustion of the day and the fear of this man in front of me waving a gun, I followed Aunt Cass out the front door of the cabin. I looked around but none of the other family could be seen, nor the boys. Presumably, they were all still inside showering or resting before the big presentation. I considered screaming and running, but then Aunt Cass whispered, “Remember what I said. Walk, don’t run.”
“Shut up! Go straight through there,” the man said.
Again, I walked the narrow path that led to the cave.
“Hey, brainless, have you really thought this through? Oh, what am I saying? You don’t have a brain, so you can’t think. You only follow orders, right?”
What was she doing? Was she trying to get shot?
“Shut up, old woman, before I put you down,” the man said, menace in his voice.
That wasn’t enough to stop Aunt Cass.
“Is your idiot wife around here? Hello, idiot wife, come out…” Aunt Cass called.
“I said shut the hell up, and if you don’t, I’m going to shoot Harlow.”
My mouth went dry and I thought I might be sick. How did he know who I was?
Adrenaline was battling with exhaustion but my brain still wasn’t working. As we walked I swear I felt a flicker of magic as something shot away behind us, flying back to the cabins.
We walked through the forest, which was rapidly growing darker by the minute. Up ahead through the trees I saw the glow of a fire someone had lit in the clearing.
There was another figure waiting for us, also dressed in all black and wearing a balaclava.
As we walked I suddenly noticed a few feet away that Holly was walking through the forest, too. Her face was pale as though she was terrified. She raised a finger to her lips to tell me to keep quiet.
Soon we emerged into the clearing.
I thought I was as terrified as I could be and then I saw the two shovels sitting by the fire and the half-dug grave.
“Pick up the shovels and start digging,” the man instructed.
“Nah, did the Gold Mud Run today. Don’t really want to be digging. Why don’t you ask Schapelle to do it, Jason? Oh, wait, that’s right, she’s the one who gets you to do things because you’re a stupid moron, and yes, we know who you are,” Aunt Cass said.
My slow, exhausted brain finally clunked into gear. Schapelle and Jason Greenway who lived in the creepy murder house. They were the murderers.
The woman dressed in all black froze for a moment before pulling a gun out of a pocket and pointing it at Aunt Cass. Her hand was shaking.
“How do you know our names? Who have you told?”
“Babe! Don’t tell them anything,” the man, apparently Jason, said.
The woman pulled her balaclava off and threw it on the ground.
“They know it’s us. So take that stupid thing off and do what I say.”
It was Schapelle, the woman I’d met yesterday at the creepy murder house. The man walked around in front of us and took off his balaclava too. It was Jason, and in that moment I suddenly remembered how I knew him. When Holly and I had taken the trip out to Truer Island, there had been a tourist on the ferry staring at me. It was him! Had he been tracking me even then?
“We told everyone,” Aunt Cass said.
“You’re lying,” Schapelle said, her hand shaking so badly the pistol was practically jumping up and down.
“Why did you kill Holly and her dad?” I blurted out, my voice seeming to speak by itself.
“Shut up!” Jason yelled.
“Get the shovels and start digging,” Schapelle said, waving a gun at the half-dug grave.
“Nah,” Aunt Cass replied. Schapelle took two quick steps towards her but then stopped.
“Jason, dig the hole,” she said after a moment. Jason protested, but Schapelle snapped at him, so he put his gun away, picked up a shovel and stepped into the small hole to begin digging.
Schapelle took a few steps back and trained her gun on us.
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“Stay right where you are or I’ll kill you. Now tell me who you told or I will shoot you in the legs.”
“Why don’t you tell us why you killed Holly and her father and perhaps they’ll let you live,” Aunt Cass said.
I was exhausted, terrified, going crazy and no one was more surprised than me when I started laughing. I was delirious.
“You will let me leave? We’re the one ones with the guns,” Schapelle scoffed, glancing at me.
“You need to clean out your gross wax-filled ears. I said they’ll let you live. Better confess quickly, though, the clock is ticking.”
“The clock is ticking,” I gasped, laughing hard.
“What is wrong with her?”
“She’s cheerful and happy you’re about to get what you deserve.”
“Tell her to stop or else.”
“The sheriff has been watching your creepy murder house! He already knows you!” I said, laughing.
Schapelle looked around us as the final rays of the sun vanished and darkness took hold.
My laughter disappeared as I felt something press up against me. It was like an invisible soap bubble. All it would take was a tiny pull to bring it into existence. I pulled and Holly appeared.
Schapelle screamed and pointed her gun at the little girl.
“You lied to my dad. You told him you loved him and me. You’re a bad person,” Holly said.
It was dark and the area was lit only by the glow of fire, but I could see that Schapelle’s face had turned pure white. Jason was standing in the hole clenching the shovel. Without warning, he leapt out of the hole and swung it at Holly. It connected and she went flying across the clearing, bouncing across the ground. She stood up, laughing. She walked back over to Schapelle and Jason.
“I’m dead already. You can’t hurt me,” Holly said.
“What is this!” Jason yelled. He pulled his gun out and pointed it at Aunt Cass.
“You can’t escape the past,” she whispered.
I felt another invisible soap bubble hovering out of sight, waiting to be pulled into existence by my Slip witch power. I didn’t know what would happen if I did that, but I got the very strong feeling it wouldn’t be good for Schapelle and Jason.
“Put down your weapons and we can end this safely,” I said. I couldn’t help my voice trembling.
“Do it, Harlow. They deserve it,” Aunt Cass said.
Holly nodded at me, so I let go of my misgivings. I pulled. It was as easy as removing a cork from a wine bottle. With a soft pop of air, figures shimmered into existence all around the clearing.
Scrawny pirates with rotting teeth and rusty swords. Men and women with manacles around their wrists. Children, starving, dressed in rags. A tall man with a big bushy beard.
“Daddy!” Holly cried out.
She ran across the clearing into her father’s arms.
Jason turned to face us.
“You’re doing this. Stop it or die.” His hands were shaking but he kept the gun pointed directly at us.
“Leave them alone.”
The voice was deep and echoed through the clearing. It was Holly’s father. He had knelt to hug his daughter and was now standing up with Holly by his side. He seemed to grow in height, darkness gathering around him.
“You’re dead! I killed you! You can’t be here!” Jason screamed.
All around us the apparitions murmured and began to move. The storm that had been threatening to roll in all day made its first appearance, the sky crackling with lightning and the thunder booming. A moment later, Schapelle dropped her gun on the ground and started babbling.
“I’m sorry, baby, I didn’t know that he was going to kill you. I had no idea that he had murdered you. You and Holiday vanished and then I met him later on.”
She couldn’t even keep her lies straight.
“Quiet!” Holly’s father said. His voice was as loud as the thunder, as powerful as the ocean. “I didn’t have many friends in life, and you took advantage of that to steal my money. But I have friends now.”
Whatever they were – ghosts or the past – they rushed in and seized Jason and Schapelle. Jason fired and they screamed, but there was nothing they could do. They were dragged away into the darkness between the trees.
I turned around to yell at Aunt Cass for deliberately baiting a man with a gun but all the words vanished when I saw her on the ground, a flower of blood blooming on her shirt.
I fell to my knees beside her and reached for the magic but I couldn’t grasp it. I couldn’t heal her, couldn’t save her. I pressed my hand over the wound, feeling the warm blood pulsing against my palm.
“We showed them,” Aunt Cass whispered.
I felt a push of magic. The moms were coming.
“Hold on, help is coming.”
I looked behind me but couldn’t see anyone.
“Where are the fathers?” Aunt Cass said to herself.
“Our fathers? What do you mean?”
I was frantic but there was nothing else I could do. The pulse against my hand was fading fast.
Aunt Cass frowned and looked up at me.
“The fathers all leave! Why do they go?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
I was babbling, gulping air that wasn’t enough, weakness rushing through me, when Mom burst out from between the trees, closely followed by Aunt Freya and Aunt Ro.
The rush of magic knocked me sideways into a pile of leaf litter.
By the time I got up, Aunt Cass was surrounded by Mom and my aunts.
“No, I forbid it!” Aunt Cass said, trying to push Aunt Freya away.
“You stop it!” Mom said, pushing her hand down towards Aunt Cass. She couldn’t touch her – it was as though there was an invisible barrier.
“No, you stop it!”
I staggered over to help, although I had no idea how I could or what was happening. Without looking, Mom waved her hand at me and I ended up back in the leaf litter on my butt.
“Hey!” I protested.
I saw a glimmer from the corner of my eye. More ghosts? More entities from the past?
It was Aunt Cass and Hattie, sixteen again. Grandma April appeared behind them. They were clutching each other, terrified out of their minds.
Could they see this? Had they seen it all those years ago?
I turned back to Aunt Cass to see her overpowered. She’d lost too much blood to keep fighting. My mom and aunts each laid a hand on her. I was vaguely aware of my cousins rushing out from between the trees, men shouting in the distance somewhere far behind them.
A whirlwind of flame surrounded Aunt Cass and then compressed inward, passing over Mom and my aunts without burning them. It centered on the bloody wound and then burst apart. There was a crack, like a branch breaking, and I felt the magic heave against me.
They were doing something dangerous, something possibly deadly.
I saw Mom grit her teeth as blood appeared on her chest, right above her heart. Aunt Ro dipped her head as the bloody spot appeared on her. Aunt Freya was still like a statue, only her eyes betraying her pain.
The magic whirled, threatened to turn, pushed hard and then fell away.
The moms fell back on the ground, exhausted.
Molly yelled something as I turned to the ghostly images from the past. Young Aunt Cass looked right at me before the three of them vanished.
Then there was some sort of break. Luce helped me up and suddenly Jack, Will and Ollie were there. I blinked and Sheriff Hardy and some other police appeared. Another blink and Aunt Cass was up and swatting away help. Another blink and we were on the ferry. Another and we were home.
Chapter 22
“She’s drinking that attention up like a vampire,” Molly said under her breath.
“You want to be cursed again? Shush,” Luce whispered.
We were in town and Aunt Cass was not so modestly telling the story of how she took down two murderers single-handed. Mr. Hiller, who ran Ptolemy’s Hard
ware, was nodding his head so much it looked like it was going to fall off.
I was hoping to get Aunt Cass alone soon because I had questions that needed answers.
“Does ‘where are the fathers?’ mean anything to you?” I asked my cousins.
“Nope,” Luce said.
Molly shrugged.
“Our fathers are all gone. Maybe she was talking about that.”
It was true that our collective fathers had left our mothers (and us) many years ago, but that was old news. Why would Aunt Cass ask about that?
It was the day after the Gold Mud Run and my body was aching like crazy. I wished I could be at home sleeping, but I still had business to finish up.
We’d heard from Sheriff Hardy this morning that they’d found Schapelle and Jason hiding in a distant cave. Both of them were babbling nonsense, confessing their crimes and begging for mercy. They were arrested and taken into custody. I didn’t know what had happened to them but it couldn’t have been good.
Holly turned out to be Holiday. Her father was Kyle Morella – the K.M. engraved on the back of the watch.
The sheriff told us they’d searched the Greenways’ house and believed, incredibly enough, that Jason had been stupid enough to actually keep a possible murder weapon (a long knife). They found the night vision goggles and the rest of his equipment and Jason had confessed to everything. Schapelle had convinced Kyle to take Holiday camping on Truer Island. Jason had hidden in the bushes under his camouflage webbing, wearing his night vision goggles. Then, like the monster he was, he’d leapt up and murdered them.
It was painful to hear but I was relieved it was over. Now we were in town because I had to come to see Franklin Cordella.
His story turned out to be a lot different from what we had imagined. Sometime in the morning after Sheriff Hardy had told him that they’d arrested Schapelle and Jason, Franklin had started talking.
He’d been friends with Kyle after meeting him on an Asperger’s forum. Both being computer programmers, they’d gotten along well in the digital space although they had never met in real life. Kyle had a daughter, Holiday (Holly for short). Her mother had died in childbirth, leaving Kyle to raise her alone.