Mortal Kiss

by Alice Moss

  Faye grinned. “OK. Well, after I left the party last night, I didn’t walk down the track. I took a shortcut through the woods.”

  Liz looked horrified. “Wasn’t it pitch-black?”

  “It was pretty dark, yeah, but the moon was high. Anyway, I wasn’t really thinking straight. I just wanted to get home as soon as possible and I thought that would be the quickest way.”

  Faye went on to tell Liz about being chased, her race through the woods and the wolves hunting her. Liz’s eyes got bigger and bigger, and when Faye got to the part about falling onto the road, right in front of Finn, Liz let out a little scream.

  “Omigod! You could have been killed! What did he do?”

  Faye looked down at her wrist, playing with her new charm bracelet. “He took me home and told me not to go up there again.”

  “So he knew what was out there?” Liz asked.

  Faye nodded. “I think he did, yeah.”

  “My dad was right! He said those bikers were bad news!”

  Faye shook her head. “I don’t know. Finn said he’d keep me safe—”

  “Yeah—from his gang! They must have been the ones chasing you!”

  “I don’t think so. I only heard his bike out there. I don’t think it was them, Liz.”

  “Who else could it have been?”

  “I don’t know.” An idea struck Faye suddenly. “But I have to find out. I have to go back up there and investigate. If there were wolves up there, they will have left traces! Let’s go, Lizzie, right now. Come on—it’s light, nothing will attack us during the day. It’ll be perfectly safe. I can take pictures for photographic proof.”

  “Faye, you’re nuts!” Liz exclaimed. “Didn’t Barbie Finch tell you to stay away? And what about my dad? He’d go crazy if he found out I’d gone up there, especially if he knew about last night!”

  Faye stood, her mind made up. “You don’t have to come, Liz. I’ll completely understand if you don’t. But I have to go. I have to.”

  Liz stared at her for a moment before standing up with a sigh. “And how are you going to get up there? Walk? Come on, I’ll drive. Just make sure I’m home in time for dinner.”

  Faye hugged her hard. “Thank you!”

  “I think this makes us even,” Liz muttered.

  #

  Liz half expected to find nothing in the woods. She’d never say anything to Faye, of course, but she thought her friend had imagined the things she’d told her—it would have been easy to do, out there in the woods alone at night.

  “How are you going to know exactly where you were?” she asked, tramping through the snow as she followed Faye. They had parked on the road and were fighting their way up the embankment into the woods. It was cold, and already the light was fading from the afternoon sky.

  “Well, I know that’s the bend that Finn came around,” Faye said, pointing up the road behind them. “So it must be about here that I fell down the slope. Start looking—even with this fresh snow, there has to be some kind of trace.”

  Liz sighed as Faye began taking preliminary wide-angle shots of the area. She knew when her friend was engrossed in something, and there would be no getting away until Faye had found what she was looking for. It if existed at all. Liz just hoped it wouldn’t take too long.

  Something caught her eye, and she stomped through the snowdrifts toward a bush festooned with icicles. Some of them were snapped and crushed. “This is weird,” she called over her shoulder. “It looks like something has crashed into this bush and broken the ice.”

  Faye came over to look and grinned. “Brilliant, Liz. We must be in the right place—I bet this happened during the chase.” After taking a picture, her friend knelt down in the snow and began digging.

  “What are you doing?” Liz asked, confused.

  “There must be wolf tracks around here somewhere! They have to be here, under the new layer of snow.… Yes—look!”

  Sure enough, Liz found herself looking at a paw print. She shuddered, “Omigod, Faye. I’ve never seen a paw print as big as that. It’s huge!”

  Faye stood up, and Liz saw the look of determination on her face as her friend scanned the area. “OK. Let’s keep looking. See if there are any more—I want to know if there really is a pack out here, or if it was just the two wolves I saw.”

  Liz shivered, eager to get out of the woods, which had suddenly become a very scary place to be. “Really? Do we have to? We found this, Faye, isn’t that enough? I’d really like to go now.…” Liz looked around her fearfully, convinced that something big with teeth was going to leap out of the bushes at any second.

  Faye wasn’t listening but instead was walking deeper into the trees, searching the ground.

  “Look at this!” she called a few moments later, snapping away with her camera.

  Liz headed toward the spot Faye pointed at. It was a pile of bloody bones and a mass of feathers, all in a heap. Liz was nearly sick right then. “What is it?” she asked, with a hand over her mouth.

  “A chicken, I think. The head’s over there,” Faye said, oblivious to Liz’s discomfort as she nodded toward another bush. “Can you check the slope again? I just want to take a few more pictures.”

  Liz nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She was determined not to show Faye how scared she was. Her friend was always so strong, so confident. Nothing seemed to worry her. Liz often wished she could be more like that.

  She walked back to the hill that led down to the road, imagining poor Faye alone in the dark, and shuddered. There were a few broken branches, but thankfully she didn’t see any more carcasses. She was about to turn back and shout up to Faye when something caught her eye.

  It was hidden in the snow at the base of a tree, half buried under a tree root, but it glinted when the afternoon sun hit it. Moving closer, Liz realized it was something silver. She reached down and picked it up. It was a tiny letter opener, pretty, with an engraved handle. A small, dark mark stained the blade, which was surprisingly sharp. Liz stared at it. Could that be dried blood? She pulled a tissue from her purse and wiped it clean.

  “Now, how did you get there?” she muttered under her breath. She looked back up the slope but couldn’t see Faye. “Hey, Faye? Look at this—”

  “Liz? Liz, where are you?” Faye’s voice echoed from between the trees, cutting her off. “I’ve just realized what time it is! Aren’t you going to be late for dinner?”

  Liz looked at her watch. “Oh no! You’re right—God, Dad and Mom will kill me!” She shoved the letter opener into her purse and struggled back up the slope.

  Faye opened her mouth to say something but stopped. Another sound penetrated the peaceful forest—motorbike engines revving in the distance. Faye turned toward the sound, but Liz grabbed her arm.

  “Time to go,” she said firmly, afraid but determined to hide it. “Right now.”

  Chapter 20: Blowout

  The sun was beginning to set as the two girls got back into the car. They couldn’t hear the motorbikes anymore, but Faye could tell that Liz was worried—though that could just have been because she was going to be in huge trouble if she was late home.

  “Don’t worry,” Faye told her friend as they pulled away. “We’ll be back in town in no time. You can tell your dad it’s my fault you’re late.”

  Liz glanced over and smiled. “It’s fine. I should just make it. I’m more worried about—”

  There was a sudden noise like a gunshot and the car swerved violently. Both girls screamed as it slid sideways, and for a second Faye was sure it was going to tip right over, trapping them both inside. Liz slammed on the brakes. The wheels screamed as they tried to get a grip on the icy blacktop, but eventually the car skidded to a stop, bumping off the road and into a thick bank of snow.

  “What happened?” Faye asked, stunned, her hands still gripping the side of her seat.

  Liz leaned against the steering wheel, breathing hard. “I think we got a flat. That was the sound of the wheel blowing. We must hav
e driven over something really sharp.”

  “Do you have a spare?”

  “Yeah, but I’ve only ever changed a tire once!”

  Faye groaned. “Can you call your dad? He’d come out and help, wouldn’t he?”

  Liz shook her head. “Oh, he would—but I’d be grounded for at least a month! He’d want to know what we were doing out here.” She sighed. “It’s OK. I can do it … it just might take a while.”

  “Can I help?” Faye asked as Liz opened her door. Another snowfall was beginning, and the temperature was dropping fast. It was getting dark, too. Winter Mill always seemed to be dark these days, no matter what the time. Faye pulled her coat tighter around her.

  “Yeah—can you can hold the flashlight?”

  The two girls climbed out of the car and stood staring at the ruined tire. It was the front right tire, and it was easy to see the puncture—a ragged hole about the size of a silver dollar where something had torn through the rubber.

  “What could have caused that?” Faye asked. “It must have been something pretty big.”

  Liz, already shivering, shrugged and went to get the jack and the spare out of the trunk. “Right now, I don’t care. I just want to get this thing changed before I freeze to death!”

  Faye flicked on the flashlight, but as Liz prepared to put the jack under the car, a pair of headlights appeared around the bend. The car pulled to a stop behind them. As the door opened, Liz straightened up, moving to stand next to Faye. She linked one arm through Faye’s, and Faye realized Liz was shaking a little. They were obviously both still jittery after their almost-crash; Faye’s heart was hammering too.

  “Are you two girls OK?” The rough voice was familiar, but it wasn’t until the man stepped into the circle of light cast by the flashlight that they realized who it was. Faye felt Liz’s arm tense against hers.

  “That’s Ballard,” Liz whispered into her ear. “The man who works for Mercy Morrow. I saw him earlier today and he was horrible.”

  “We’re fine,” Faye said in as firm and calm a voice as she could muster. “We just had a flat. Liz was about to change the tire. Thanks for stopping, but we can manage.”

  The big man glanced down at the ruined tire and nodded. “That’s a nasty one. I can help.”

  “No!” said both girls in unison. Liz laughed nervously. “No, really, Mr. Ballard, It’s fine. We—we were just going to call my dad. He’s with the local police. Sergeant Wilson. He’ll come out just as soon as I call him, so—”

  Ballard smiled, a curiously unpleasant gesture that curled his lip to show a set of uneven, yellowed teeth. “Oh yes. Sergeant Wilson. I met him this morning, in fact. He gave me his card. I expect he’s got plenty of other troubles to keep him occupied this evening. And since I’m here already, it would be silly to bother him, wouldn’t it, girls?”

  There was something about the way Ballard said the word “girls” that made Faye shiver. It was like a cat preparing to play with a mouse—there was something sly and scary about it. But before either of them could say anything else to stop him, Ballard was on his knees in the snow, changing the tire. They stepped back, wrapping their arms around themselves against the snow and watching Ballard as he worked. It was as if neither of them wanted to turn her back on him, even for a moment.

  Ballard was very strong, there was no doubt about it. Within moments he had the jack pumped up and was using his bare hands to twist the wheel from its housing. He detached the damaged tire from the wheel, tossing it into the snow before slipping on the new one and securing it. Faye glanced at her watch as Ballard finished up. It had taken him less than ten minutes. She knew they should be grateful for his help—without him, she and Liz could have been there for hours. But all she wanted to do was jump into the car and get Liz to drive away as quickly as she could.

  Ballard stood up, picking up the jack and the old tire and slinging them into the trunk. He brushed the snow from his knees and turned to the two waiting girls. “There you go,” he said. “Done. No need to call Daddy, was there?”

  Faye forced herself to move, squeezing Liz’s arm as she did so. “Thank you,” she said with a smile. “That’s so great. We would have been really stuck without you, Mr. Ballard.”

  He stepped closer, towering over them, and smiled back. “You’re lucky it was me who came along,” he told them, lowering his voice so that the sound of his words seemed to blend with the cold wind. “There are all sorts of bad people around. You two girls should be careful. It can be dangerous out here.”

  Chapter 21: Mirror, Mirror …

  Liz dropped Faye off and headed home, rehearsing what she was going to say to her father. Glancing at the clock on her dash, she realized that their trip into the woods and the flat tire had taken longer than she’d thought—she was an hour and a half late. She was in big, big trouble, for sure.

  The first thing that struck her as odd when she pulled onto their street was that the house seemed to be in total darkness. Usually there was at least one light on somewhere, and tonight the house should have been blazing, especially with Poppy at home for the weekend. Surely they can’t all have gone to bed already? Though in a way, that would be good, she thought. She could sneak in without her dad seeing her and get up early for school in the morning. Maybe a day’s work would make him forget all about today?

  Liz switched off the engine and climbed out of the car, shutting the door as quietly as she could. She headed for her front door. It wasn’t completely dark yet—there was still enough light that she could see into the living room. And there, standing in front of the fireplace, was her dad. Liz could just make out his figure. He didn’t seem to be moving. He was just standing there. Her heart sank. He was obviously waiting for her to come home. This was going to be worse than she’d thought. Liz tried to imagine how long she was going to be grounded, and a horrible thought occurred to her. The Battle of the Bands was coming up! What if her dad decided she had to miss it as punishment? He knew how excited she was about it—she’d told him everything she knew that morning at breakfast, before he’d gone to the Morrow mansion.

  Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the front door softly and walked in, heading straight for the living room—and her dad. Better get it over with, she thought to herself. And maybe I can explain. After all, I did have a flat! I would have been home in time if not for that.

  He stood there with his back to her in the middle of the room and didn’t turn around as she came in. Omigod … he’s really mad! Liz thought. She could see his face reflected in the small mirror mounted over the fireplace but couldn’t read his expression.

  “Hi, Dad!” she said, putting on her brightest voice. “You would not believe the evening I’ve had! I know I’m late, I’m so sorry—I hope you guys didn’t wait too long before you ate I tried to call, but I think there’s something wrong with my cell—or maybe this weather has broken one of the towers? Anyway, I couldn’t get a signal.”

  She paused, waiting for him to say something, but he still didn’t turn around. She rattled on.

  “Anyway—look, I know you’re probably mad, but before you start yelling, just listen for a second. I got a flat! It was awful, really scary. I don’t know what caused it, but it was a true blowout—we could have had a terrible accident! But I did what you taught me to do in that kind of incident, and we were fine. But there was no way I could drive on the tire, so we had to change it. And I remembered everything you taught me, too! How cool is that? I managed to change it all by myself! Well, Faye helped a little,” Liz added, suddenly wondering if it was just too implausible to suggest that she’d done it all herself. But she didn’t want her dad asking too many questions—and if he believed she’d managed to solve the problem herself, she hoped he’d be too pleased with her about that to ask just where she’d been.

  Sergeant Wilson still didn’t move. Liz stepped forward, wondering if he really could be that mad. Then she realized that he didn’t have his head bowed, as she’d first thought. Someti
mes he did that—if he was thinking hard about something, he’d stand there with his arms crossed, staring at the floor. He was staring at his reflection in the mirror.

  “Aren’t you proud of me?” she said, trying to get him to respond. “Isn’t that great? So anyway, that’s why I’m late. So I hope you’re not too angry. Because it really wasn’t my fault and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it. Even if I’d left earlier. Not that I left late … the place … where we were. OK? So please don’t ground me. And if you do … please don’t make me miss Battle of the Bands. It’s, like, the biggest thing to happen here in decades. Please, Dad? Please?”

  Sergeant Wilson still didn’t answer, and Liz began to wonder if he’d actually heard any of what she’d been saying at all. He was still staring into the mirror. And then, as Liz looked closer, she realized that he wasn’t really staring. He was watching something. His eyes moved around the glass as if following something that was happening inside it.

  Liz looked, trying to figure out what he was searching for. And then she saw something. Something dark, like a shadow. It moved from one side of the mirror to the other quickly, so quickly that if she had blinked, she would have missed it.

  She gasped, and her dad finally turned around. Liz looked at his face, but his eyes were glazed over as if he was focused on something very far away.

  “Dad?” she asked shakily. “What’s the matter?”

  He ignored her, brushing past her as he stepped out into the hallway. Liz was suddenly very cold.

  “Dad?” Liz asked again, panicked. This was so unlike her father. “Dad? What’s going on? Where’s Mom? And Poppy?”

  “It’s late,” he said. His breath made clouds in the icy hallway. “It’s time for bed now.”

  Liz stood at the bottom of the stairs, shaken. She watched her father disappear into his bedroom and shut the door. And then, though she could hardly believe her ears, she heard him lock it behind him.

  Chapter 22: Here Comes the Sun