Sever

by Jesse Grey

  “Whoa, why are me and Mercer the ones going into the gang of police officers? If Alex goes and gets caught, at least he could possibly know some of them and get off the hook.”

  “Because I know Straton.” Alex insisted, further adding to Abram’s idea of splitting up. “Straton trusts me and that will help us get the full story out of Hugo.”

  “What happens if we get there, somehow don’t get caught by the cops, and somehow find out where we’re supposed to acquire the pages, say all that goes according to plan, what if they’re not even there?”

  No one had an answer for Mercer, though he hadn’t really ex-pected them to give him one. If they went through all the trouble of bypassing the police and the clues from Sumner’s hideaway beneath Arclan weren’t there...none of them wanted to dwell on it, not want-ing to think on what the failure would mean afterwards.

  Kirby came stomping over to them, with Faith and Willa a little way behind her. She stopped in front of Mercer.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about Straton and Hugo?”

  Mercer looked pretty confused until Faith stepped up. “I thought you had at least told her about Straton’s confession.” she said with a heavy and guilt filled sigh.

  “I didn’t tell you about Straton because Dagger told us to keep it to ourselves.” Mercer eyed Alex and Abram. “It seems some of us took that more seriously than others.”

  “Then what’s going on with Hugo?”

  People were starting to stare at all of them now, with their huge crowd forming in the hallway. Sighing, Mercer took Kirby’s hand and led her into a nearby empty classroom, both of them disregard-ing their friends as they found themselves alone.

  “Mercer, I just told you a huge part of my life.” Kirby said with a shaky voice. “I don’t want you keeping secrets, even if it is to protect me. That night at Arclan, Sumner pulled me even deeper into this. If this is going to work,” She flexed her finger between them. “You have to tell me everything.”

  He knew she was right, even before she had finished. She was right that he wanted to protect her, but he couldn’t dismiss the fact that she was also right about being further dragged into The Sumner Shadows Saga. His friends weren’t going to like it, but he had to tell her the truth about what was going down tonight.

  “Okay.” he nodded.

  “Okay?”

  Mercer shook his head again as he scoffed. “We’re going to Heartmyth tonight. Well, Abe and Alex are, to find out what Hugo saw the night Sumner visited Straton.”

  Kirby nodded. “Okay. So if they’re doing that, why aren’t you and Bridge going?”

  “Because we’re going to Shadows Manor.”

  Her eyebrows, much like her interest, raised immediately. “What’s at Shadows Manor?”

  Mercer heaved a heavy sigh again, but he had to keep going. “There’s something we have to get there. Something from that room Sumner was hiding in underneath Arclan. We think it holds clues to everything. Sumner coming back, the reason behind the attack that night in the cemetery, everything.” He winced. “Only problem is, Shadows Manor has been put under intense police supervision ever since that patient escaped from Arclan.”

  “Back up.” Kirby shook her head, flustered by the onslaught of information. “How did this clue or whatever end up from Arclan to somewhere at Shadows Manor?”

  He grabbed her hand, a silent plea for her to let it go. As much as Mercer wanted to be honest and tell Kirby absolutely everything, he knew that he couldn’t tell her about their stalker just yet. And he ob-viously couldn’t let her know the truth about that night in the ceme-tery.

  “I want to tell you the whole story, and eventually, I will, but this isn’t just my story to tell. I’ve already told you all I can. Please don’t make me tell you this, not yet.”

  She gave him a small but vibrant smile. “I understand. I just didn’t want everyone to know what was going on and I was left clueless.”

  “I wasn’t trying to keep it from you.” Mercer told her. “I was thinking about telling you about tonight after school, because I need-ed someone to know where I was tonight in case the police catch us.”

  “I have a better idea.” she said evenly. “Let me come with you to-night.”

  “Please tell me you’re kidding. The Sumner Shadows Saga isn’t something to mess around with.”

  “You’re already an arm short.” Kirby patted his navy hued sling, tracing the pattern with her fingers for a second. “I want to help, Mercer. I’ve never been comfortable just waiting for someone else to fix everything.” She paused to squeeze his hand again. “You don’t have to tell me why you’re retrieving this, but at least let me help you actually find it.”

  Mercer laughed, shaking his head. “The guys are gonna kill me.”

  “Talk to them. They’ll understand why it makes sense to let me into the depths of, how’d you put it? The Sumner Shadows Saga?” Laughing again, Mercer agreed. “Honestly, I’m surprised Willa and Faith don’t know every detail, considering that picture they received from Sumner.”

  “That was more of a message for us, despite what it said. Sumner wanted that to go to the police, which is why he sent it to Willa. I think he knew we probably wouldn’t have gone straight to Dagger with it.”

  “So you’re not telling the police about whatever Hugo tells you guys?”

  “We’re trying to keep everyone we can away from interrogations with Dagger unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

  “Does that mean I’m going to see Shadows Manor for the first time tonight?”

  “I guess so,” he grinned, though he was still a little on the fence about letting Kirby in on raiding Shadows Manor, especially when she didn’t know why. But it seemed as though his remaining hand was tied. “Like you’ve already pointed out, I’m an arm short.”

  Just an hour before their curfew went into effect for the night, Alex and Abram made their way through the dorms of Heartmyth, getting a couple stern glances from the wandering students, clearly not believing that they went to school there as they wove their way to Hugo and Straton’s dorm room.

  “Let’s hope they’re home.” Abram wore a half smile, knocking on their dorm room door.

  “Faith said Straton was.” Alex said, slightly hopeful. “I don’t know about Hugo though.”

  The door snapped open quickly, a scruffy and well-built redhead stumbling to open up the door. His smile faded slowly as he saw them, not really sure who they were.

  “Can I help you?” he said, caution oozing from his tone.

  “Is Straton here?” Alex said, clearing his throat.

  “Stray,” Hugo called back into the dorm room, a rustling sound-ing from inside. “Some guys here for you.”

  Hugo disappeared from view as he retreated deeper into the room and was replaced in the doorway as Straton popped around the doorframe, eyeing them with a sense of confusion.

  “Alex?” he asked first, then he looked at Abram. “And Abram, right?”

  Abram nodded. “Nice to see you again.”

  Straton gave him a nod instead of a smile, still wondering what was going on. “What’s up?” he spoke casually as he looked back to Alex, but they could tell by his slightly flared nostrils that he was fair-ly cagey at their sudden arrival at his doorstep.

  “Can we come in?”

  Seemingly hesitant, Straton stepped aside and let them enter the room. Hugo, who had been playing a game of Call of Duty on his Xbox, quickly paused it as they piled into the dorm room.

  “Stray?” Hugo said, his needful octaves present again.

  “Hugo, this is Alex, Faith’s brother.” Straton gestured.

  “Nice to meet you,” Hugo scoffed and laughed as he got up from his bed and shook Alex’s hand. “Sorry about acting so gingerly, no pun intended.” Hugo was delighted, feeling a little more at ease, when Alex and Abram chuckled.

  “And this is Abram, Willa’s brother. You remember her, don’t you?”

  “Dude, shut up.” Hugo groaned. />
  Straton leaned toward Alex as the other two greeted each other quickly. “He hasn’t shut up about her the past couple of days.”

  “I heard that.” he snorted. “So did her brother. Thanks for that.”

  “It’s cool.” Abram flashed a fast simper. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “You guys can sit.” Straton stated, waving a hand toward their left, where a navy blue sofa sat between Straton and Hugo’s beds. Both sat down, with the roommates sitting on their respective places of rest. “So what brings you guys to Heartmyth so late at night?”

  Alex looked suddenly uneasy about what they were doing. It wasn’t until Abram squeezed his shoulder reassuringly that Alex took a deep breath before he was ready to start.

  “It’s about the night that Sumner showed up here.” he said slowly, eyeing Straton first and then locking eyes with Hugo. “We know that you saw Sumner after Straton.”

  In a paranoid flail of his limbs, Hugo leapt off his bed. “What!?”

  “It’s okay.” Abram told him in a calm, strong voice. “We’re not going to tell Dagger or the cops about it. If we were, you’d already be at the police station and we wouldn’t be here right now.”

  “Straton, you can trust us.” Alex pleaded, turning to his sister’s boyfriend, using his hazel spheres to beg him even more. “We just need to know what he,” He looked back to Hugo. “What you saw, if we’re ever going to understand why Sumner came back to Armor Falls.”

  “How did you even know that I saw him?”

  “Faith.” Straton answered for them, abruptly realizing the conclu-sion on his own. “That’s why she cancelled our lunch date the other day, isn’t it? She heard us.”

  “And I asked her not to tell you why until I had the chance to talk to you.” Alex confirmed.

  “Is it safe to assume that she told you about Dagger questioning me?”

  After a subtle look between Alex and Abram, they decided to tell Straton the whole truth. “Actually, Dagger let us watch your interro-gation.”

  “Great.” he sighed.

  “But we don’t think you helped Sumner.” Abram uttered. “We believe you.”

  “Which is why we believe that you saw Sumner, Hugo.” Alex smiled feebly. “We just want to know the full story.”

  An abyss of an exhale left Hugo’s lips, slowly sitting down on his bed, crossing his arms across his bare chest, eyeing them intensely. “Like I said, I was drunk, but I know what I saw. Even if I did block it out for a while.”

  “We know.” Abram displayed a sympathetic smile.

  “It’s okay.” Alex nodded, reassuring him to continue. “Just tell us what you saw.”

  He sighed again, giving them a weak nod. “It started when I left the party.”

  Hugo was really feeling the alcohol, the moon looming above him as he left a dorm party. It was still a couple weeks before school officially started, but those enrolled in summer programs were winding down from their term. And Hugo was taking full advantage of the summer parties before the fall semester started back up. He was leaving a rager of a party that a bunch of sophomores were throwing, heading back to the dorm he shared with Straton when someone came storming out of his dorm building.

  And he was covered in what looked like blood.

  What was worse was that Hugo recognized the crimson stained stranger instantly as Sumner Shadows, the high school student who had tried to kill his friends, and who had been hiding from police since it all went down five months ago.

  Even through the haze of an alcohol afflicted mind, Hugo knew better than to be seen by him. He took refuge behind a nearby tree, still having a clear view of Sumner. Luckily, with very few students on campus to begin with, there was no one else around to witness Sumner’s sinister snarls as he stomped around, seething with rage.

  “He thinks he can ignore me?” Sumner looked like a rabies infected an-imal, practically foaming at the mouth with ravenous malice.

  Hugo figured he was about to mutter more unpleasantries when his phone rang. Swearing slightly, Sumner sauntered off away from the dorm buildings and closer to the student parking lot.

  Stupidly, Hugo decided to follow him. Maybe it was the beer and liquor, or maybe it was his own morbid curiosity, but he followed Sumner to a gazebo that overlooked the parking lot. It was shrouded in shadows, thanks to the trees surrounding it. Sumner answered his burner phone as he stepped into the contraption, giving Hugo enough time to hide behind another tree next to the gazebo.

  “What do you want?” Sumner groaned into the receiver end of the cell phone.

  Watching through slightly disoriented eyes, Hugo observed Sumner’s fa-cade of slight annoyance turn to outright psychotic.

  “What do you mean, ‘you’re out’? You can’t just quit this, you can’t just quit me!”

  Sumner threw a punch at one of the gazebo’s posts, not even flinching when his fist collided with the wood. Hugo was sure it hurt like hell, but if it did, there were no signs of it on Sumner's face.

  “I will ruin you.” Sumner told the person on the phone. “He’s back, and things are about to change. If you go now, I will bury you. Do you get that? Your worst fears will come true. I will make your nightmares come to life, you bitch!”

  He was screaming now, already aiding the faint throbs Hugo felt bang-ing against his temples. The other person on the phone must have hung up because Sumner took the phone and smashed it against the gazebo’s wood floor, his roars of anguish ringing loud into the silent night around them.

  Sumner smacked himself in the head several times before picking up his phone remnants and running off into the night, leaving Hugo overwhelmed with what he had witnessed, not really sure if it was all in his head or if he’d really just seen a mentally shaky Sumner Shadows.

  Hugo finished his retelling, uneasy as Abram and Alex, and even Straton, who he hadn’t told every little detail, stared back at him with wide, astonished irises.

  “So someone is, or I guess was, helping Sumner.” Alex said, breaking the screaming quiet in the room.

  “I think so.” Hugo agreed. “Just like Straton saw, he was covered in blood.”

  “And maybe this person found out what he had done and figured they were in too deep with a psycho.”

  “But who was it?” Straton quipped.

  “And did Sumner get blood on him by hurting someone?” Alex sighed, still reeling from all of Hugo’s information.

  “Sumner said ‘he’s back’.” Abram muttered, ignoring all of their lingering questions. “When exactly did this happen? What day?”

  “August 1st.” Straton and Hugo said in unison.

  “It was late though,” Hugo added. “I think it was after midnight, so technically it was the second.”

  “Jesus.” Startled, Abram stood up from the bed. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

  “What are you talking about?” Alex said, worry hanging in the back of his throat.

  “August 1st. That’s the day I came back from Maine.” Abram ex-plained. “The day I came back from the other institution.”

  “You’re sure?” Alex stood now too, alarmed by Abram’s words.

  “Institution?” Straton pondered.

  “Never mind.” Alex and Abram said together, they lowered their voice for just them to hear. “Why would Sumner come back the same day you did? And how would he know?" Alex stated.

  “I don’t know,” Abram confirmed, shaking his head. “But let's hope Bridge and Mercer are having better luck than we are.”

  Bridge was pissed. Pissed about the fact that he was skulking around Shadows Manor, pissed that he had no idea what Hugo was telling Abram and Alex. But he was even more pissed that Kirby was with them.

  Mercer had told him why they should bring her into the fold, so to speak, and Bridge couldn’t argue that Kirby was already pretty in-volved with everything related to Sumner. But that didn’t mean that he had to like it.

  They were already at 1661 Karder Cove, already hiding from the thr
ee visible cops just outside of Shadows Manor, whom were lan-guidly talking next to their squad car. Hiding in the darkness several feet away from the property, they watched as two of the cops left the vehicle to patrol the grounds of Shadows Manor as the last remain-ing cop got back into the confines of the car.

  “So what’s the plan?” Kirby said, eyeing them eagerly.

  Bridge scoffed. “You tell us. You’re the one who brought a weap-on.”

  Laughing, Kirby readjusted the strap over her shoulder, the one she had attached to a metal baseball bat. “I’m not taking any chances after what happened beneath Arclan.” She patted the bat with mock affection.

  Mercer took to his own straps, adjusting his sling so his arm was a little more comfortable. “We have no idea where to start.” he told them with a nod.

  “We can bypass the cop in the car.” Bridge sighed. “We should start out back. The door to Sumner’s room is by the pool, remem-ber?”

  “Yeah.” Mercer nodded. “Starting at his room makes sense.”

  Becoming instantly stealthy, they used the trees as cover while they made sure to keep out of sight of the cop in the squad car. In just a few minutes, they had scaled the side of Shadows Manor and were running to the side of the mansion, leaving the safety of the tree lines for the danger of being exposed.

  “We have to be careful.” Bridge said. “Those two cops are on the grounds somewhere.”

  Kirby absorbed his words, leading them since she had the weap-on, with Mercer right behind her and Bridge in the back. They made their way around the house until they reached the beginning of the backyard. She kept creeping along the edge of the house, ambling parallel with the massive pool, but Bridge and Mercer were frozen in place just around the corner.

  It’d been a long time since they had really been in the backyard of Shadows Manor. The memory of spring break was at the forefront of their thoughts. How had everything gotten so messed up?

  “Hey.” Kirby came back to them, seeing the dual hypnotized looks on their faces. “You guys okay?”

  Bridge just scoffed, shaking his head. “A lot of memories is all.”