XANDER DEMANDED AN explanation. Apparently, he came to my room and offered to take me to St. Louis over the weekend, where the chances of running into someone we knew were slim to none. Discovering I was gone, he covered it with Mom despite the anger I could see still burning in his eyes. I laughed nervously when I realized for most people that was merely an expression. With my brother, his eyes literally had blue flames dancing across the irises. How had I never noticed that?
Trying to placate him, I told him everything about my illicit visit, but it only made things worse. He kept opening and closing his hands at his side, making tight fists before relaxing them again. The only reason he didn’t yell at me was fear of waking Mom and Dad and getting me in trouble. He probably only worried about that because he could get caught in the crossfire for covering for me—a decision he was clearly doubting now.
“I’m sorry, Xan, but I can’t stand it. I feel like I’m being punished, only I didn’t do anything wrong. I can’t stand the sight of these walls. I miss my life. I miss my friends. And I know Evelyn has something to do with what’s going on. She’s supposed to come over tomorrow while Mom and Dad are at Grandma’s.” The anger in his eyes grew hotter, the flames more noticeable. “Evelyn’s a witch. I think she has something to do with the murders.” It was the first time I gave voice to my suspicions about Evelyn’s secret. I trusted her as my friend, but should I? Tsar Nicholas trusted Rasputin and look where that got him.
Xander shook his head, his jaw set. “Do you have any idea how much danger you could be putting us all in, Amelia?” It was never good when my brother used my whole name. “If she’s as dangerous as you think she might be, how could you invite her into our home? What if she takes advantage of your trust?”
“I’ve known her for too long to stop trusting her overnight, Xander. I can’t just hate her without hearing her out. And if she does have something to do with it, I need to hear it from her.”
Xander sighed and studied me for a long moment. I couldn’t begin to read the complex emotions running across his face. Finally, he nodded and I sighed in relief knowing that with him on my side we would work it out. But the stubborn set of his jaw told me he wasn’t happy about my plan.
We decided to wait to talk to Sariah until our parent’s left. As soon as they walked out the door, Xander and I turned on Sariah. We sat at the kitchen island and Sariah stood opposite us as we laid it all out for her. “We think there is a hunter working in Lincoln. All the deaths we’ve been seeing, we think they’re caused by someone after Otherworlders.” I licked my lips and glanced at Xander, and he picked up the tale.
“We think they’re using witchcraft to bind their victims, so they can’t defend themselves.” Sariah nodded, chewing her lip thoughtfully. I could see her wondering where we were headed with this, so I took over again.
“Back before Halloween, Evelyn told me I ‘needed to do my research before charging off to slay the beast.’ I had no idea what she was talking about at the time. Now I know she’s a witch, and I think she killed all those people.” It all came out in a gush, and I didn’t know if she understood since the words blended together. But she must have gotten enough because she released her lip and nodded.
“So there are five people—plus most likely that girl in Elkhart. And you think Evelyn, the sweet, bubbly girl that has practically grown up in this house with us, did it?”
A smile lifted the sides of my mouth. Part of me was relieved someone else was struggling to imagine Evelyn as a psychotic killer. But dark clouds gathered before I could get too far into my mental parade. Evelyn had been different this year. Was she still the same girl?
“So what do we know?” Sariah asked, breaking my train of thought.
“We know they were all Otherworlders, but they’re all over the map. So I doubt it’s a vendetta killing. Crystal’s hands were bound, but we don’t know about the others.” I tapped a finger to my lips, trying to fit the puzzle pieces together in my head.
“What about the stake to the heart? What’s up with that?” Xander asked. We hadn’t come up with anything before, and Sariah didn’t do much better. “And did they all have that symbol?”
“I don’t know,” Sariah said, flashing a bright smile. “But I know a policeman with a thing for busty brunettes who will tell me everything.” With that, my sister suddenly went a little hazy, like a special effect from some television show. When the mist cleared, I was looking at Megan Fox. Not just a resemblance, but a dead ringer. Like the sweaty, tousled hair heroine of Transformers kind of Megan.
“Maybe a little more subtle?” Xander said, holding his thumb and forefinger an inch apart. Megan gave him a slightly twisted smile before she shifted, becoming less polished and a little curvier. Her eyes a little wider, her lips less full, and her cheekbones higher and more pronounced she looked back at us. With a tilt of her head, she waited for Xander’s nod of approval before heading out the door. “Sariah!” he called. Turning, she looked back over her shoulder. “Be careful.” She nodded and was gone.
With nothing to do, I paced restlessly and waited, praying Evelyn would show. I wandered to the living room to sit on the couch and stare out the window. When I became too restless there, I moved to the kitchen and stared out a different window. It seemed like forever, but was most likely it was not more than twenty minutes before there was a timid knock at the back door. Xander answered it, in case it was someone else, and I waited nervously until he stepped aside letting Evelyn into the kitchen. I got up and hugged her, as a million things that I wanted to tell her ran through my mind. Finally, I backed up and said simply, “Hey, Evey.”
She gave me a weak smile and sat on the stool I just vacated. Goosebumps broke out on my arm at the fear in her eyes. “I know we’ve been rocky all year, Lia. I swear I didn’t want it to be this way. But things have changed between us, and I know you know it too.”
“I don’t understand, Evelyn,” I said, cocking my head and pleading with my eyes. I tried to push down the hurt at her brisk attitude, but I think some of it showed because she softened a bit.
“Look, you know I’m a witch, but do you know anything about witches?” I shook my head and was surprised to see Xander shaking his as well. “The craft isn’t something you can learn—you either got it or you don’t. My father can trace our ancestry all the way back to the Spanish Inquisition.”
“So there’s no mudbloods at your Hogwarts, got it.” I said with a nod. Her lips tightened and her brow furrowed, but I refused to let her annoyance bother me.
“This summer my father began to teach me how to use my powers. At first it was little things, like floating pencils and preventing someone from entering my room. Then towards the end of the summer, he started teaching me about the Otherworldly.” She stopped, capturing her lower lip between her teeth. “He told me how dangerous they are, and that they have to be stopped. He showed me news stories about strange deaths all over the world. He even took me to the morgue to look at a body they had found in Clinton Lake exsanguinated.” She gave a delicate shudder. I couldn’t imagine what the experience must have been like for here. “There were two little holes in her neck, and I suddenly realized that all the horror movies were true. There were monsters out there, and it was our job as witches to stop them.
“He taught me that they are usually stronger than us, so I needed to learn ways to trap them. They want to hurt us because they know only witches can stop them. And what they desire above all else is to cause people pain.” I made a face at her and she shrugged, her eyes pleading me to understand. “He’s my father, Lia. Of course I believed him. He showed me this girl in town, Carol Stanton. She looked completely normal most the time, but when you saw her reflection in a mirror her skin was green and covered with boils and sores. Dad explained she was a ghoul, and she ate a person and wore their skin like a suit. I didn’t believe him, so I watched her. After about a week, she went to some weird gathering, and I saw her remove the skin suit. I was so afraid I ran away
before they could see me. After that I knew my father was right, she was a monster who needed to die. So I helped kill her.”
My mouth went dry, and I suddenly couldn’t remember how to blink. For a long time I stared at her with my mouth open, only to turn and see an identical expression on my brother’s face. I didn’t even know where to begin processing that information. Making a mental note to ask my brother the truth about ghouls later, I tried not to think about them for now. The idea of wearing someone else’s skin made me want to squirm, but I forced myself to remain still. For the first time, I wondered if there might be some justice in these murders. Maybe Evelyn really was protecting people. Maybe that’s why she hadn’t gone after me or my family. She had obviously known about me since November and done nothing. But I couldn’t believe Crystal was evil, and I knew Mariah was something similar to me. My chest felt like it was on fire, and I realized I hadn’t breathed. I took a deep breath and blinked several times.
“Both my parents helped me do it. I told them I couldn’t kill people. Mom said they weren’t people, and they wouldn’t hesitate to kill me. So I did it, and I thought we were done.
“At the end of September, they showed me this guy in Springfield who turned into a wolf. They showed me newspaper clippings of girls being mauled by a wild animal. We tried tracking him one night and found a dead sheep in the woods. My dad explained that when they’re in wolf form, they can’t control themselves. They’re animals. Once again, I thought I was protecting people, so I helped kill him too.
“But that wasn’t enough. It wasn’t even a week before they told me they’d found another. This time they didn’t produce any evidence of death and destruction. And I didn’t ask for any. I trusted they were telling me the truth, and I went to this house in Mt. Pulaski. When I saw it was Mariah, I thought we were in the wrong place. But Mom shoved her into the house and put a zip tie on her wrists. Mariah was crying and begging, and I… I couldn’t do it.” Tears sprang to Evelyn’s eyes, and she pressed her lips together a long moment before continuing. “Mom said she was evil and had to be stopped, but I couldn’t believe it. So I asked Mariah what she was. She said she was a nymph. All she did was protect the land where her family had lived for generations. Mom said she was lying and took out a wooden stake and stabbed her.”
Her voice broke at the end of her confession, and she sniffled. Fat tears ran down her cheeks, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were crocodile tears. I felt hot and cold at the same time, and pressure crushed my chest. To say I felt betrayed would be an understatement. It was like finding out my father was a pedophile. Or really more like finding out my best friend was a murderer. Determined to give her a chance and hear her out, I focused my mind back to the conversation.
“I’m so scared of my parents. I didn’t want to help them, but they dragged me to that lady’s antique shop. I refused to help them anymore, and my mom laughed at me. Then she and dad killed that poor woman. And all I could do was stand and watch.”
Finally, I hit my limit. “You knew. All this time you knew they were a threat to people like me, like my family!”
“I swear I was trying to protect you, Amelia. I did this spell on you to keep them from being able to sense what you were so you would be safe!”
“Safe?” I sneered. “How am I ‘safe’ Evelyn? Look at me. One look at my face, and I’ll be next on their list—you know it!” My voice kept rising until the last bit came out as a shriek. I turned away, hot tears running down my face. I couldn’t deal with this. My head pounded and my heart raced. I felt faint, and I had to escape. Without a second thought, I dashed out the back door.
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