Zee gripped it tight in her hand. “Let’s go.” Zee turned to go, and Elijah and Nellie followed. They didn’t speak as they made their way back through the forest. This time the woods yielded to them. It was no longer as dark or threatening; the eye trees didn’t appear anymore. And this time, they didn’t stray from the path. And when they passed out of the woods and toward the playground, they couldn’t help but notice how strongly the sun shone.
“How could it have been so dark in there?” Nellie asked as they hopped over the chain-link fence and returned to town.
“That wood felt cursed,” Elijah added.
“That’s because it was,” Zee said.
At a pay phone, Zee slipped a quarter in and called the sheriff’s station. She reported where she found the bracelet of the dead kindergarten teacher. She agreed to drop it in the mail. She did not leave her name.
That night, Deanna did not come back, and Zee hoped that the woman was somewhere peaceful. Somewhere warm and safe.
Somewhere she hoped her mother was.
15
ZEE WOKE WITH A START AGAIN AT 3:00 A.M.
The witching hour.
This time there was no storm that pulled her out of her dreams, but she still felt that nagging, clanking feeling that something was wrong. She got up and checked the window in case the hound had returned, but the streets were clear. Her water glass was empty, so she headed out to the bathroom to fill it. The house was quiet, the gentle tick of the nearby wall clock matching her steps as she padded past Abby’s room. Abby’s door was open. Even in the pale moonlight that shone through the window, Zee could see that her bed was empty.
“Abby?” she whispered.
When there was no answer, Zee headed down the staircase. She heard the low murmur of a voice drifting up toward her.
“Abby?”
In the living room, she found her sister, wrapped up in a blanket, her eyes staring into the distance, talking on her phone, her hand over her mouth again so that Zee could barely hear her.
“Abby?”
Her sister didn’t acknowledge her, not even when she was standing directly in front of her. Zee waved and tried to get her attention, but Abby stared right through her as if she didn’t exist. She thought about Nellie’s advice that it could be dangerous to touch Elijah before. So carefully, Zee reached out and shook her sister’s shoulder. As soon as she touched her, Abby jumped.
“Zee, you startled me,” she said, still gripping the phone. Her knuckles were white.
“Who are you talking to?” Zee asked. “Is that Dad? It’s late, Abby. It’s three o’clock in the morning.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Abby said, looking pale and confused. She seemed smaller too, shrunk down in the blankets. “I should get to bed.”
She got up and, trailing the blanket behind her, headed toward the stairs. As she passed Zee, she said, “Dad’s on the phone,” and tried to hand the cell to Zee, but she missed and it clattered to the floor.
Zee watched her go shambling up the stairs, still muttering to herself. Zee waited until she heard Abby’s bedroom door close.
With a trembling hand, she lifted the phone to her ear.
“Dad?”
But there was no familiar voice on the other end of the phone. No “I love you more.” There was nothing but the heavy rush of static and white noise. A shushing, fuzzy noise that grew louder and louder until it hurt to listen to, until Zee couldn’t stand it and, with shaking hands, she ended the call.
If there was no one on the line, who was Abby talking to? And for that matter—what was she hearing?
The next day at school, as Zee and Elijah passed through the cafeteria, they spotted Nellie at her usual table with her friends. Only this time, instead of ignoring them, Nellie got up and joined them.
“If you come sit with us,” Elijah said, “you’ll never be able to show your face at that table again.”
“I don’t care,” Nellie said seriously. “We need to talk.”
The trio headed outside, securing the small patch of grass where Elijah and Zee usually ate lunch. “So, what’s up?” Zee asked.
“Something happened last night.”
“Yeah, same,” Elijah said.
“Wait, you too?” Zee added.
Zee told them about Abby on the phone and how she was talking to no one.
When she finished, Nellie said, “I woke up at three—”
“Wait,” Zee interrupted, “me too.”
“Also me,” Elijah added. A shiver seemed to find all three of them at the same time.
“Max was gone,” Nellie continued after a beat. “He usually sleeps on the bed with me, but he wasn’t there. I checked the whole house, and I couldn’t find him. I went out in the backyard, and the gate was open. That’s how he went missing last time. So, I checked the backyard and then cut through my neighbors’. I couldn’t find him anywhere.”
“So, he’s gone again?” Elijah asked.
“No. That’s the thing. I couldn’t find Max. But when I was out there, the hounds found me.”
“What?” Zee and Elijah said in unison.
“All three of them were there, two in the road and one on my neighbors’ lawn.”
“What did you do?” Zee asked.
“I ran! I ran like a crazy person and got back into the house. My mother caught me and went into a complete meltdown like she always does if I do anything wrong. And then she told me Max was with her.”
“Oh good, so he’s safe,” Elijah said.
Nellie shook her head. “It’s not Max. I don’t know how, but the dog in my house is not Max. He’s mean. He growled at me and tried to bite me. Max would never do that. My Max is the sweetest thing in the world. This Max . . . I don’t know. He’s angry. I had to kick him out of the room, and he just paced outside my bedroom door, growling.”
“That’s horrible,” Elijah said.
“And then, right before I fell asleep, I heard something. A voice. Asking a question.”
Zee looked at Nellie. “‘Howwwww much loooooooongggggger?’”
“Yes!” Nellie said. “How did you know?”
“It’s the hounds. That night I first saw the ghost, one of them was outside my house. And that’s what it said.”
“What does it mean?” Nellie asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s freaky,” Zee said. She turned to Elijah. “What happened to you?”
“My mother. She was up at three a.m.”
“Weird,” Nellie said.
“Actually, that part isn’t weird. My mother can be like that. She doesn’t always sleep well, so she stays up late and bakes or cooks. Anyway, she was baking. And she asked me to get some brown sugar out of the cupboard in the hallway. So I did, and my parents’ bedroom door was open, and I thought for a second that I could still see her lying in bed.”
Zee’s breath caught as she thought back to that day when Scratch was at Elijah’s house, how she also thought she saw someone in that bedroom.
“Was she?” Nellie asked softly, as if she were afraid of the answer.
“It looked like someone was there,” Elijah said. “But I figured it was just a trick of the light ’cause she was in the kitchen, I mean, I had just seen her. So, I brought the sugar out and we chatted for a bit and then . . . I saw what was in the bowl.”
“What?” Nellie said.
But before Elijah could answer, Zee whispered, “Mud and sticks and stones.”
Elijah just stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. “How . . . how did you know that?”
Zee closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Because that was what I thought I saw yesterday, before we went to find Deanna’s bracelet.”
Elijah looked confused, but it quickly morphed into something more. Something angry. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I wasn’t positive, and you were so happy, and I wanted it to be true and for everything to be fixed. I wanted her to be okay.”
No one spoke for a few m
inutes before Nellie squeezed Elijah’s hand and said, “I understand why she didn’t say anything, E.”
E? Why was Nellie calling Elijah “E”? Zee wondered, but didn’t say. Instead she said, “I’m sorry, Elijah. I just didn’t want to say anything until I was sure.”
“Sure of what?”
“Of this. Max being wrong. Abby talking to no one. Everything that’s happened.”
“And how that’s not my mom.”
Zee was sure she never heard him sound sadder than he did in that moment.
“Guys,” Nellie said after a moment. “This is serious. We need some kind of plan. We’ve got to figure out what’s happening.”
“No. Not what’s happening. It’s Principal Scratch. I’m sure of it. It’s something he is doing,” Elijah said with grim determination. “We need to find out what.”
16
ZEE DIDN’T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME SHE SAW HER SISTER THIS excited for anything. Abby had been racing around the house getting ready, arguing that they mustn’t be late, and then herding Zee outside, leaving half her breakfast on the counter. In the car she was humming to herself and kept weirdly fixing her hair in the mirror. Abby was acting like she had a date instead of just going to the elementary school for an assembly. This wasn’t just a school assembly. The whole town was invited. There was going to be a lecture about achieving your goals. Something Principal Scratch was calling “Getting What You Want When You Want It: Putting Yourself First.”
“Don’t you think Principal Scratch is amazing?” Abby said.
Zee rolled her eyes. “Not especially,” she said.
“But he’s an actual miracle worker. It’s all the customers in the diner talk about. How he came to their houses and motivated them and how the things they wanted most in life are theirs now. I just find the whole thing inspiring.”
Zee turned to her sister. “Exactly what miracle has he worked, Abby?”
She laughed. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been talking to Dad nearly every day.”
“Have you?”
“What does that mean?”
“Have you been talking to Dad? Because the other night you handed me that phone and there was no one there.”
“Huh. He must have just hung up.”
“No, Abby. You’re talking to no one. Don’t you see what that man is doing? He’s got this whole town under some kind of spell! He’s the furthest thing from a miracle worker that ever existed.”
“I don’t have time for your stories, Zee. I know exactly what Mr. Scratch has done. Look at how he’s united this town. I won’t have you speak badly of him.”
As they pulled up to the school, there was no parking in the lot. Nor was there street parking. They had to park all the way by the duck pond, and then, checking her watch like she’d morphed into the White Rabbit, Abby couldn’t stop hurrying her sister along, yelling that they were going to be late and they weren’t going to get a good seat. Zee followed, dragging her feet. She didn’t want to go to school. In fact, if she never saw Scratch again, that was just fine with her.
Inside, every seat in the gymnasium was filled. Abby, unable to hide her disappointment, said, “See, I told you we needed to leave sooner.”
The sisters found a spot to stand back near the doors. Zee gazed with disappointment at all the people. Looked like the whole town was here. She spotted Elijah and his father, but his mother wasn’t there. She even spotted Nellie and her parents and her little brother. Nellie had her head down, and when Zee finally caught her eye, she offered a small wave. Nellie returned it. She looked about as happy to be there as Zee was.
After nearly fifteen minutes of waiting, the whole room craned their necks to watch for Principal Scratch’s entrance.
He did not fail them.
Once again, adorned in his black jacket and shirt and pants, he slammed open the gymnasium doors, hair slicked back, sunglasses reflecting the light that streamed through the windows. People actually started applauding when he entered, and he bowed low when he reached the podium.
“Oh my gosh, he’s amazing,” Abby said. Zee looked around the room at the people gathered there and with a cold dread realized they all had something in common. Everyone looked worn and washed out. They looked tired. The only light they had was when they looked at Principal Scratch like he was their new savior. Something was wrong here. Very wrong.
“Do you love me?” the principal asked from the front of the room, his hands held wide and welcoming.
And the whole place, literally everyone except for Zee it seemed, echoed back, “Yes, we love you!”
Abby reached down and squeezed her sister’s hand. She had tears in her eyes.
“Ah,” Principal Scratch said, placing his hands over his heart, that red glove on the top. “That is good. I was blessed to come to this community, to meet all you lovely people, to help you realize what it was you wanted most, and to help you make that happen. I have knocked on all your doors. I have talked with you. Together we have focused and motivated each other to obtain what we want the most. Made each and every one of you into your own champions. I have watched you all speaking into existence what it is you need the most. I have watched you fight tooth and nail to make it happen. I have watched you let absolutely nothing stand in your way. I have watched you fight for your goals no matter the roadblocks. Over the needs of anything else. Over family and friends and the good of the rest of this fine community. I have watched you succeed!” There was a round of applause.
“You are too kind. It has been an honor, watching this community come together. Watching you all realize your potential, put together a plan for your future.”
Principal Scratch strolled across the gym, his hands tucked behind his back, the heels of his feet falling loudly on the wooden floor. “But nothing has made me more proud than the turnaround this school and these children have taken.” Another burst of applause rattled through the gymnasium. Abby squeezed Zee’s shoulders in excitement. “This school has been transformed from a place where young girls were fighting—yes, fighting—into a place of learning and compassion. A safe space where your children can learn what they need to succeed. They can see it out there and just take it. A whole school.” Here Principal Scratch frowned. “Yes, a whole school . . . except for one. The one I have failed.”
The crowd went eerily quiet.
“Yes,” Scratch said, hanging his head, “I have failed. I don’t like to admit that, but I must tell the truth.”
“No you haven’t!” someone in the audience yelled, and Principal Scratch smiled sadly.
“I have. There is one among you who has not found her path. One who fights. One who fails. And her failure is my failure. Because I have not reached her, she lies. She runs through sacred spaces. She laughs in the face of her own potential. She refuses to be great.”
This elicited a collective gasp.
“I know, I know. But again, this is my failure. So today I would like the chance to make this right. To help her find her path so that she can experience the same thing all of you have.”
Another round of applause. Principal Scratch held his hands up to silence them. “So now I would like to invite this person to join me. So that we can all help her reach her potential. So that she can become the girl we all want her to be!”
But not the girl she is, Zee thought. Because apparently just being yourself wasn’t enough anymore. Zee stared at the door wondering if anyone would notice if she left.
When Principal Scratch swung his arm out, a long dark-red-gloved finger pointed right at her. Zee thought she might faint. It had to be a mistake. This couldn’t be happening.
“Yes, you, Zera Puckett. It is to you that I speak. It is you that I have failed. Please come, join me now, and together we will speak into existence your unending potential. We will construct the future you were meant to have.”
“No, please,” Zee begged. “Don’t do this.” Her throat was tight with tears and her breathing started to hitch and turn ragged.
She looked at her sister. “Please, Abby, don’t make me do this.”
Her sister hugged her tight and kept telling her she loved her. For a second, Zee believed she was going to get them both out of here. They’d run as fast as they could out of this school. Heck, even out of this town. They could go upstate, find their father, and never set foot in Knobb’s Ferry again. She would never have to see Principal Scratch for as long as she lived.
She tugged Abby’s arm, trying to pull her toward the door, but Abby wouldn’t move. Instead she looked down at her with that horribly blank face and said, “Come on, Zee. I love you. We have to make sure you are saved by Principal Scratch. We all must be saved.”
Saved? Zee thought, terrified.
“Abby, please,” she begged as she pulled at her sister’s arm. She exchanged one frantic look with Elijah, who had his hand over his mouth, and then with Nellie, who had gone pale. Someone needed to stop this. Someone needed to help her.
“Please, no,” she said out loud. “Anyone, please, help me!”
But a sea of empty blank faces stared at her. What was happening?
Principal Scratch kept pointing at her, and then, as if she couldn’t stop herself, she started walking toward him. It was like a terrible magic trick. The last place she wanted to go was near this man, and yet her feet kept shuffling forward. It was like Zee couldn’t stop herself as she was dragged toward this black hole of a man. Her heart hammered inside her chest, and she felt the slow crawl of one lone bead of sweat making its way down her back.
When she reached him, he smiled a cold empty smile. The way a snake, if it could, would smile at a mouse.
Abby was still in the crowd, and now it was just Zee standing in front of the incredibly, almost impossibly, tall Principal Scratch.
Suddenly she couldn’t move. It felt like two invisible hands landed on her shoulders and were holding her in place. She wasn’t strong enough to stop him. She wasn’t strong enough to stop any of this.
With terror she realized he was going to put his hand—his terrible red-gloved hand—on her. When she felt the smooth leather clamp down on her shoulder, she nearly vomited in her mouth. She didn’t want him touching her. She didn’t want everyone watching this happen, but she couldn’t move. Run, she kept telling herself, but she couldn’t. She could only stand there and quiver and listen to the words coming out of Principal Scratch’s mouth.
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