by Alina Banks
“Give it a couple of days, Ana. I know I need to talk to you about this, but so much is happening right now.” She reached out to take my hand. “I made those choices in the past because I thought they were the best ones for your future. I never made them to harm you, or because I didn’t think you were capable of becoming who you could be. It was mostly due to my own fear, my own wishes, my own…for so long, all I ever wanted was to be someone else, but I realized too late that it was never going to happen. I can only be who I am, and, for the first time, I think I’m actually coming to accept that. Maybe, if I hadn’t left when I did, I might have accepted it sooner, but back then, I just couldn’t be here. There were too many memories that haunted me, some of them related to selfish choices I made back then.”
“You were young.”
“I was, but that was no excuse.” She sighed. “In time, you’ll come to understand why what I did was a problem, but you can’t right now. You don’t know enough.” She shook her head, looked down at her lap, then back at me. “I want to take you to my parents’ graves. I want you to have a chance to meet them in some way, even though they’re never really going to be part of your life. Back then, I thought it wouldn’t be possible I’d lose them both. Part of it was my fault. I wasn’t ready. To be honest, I don’t know if it was possible to be ready for what we were about to do, but I was meant to be as ready as I could be, and instead, I buried my head in the sand. I wanted to pretend that everything would sort itself out and that I didn’t need to be involved. They needed me more than I realized. They needed Conways, and I wasn’t good enough.”
“Being a Conway means something here.”
“Yeah, it does, and I always wanted you to be a Price. Everything tells me you’re a Conway, though, and that’s something I don’t think I was prepared for either.” Mom stood. “You are something more than you know, Ana, and I need to sort out a few things before I can tell you everything.” She paused. “I won’t keep the truth from you any longer than I have to.”
“Hello, Alice.” It was early, and I knew she would be there if I came alone. “Are you what I think you are?”
She laughed. “That depends on what you think I am.” She studied me the way she had done before. “Lilah still hasn’t told you the whole truth, has she?”
“Mom isn’t ready.”
“Of course she isn’t, but this isn’t about her being ready. This is about what’s coming next.” She gestured for me to sit down. “I know why you’re here.”
“To talk to a ghost.” I shook my head. “How is it you’re here?”
“Magic, mostly. Clermont is home to a kind of power that very few places on Earth harbor, and that power has a tremendous effect, especially on people who have unfinished business. The problem for me, though, is that I’m essentially trapped here. This is where I always felt most at home, and now…” She shrugged. “Well, apparently, the universe has a sense of humor. I had a strong attachment to this place, so this is where I’m going to spend my time, at least, until my unfinished business is done. Considering what I know, I have trouble believing it’s ever going to be finished, especially if Lilah is still too busy avoiding it.”
“You knew Mom.”
“Everyone knew Lilah. I was probably one of very few people she called a friend, and that was probably because I thought it was important for her to make her own path, so I didn’t try to persuade her to make different choices. I know she felt a lot of pressure. She was a Conway.” Alice sighed. “Unfortunately for us, things happened at a time before she was really ready to accept who she was. Had the timing been a little better, everything could have worked out differently, but she wasn’t the only reason things went badly. To be honest, I don’t think most of us were truly ready for what we were about to face. We’d always known it was a possibility, but we had no idea what that really meant.” She looked at me again. “I don’t want to say too much, this is Lilah’s story to tell. Just know that I’m here if you have any questions after she finally tells you the truth. It is connected to what’s happening now. The only reason I can say that is because you came back here. You’ve put two and two together already.”
“Are familiars a thing?”
“For some people. I was never lucky enough to have a familiar, but there were those I knew who did have one. If you’ve found yours, keep it safe. They’re more important than you know, Ana. I promise they will help you, no matter how complicated things become.”
As always, Alex was reading. I stood watching him for a moment before stepping closer, trying to work out what I really wanted to ask him. “Your family cabin isn’t the only one out there, is it?”
“No, it’s not.” He looked at me, seemingly unaffected by the interruption. I thought he would have been more annoyed with my sudden intrusion, but then, I realized that I hadn’t seen him turn a page the entire time I’d been there, so he was probably lost in his thoughts rather than actually reading. “There are at least five others I know of.” He shrugged. “It’s a part of our life out here. People like to hunt and having cabins close by just makes the entire process easier. Some of those hunters aren’t very happy they’ve been asked not to go into the forest until this is all sorted, but they’re doing what they have to, because it’s the young who are being harmed. They understand that we’re the next generation, and if something bad happens to us, then there would be a huge problem.”
“How much do you know about those cabins?”
“Why are you asking?” His eyes met mine. “Please tell me you aren’t planning on going out there again.”
“You did. Alone.”
“That’s no reason for you to be making the same choices, Ana.” He stood and stepped closer to me. “I’m going to sound like a chauvinistic jerk when I say this, but you’re a girl, and that means you’d be an easier target for someone or something, especially since that thing took down Wayde. He was not a weak person. He would have fought back with everything he had, but it wasn’t enough. If you went out there alone…I’m just worried.”
“Unless the killer isn’t interested in females.”
“We can’t assume that, Ana. I understand why you’d think that, but walking away from one female doesn’t mean they’d walk away from another, because neither of us have any idea if gender is even a factor here. We don’t know enough about why it went after Lucas and Wayde. There are theories, but nothing more.” Alex shrugged. “Not that you’d know them, because you haven’t been here long enough.”
“I want to learn more about those theories, Alex. I want to learn more about Clermont. Spending time here has shown me this town should have always been a part of my life, and the reason it wasn’t was Mom’s fear, which, from what I know, relates to something that happened back when she was eighteen, and I think it’s linked to what’s happening now. I want to know what you know.”
He nodded. “I definitely understand that. I do know about what happened before, because my parents were around for it, and I know my aunt was involved. From what I know of her, she didn’t come out of it the same as she was before, and she made the decision to leave around the same time your mom did. That’s the reason I’ve never met her, and I highly doubt she’s ever going to come back to Clermont, for any reason. I’m pretty sure everyone in town knows someone who was affected by what happened, even though most of us don’t know the whole story. It’s one of those things we just know about.”
“How many people died?”
“Throughout the year that led up until the major incident, we lost at least forty members of the community, and afterwards, the incident took another thirty, one way or another. Some died, some left, and many of the survivors that were left behind were never the same. That incident is something we’ll always remember, but at the same time, it’s something most people don’t talk about. I know my aunt wasn’t the only one affected in my family. She was with my grandmother at the time, and my grandmother died during the incident. But even now, if you were to ask me what ki
lled her, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Some say it was a demon trying to come into this world, and with Clermont’s history, I suppose it wouldn’t be such a far-fetched idea.” Alex smiled. “Once I realized how much it hurt Dad and my uncle to talk about it, I stopped asking questions, and instead, started listening to what everyone was saying. Most of what I heard was nothing more than rumors, but some of them may be closer to the truth than we know.”
Chapter Twelve
Sabrina’s eyes met mine. “There’s been another murder.”
“How did you find out?”
“Mom was talking about it this morning, and I overheard her when I was heading downstairs for breakfast. The moment I walked into the kitchen, she immediately changed the subject. She didn’t want me to know about it.” She shrugged. “Very few people know about it.”
“Your mom works for the local paper, right? That’s how she knows.”
“It is, because eventually, this information is going to get out, the way it always does, and her boss wanted her to be ready. I just…the police have no idea what’s killing people. They say it’s probably an animal, but that doesn’t make any sense. What animal would come this close to such a busy area? If people were being killed further out in the forest, I think it would make more sense, but since it happened here…especially considering what happened to Dante.”
I nodded and raked a hand through my hair. “You aren’t wrong. I’d already ruled out the local wildlife angle because of my research, but it’s not our job to find out the truth.”
“With everything that’s happened, I think we’re probably the only people who can.” She breathed in deeply and glanced down before looking back at me. “Ana, the one thing I know about Clermont is that the people who live here are very good at pretending everything will be fine, even if it won’t. I know that people avoid talking about the strange things that happened here, like what happened before your mom left. I know about a lot of it thanks to my mom, because she was interested even before she started working for the local paper, and I think part of that was because your mom was one of her closest friends. When everything started to change, Mom was there, but her friends had tried to keep her out of things, and I don’t know if she ever found out the whole truth about what had happened back then.”
“Considering the choices she’s making now, I think she did find out.” I thought for a moment. “If she didn’t have any idea about our current situation, I don’t think she’d be trying as hard to keep you from looking into this. She knows, or at least she thinks she knows, and she’s doing what she can to protect you.” I ran my tongue over my bottom lip. “Both of our mothers are trying to keep us safe by not telling us the whole truth, and I think that’s probably the worst choice they could be making.”
James, like he had done so many times before, looked between the two of us, this mix of emotions in his eyes. “Are you guys sure about this?”
For a few seconds, Sabrina and I shared a look, then she turned to James and nodded resolutely. “As sure as we can be. Finding out more about what’s going on is the best thing we can do. The students of this school are dying. We can’t let this keep happening.”
“Considering what we’ve already learned, it seems like the cabins are involved somehow, but I think we need to be certain before we go back to poke around some more.” I shrugged. “The cabins aren’t safe, and if we don’t need to go back out there, then I think it would be best if we don’t. And looking into this murder is something that will give us a better idea.” I looked at James, and I could see how worried he was. “We’re going to be careful. We’re not going in unprepared this time. Sabrina has the details of where the body was found, so we’re going to head there first.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think any of this is safe.” He nibbled his bottom lip. “I get it. The two of you want to help people, but you guys could be putting your lives at risk.”
“We know that whoever is doing this is only going after people who are alone or distracted.” I thought for a moment about Wayde, how likely it was that he was actually alone when he was attacked. “We’re not going to be either of those things. We’re going to be together, and we’re going to be careful.”
“The best thing we can do is just walk away.” James sighed. “I know neither of you are going to agree with me, because you’re the kind of people who feel the need to do something more, but I just…”
“You were fine with going to explore the cabins with us.” Sabrina shook her head. “What’s changed, James?”
“Going to the cabins was a calculated risk and we all knew that. We learned something from the experience, but I don’t think we can learn anything useful from a spot where a body was dumped, and I don’t think the two of you really understand the risk. I think you’ve made the decision that you want to do more to help, so you’re going to go hunting for clues, even if that isn’t the safest choice to make. We know that there is someone out there killing people, and whoever is committing those murders is probably working at the cabins, so, to me, it makes more sense to stop pushing our luck. How are we going to deal with whoever this is? If they were strong enough to kill Wayde, they’re strong enough to kill the three of us.”
I smiled at him. “You aren’t wrong, but I don’t think we’re going to be in any danger. I think this is going to be much less of a risk than the ones we’ve already taken. The body was dumped there, and whoever dumped it there knows that the location will be sealed off for a certain amount of time, until the police finish their investigation. From what Sabrina overheard, I’m certain the police are done there, but the murderer isn’t going to know that. That gives us a bit of time to go looking at where the body was dumped.”
Raising an eyebrow, he studied me. “You keep saying dumped.”
“I think it’s highly unlikely the victim was murdered where he was found, but we might be able to find some clues as to where the murderer came from. Maybe we can track them back.”
“Track them?” James shook his head. “Do either of you know anything about tracking?”
“I do.” The voice came from behind us, and I turned to see Alex almost right behind us, a small smile on his lips. “If you want to look into this, then I’d like to join you.”
Alex was the only one there when I reached our meeting spot, and there was something about that that didn’t surprise me. He seemed like the kind of person who always showed up on time. I studied him as I walked down the street. The sun was low on the horizon, the trees behind him cast dark silhouettes against its orange glow. The image made things seem like they were meant to be.
Alex’s eyes met mine for a moment, and it made me wonder what he saw when he looked at me. I knew what I saw when I looked at him: someone who knew a whole lot more about Clermont that I did, who’d been taught how to track by a family that hunted.
“Why did you want to come?”
“Multiple reasons.” He shrugged. “The main one was because I knew Wayde.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I. He wasn’t a good person, but he didn’t deserve to be another victim. This is the least I can do for him. Maybe we won’t find anything, but not going seems like it would be the worst choice.” He smiled. “Why are you doing this, Ana? You’ve only been living in Clermont for a few weeks. It’s not like you have a reason to care.”
“No, I don’t, but this is my parents’ home town. They have a reason to care, so I’m doing this on their behalf. I feel as if this is something I should be doing because of my family. Granted, I don’t know as much as I’d like, since my mother hasn’t been willing to tell me, but being here…” I shook my head. “It feels right, as stupid as that probably sounds. This is the choice I should be making.”
“You don’t sound stupid, Ana.” His eyes met mine again, and I could see that he actually believed me. “I think you’re one of those people who aren’t quite like everyone else, and that’s really not a bad thing. Clermont is…I don’t even know h
ow to put it into words, really. It’s one of those places where there are a lot of secrets being kept by people, especially from the younger generation, because there’s this belief that not talking about things makes them less real.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t. Not knowing what happened doesn’t make anything less real - it just makes it harder for us to prepare for what’s coming, and that’s something I’m not sure I can forgive my family for. Every snippet of conversation I’ve caught recently makes me think they knew something like this was coming, and they’ve never said a word to us, even though we would have better been able to protect ourselves if they had.”
“Mom’s the same.” Sabrina sighed as she walked over to us, James by her side. “It’s obvious she knows so much more than I do, but she’s not willing to talk to me about any of it. She thinks I’m better off not knowing. I think I’m better off knowing everything I can possibly find out, because if I don’t, how am I supposed to protect myself?”
“Obviously, we aren’t meant to.” Alex shrugged. “I hate to say it, but I think they believe we aren’t capable of looking out for ourselves, and that’s what’s stopping them from telling us the whole truth.”
I shook my head. “It’s not just that. The more I learn about Clermont, the more obvious it becomes that there used to be people to rely on to protect the town, but things are different now. Those people are gone. Most of them left, but Mom made the decision to come back. Maybe she knew what was going to happen. I can’t say for sure. This is just what I’d put together from the clues I’d found. I feel like we’re the ones who might have been a part of that, if things hadn’t fallen apart, so what we’re doing right now is what we were supposed to do.”
As we walked through the trees, I noticed how each of us moved. No matter how quietly we tried to walk, Sabrina and I made the most noise. Then, there were James and Alex. I didn’t know how the two of them managed it, although it was easy to understand why Alex could move silently - it was part of being a hunter. The last thing he needed was to spook whatever it was he was hunting. James surprised me. I hadn’t noticed how quietly he moved through the trees, the grace in his footsteps were almost feline.