by Blythe Baker
The fish was delicious, and I made sure to tell him as much. The potatoes were done a little while after, soft and buttery, fragrant from the sage he’d thrown in with them.
Fully sated, my eyelids were growing heavier with every second. I dragged myself into the cave, checking my phone which seemed to be drying well enough. The battery was nearly dead, though.
My jeans were still damp, but my torn shirt was almost dry. But why did I want to wear that bloody, filthy thing home?
Maybe Dante wouldn’t mind me borrowing his clothes. I’d get them back to him at some point…
My eyelids drooped, and I caught myself just before I slammed my head into the wall of the cave behind me.
Why am I so tired? I thought.
My back throbbed, but I was warm and full. And safe.
I closed my eyes.
Just for a minute…I just need to figure out what to do now.
And I fell asleep.
8
The first thing I became aware of was a kink in my neck. I didn’t want to admit it, of course. My eyes were so heavy, and all I wanted to do was just go back to sleep. But I was uncomfortable, and the longer I lay there, the worse it got.
Finally giving in to the sharp pain, I rolled over.
I was surprised when I didn’t hear the usual squeak of my mattress.
Oh well, I thought. I’m too tired to care.
But as I snuggled in, I realized that the bed beneath me was very cold. And a lot harder than I remembered.
Slowly, my senses started coming back to me.
The blankets around me weren’t the same downy texture I was so accustomed to. In fact, they felt pretty similar to a sleeping bag, with the swishy, heat trapping material I used at sleepovers as a kid.
And it smelled different, too. The laundry detergent I used was made with lavender and eucalyptus. Yet I was inhaling the deep, rich scent of pine and smoke from a wood burning fire.
I pried my eyelids open, and was suddenly a lot more awake.
I sat up, and found myself sprawled out on the floor of Dante’s cave.
My heart started to pound, the blood rushing through my ears.
There was a pale, grey light filtering in through the mouth of the cave, and the air was so frigid I could see each frantic breath that escaped my lungs.
I grabbed at my cell phone, which was still lying on the rock beside me in front of the heater. It was dead.
The heater, too, wasn’t working any longer. The little coils inside were dark. I guessed I’d used the whole battery.
I snatched up the blanket that was draped over me and pulled it up closer to my shoulders, hoping to block some of the cool morning air, before realizing it was probably Dante’s blanket.
This was just weird.
I rubbed my eyes, trying to stifle a yawn, and stared around.
I must’ve fallen asleep exactly where I’d sat down to check my phone the night before. What happened after that? I didn’t think anything.
Dante must’ve thrown the blanket over me after he’d found me. I found it strange he didn’t try to wake me, though.
I rubbed my temples, trying to clear my groggy thoughts.
My back still ached in some places, but it felt significantly better than it had the night before. I really needed to know what that potion was that Dante had given me.
Speaking of Dante…
I cautiously got to my feet, snatching the blanket off the ground and wrapping it around my shoulders. I squinted through the darkness inside the cave; all the lanterns had been extinguished, and there was no movement. The cot against the back wall was empty, too.
I wandered out to the mouth of the cave and found our firepit to be nothing more than dying embers. Through the trees about a quarter of a mile away, the lake lapped against the side of the shore. Off to the east, the cliffs I’d jumped from were just visible along the lake’s edge. It was hard to believe I’d fallen from there and made my way all the way out here.
Dante had been right; I would’ve had an incredibly difficult time getting back to the Lodge from here. It would have taken me hours to walk there.
But as for the man himself, he was nowhere to be found.
The morning was quiet. Everything was silent, apart from the occasional bird chirping or the gentle breeze through the branches overhead. It was soothing.
I played the previous night over in my mind. Up on the cliff, encountering that creature. The arrows hailing down around me. Falling from the cliff, hoping to save myself. Running into Dante on the shore, and having him guide me back to his cave here. The salve he put on my back that helped so much.
He’d fed me, taken me in, given me a place to rest…
And yet, I still couldn’t be sure I could trust him.
He was a monster hunter, and by his accounts, I’d be one of the monsters that he’d hunt. He hadn’t mentioned faeries, but from the way the other Gifted had treated me upon finding out I was a faery, it wasn’t hard to imagine that he’d be right up there with them in terms of contempt and hatred toward me.
I wrapped the sleeping bag more tightly around my shoulders.
What if there had been no creature at all? What if Dante had been the one to attack me?
I rolled my shoulders, and let out a small whimper of pain.
I hadn’t seen the wound in my back, but I’d seen the claws, or talons, that belonged to that creature.
That, and the beast had been much bigger than Dante. Even though Dante was a large man, he couldn’t compare to that creature’s size.
…Unless the fear had made him seem much larger than he truly was.
I chewed on my lip, a small sore bleeding easily from where I’d bit down on it the night before.
Whatever it was that had hurt me was huge and…eerily mysterious.
No…I didn’t think that was Dante, as eager as my fried brain was to find a more concrete explanation for what happened the night before. I might’ve written it off as a bear, maybe even Old Scar-Face himself…but I knew full well that he wasn’t around anymore.
Did animals have ghosts? Could they be like Susan Bennet, a ghost walker, able to become both ghost and physical being?
That thought sent a chill down my spine.
Regardless, I couldn’t stay here. I needed to start making my way home.
I wasn’t really sure how to thank Dante for the medicine and the food. He had no pens or paper that I could find. Finally, I grabbed enough sticks to spell Thanks on the floor of the cave before grabbing my belongings and heading out.
I shrugged my jacket on, as disgusting as it was, along with my jeans that were now dry, albeit stiff from the lake water. The shirt I’d worn was almost impossible to wear, too, as ripped and cut up as it was.
I folded up the clothes he’d given me and laid them on his cot. I hoped he’d understand that I had no desire to stick around now that the morning had come.
As I made my way from the cave, I started toward the lake, intending to follow it as best I could to the Lodge.
I kept an eye out for Dante, but never came across him. I assumed he was out hunting the creature. He’d insisted several times the night before that the creature was the only reason why he was here in Faerywood Falls in the first place. I didn’t doubt that for a second.
The paths became familiar after about an hour of walking along the trails in front of the cliffs. I followed the terrain up and down, keeping the lake in sight, only having to backtrack twice. Soon I found myself along the same trail leading up to the cliff I’d jumped from the night before.
Looking up at it now, I couldn’t believe that I’d leapt from that height, even under the duress I was. It was so high…
Thankfully, I found my mountain bike parked against Mrs. Bickford’s sign, right where I’d left it.
That meant I was getting closer to home. Relief washed through me, loosening some of the knots in my stomach.
I peddled all the way home, and reached the front door of
my cabin just as the first golden rays of dawn began to peek through the trees in the forest.
As soon as I closed the door, I quickly peeled off the dirty and bloody clothes. I knew there was no saving my shirt or jacket, regardless of how much I liked them. I tossed my jeans and socks and everything else that hadn’t been damaged straight into the washing machine.
With a tightness in my throat, I chanced a look at myself in the bathroom mirror.
I gasped when I finally saw my back.
Four long, wavy scars ran from my left shoulder all the way down to the right side of my ribcage. They were angry and red, but most of the blood was gone, aside from the dried flecks Dante had missed with his towel. I tried to touch the scars, my eyes welling with tears.
I would probably have those scars forever.
Angry and frightened all over again, I stepped into a scalding hot shower and cried for the better part of half an hour. I wasn’t so vain as to mourn the loss of my appearance, but there was something devastating about feeling like I was deformed in some way now. So much for bikinis or tank tops in the summer. So long cute dresses with lower cut backs.
How was I going to explain these wounds to people? It was lucky that the salve seemed to have healed the worst of the injuries and taken away the pain, because I didn’t dare go to a doctor to have them looked at. There wasn’t a dog in existence that could’ve caused those jagged marks along my spine. Even a bear would sound like a crazy excuse.
The worst part was that even I didn’t know what happened to me. I had no idea what it was that had attacked me like this. And it had cut through me like I wasn’t anything more than a paper doll…
As much as I hated to admit it…Dante was right about there being something dangerous in the woods. And not just him. Lucan had said the same thing to me in a warning, and said that this creature had attacked one of his wolves.
Not to mention the wolf I’d found torn clean in half in the middle of the forest that one day with Athena…
I stood there in the shower, my hands outstretched against the wall, letting the water spill over my shoulders, pounding against the scars on my back as if it might magically make them disappear.
I couldn’t let this fear control me. If I did, then I’d never leave the house.
But if things that happened in the last few weeks had taught me anything, it was that I wasn’t even safe here in my own home.
Angry with myself for letting my emotions carry me away like that, I shut the shower off and got out, finding clean clothes and socks.
I wasn’t going to let this creature win. It might have already claimed one life, and I wasn’t going to let it claim another.
Those scrapes across my back were all I would allow it to have.
I needed to know. I needed more information.
And there were only a few people I could think of that might be willing to help me get to the bottom of this.
Annie Evan’s friends who were still staying at the Lodge.
Maybe the fear in their eyes hadn’t just been for their friend’s death. Maybe they’d seen the…thing I encountered up on the cliff the night before.
There was only one way to know for sure though, and that was to talk to them face to face.
I locked the door to my cabin once more, promising myself that I’d find the strength to come back here again.
I swallowed hard as I crawled into my SUV, knowing that I still hadn’t found it yet.
9
“Well, good morning, sleepy head,” Aunt Candace said when I finally stumbled into the kitchen around nine in the morning.
I blinked at her, surprised to see her smiling. I thought for certain that she’d be freaking out by now, wondering where in the world I’d been, ready to call Sheriff Garland and report me missing.
“How was work last night?” she asked, wiping down the large mixing bowl that she’d just washed in the large farmhouse sink she loved so much.
“Oh,” I said, brushing some of my still damp hair out of my face. “Work was fine,” I said.
“I didn’t even hear you come in last night,” she said. “Though I was exhausted. All these guests are keeping me on my toes. Sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk.”
“That’s okay,” I said, taking a seat at one of the barstools at the island.
She thinks you stayed here last night, Athena said from her makeshift nest that Mrs. Warren had made for her at the window. She was peering at me from inside her bath of sunshine, and she did not look happy. I, however, was worried sick.
I’m sorry…I said to her. I’ll explain everything in a second, okay? Will you come with me back up to Bliss’s room?
Athena hopped out of her box nest and easily onto the floor before walking over to me, wrapping her tail around my shin like a cat.
“So I know you have to go into the antique shop again today, sweetheart, but would you mind running a few errands for me on your way home tonight?” my aunt asked.
“No problem,” I said.
I felt guilty for not being honest with her about where I’d really been, but she seemed at peace with the way she thought things had gone. Did it really hurt for me to just go along with it to help her keep her own peace of mind?
“Okay, I’ll just text you a list. Thanks so much. Oh, and Mrs. Warren tucked away some muffins in the fridge. Orange cranberry. She said they were your favorite?”
My eyes lit up as I hopped out of my stool. The fish and potatoes Dante had made the night before felt so long ago…
I grabbed a muffin and told Aunt Candace I needed to finish getting ready for work, which she happily accepted with a wave from her station at the sink. Athena was right at my heels.
Alright, you better tell me why you look as awful as you do, Athena said as we climbed the stairs together.
And so I did. I told her everything, leaving nothing out, and finding it therapeutic to be able to discuss it. I was so happy that I wasn’t alone in what happened anymore.
I should have been there with you…Athena said. But no, instead I had to stay here and play house pet. I’m sorry, Marianne.
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “I had every intention of being home at my normal time. And there’s nothing wrong with your wanting to just rest.”
Even still…Athena said. I should have been less selfish. I won’t make that mistake again.
I collapsed onto Bliss’s bed, grateful for the comfort of a mattress and blankets beneath me.
How is the wound in your back? Athena asked.
“Sore,” I said. “But thanks to that salve Dante gave me – ”
I still can’t believe you let him do that, Athena said. What if it was poisonous? Or something to put you to sleep? What if he meant to hurt you?
“I thought of that,” I said. “But if he didn’t treat the wound, I might’ve lost too much blood, or maybe gotten an infection. And besides, he had plenty more opportunities besides that to hurt me.”
Athena’s tail twitched in agitation. I’m never leaving your side again, she said in a final tone.
“That’s fine with me,” I said.
After getting her to calm down somewhat, we agreed that we’d need more information about this creature if we were going to figure out exactly what it was. Athena insisted that was going to need to take top priority. She, like me, thought it was highly likely that this creature was what killed Annie.
But we had to ask her friends for more information…and I hoped they’d be willing to talk things over with me.
I wandered down into the common areas of the lodge, hoping to bump into any of them. As far as I knew, the police hadn’t lifted their orders for them to stay on the property while they investigated.
I decided to first go through Annie’s room for clues. I wasn’t sure it would turn anything up, but I had to try. Mr. Terrance was willing to give me the key into her room, which had been locked on orders by the police.
Not much to my surprise, I found nothing in there. It w
as possible that her friends might have gone through her things before.
I knew I didn’t really have much time, so I returned the key to Mr. Terrance and went in to work.
I spent more time staring at the clock than at the tasks Abe had given me to do. I was antsy to get back, eager to find more information. Abe finally saw me nearly dancing on the balls of my feet and let me leave early, asking what I was so desperate to get back to.
“There’s been a lot of stuff going on at the Lodge, and I’ve promised Aunt Candace that I’d be around to help,” I said. That was at least partially the truth. I had promised her I’d help, but today it was for purely selfish reasons that I wanted to be back there.
“Well, I don’t want to keep you, then. Give my best to your aunt, alright?” he asked.
I promised I would, and hurried on my way.
I knew I needed to be as inconspicuous as possible. I debated the whole way home about how I was going to approach this.
Finally, I decided to just be as honest as I could. They’d see right through any false pretenses.
I found two of them in the dining room, having some cookies and coffee. It was two of the girls, including the one with the wavy dyed hair who had thrown herself onto Greg.
They looked up at me when I entered the room, but their gazes didn’t linger very long. They bent their heads together and talked in low voices.
“Hey,” I said with a smile, taking a seat at the table across from them.
“Hi,” the girl with the long, wavy hair said, leaning back in her chair. She gave me a tight, insincere smile in return.
“Look, it may not be my place, I guess, but I just wanted to check in on you guys, see how you were doing with…everything,” I said cautiously, looking between the wavy haired girl and her friend, who had braces and a freckled face.
The girls looked at each other. The one with braces spoke. “So you’re the daughter of the owner of the Lodge, right?”
“Close,” I said. “I’m her niece. But I help her run things around here. I’m Marianne.”
Both girls glanced at each other, having a silent conversation.