I’d hit her in the leg when she didn’t have a shield up, so they’d had to heal some serious burns.
Jericho gave a thin smile. “She has been fully healed, but she and Jason Dickinson may need to be counselled on how to deal with such a traumatic incident. We have offered counselling to all involved.”
I’d been offered counselling and I’d refused. Alina and I were each other’s counsel. And crying all over Jackson had helped. Way more than I thought it would. Way more than I would ever let on, especially to him.
I sighed.
I hadn’t seen him since then and I worried that maybe things would be weird between us. Maybe I’d overstepped by clinging to him longer than necessary. I chewed my lower lip. I was probably being silly. He’d been gone longer than this before. It was probably just whatever this thing was that caused him to disappear.
I was startled out of my thoughts when Jericho spoke again. “This is Sergeant Lochlan McLeod. He is with the Guild and will be working with Detective Forester in this matter, as well as heading up the continuing investigation into the missing persons cases.”
Lochlan was tall and muscular and had piercing green eyes. I was surprised to see how young he looked. I would have guessed that he was maybe a year or two older than me, but if he was a sergeant, he was probably a lot older than that. I was already bad at guessing people’s ages, but throw in some fae blood and I was lost.
Lochlan stepped up to the lectern and looked around the room. “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I will be conducting interviews with all the of the people who have been interviewed in the past regarding these missing persons cases, as well as asking for anyone who might have any additional information to come forward, even if it seems like something trivial. I will be working from the Angel Falls police station while I am here. I’m determined to get to the bottom of this once and for all.”
As the noise in the room picked up, he held up a hand. “As to the fighting that occurred the other night, I am honestly amazed that something like that could get so far out of hand so quickly. The fighting wasn’t just over a boy, as we were first led to believe. That’s only part of it. The two girls that were initially attacked were accused of causing Emily Pullman’s disappearance and possible death, for which there is no supporting evidence. The Guild and the police are still investigating that case.” He ran a hand down the edge of the lectern. “Please don’t try to take matters into your own hands. The authorities are here to solve these crimes, so if you feel that you have something to contribute — and by that I mean real evidence — let us know and we will take it from there. Thank you for your attention.”
He stepped back and Jericho moved on to talk about other matters. I zoned out a bit, but then I overheard a couple of girls talking quietly behind me.
“They were interviewing Emily’s friends and Felicity was singled out because of that argument they had. Did you know she even melted Emily’s hairdryer? Maybe Felicity was the one who hurt or killed Emily all along and she just blamed Maddie to cover her tracks.”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t put it past her. I heard they also questioned that Kellie Murphy because she argued with Emily and Kellie isn’t friends with her no more. And they really grilled Blake. He dumped her. The police are suspicious because it’s often the boyfriend or the husband.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s a hunk, but he’s a bit of a jerk sometimes.”
Surely Blake didn’t hurt Emily. I didn’t think he could do that, but what did I know? I’d only known him for a short time. She had a volatile temper, so maybe things got out of hand…
No. I was pretty sure he wasn’t involved. I got the impression he still liked her.
My attention was drawn back to Jericho as he wrapped up the meeting and wished us all a good night.
The people around me started getting to their feet. Relief rolled through me and I gladly joined the crowd in moving outside. As soon as we were out the front door, I strode over to the garden to the right side of the entrance. I needed to get away from the crush of people making their way to their cars.
“Maddie?”
I gave a start, then felt silly. “Hi, Kellie. How’re you going?”
Looking at her, I knew there was no way she would have hurt Emily. She wasn’t bitchy like the rest of them. I think she just found out what a terrible person Emily was and ditched her as a friend. That’s all.
“I’m good.” She hesitated. “I… just wanted to say sorry for what happened at the party.”
“What? You’re kidding, right? You don’t need to apologize for what that witch did. She was totally out of control. All of them took things way too far, but she killed Bridgette right in front of me. They say it was the dark magic making her do those things, but I think that a large part of it was just who she is. She’s rotten right down to the core of her being. I just think the dark magic only magnified her anger.”
“Maybe. But I still wanted to apologize.”
“Why do you feel the need to apologize for something you didn’t do? It makes no sense.”
She fiddled with the hem of her jacket. “Because I invited you to the party.”
I scoffed. “You had no idea that that would happen. How could anyone have known that things would get so crazy? And deadly. Plus, I still would have gone because Blake invited me too. So stop it.”
She gave me a small smile. “I guess you’re right. Sorry.”
“So now you’re saying sorry for saying sorry?”
We both laughed.
Most of the people were now out in the car park, so Kellie started walking. “Let’s get out of here.”
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As the car passed the old church and graveyard, my nerves became more frazzled. Maybe talking Alina into driving me out here to see if I could talk to Kevin’s ghost wasn’t such a good idea.
I turned away from the window before I saw any of the spirits amongst the gravestones. It was a crazy idea, but it bothered me that he didn’t even remember his name. I could at least tell him who he was if he hadn’t regained his memories by now. I’d been thinking about it after the church meeting and it had kept me awake late into the night. The only thing I could think of as to why it bothered me so much was because Jackson was in the same position. I couldn’t help Jackson with his identity — I didn’t even know where to start — but I could help Kevin.
“Did you see any ghosts there?”
Alina’s voice in the quiet car scared me and I flinched.
“Uh, no. I looked away before I could see any. I only want to talk to Kevin.”
“Okay. That’s fair enough.”
Alina parked in the spot where all the cars had been parked that night. I hesitated, then stepped out. “It looks so different in the daylight.”
Alina nodded as she looked around, eyes wide. I wondered if she felt as emotional as I did.
I looked at her. “Coming here was a bad idea.”
“Do you want to go? I can take you home right now.”
“No. I really need to talk to Kevin.”
She nodded.
We checked out the fire pit and the memories flooded my mind. Dancing with the girls. Justina leaving. Kissing Blake. Agreeing to be his girlfriend.
Why did I say yes? What was wrong with me? I hardly knew him. I don’t even know why I kissed him. My head was muddled when I thought about him.
“She threw you over that way,” Alina said as she pointed over to her right.
We headed that way as I relived flying through the air and the impact with the tree. This was definitely not good. My heart pounded and my breathing was shallow. It was too much. My heart squeezed in my chest as we approached the tree that looked like the one I hit, according to Alina. I hadn’t really seen it.
Alina looked up at the tree and down at the leaf litter at our feet. “This one. When I got here, you were lying on the ground about here and she was about to grab you by the throat. I didn’t want to reveal my magic, but I had to stop her.”
I looked into her tear-filled eyes. “Thank you.”
I stepped forward and hugged her tightly. She really was a true friend. I breathed in the familiar scent of her perfume. It was comforting and was just what I needed to pull myself together and face the rest of this.
We stepped back, wiping our eyes.
I looked around. “I think I ended up running this way.”
As I started walking in that direction, Kevin appeared in front of me and I nearly fell backward onto my butt.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47N3V3i2ZN
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Author's Note: Do you think they’ll get somewhere now that Lochlan is getting directly involved? Maybe he’ll find Emily and Piper and the other missing people and we can find out what really happened to them.
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