2 Whispering (19 page)

By Wednesday, Paris’ curiosity about what I was up to had almost completely derailed any rational train of thought she had. She was bound and determined she was going to remain angry with me – even if that meant she was out of the supernatural loop. It was an irritating quandary for her.

As for me? I liked watching her struggle. I knew she couldn’t stay mad at me much longer.

In a rare show of maturity, I had called Aric after my sphinx revelation and told him my suspicions about Zach. He was dubious, at first, but he agreed that some things weren’t adding up about Zach.

“I’ll do some research,” he said. “Don’t go anywhere alone with that guy.”

“I’m not an idiot.”

“I’m not joking. Don’t be . . . you. It’s too dangerous. The semester is almost over. Whatever the killer has planned, he’s running out of time.”

“I said I wouldn’t go anywhere alone with him,” I said irritably and hung up the phone. I hated it when he went all alpha male. It was beyond irritating.

That Wednesday night was the last astrology lab of the semester. I was going to be glad to be done with the class. It was nowhere near as fun as I thought it was going to be – and it got downright painful once Paris stopped talking to me.

The professor had a surprise for us for the final class: We were going on a field trip. It was better than a final exam, I guess.

The class was told they would have to go on about a fifteen-minute hike to get to the “surprise” location. I followed the line of students, but fell back to the end of the line wearily. I was not in the mood for some late-night excursion. I was feeling a little keyed up – and I couldn’t figure out why.

I watched as Paris dropped back in the line and fell in step with me. She seemed uncomfortable being alone with me. “Well, this sucks,” she said nervously.

“It really does. Why couldn’t we just have done star charts on the roof again? If I wanted to hike I would have taken a walking class at the athletic building.”

We lapsed into silence for a few minutes. Something was weighing heavily on Paris. I decided to give her the time to bring it up on her own.

“I’m sorry,” she said finally.

“I know.”

“No, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have taken out my anger with Laura on you.”

“You were upset,” I shrugged. “I knew you’d come around eventually.”

Paris laughed. “Really?”

“No,” I joined in her laughter. “I was worried you were going to smother me in my sleep.”

“I was really mad,” Paris admitted.

“Why? It’s not like you still wanted Mike. I mean, what Laura did was wrong – and she knows that, by the way – but that’s a whole lot of anger for a guy you just kind of blew off,” I said.

“It wasn’t Mike,” Paris admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“It was Laura.”

“What about her?”

“This isn’t the first time she’s done this,” Paris explained.

“Had sex with your ex-boyfriend?”

“No, gone after my ex-boyfriend,” Paris said. “Every time I dated someone in high school, she was always there to make them feel better when we broke up.”

“That’s weird.”

“We were so close when we were kids, it was hard on us both when our moms said we couldn’t hang out anymore,” Paris explained. “It was harder on Laura, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“She just doesn’t make friends very easily.”

I racked my brain for proof of that, but she had made friends with me pretty easily. I pointed that out to Paris.

“Yeah, but you made the effort to actually become her friend,” Paris said. “She’s just naturally shy.”

“So, why do you think she went after all of your ex-boyfriends?”

“At first, I thought it was because she was jealous of me,” Paris said. “It was actually a running joke in high school.”

That didn’t sound like Laura. “After like the third time, though, I started thinking it was something else.”

“What?”

“Loneliness.”

“That’s profound thinking for a teenager.”

“It’s the only thinking that fits.”

“You think she went after Mike because she’s lonely?”

“I think she’s so desperate to belong – and she doesn’t feel like she belongs,” Paris said with a frustrated sigh. “She’s lost.”

“And that worries you?”

“I’m worried she’ll turn out like her mother.”

I considered the statement seriously for a few minutes as we walked. “We’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Yeah,” Paris agreed.

“Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Did you purposely pick a room that was close to us at the room draw?”

Paris smirked. “No.”

Somehow, I didn’t believe her. The conversation couldn’t continue – for the moment anyway – because we had apparently arrived at our destination. I had been so focused on my discussion with Paris that I hadn’t even realized where we were heading.

“Where are we?” Paris asked.

We had arrived on a tall bluff that overlooked the football field on one side and the woods on the other. Since the football field was dark, we got a clear view of the sky as it stretched over the horizon. The sky was lit up with a thousand beacons of twinkling light.

“Wow, that is beautiful,” Paris exclaimed.

“It was actually worth the walk,” I admitted grudgingly.

The professor instructed everyone to take turns with the portable telescope he had brought and to sketch whatever constellation he showed each group on their sky charts. That was our whole final exam.

The rest of the hour passed by pretty quickly. After Paris and I finished with our sketches, we wandered around the bluff to continue looking at the night sky. It felt good just to hang out together without an edge of hate in the air.

Before long, we realized that the rest of the class had all departed and we were the only ones left. Despite the beauty of the night sky, I suddenly realized that we were really exposed on the bluff.

“That’s a Wind Moon,” Paris said, pointing to the full moon in the sky.

“What’s a Wind Moon?’

“It’s just a Wiccan thing,” Paris said. “Each month has a different type of moon. March is the Storm Moon. February is the Quickening Moon. November is the Mourning Moon. October is the Blood Moon.”

“Who came up with the name for these moons? They’re kind of depressing.”

Paris laughed. “There’s also the Flower Moon in May and the Corn Moon in August.”

“The Corn Moon? That sounds like a party moon.” The wind blew through the trees suddenly, making me realize just how much the temperature had dropped.

Paris noticed me shiver. “We should head back to the dorms.”

Suddenly it felt like there was something else on the bluff with us – something stronger than the wind. I glanced around uneasily. I didn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean that someone wasn’t there.

“We should have left with the class,” I said suddenly, a chill washing over me.

“What’s wrong?” Paris read my body language and was instantly on the alert.

“I don’t think we’re alone,” I muttered.

Paris didn’t answer. She glanced around the bluff nervously. Her gaze landed on the woods to the east of us. They seemed a lot closer now than they had a few minutes before.

Something niggled the back of my brain as I watched the woods with Paris. It took a second for my mind to focus on something Rafael had told me weeks ago: One of his brethren had discovered the clearing from the opposite side. He had entered the woods by the football field. We were uncomfortably close to the clearing – the clearing that the police magically couldn’t find.

“We have to go now,” I said insistently, pulling on Paris’ sleeve urgently.

Paris didn’t need any further prodding. She could sense my unease. We both froze in place, though, when we heard the sudden whispering behind us.

“That’s not you, right?’ Paris whispered, although her voice seemed to have lost its robust quality.

“We’re in a lot of trouble.”

“Good evening, ladies.”

Paris and I were both rooted to our spots, frozen in fear. I recognized the voice, although I couldn’t tell how far away he was. Finally, I had no choice. I swung around.

“Zach, what are you doing out here?” I asked with faux brightness.

Zach was standing on the edge of the bluff near the line of trees that led to the burial ground.
His
burial ground. The brilliant full moon illuminated his features, highlighting the wide and welcoming smile on his face – but also glinting off his eyes. And his eyes? They were full of malice.

“I was just out for a walk.” Zach was playing the game. “What were you ladies doing up here?”

“Our astronomy lab’s final class was held up here. We had to identify constellations for our final grade.”

Zach looked momentarily torn – or maybe that was just wishful thinking. “Where’s the rest of your class?”

“They left,” I said carefully. “Paris and I were just gossiping and then we realized they were all gone. We’re heading back to the dorms now.”

I tugged on the sleeve of Paris’ hoodie, urging her to move farther away from Zach. Her face was a mask of undisguised terror, though. She knew we were in a bad position.

“I’ll walk with you,” Zach offered.

Yeah, that didn’t sound like a good idea. “Actually, we’ve just made up and we want to spend some time alone chatting.” I subtly tried to reach into the pocket of my hoodie. I was relieved to find the familiar weight of my cell phone.

“Can’t you guys gossip back in the dorm together?” Zach’s question was pointed. “I mean, it’s really not safe for you guys to be walking alone out here. What with the body being found on campus the other day – and the other disappearances.”

I felt around the rim of my cell phone to orient which direction it was facing in my pocket. When I was sure I had managed to get the keypad up, I hit Aric’s number on speed dial – and then hoped he would hear our predicament.

I glanced back at Zach. “How did you know about the disappearances?” It probably wasn’t smart to call him out on the carpet – but I knew he had no intention of letting us willingly leave this bluff without him.

“What do you mean?” Zach asked.

“The disappearances weren’t made public,” I said simply. “So how did you know about them?’

Zach smirked. “I heard people on campus talking about it.”

“Who?”

“Just people.”

“Why are you up here, Zach? Why are you up on a deserted bluff by the football field?” I could only hope that Aric was listening to this conversation. If he wasn’t, we were well and truly screwed.

“I told you, I was going for a walk.”

“In the woods?”

“No, just around campus.”

“You came from the woods,” I pointed out.

“What are you doing?” Paris hissed. I ignored her.

“I was just curious,” Zach said. He was clearly on edge.

“Well, I don’t want to interrupt your curiosity,” I said grimly. “We’ll just be going.”

Zach took a step towards us. We both involuntarily took a step back. I hated myself the minute I did it. It was showing weakness, and the more weakness we showed Zach the more power he would think he had.

“You guys aren’t scared of me, are you?” Zach’s face had an innocent look on it, but his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“Should we be?”

“Of course not. Have I been anything but kind and patient with you?”

“Patient?” I scoffed.

“Yes, patient,” Zach bit out. He was moving in a lateral line. I realized he was trying to cut us off from the path back to campus. We were so isolated out here that every direction we could flee in – except for the woods – was in the open. I had no idea if sphinxes had supernatural speed or not, but he didn’t seem all that worried about controlling us. That made me think he could probably outrun us.

“Why would you say you were patient?” I pulled Paris along with me as we moved back into the bluff circle. We were matching his moves – only we were being forced towards the woods and away from the campus.

“Because you’re not easy to deal with,” Zach said smoothly. “In fact, you’re a real bitch.”

“Thanks for noticing,” I replied dryly.

“The sheer amount of shit  I put up with to remain close to you is just unbelievable,” Zach continued. “Weird and territorial guys coming out of the woodwork. High school drama with your roommates – I mean, seriously, how old are you guys? The incessant chattering about actors and comic books and soap operas. You’re just so . . . insipid.”

“Then why did you continue to hang around?” I realized our backs were now right by the trees. If we ran now, we’d have no choice but to run into the woods. At least there would be cover there.

“Because there’s something different about you. You know that, right?”

“I’m an Aquarius,” I said smoothly. “People say we’re all very different.”

“You’re not as cute as you think you are, though,” Zach said, brushing off my previous statement.

“I’ll take that into consideration,” I said blandly. I was stalling for time, at this point. If Aric wasn’t coming, Paris and I were on our own. If he was coming, we had to give him time to get here.

“What are you?” Zach asked the pointed question. He wasn’t even pretending anymore. I didn’t take that as a good sign.

“I told you, I’m an Aquarius.”

“You know that’s not what I mean,” Zach chided me. “What kind of being are you?”

“I’m just a person.”

“You’re more than that,” Zach said. “You have a certain power. Your life force has strength. I’m looking forward to absorbing it.”

“That’s what you sphinxes do, absorb life forces?”

Zach didn’t seem perturbed that I knew what he was. “I am curious,” he said. “When did you find out?”

“Ages ago,” I lied.

“I don’t think that’s the truth.”

“Monday,” I admitted.

“Who told you?”

“No one actually told me. I just happened to learn about sphinxes and some of their peculiarities. I realized that you had a lot of those peculiarities.”

“And who told you about these peculiarities?”

“A monster hunter,” I said evenly.

“Professor Blake, you mean,” Zach said.

“He would be the one,” I agreed.

“Still, that couldn’t have been enough to tip you off,” Zach probed.

“Actually, it was,” I said. “Well, that and the fact that you were skulking around outside of Barnes Hall that night.”

“Yeah, that was unfortunate,” Zach agreed. “I was hunting and you almost ruined it for me. As it stands, I got my prey – but not the ultimate prize.”

“I’ll try better next time.”

“Do you honestly think there will be a next time?” Zach cocked his head, giving his hair the illusion that it was even.

“We have to try,” I said brightly. “I’m not just going to lay down and let you suck my life force.” That sounded grosser when I said it out loud than it did in my head.

“Well, good luck,” Zach chortled. “The chase is half the fun, isn’t it?”

“If you say so,” I grumbled.

I turned to Paris, her face was white and her hands clutched at the sleeves of her hoodie desperately. I suddenly shoved her hard – towards the woods – even though she clearly didn’t want to head in that direction.

“Run!”