Chapter 21: Marina Murders (1)

“Ok.  I believe you.”

When it was evident that he wouldn’t follow it up with anything, the girl elbowed him.

To my surprise, he apologized, “My bad.  For kicking your door.  And accusing you.”

The girl looked towards me.

“Yeah, no.  I– uh, I’m sorry too.”  I shrugged.  “You ok?”

“I’m good.”  He bunched his shoulders, as if noticing the snow for the first time.  But he didn’t show any indication of being cold.

“I don’t even know your names.”  I said belatedly.

“Penelope.”

“I'm Lev.”

“Look, we came here to talk.  You going to invite us inside?”  Penelope asked, shooting me an exasperated look.

“S–”  I began but the response died in my throat.  The wards; I wasn’t sure how they worked.  The laws and the rules surrounding these wards, what they exactly did and the extent of the protection it afforded me; these were hidden to me.  I realized that without getting more answers, inviting other people into the RV was a no-go.

In retrospect, the peace of mind that these ‘wards’ provided was well worth the inconvenience of not being allowed to invite guests in.

“Sorry, can we talk somewhere else?  Maybe someplace public?”

They shared a look.  Penelope looked pointedly at all the snowfall.  It definitely wasn’t as heavy as last night, but it was no weather to talk outside.

“I think my place is off the table.”  I said quietly.  “Any ideas?”

Lev rolled his eyes but Penelope had a thoughtful expression on her face.  Pensive, almost.  “Would you be willing to talk with us in the car?”

I was about to say yes, but stopped.

I don’t know why, but the memories of last night came to me.  The Fox-sister changed mid-conversation, trying to get me to turn my back.  Slamming herself into the summoning circle, her eyes slowly turning.  That half-way form between human, animal, and spirit –how her arms stretched impossibly wide.  I also remembered feeling helpless, how being in that small enclosed space would have been the end of Jain Hallow’s short biography if she got out of the circle.

Now, I’m not saying that Lev and Penelope were out to hurt me.  But I’m also not not saying that they were out to hurt me either.

“We can’t talk here?”

She shook her head.  “Privacy.”

I absently raised my hand to my mouth to bite on my nails again and slapped it away at the last second.

“What are you?”  I said finally.

Lev raised an eyebrow.  “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what are you?”  I gestured towards Penelope.  “You saved me from that… that thing.  Normal people don’t do that.  Are you two practitioners?”

Lev gave a harsh bark that doubled as laughter.  Penelope was less than amused.  At her look, he turned around, shoulders shaking.

“We’re not practitioners.”  She replied, “And if you’re asking because you think we’re out to hurt you, we’re not.”

That was true.

“And I’m supposed to trust you?”

“Yes.”  The combination of her hands in her pockets and the hood over her head gave her a particular punkish look; standing out sharply against the colorless blanket over the mobile home neighborhood.  “I’m not asking you to come out for free, Hallow.  It’ll be worth your time.”

“Time.”  I scoffed.  At school, people avoided me like the plague.  No one wanted to talk to me.  But ever since Emyrith, suddenly I was Mr. Popular and everyone wanted to talk.  

But I had things to do, and time was of the essence.  If this was what it meant to be popular, how’d those kids ever find time to study and be star athletes?

They must have seen the indecision on my face.

“Just hear us out, man.  From what I hear, she saved your life.”  Lev joined in at last.  He gave me a smirk.  “And I promise not to let the big scary men get you.”

“I give you my Word not to harm you or delay you.  And to protect you, to the best of my abilities from those that may try to do so.”

“...Fine.  Give me a minute.  I need to get my coat.”

“Take your time.”  Penelope said.

I rushed inside, making sure to shut the door behind me.

Running into the bedroom portion, I rummaged the closet for something warmer than my hoodie.  Maybe something more presentable too.  Preferably both.  

Of all the things, the closet was full of OCBD shirts and khakis.  Searching deeper, I found a denim jacket that was stiff to the touch, like it’d been treated with starch or something.  But the thing was thick as hell.

Pinching the collar of my gray hoodie, I took a sniff.

Yup,  I needed something else.

There were two reasons I agreed.  One was the fact that Lev was right.  I owed Penelope.  I couldn’t say ‘No’ to someone who saved me in good conscience.

Reason number two: they hinted that this might be worth my time.

I mean, they definitely weren’t regular people.  I also believed that they were telling the truth when claiming that they weren’t practitioners.  Maybe they were like Emyrith, not really human on the inside but human enough on the outside.  He was supposed to be one of the Courts.  They could be the same.

This point was important, because I badly needed more information on the supernatural world.  One of the best ways to gain information was to surround myself with people who were part of it.

So yes, I put a snooze button on the part of me that said this was probably a bad idea.  When I weighed the pros and cons, which I didn’t spend too much time on, the pros came out ahead.  The risks seemed minimal.  The payout looked promising.  A gamble, for sure, but it’s at times like this I needed a winning bet.

I finally found a plain white t-shirt and a black zip-up hoodie.  Ignoring the stains on my black jeans (No one’s going to smell my jeans), I quickly put the outfit together.  A little bit, but it did the job.  I stopped by the sink for a quick facewash and gargle.

Note to self: pick up a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Additional note to self: start writing stuff down.

When I stepped outside, only Penelope was still waiting.

“I sent Lev to warm up the car.  Come on.”

As we stepped through the snow, I quickly realized I left out the most important part; boots.  But doubting that there were boots in the RV, I carried on.

Maybe it was because of the weather, but Penelope didn’t bother making small talk.  Which was fine with me.

She led me outside the mobile home community, which is just a fancy word for a trailer park.  There was a truck waiting for us, giving off enough exhaust to rip a hole in the ozone layer right above our heads.  This was the second time someone offered me a ride in their car which just happened to be huge.  Maybe it was the snow; or maybe it was just a coincidence.

Or maybe I can start lugging around a tank of gasoline and sell it for fifty bucks a gallon.

To people like Emyrith, it was probably pennies anyways.

Penelope opened the door for me and I jumped in.  An intrusive thought told me that her nickname was most likely Penny.

“In for a penny, in for a pound.”  I snickered at my own joke, the nerves making me feel jittery.

They ignored me.

No taste, I swear.

The backseat was more comfortable than my bed at my foster parent’s.  Than again, anything is more comfortable than a sleeping bag on the floor, except a sleeping bag on the New York City vents. Or the vents without one. Or the vents before they installed all those anti-homeless features.

You get the point.

With the heat cranked to maximum setting and three people, even the truck didn’t take long to warm up.

“So… now what?”

“Now we talk.”  Penelope said, flipping the hood off of her head.

"Before that, how'd you even find me anyways?" I pointed out what had been bothering me since the moment I saw her, "How do you even know who I am?"

Her eyes were amused, but she managed to keep a neutral expression. "Hard to not know. The whole town's buzzing with who you are, Hallow. There's a new Practitioner in town. As to how we found you..." She traded a look with Lev through the mirror, "Trade secret."

I groaned.

I know, I know. Her answer wasn't really an answer.

But being thrust into the supernatural world with a couple hundred books that weren't titled 'Magic for Dummies' wasn't really helping in the brain space department. Honestly, I wasn't sure that even if she gave a real answer, I'd understand half of it.

She waited to see if I had any more questions. I tried to think of one. Well, I had about a bazillion. But none of them seemed worth saying out loud. I grunted.

"I have a request." She said at last.

“Request?”  I felt my brows furrow together in curiosity.

“Lev.”

Lev produced a manilla envelope and placed it in her outstretched hand.  Penelope passed it over to me.

I opened it.

I wish I hadn’t.

It was pictures of bodies.

One photo had a headless body wearing a plaid shirt and brown khakis.  The arms were bent all weird and so were the legs.  It looked like it had been ditched near one of those sewer drains.  The next one was a woman in a red dress.  But her face was just… just red flesh.  Like raw ground beef.  Another photo of two bodies; much smaller than the previous two.  They had obviously been children.  One more, something had been done to their heads.  Raw skin, or lack thereof, like an animal had gnawed it off; leaving hollow sunken eyes like the anatomy model in my biology class.

There were a dozen more.

All broken bodies, mangled like some sick kid had played with a doll and thrown it away once they were bored.  But all of them had something done to the head.  Lacerations, beheadings, just mangled bits of meat…

I’d never seen things like this before.

Maybe in the occasional horror movie, when I got a glimpse.  But there was a malicious air about these photos that set it apart from the TV violence that I was accustomed to.  I couldn’t put a finger on it. 

The word I was looking for was ‘sinister’.  Like the person who had done this had enjoyed it.

I felt sick.