The Hunt (5 page)

‘I’ve known him since nursery school,’ Jenna answered eagerly. ‘He was the greatest, greatest guy.’
Her voice quavered a little. Luke believed she was sad about Kyle. He also believed Jenna wasn’t minding the reporter’s attention. At all.

‘He was one of my best friends,’ Dave added. ‘Like a brother.’

Suddenly the milkshake didn’t taste so good. The reporter trolling for any little detail about Kyle felt wrong. Luke dropped some money on the table. ‘I’m heading off.’

He got some ‘bye’s and ‘see you’s as he walked out. From the sidewalk he could see the tips of the trees in the woods where Kyle had died. He hoped he’d been right when he told Eve that Kyle’s death was part of the sucky side of normal life, and not … something else.

If it is, Eve won’t have to deal with it alone
, he promised himself. Yes, sometimes Eve Evergold was annoying. She could be a little too sensitive, and she spent a ridiculous amount of money on purses.

But she was a force for good in the world, and it was his responsibility to back her up. And he was positive that he’d feel the same way even if she wasn’t extraordinarily adorable.

*

‘I think every teacher Kyle ever had is here, and everybody from our class,’ Eve said softly as she glanced
around the church. All the pews were packed with people for his funeral. It was hard to believe it had already been three days since they heard about Kyle’s death.

‘Not just our class, the whole school,’ Jess commented, nodding towards Megan, who was in the back with her boyfriend of the week. Megan was a sophomore, while Eve and Jess were freshmen. ‘Plus everyone’s parents.’ Eve’s and Jess’s parents were sitting together a few rows behind them.

‘Mr Enslow from the hardware store is here,’ Eve noted. ‘He doesn’t have any kids at high school now. Did he even really know Kyle?’

‘He was Kyle’s Little League coach. Peter was on that team too,’ Jess replied. ‘My parents always made me go watch the games with them.’ Deepdene was so small that almost every person in the town was connected, with at most one degree of separation.

But there were a bunch of people in the church Eve didn’t recognize at all. Some of them, the ones up in the front, were probably Kyle’s out-of-town relatives. But the ones all the way in the back had to be reporters. In the four days since the police had found Kyle’s body the papers had been full of stories about his death and speculation regarding what exactly had
killed him. There hadn’t been any progress in tracking down the animal – whatever it was.

Eve wished the reporters had stayed outside the church. This time should be for people who cared about Kyle. It didn’t feel right to have strangers here, folks who’d never even met him or his family.

Luke stepped up to the pulpit, adjusted the microphone and set out a pitcher of water and a glass. His expression was solemn as he took a seat in one of the pews. Was it wrong to notice how good he looked in his dark blue suit – none of it corduroy – with his long blond hair swept back off his face? Eve felt it was a little wrong, but she couldn’t help noticing what she noticed.

Jess leaned closer. ‘Helena just came in.’

Eve tilted her head just far enough to watch Helena walking down the centre aisle. Her black cowlneck tunic dress set off long blonde hair perfectly, although her face was drawn and pale. Her eyes were bright and glittery, as if she had a fever.

Jess nodded with approval. ‘Good for Helena,’ she whispered in Eve’s ear. ‘She’s clearly wrecked, but has pulled herself together. She’s going to be OK.’

Eve nodded in agreement. She let her gaze wander to the gargoyles that stared down from the ceiling,
dozens and dozens of them. As often as she’d looked at them, she still saw new things every time. Today she noticed that a tiny woman stood on the protruding tongue of a stone figure with a horrific grimace.

As terrifying and ugly as some of the gargoyles were, Eve loved them all. They had saved her life. The gargoyles protected the church from demons. She, along with Jess and Luke, had found safety here when they needed it most.

Eve returned her attention to the front of the church as Ms Hahn began to play ‘Calling All Angels’ on the organ. When she finished Luke’s father, Reverend Thompson, took his place at the pulpit.

‘Welcome,’ he said gravely. ‘We are gathered here today to celebrate the life and mourn the death of Kyle Rakoff.’ Eve reached out and took Jess’s hand. This was only the second funeral she’d been to. The first was for her great-aunt, who had died at the age of eighty-seven. That had been sad, but right somehow. No, right wasn’t the word she wanted. Appropriate? Expected?

All the relatives had kept saying, ‘She lived a good life.’ That was the thing. Kyle hadn’t. He should have had so many more years of life to live. It felt so hugely unfair that he didn’t. That was the difference. Her
great-aunt’s death had been sad, but not tragic, because even though it was a complete cliché, she had lived for a long time and gotten to do all the things she wanted to, and that meant something.

Eve realized she’d been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn’t been following what Reverend Thompson was saying. She refocused. ‘Kyle will be missed by all of us. But his memory will live in our hearts as long as we ourselves live.’ Then he asked if anyone wanted to share a memory about Kyle.

Mrs Rakoff stood up. She opened her lips to speak, but then her face contorted and she started to cry. She held out her hands helplessly.

‘Take your time,’ Reverend Thompson said, but Kyle’s mom shook her head. Her husband stood up and wrapped his arm around her. ‘Thank you all so much for coming. It means a lot. A lot.’ He sat back down, drawing Mrs Rakoff back into the seat next to him.

Mr Tollefsen, who’d been Eve, Jess and Kyle’s fifthgrade teacher, stood up next. He talked about how curious Kyle was, how interested in everything around him. Ben Flood told a long, rambling story about playing football with Kyle.

When Ben sat down, Dave Perry got up. ‘I think I’m the last person who saw Kyle alive.’ He cleared his throat twice. ‘I want everyone to know, he was happy. We were joking around.’ Dave gave a choked laugh. ‘He was just being Kyle, you know? He was a great friend.’

Jess squeezed Eve’s hand. Eve squeezed back. More people stood to share their memories of Kyle, and Eve wondered if she should say anything. She’d known him for years, and they’d been lab partners. But she couldn’t think about Kyle without remembering their last conversation. She wasn’t like Dave. She didn’t have good memories of the last time she saw Kyle. She’d been mean to him.

Eve was surprised when Briony stood to take a turn.

‘I hardly knew Kyle,’ she admitted, ‘but he was the friendliest guy. He was the first person who talked to me on my first day. He took me on a tour of the school.’ She gave a little smile. ‘Not a normal one. He didn’t show me where the office was or the cafeteria. But he showed me where the security cameras are, and where people go to make out.’ She winced. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. What I wanted to say was, Kyle made me feel really welcome at Deepdene High. I wish I’d gotten a chance to
get to know him better.’ She sat down quickly.

Eve started to stand, but Helena beat her to it. She walked up to the front of the congregation with her head held high and tears running down her cheeks.

‘Kyle was my true love,’ she said. ‘I would say he was my first true love, except that makes it sound like there will be others. There won’t. I won’t ever love anyone like I loved Kyle. We would have been together for ever if things had been different with Kyle.’

A long moment of silence followed Helena’s words. Eve didn’t want to risk breaking the quiet so instead she had an eye-conversation with Jess. Eve’s eyes:
And he was just asking me out for coffee
. Jess’s eyes:
I’m glad she doesn’t know he didn’t feel the same way about her
.

Bradley Rakoff, Kyle’s older brother, stood up. ‘Kyle used to follow me around all the time when he was little. It’s like he wanted to be me. He’d knock on the doors of my friends’ houses and ask if they could play, even though he was, like, five, and we were thirteen.’ Bradley shook his head. ‘It was as annoying as hell.’ He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. ‘But how many times are you loved that way?’ He looked like he might say something else, but he sat down instead and buried his face against his mother’s shoulder.

Eve decided not to speak. It felt like what Bradley had said should be the last statement. Everyone else seemed to feel the same way. Reverend Thompson announced the number of the closing hymn.

After they sang, Kyle’s pall-bearers slowly carried his coffin out of the church. Pew by pew, everyone followed them. Eve blinked as she stepped out into the sunshine of the church courtyard. Somehow it seemed as if it should be dark out – or at least cloudy.

Luke walked over to her and Jess. ‘Intense.’

They both nodded. What else was there to add?

‘Did you hear anything more? With your dad being with Kyle’s family,’ Jess asked. ‘I’m not asking for a gossip exchange,’ she added, blushing.

‘I know that,’ Luke told her. ‘You’re worried. We’re all worried.’

Eve put her arm around Jess’s shoulders to comfort her.

‘I haven’t really heard much,’ Luke went on. ‘But the reason Kyle’s casket was closed was because his wounds were too severe for the mortician to do much with them. I also saw in the paper this morning – and this is freaky – that his body had been totally drained of blood.’

‘That’s what I heard that day in the principal’s office,’ Jess said.

‘The even weirder part was that there apparently wasn’t much blood on the ground or anything. His blood was just … gone.’

‘And they still don’t know what did it,’ Eve said. ‘On the news this morning they had an animal expert. She said there was no known animal that could have caused the bites and claw marks on Kyle’s body.’ Jess wrapped her arms tightly around herself at Eve’s words.

‘Kyle’s parents were pretty convinced it was wild dogs, so the bites would have been from at least a couple of different animals,’ Luke said. ‘But they talked to that same expert, and she ruled out any type of dog bite. None of the experts – the medical examiner, that animal woman, the cops – have come up with something that really fits.’

‘You thought the police and animal control would be able to figure it out,’ Eve reminded Luke, ‘but they haven’t. Do we still think nothing
extreme
was involved?’

‘I saw that woman on TV too. She said there was no known animal on Earth that could have caused Kyle’s injuries,’ Jess said. ‘Not on
Earth
.’

‘And the police didn’t come up with another theory
– like some kind of weapon that could have caused the wounds,’ Luke added.

They looked at each other. ‘So not an animal, not a human weapon … but there is another possibility.’ Eve didn’t want to say it aloud, but she knew they were all thinking the same thing. ‘Kyle could have been killed by …’

They all finished together. ‘A demon.’

‘OK, now we can
talk
talk,’ Eve said. She, Jess and Luke had gotten some coffee from the pot that had been set out on a table in the church courtyard, then found a secluded spot over in a nook by the rectory.

‘Maybe we’re jumping to conclusions,’ Jess said. ‘I mean, someone can have Tori Burch shoes but still carry a purse from the American Signature collection.’

Luke’s brow furrowed in confusion, so Eve handled the translation. ‘You can wear legitimate designer shoes and still be carrying a knock-off handbag. By which I’d say Jess means we have had legitimate demon encounters, but that doesn’t mean we are dealing with a demon this time. Even if it
looks
like a demon, that doesn’t make it one.’

‘Right. Maybe those animals with the weird migration patterns also have strange mutations.
Mutations no one has recorded yet. Weird teeth that leave weird bite marks. The ability to suck out all a person’s blood,’ Jess said, clearly trying to convince herself it was true.

‘Reporter sighting. To the left.’ It was the same man Luke had seen at Ola’s. ‘He’s not close enough to hear us though.’

‘In the offensive trench coat and the cowboy boots?’ Jess asked.

Luke nodded, then looked over at Eve. ‘Even
I
can see that coat needs burning. But no fires,’ he teased.

Jess gave the reporter a disgusted look. ‘I know those boots must be a huge temptation too, more than the coat even. But I agree with Luke. No fires. You’ve got to keep your secret superpowers secret.’

‘Hey, I have a pair of boots almost exactly like his. I’ve worn them to school. Why didn’t you two tell me I was a walking what-not-to-wear?’ Luke demanded, acting like he was offended, but clearly also trying not to smile.

Eve turned so her back was to the boot-wearing reporter. ‘So what do you guys think I should I be doing with my superpowers?’ she asked her friends. ‘Like Jess said, we don’t know that we’re dealing with
a you-know-what. But, in a town that used to be called Demondene, a place where a demon was going to school with us a few weeks ago, we need to give it some consideration. We need to be prepared.’

‘Do you think Malphas could be back?’ Luke asked.

‘I don’t know if I killed him exactly,’ Eve answered. ‘I mean, maybe he’s immortal. But I don’t think he’s anywhere around here any more.’

‘He’s as gone as hair scrunchies,’ Jess agreed. ‘He went up in smoke, and his whole mansion crumbled.’ Mal had taken over the old Razor place near the beach and completely renovated it. When Eve smoked him, the mansion reverted to the ruin it had been, complete with wild jungle of a garden.

Eve frowned. ‘Although I did smell wood-smoke the night of that charity thing down on the beach – after he was gone. And again that day you were helping me with my powers. Mal and his demon buddies always smelled like wood-smoke. I thought all his minions disappeared with Mal. Do you think I could have missed one? Could that be what killed Kyle?’

Jess shook her head. ‘Completely different MO. Mal basically kissed people to suck out their soul, and the victims didn’t die – they just became insane.’