The Hunt (8 page)

‘True that,’ Eve agreed.

When they stepped into the dining room, the table was perfectly set, with salad forks and lit candles and everything. Eve’s family never did this for a regularnight dinner. And it wasn’t as if Jess counted as company. She was there way too much for that. Eve’s place was her second home, and vice versa.

But this isn’t a regular night
, Eve realized.
It’s a night after a scary freaky thing happened. The second scary freaky thing in a really short time
.

Eve’s mom came in carrying a big wooden bowl of salad. Eve spotted cranberries, feta, walnuts. Her mother had gone all out in the salad area too. Maybe turning into Martha Stewart was helping her deal with everything.

‘Looks good, Mrs Evergold,’ Jess said, taking her usual seat.

‘It really does. Thanks, Mom,’ Eve added. She sat down next to Jess.

‘Your father did the heavy lifting. He made his legendary mac and cheese,’ Eve’s mother said with a wink.

‘And nobody try to get the recipe out of me. It’s a secret,’ her dad said. He carried the gigantic steaming serving dish into the dining room and set it down on the table with a flourish. ‘Only when I die will I pass it on to you,’ he told Eve.

Eve gave a snort of laughter. But in a way death was too close tonight. Not something to joke about.

Her mother served herself some of the salad. ‘You girls went to see that new vampire movie last weekend, didn’t you?’ She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘What did you think?’

And that’s how the rest of the dinner conversation went. Safe topics. Eve didn’t want the meal to end. But when it did, she and Jess went straight back to the computer.

Jess took the keyboard this time. ‘I’m going to try “supernatural animal attacks”.’ She shook her head when hits came up. ‘Mysterious attacks
on
animals is not what we’re looking for, and I don’t think we’re
dealing with Bigfoot. Although if demons exist, why not Bigfoot? Wait. Does Santa Claus?’

‘Santa Claus absolutely exists,’ Eve promised, smiling. ‘I’m not sure about—’

Her phone rang. ‘It’s Luke,’ she told Jess. She took the call. ‘What’s up?’

‘I found out holy water burns demons. So that might be useful. I’m going to get some vials of it, so we’ll always have some with us,’ Luke said. ‘That’s it so far.’

‘Better than us. We haven’t found out anything yet,’ Eve admitted. ‘We’ll keep looking though.’

‘Me too,’ Luke said. ‘I guess I should get back to it. We’ve got to get a handle on what’s going on.’

‘Just so you know, Jess and I have decided that since demons are real, Santa is too,’ Eve told him.

‘Only fair,’ Luke said. ‘I guess I should get back to it.’

Eve didn’t know if he’d forgotten he just said that or what. ‘And me,’ she said.

But Luke didn’t say goodbye. Neither did she. They just sort of breathed together, the way they had when they were hugging in the hallway. It felt good being connected to him, even in such an insubstantial way.
What would it be like to kiss him?

Where had that come from?! She didn’t want to kiss Luke. Or, wait, did she?

‘So, OK, well, bye,’ Luke finally said.

‘Bye.’ Eve clicked off the phone and realized Jess was staring at her with raised eyebrows.

‘What was that?’ Jess asked.

‘Luke wanted to let me know he hasn’t found anything helpful in the stuff he’s translating,’ Eve said.

‘So he basically called for nothing.’ Jess’s brows went a little higher. ‘He luuurves you,’ she announced.

‘He luuurves half the girls at school,’ Eve reminded her.

‘No, he doesn’t,’ Jess said. ‘My sources say he hasn’t even gone out with anyone in two whole weeks. Not even Briony, and she’s cute and new.’

‘Two whole weeks? Wow!’ Eve said sarcastically.

‘Yes, wow – for Luke. That’s like two months in player time,’ Jess told her.

Eve laughed. ‘Luke and I are friends. And he’s been awesome helping with the demon stuff. But that’s it.’ Except she’d thought about kissing him.

‘Haven’t you noticed the way he looks at you?’ Jess asked. ‘He doesn’t look at you like a guy looks at a friend, or even like a guy looks at a hot girl. It’s luuurve, I’m telling you.’

Luke was extra sweet today
, Eve thought. And it had felt so good snuggling up against his chest. Had it felt as good to him? He’d been trying to comfort her, but had something more been going on?

‘You’re thinking about it. You know I’m right,’ Jess teased.

‘I don’t have time to think about my love life, not with everything that’s going on,’ Eve protested. ‘I have to be ready to deal with … whatever it is that’s happening. Remember, I’m the Deepdene Witch!’

‘I say there’s always time to think about boys, but it’s your love life.’ Jess turned back to the computer. ‘Searching for animal attacks isn’t working so well. But like you said, you’re the Deepdene Witch. The first one – your Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Annabelle, I mean – was supposed to be obsessed with demons, and she fought them. If we can find out more about her, maybe it will help us.’

‘That book Luke found on the Internet didn’t have anything useful, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing out there,’ Eve said. ‘Try looking up Annabelle Sewall and Demondene.’

Jess quickly typed in the words. ‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘You hardly ever get
nothing
.’ She tapped on the monitor. ‘If anyone’s in there, come out and I’ll give
you a cookie,’ she said. ‘Then you blast it,’ she whispered to Eve.

‘Maybe just try the name, but put in her middle name. It was Amelia,’ Eve suggested.

‘We just went from nothing to way too much,’ Jess said as she started to scan the results. ‘There’s an Annabelle Amelia Sewall getting married. Getting promoted. Arrested. There’s a book with a heroine named Annabelle Amelia, but it was written a couple of years ago and is set in Hollywood, so …’ She scrolled through the pages, continuing to mutter to herself. ‘Wait. This might be something. Her name is in another book, but a non-fiction one. It’s a collection of writing from women’s journals, starting in 1650, up to the present. There’s an entry from an Annabelle Amelia Sewall. The year works too.’

‘Has to be her!’ Eve exclaimed.

‘Dang it. It’s on one of those research sites you have to pay for,’ Jess said.

Eve grabbed her purse and whipped out her AmEx. Well, it was hers in that she used it; it was her parents’ in that they paid the bills. A minute later they were on the site, and a scan of the excerpt from the diary of Eve’s great-great-great-grandmother was on the screen. Eve leaned over Jess’s shoulder and began to read:

20th of March

It has been twenty-five years to the day since my Percy died, and there are times I feel his loss as keenly as I did in those first days after the Evil took him from me. My Talents were not at their full. Nay, that is an untruth. I was not yet experienced enough to wield them with the skill I needed to save him. If it were today the Demon came and tried to wrench my beloved husband from me, I believe I would triumph
.

It is foolish to ponder on such things. The past is done; regrets are futile. I must keep vigilant. I must be always attuned to the Darkness. I must continue to tend to my Talents, as when I do I continue to learn new ways they may be put to God’s use. The limitations are in myself; I have found no limits in the Gift
.

My Percy is gone. My time with him was much too brief, less even than one full cycle of the seasons. Yet there will always be others to protect, whom I may not love, who may fear and hate me, yet who deserve the safety my Gift, if that is what it is, can give them. On this day, a day that to me is all but sacred, I vow that I, Annabelle Amelia Sewell, will continue to be their champion against the Evil that
so often manages to invade this village
.

‘That’s so sad,’ Eve said softly when she’d finished reading. ‘Her husband died before they were even married a year.’

‘Poor Annabelle. I wonder if she had even one friend. When your dad told us about her, it sounded like everyone in the village was scared of her, and she pretty much says that in her diary.’

‘Well, she did wander around talking about demons all the time,’ Eve answered. ‘People knew she was obsessed with them. That limits your friend pool right there.’

‘Don’t worry. You can talk about demons as much as you want,’ Jess told her. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

‘Thanks.’ Warmth filled Eve’s body. The sensation was almost like her power coming to life.
Bestie Power
, she thought, smiling at her best friend. ‘I wonder what else Annabelle learned to do with her power.’

‘I know!’ Jess exclaimed. ‘She’d had her witch groove on for at least twenty-five years, since she had it when her husband died. And she said she was still figuring out new things she could do with her magic all those years later.’ She twisted round in her chair and looked at Eve full on.

‘What?’ Eve said, when her friend wouldn’t stop staring.

‘Just thinking about what you might be able to do. I mean, we know your mojo can be used for other things than blasting way-too cute demonic creatures,’ Jess said.

‘We do?’ Eve thought for a second. ‘You mean lighting candles? There are easier ways to do that. Easier and a lot less messy!’

‘Not candles, goofy. Remember when I was having those horrible nightmares because Mal’s demons were trying to loosen up my soul for sucking?’ Jess asked.

Eve was never, never going to forget the sight of her friend writhing in terror. ‘Yeah, I remember.’

‘You touched me, and it made the dreams go away. That’s one of the other things you can do with your powers,’ Jess said.

‘It did feel different,’ Eve admitted. ‘Softer, somehow. More like waves coming out of me than a hard blast.’

‘You have different settings. Like a blow-dryer or something.’ Jess giggled, then her face went uncharacteristically serious. ‘Who knows what you can really do, Eve? You’ve already done amazing things, but there might be so much more.’

Eve thought about the bright pool of power she knew was deep inside her. She thought Jess was right. She didn’t know what it could really do. What
she
could really do.

‘Let’s start with some jumping jacks!’ Vic cried, as if jumping jacks were the most exciting activity ever invented. The other cheerleaders obediently – but not quite as enthusiastically – followed instructions.

Eve smiled as she looked on from the bleachers by the football field. It was kind of fun watching other people exercise when you didn’t have to. She hated getting sweaty at school.

Vic led the squad through an intense warm-up routine, then the girls gathered in little clusters. Eve climbed off the bleachers and headed over to Jess, Vic and Jenna. Eve and Jess were going to walk home together after Jess was finished with practice. It was a new school rule. No one left the grounds alone. It was buddy system all the way.

‘What’s up?’ she asked her friends.

‘Waiting on the coach,’ Victoria answered. ‘You
know she’d have a cow, a lamb and four squealing piggies if one of us showed up late.’

Jess laughed. ‘So true.’

‘Where is the coach anyway?’ Rose Makishimia asked, joining the group.

‘Still in her office. Our new uniforms came in, and there was a mistake in the order,’ Vic said. ‘Somewhere a customer-service agent is about to cry.’

‘Good,’ Rose answered. ‘Not about the crying. But about where Coach Leonard is. I thought maybe …’ She knotted her hands together.

Jenna gave an exaggerated shiver. ‘I know. I keep wondering when it’s going to happen again.’

‘Not when,’ Eve said. ‘If.’ Although when actually seemed more likely. Why would the creature – whatever it was – stop at two attacks?

‘Right, if,’ Jenna agreed. ‘Although supposedly there’s already been a third one.’

‘Here?’ Rose’s voice came out as a high squeak.

Jenna nodded. ‘You know Creepy?’

They said yes. Everyone in town knew Creepy. Or at least knew about her. She was this old woman who lived in a ramshackle mansion over on Elm. She never came out of the house, just got things delivered. All the little kids were scared of her. Some of the big kids too.

‘Well, my older sister knows the guy who usually has to deliver her groceries. She makes him leave them on the porch. Anyway, the guy said a couple of days ago he went to her house with her usual order. She has it set up so she gets exactly the same order every week,’ Jenna continued. ‘As he was going up to the house, he supposedly smelled something terrible. Like rotting flesh.’

‘Creepy?’ Jess exclaimed.

Jenna looked annoyed at the interruption. ‘No. But her groceries from the week before were still on the porch and all the meat had spoiled. The police are supposedly looking for her body right now. I’m sure the animal got her.’

Supposedly
, Eve thought. To Eve, supposedly kind of meant: here’s a big, fat rumour that’s probably a big, fat lie.

‘At my cousin’s school – it’s up in Syracuse – they’ve had an attack too. It was kind of like Kyle. She was heading home after her last class and never got there.’ Vic lowered her voice. ‘Her body had bite marks all over it too. The police in Syracuse think it might be a case of cannibalism.’

‘Oh, eww!’ Jess exclaimed.

‘There are cannibals out there,’ Vic said. ‘Seriously.
I heard there was an ad on Craigslist from this man looking for a woman to cut out some meat from his calf and then serve it for dinner. He wanted to cannibalize himself!’

Rose screwed up her face. ‘That is beyond disgusting.’

‘I’m thinking it’s also beyond true,’ Eve commented. At least she really, really hoped so. That was just foul.

‘Maybe. Maybe not,’ Vic answered.

‘Go back to Creepy,’ Rose said to Jenna. ‘What—’

Jenna cut her off. ‘Where’s the coach? She can’t still be cursing at customer service. It’s giving me the creeps that she’s not here yet.’ She rubbed her arms with her hands.

‘What if something got her between the school and the field?’ Rose said. ‘You know, something …’ She curled her fingers into claws and scratched them through the air.

‘I’ll go check,’ Eve volunteered. In another minute the cheerleaders might get a case of mass hysteria going. Besides, if the creature was roaming around school, Eve was the only one who might have a chance of coming face to face with it and surviving.