These kids deserved answers. They deserved someone who cared.
Overcome by the neglect of the cemetery, by a desperate need todosomething, I stood up, wiping my hands on my jeans. I moved back to Trey’s stone, my hands clawing at the weeds choking it, tearing them from the ground and tossing them away. Dirt burrowed under my fingernails as I scraped at the leaves, uncovering the curve of the stone and the carved border beneath, the ridge where the stone had been set into the earth.
There. That at least looked like someone cared…
Wait a second… what’s that?
I knelt in the dirt, bending low and twisting my head around to get a better view. My fingers traced the lines. Yes, it was definitely there. I wasn’t imagining it.
I’d never noticed it before because the leaf litter was so deep, but there was a sigil carved into the bottom of Trey’s stone.
My heart pounding, I scrambled over to Quinn’s grave and tugged away the weeds. His had the same sigil, carved so low it might never be noticed.
I rushed around the cemetery, my hands raw from pulling up the weeds, my nails breaking from scraping at cold stone. But I had my answer. Every single gravestone included the same crude sigil. I didn’t know what it meant, but it had to have something to do with whatever Ms. West had done to them.
I dug around in my pocket for the cellphone Deborah had given me. I snapped a couple of pictures. I didn’t have any bars to send it, so I shoved the phone back into my pocket. I’d probably have better luck back at the school.
If the graveyard itself is some kind of ritual space, then maybe there are other signs of the ritual as well.I stood up and stepped toward the fence marking the boundary, then froze.
Hazel.
A voice whispered my name on the wind. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Hazel.”
No. Not the wind. A person, standing right behind me.
Loretta.
Chapter Twenty
My breath hitched. My hands curled into fists, but there was no point running. Or attacking. Loretta was one of them now, one of the edimmu. I could hurt her, but she’d keep on coming.
I had my fire, but I didn’t want to use it on her. Not unless I had to.
So I kept my hands at my sides and turned toward the gate. She stood just inside, one tiny hand clutching the iron post, the other shoved into the pocket of her skirt. I studied her, resplendent in her immaculately-tailored Derleth uniform, her once-unruly frizzy hair now tamed and lacquered into place. I’d never been able to understand her. Even now I didn’t know if she was friend or foe.
How is this was going to play out?
“Loretta, hi.” I kept my tone light, friendly. “How’d you find me?”
“I was reading in a corner of the garden when I saw you hide in the flower bed. You got up after the others left, but you didn’t see me. I followed you here.” Her eyes didn’t leave mine, not even to flicker over the gravestones of her classmates.
“Did they erect a gravestone for you?” I searched the rows for a newer-looking stone, but it was hard to see in the gloom of the trees. “Or is a permanent marker for Miskatonic Prep students only?”
Loretta folded her arms across her chest. “I heard you were placed in Dunwich Institute. That’s a cutting-edge facility – some of the most revolutionary medical procedures for treating mental illness have come from there.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s a real swell place.” My voice dripped with scorn. “You should visit one day. I’m going to make it my vacation spot.”
“I heard you burned it to the ground.” I wasn’t sure if she was accusing me or congratulating me.
“Probably an exaggeration, but I haven’t been back to check.” I sucked in a breath. If there was one person at this school that could help me, it would be her. “Loretta, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Greg’s missing.”
“Of course I noticed.” Her voice took on an edge I didn’t like.
“I think Ms. West might have him. She used to have a laboratory in the old icehouse. She might have taken you there when she…” I wasn’t sure how to say it. “Changed you. But it’s not there now. Do you have any idea where she might have moved it?”
“If I knew, do you think I’d be standing here talking to you about it?”
