“We need to do a sweep of the place,” I said to Deva and Beth.
Deva gave a grim nod. “Why doesn’t Beth stay with Carol for a minute while we check the place over?”
Beth agreed, and Deva and I carefully swept through the place. There was so much damage. Way more than would have come from throwing Joel across the shop. There had been a fight. And as I stopped at the claw mark on the door, I had a terrible feeling.
“Could this be Daniel?”
Deva looked at it. “Maybe. But it doesn’t mean it was from today.”
“Could this be where his car was being fixed?”
Deva stiffened. “Probably.”
Damn it. None of this was good.
I called Daniel. Again. And again. I sent him a text begging him to call me, and then we double checked the place. There were definitely no signs of Daniel or Joel. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
We went back outside before racing out to the car. I went to the driver’s seat while Deva jumped into the passenger seat beside me. I turned on the engine, then hesitated. We needed to find Daniel. But right now, Carol needed help.
“I think… I think I’m going to pass out,” Carol whispered, and her words were almost a sob.
I felt sick. The hospital was a good thirty minute drive, so there was no time to waste. I was worried about Daniel, but Carol needed me right now.
My heart was hammering in my chest the whole ride. I didn’t want to push Carol further after all she’d been through, but we needed answers or more people could get hurt.
Or die.
“What did you figure out at the library? Do you know what Joel is up to?” I asked. This drive wasn't going to be easy, there were lots of winding curves in the road and though I wanted to speed through them to get us there as quickly as possible, I couldn't. At least, not without jerking Carol about and causing her more pain. As my mom would say, "More haste, less speed."
I must have mumbled it to myself because I felt Deva's hand on my arm as she reached over from the passenger seat. When I glanced at her she gave me a tight lipped smile and squeezed my arm before mouthing the words, "You've got this."
I nodded and sped up as much as I was comfortable doing.
“Joel is human,” Carol said after a moment of getting settled down in the seat and used to the movement of the car, her head now rested in Beth’s lap. “But he learned dark magic and tricked your parents, and others, into helping him perform a spell that would supposedly protect you. But really it was a spell that helped him live longer and gave him powers.”
“What the hell?” I whispered. “Gave him powers? I didn't think that kind of thing was possible.”
Carol was quiet for a moment. “I’m not sure. He rambled a lot, telling me this stuff in spurts. He’s super angry. Like, really angry. I gather things aren’t going the way he wanted.” After sucking in a shuddering breath, she continued. “The best I got from his tirades was that the spell was supposed to protect him from anyone knowing what he did, but your parents remembered. The car accident was because they didn’t forget.”
A lump formed in my throat. My parents had been murdered. It was official. I knew they'd said that the accident we were all in wasn't an accident, but that didn't make me feel any better. This whole time only Joel had known. How was that fair? How could they have rested peacefully if no one knew that they were murdered? If no one was looking for their killer?
An iron will formed within me and I knew without a doubt that come hell or high water I'd find Joel and I'd make sure he could never hurt anyone again. I wasn't sure that I could make him pay for his crimes, even with my powers as karma, but I'd give it my best shot.
“Over time, the spell weakened, so he did it again when we were in high school. That’s what Daniel’s wife got mixed up in. But, she remembered. Just like your parents. And so he was going to kill her, too. And he realized she’d told Thomas.”
“So, he got rid of Thomas and Sarah in one go. Did the same thing to my parents,” I whispered, horrified. “And nobody else caught on, not all that time.”
“He needs to do the spell again since apparently it only keeps him young and powerful for a while. He’s found some humans and supernatural people to help him with it.” She tried to sit up. Something about what she needed to say made her feel like she needed to move and that made my stomach clench. Whatever she was about to tell us I knew it wasn't good. We all did.
When she gasped I glanced at her in the rearview mirror and saw that she'd gone pale and was clutching her side again. Whatever she'd done it had hurt her ribs even more. I couldn't help but look back at her again when there was nothing but silence from the backseat for a moment. Her lower lip trembled and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. It made me press down on the gas pedal and hurry even more. I hated that my friend was in pain. I could almost feel it reverberating through the car like she was channeling it outward.
“Don’t try to sit up. Don't strain yourself or you could make it worse,” Deva said, turning to look at her. “What is it?”
A tiny sob escaped Carol before she said, “Emma, he’s got Henry and his online friends helping him. He’s been working on them for months through that game they play. I'm so sorry.”
Henry? No!
“And Daniel?” I asked, his name almost a sob.
