From Bad to Cursed (6 page)

I started walking. Any movement
away
from a scary sound was better than standing like a lump. Even if we walked so far we came out on the other side, the woods had to end eventually.

As we went farther, Barney calmed down. But then, after about a hundred feet or so, he tensed and growled again.

From behind us: a scratching noise, and a scrambling, and the
thud
and
whoosh
of something falling and running away.

I looked around for a large branch to use as a club, if it came to that—but the one decent-sized stick I found disintegrated in my hand.

Barney whined miserably, panting and trying halfheartedly to get away.

“It’s okay, boy,” I said.

Snap-snap-snap-CRASH!

The dog yelped and vaulted out of my arms, already poised to run by the time his paws touched the ground.

I launched myself at him, belly-flopping on the pine needle floor, barely managing to hook my fingers around the edge of his collar. When he realized he was caught and couldn’t escape, he changed tactics and went on the offensive, rolling off a series of vicious-sounding barks and frantically hopping around.

“Cut it out! Get back here!” I said, tugging him toward me. I’d gone through way too much trouble finding the dumb dog to let him get eaten by a bear now. “Barney,
stay
!”

His barking became one extended growl, and he was pulling so hard his front legs were off the ground. My fingers felt like they were about to pop off.

Whatever was back there, he wanted to kill it.

After managing to get a better grip on his collar, I got to my feet and picked him up, pressing my cheek against the back of his head as I looked around.

“Now what?” I asked him.

“Woof!”
he answered, looking over my shoulder.

I swung around to see Carter appear between two trees, looking ridiculously out of place in his starched oxford shirt and spotless brown shoes.

“Alexis? Are you okay?” He came over and scratched the dog’s neck.

“Relatively,” I said. “I have no idea how to get out of here. I hope you dropped some bread crumbs.”

“Right back this way,” Carter said. “Want me to carry Barney?”

“He’s filthy,” I said, but Carter reached out any- way, and my aching arms were dying for a break. So I gladly handed him over, and we started back through the brush.

“Kasey went back to get a leash,” I said. “I hope she stays back in the parking lot. I think there’s some sort of wild animal out here.”

Carter squinted. “I doubt it. We’re still in the suburbs.”

“Suburbs or not, I heard something,” I said. “Something big. Barney heard it, too.”

“Maybe a raccoon?”

“Bigger than that. Forget it. I don’t know.”

And then, another
snap.

“Did you hear that?” I asked.

“It’s probably a bird, Lex,” he said. “Wait, where are you going?”

His dismissal annoyed me.

“Just to take a peek,” I said, walking away. “I’ll be right back.”

“But what if it’s dangerous?” He looked around, sud- denly seeing the forest for what it was: Big. Dark. Spooky.

“Like a raccoon?” I asked. “Or a baby bird?”

He waited, one hand idly rubbing the dog’s belly, while I went deeper into the forest. The farther I went, the more opaque the canopy grew overhead, branches and leaves weaving into a dense cover that blocked out what little starlight there was. The trees were crowded here, the brush thicker.

More scratching…but as I got closer, it didn’t sound like scratching, exactly. It was more like…I looked down at the bed of pine needles on the floor of the woods.

Like
moving
. Like something was being dragged through the pine needles.

And whatever it was, it was getting closer.

Fear sent roots down through my feet, locking me in place. I gulped in half-breaths of chilled night air, waiting for an outraged, wounded mountain lion to pop out at me.

Then I saw it—between the tree trunks, which were almost as close as crayons in a box.

A shadow.

This was no wounded mountain lion. It was no wounded anything. It moved too fast. And in the deep darkness, I couldn’t tell whether it was coming closer or getting farther away.

How could I be so stupid? I’d basically lived through a horror movie and
still
hadn’t learned my lesson.

At some point, my eyes had squeezed shut and I’d lost the ability to breathe.

Snap out of it. Get control of yourself. And then get out of here.

I forced my eyelids open, positive that some beast would be standing right there, drooling blood and exhaling the smell of death.

But the woods were empty. And the only sound was a
snap—

Right behind me.

A hand snaked around to cover my mouth, but my self-defense training kicked in. I bent my knees, reached back to grab the attacker’s arm, and delivered a swift kick as high as I could, dropping my attacker to the ground. Then I turned around to get a good look at it—him—

Her. It was my sister.

“Seriously, Kasey?”

She whipped a finger to her lips, librarian-style.
“SHUT UP!”
she hissed. Her eyes were wild, frantic, as she jumped to her feet and grabbed my arm, scanning the woods behind us.

“What are you doing out here?” I whispered.

She said,
“Shhh,”
and pulled me along, treading as lightly as she could.

The scraping grew louder as Kasey looked around. She dragged me behind a bush next to a thick pine tree and crouched down, hauling me with her.

I shot her a questioning look. But she was staring back at the clearing.

The animal, the beast, whatever it was, stepped into a small patch of light. There was a peculiar lightness in its step. It raised and lowered its head in a subtle bobbing motion as it moved.

I shivered. It was primitive, feral…inhuman.

In the darkness, I still couldn’t get a good enough look to tell what it was. It didn’t move like a person, or a bear, or even a werewolf.

I thought of Barney wandering these woods alone and shivered, glad we’d found him and that he was safely with Carter.

But were they
really
safe? Carter was alone, unsuspecting. I had to get back to him.

And we all had to get out of the woods.

But the creature was too close; we didn’t dare move a muscle until it disappeared. It was traveling again, that quick movement that sounded like a bundle of branches being dragged along the ground.

And it was coming closer. Much closer.

Kasey and I were pressed together, holding our breaths, as the thing came within ten feet of us. Maddeningly—or maybe it was for the best—you still couldn’t make out anything about it. It seemed to be made of shadows.

It paused briefly at a tree near us, sniffing the air like Barney had done.

And then there was an explosion of outraged barking, the release of an hour’s worth of pent-up fear and anger, and Barney came crashing through the woods.

“No, Barney!” I called. I tried to grab for his collar, to keep him away from the creature, but right behind was Carter, using his belt as a leash, holding on to the leather strap.

“What are you guys doing?” Carter demanded. “Lex, you said you’d be right back!”

“Nothing,” I panted, looking around. The shadow-creature had vanished. “Nothing, we’re fine.”

“I thought I heard something,” he said, his lip curling in irritation. “I was
worried
.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But we’re totally okay.”

I glanced back into the darkness. Carter looked around, too.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “If you don’t mind.”

Kasey clipped the leash to the dog’s collar, and Carter put his belt back on. We made slow progress through the forest and emerged right where Carter had left the car.

“Where’s Adrienne?” I asked.

“She wanted to walk,” Carter said. “Said she’d go home if the car wasn’t here when she got back.”

“Maybe we should look for her,” I said, thinking of that thing in the woods.

“I called her,” Kasey said. “To tell her we found Barney. She could see Lydia from where she was, so they’re probably at the house by now.”

We drove to the Streeters’ house, and Kasey rang the doorbell. We heard shuffling inside, and finally, Mrs. Streeter pulled the door open. Her hair was pulled back, and she gave off an air of stylishness that clearly wasn’t hereditary. Her eyes were ringed with worry lines.

“My Barney!” she cried, wheeling her chair around the door. The dog flew into her lap. “Thank you guys
so much
.”

“No problem,” Carter said.

“You sweet, dirty little dog!” she said, letting Barney lick her nose. “I was so worried about you!”

It was cute. I smiled at Kasey, but she frowned.

Mrs. Streeter turned her attention to us. “Hello!” she said. “You must be Alexis. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Yes,” I said. “Hi. And this is Carter.”

“You guys really saved the day. Can I get you something? Water? Soda?”

“No, thanks,” I said. “We should probably get going.”

“Please, just stay till Ay gets back. She’ll want to thank you.” She wheeled backward and closed the door behind me. “How’d your pictures turn out?”

I froze.

“That was you, right?” she asked. “I recognize the hair.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Um…Actually, they’re good.”

And they were. Mother and daughter, hopeful companions. A little optimistic for my taste, but not bad.

“I’d love to see them,” she said.

I nodded, too fast, too apologetic. “I’ll send a print home with Adrienne.”

She shook her head, her earrings swinging gently from side to side. “Don’t do that,” she said. “I’ll never see it. She hides from cameras these days.”

“Oh, okay,” I said.

“Forgive me!” she said. “I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Courtney.”

Just as she said it, the front door opened and Adrienne came in.

“Barney’s home! Now, tell me what happened.” Courtney gave Adrienne a knowing look. “You left the gate open, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know.” Adrienne sighed. “Not like he ever goes anywhere.”

“But I keep telling you, dogs don’t think the way we do. If something scared him, he could take off.” She gave the dog a kiss on the head. “He
did
take off. Poor old stinky guy.”

“We’d better get going,” I said. “I need to change out of these wet clothes.”

The front door opened again, and Lydia and the other girl came inside. They hovered behind Adrienne.

“I—I might go home with my sister. I don’t feel very well,” Kasey said. In the light of the hall, you could see pine needles in her hair and my well-defined shoe print on her shirt.

The girls tried to cluster around her, but she ducked away and disappeared down the hall.

I took the bag of cookies from my pocket, and Barney hopped off Mrs. Streeter’s lap and zipped over to me. “You’ve probably had enough for one night,” I told him.

“I’ll take them.” Adrienne came up to me. As she approached, Barney backed away.

There was silence.

“He’s
scared
of you, Ay,” Courtney said. “Did something happen during your meeting?”

Adrienne blinked. “No,” she said. “Nothing happened.”

Meeting?

The voice came from behind me.

“Alexis, right?” I turned to see the fourth girl standing with her hand extended. She had beautiful light bronze skin and a mess of golden brown curls. “I’m Tashi.”

I shook her hand and gave her a quick smile before turning toward the front door. Kasey was coming down the hall, and I was ready to get home.

In the car, Kasey stared out the window.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She was quiet for so long I thought she was ignoring me. But finally, she spoke.

“Mrs. Streeter really loves that dog,” she said.

Carter seemed all right on the drive, but when we got to Silver Sage Acres, he pulled past the guest lot and idled in the driveway, keeping his seat belt fastened.

Kasey went inside, but I lingered in the front seat.

“Want to come in?”

Carter traced the underline of his jaw with his thumb. “I…I don’t think I should. I mean, you need a shower, and it’s getting pretty late.”

“I can shower in three minutes,” I said. “I’ll put on a pot of coffee. We can watch a movie.”

“Lex.” Carter turned to me and grabbed my hand. “I don’t want to lie to you. I really am tired, but…even if I weren’t, I’ve had enough for the night.”

“What does that mean? Enough of me?” I pulled my hand away as a thought occurred to me. “Or enough of Kasey?”

He sat back. “Out in the woods…did you see what was making that sound?”

I counted three heartbeats before I could answer. “No,” I said. Technically it wasn’t a lie. I
didn’t
see what it was, after all.

He rubbed his eyes. “I know this sounds mental, but I think I kind of did see…something. I heard more noises, and I thought I saw a shadow go by. The dog went nuts and I got really worried, but by the time I reached you, there was nothing around.”

“Right,” I said. “Nothing.”

He grabbed the steering wheel. “Except your sister.”

“So, okay, if the noises were Kasey,” I said, “which maybe they
were
…then what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is…” He shook his head. “I think I saw her try to kill a squirrel.”

I was pretty shocked that Carter thought my sister would be capable of attempted squirrel murder. But what could I say?
No, it wasn’t Kasey, it was just the shadowy beast lurking in the trees.

“No way,” I said. “There’s no chance of that. I know my sister.”

His head jerked up. “Do you?”

“Yes! Of
course
.”

“I saw something out there,” he said. “I know I did.”

“It was probably a raccoon,” I said archly.

“Don’t get mad at me, Lex.” He raised his hands helplessly. “It’s not an accusation. I just thought it was weird. The whole thing was really…weird.”

“Maybe it’s a full moon,” I said.

“There’s no moon tonight,” he said.

I sighed and leaned on my door; Carter leaned on his—and we were as far apart as we could be while still sitting in the same car. A shadow came to the front window of the town house and paused for a moment before disappearing.