Pure (Book 1, Pure Series) (23 page)

           
Then I followed the smoke trail deeper into the trees.

           
I hurried along as fast as I could, dodging branches.
 
I had been to these woods many times, so I knew them well.
 
Up ahead, I knew there was a cave.
 
I had an uneasy feeling that that was where the smoke trail led.

           
Following an impulse I didn't quite understand, I grabbed for my neck, searching for the iron charm William had given me.
 
I realized that my neck was bare – I had forgotten to put the necklace on that morning.

           
I felt a brief stab of panic that I quickly pushed aside.
 
I told myself that I was being foolish – there was no reason for me to be concerned about not wearing a necklace.

           
I hurried on.
 
The trees thinned, and I could see a clearing ahead.
 
The cave soon came into view.
 
As I had feared, the trail of smoke wound down into the cave mouth.

           
I hesitated for just a moment, and then plunged into it.

           
The cave was dry – not dank as I had thought it would be – and there was light to see by at first.
 
I followed the smoke deeper into the cave, and as I moved further from the mouth, the light grew dimmer.

           
As the light dimmed, the smoke changed, turning white and luminescent.

           
I continued to follow the writhing white smoke, even after all the natural light had gone, feeling along the cold stone walls with my hands.
 
Twice I scraped my fingers across sharp rocks, and shortly after that I stumbled badly, falling on the unforgiving cave floor.
 
My elbow hurt, and I could feel that I'd torn the knee of my jeans.

           
I got up and kept going.

           
Eventually, I spied a bright light up ahead, and a thick, whispering voice filtered up to me.
 
But I couldn't understand what the voice was saying, and I crept closer.
 
I could see that there was a chamber up ahead.

           
Concealing myself behind an outcropping of rock, I peered into the chamber.

           
A large man, heavily swathed in furs, was sitting on a flat rock with his back to me, and there was a lantern on the floor in front of him that cast a harsh glare up toward the ceiling.
 
The smoke that I had followed wound into the chamber – white in the darkness, black where it touched the light.
 
It whirled in a ghostly, windless tornado, concentrating particularly around the man in furs.
 
Across from the man, I could see the shoulder of a second figure – it looked to be another man – though I couldn't be sure.
 
The face of the far figure was blocked by the bulk of the man in furs, but I was pretty certain that the second figure was the one doing the whispering.
 
Now that I could hear better, the whispered words had a harsh, malevolent sound.
 
I felt a chill steal over me.

           
I strained to listen, but I still couldn't understand what was being said.

           
I would have to go closer.

           
I had just made up my mind to edge further into the chamber when I felt fingers lace around my wrist, and I was pulled backward forcefully.

           
I nearly cried out – but I quickly thought better of it – the two figures in the cave chamber didn't seem terribly friendly.
 
In the dim light from the white smoke, I could just see a large, dark shape looming beside me.
 
I tugged on my imprisoned wrist, but I found that I was held in a grip of iron.

           
I was pulled forcefully to my feet, and then dragged back along the cave tunnel away from the lit chamber.
 
The tunnel was soon dark except for the luminescent smoke trail.
 
The pace of my captor was too fast for me, and I stumbled.

           
A hand encircled my waist and pulled me to my feet.
 
I was pressed firmly against a strong, hard body and half carried up the tunnel.
 
My heart was pounding – I feared what I would discover when my captor and I broke daylight.

           
The mouth of the cave soon yawned up ahead of us, and I was dragged into the clearing in front of the cave, the now-black smoke swirling around me once again.

           
My captor released me, and I whirled around to face him.
 
I was shocked to see who it was.

           
"William?" I said breathlessly.

           
"What are you doing?" William demanded.
 
"Do you know what's in that cave?
 
Do you have any idea?"

           
I felt a flash of anger.
 
William had interrupted me when I was on the verge of a discovery.
 
Now I would have to spend more precious time creeping back down the cave.
 
There was no way I was going back to GM without finding out what was going on in the cave.

           
"I'm going back in," I said.
 
I turned and walked back toward the cave.

           
William followed me and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me back.

           
He leaned close to my ear.
 
"This is not a joke.
 
That thing will kill you.
 
I will not allow you to go back into that cave."

           
He began to pull me away from the cave.

           
I tried to pull out of his grasp.
 
"Where are you taking me?"

           
"Back to your house," he said.

           
"How did you know I was in there?" I asked.

           
"It's my business to know," he said, continuing to pull me along.

           
"You have to stop," I said, digging my heels into the earth.
 
"My grandmother is waiting for me.
 
If I go home without her, she'll be worried."

           
William stopped and let go of my arm.
 
"Go to her then.
 
As long as you are wearing the charm I gave you, you'll be safe."

           
I shifted my weight uneasily.
 
"What if I'm not wearing it?"

           
"Then get out of here.
 
You and your grandmother should get out of here immediately.
 
The creature is weak during the day, but it's still strong enough to kill you.
 
And it can track you at night."

           
"What creature?
 
What is it?
 
Was that Gleb in there?
 
What is all that smoke?"

           
He stared at me in surprise.
 
"You can see the smoke?"

           
"Yes," I said.
 
"It's black in the dark and white in the light."

           
"I can't see the smoke," he said in wonder.
 
"I know it exists, and it clouds my senses.
 
But I can't actually see it."

           
"Does the smoke come from Gleb?"

           
My question seemed to shake William out of his shock.

           
"Katie, I'm telling you to get out of here now.
 
It's for your own safety."

           
I cast a mutinous glance over his shoulder in the direction of the cave.

           
William took an ominous step toward me as if he expected me to try to skirt around him.

           
I knew I wouldn't make it.

           
I turned resignedly and walked back in the direction of Mrs. Hannity's house.

           
I stopped once, looking over my shoulder to see if William was still there.
 
I could see him, just at the edge of my vision, standing guard over the path to the cave.

           
I turned and ran the rest of the way to Mrs. Hannity's.
 
I was going to be terribly late, and I had discovered nothing.
 
But I had seen William.
 
Even though he was angry with me, my heart felt lighter now that I had seen him.

           
I reached Mrs. Hannity's back yard, and I hurried into it, racing around to the front past the grazing plastic sheep.

           
I hurried up to GM's car and threw myself into the passenger's seat.

           
GM scowled at me.
 
"What have you been doing in there?
 
It's been over an hour."

           
Her expression changed to one of horror as she took in my appearance.
 
"You are scratched and bleeding.
 
What happened to you?"

           
I took a deep breath.
 
I had to think quickly.
 
Though I felt terrible about making up a story, there was no way I could tell GM about the cave.
 
"I-I was helping Mrs. Hannity clean up her back yard."

           
I was pretty sure that the back yard was obscured by the house.
 
I resisted the impulse to turn and look to double-check.

           
I continued.
 
"She had a lot of leaves and branches that needed to be cleared out and placed into lawn bags.
 
I fell while reaching for a loose branch on a tree."

           
GM was incredulous.
 
"She had you clean out her back yard?"

           
I shifted uneasily.
 
"Yes."

           
GM shook her head and started the car.
 
"Unbelievable.
 
The nerve of that woman.
 
To ask you to do something like that when you are visiting her to cheer her up.
 
No more visits for you – today or ever again.
 
You have done enough already."

           
I was tired and was inclined to agree with GM about the visits.

           
As GM started the car, I felt a horrible wave of guilt wash over me.
 
I was telling stories to GM, and I had just made an innocent woman look bad.
 
If only I could figure out what was going on and how to stop it.
 
It seemed pretty obvious to me that the two men in the cave were involved in the disappearances somehow.
 
At least I thought they were two men – I hadn't been able to see the face of either – William had rather firmly gotten in my way.

           
GM drove us home quickly, and I went upstairs to change my torn jeans and clean my cuts and scrapes.
 
I made sure to put the iron charm on, too.

           
After that, I sat down at my desk and turned to my homework, but I had a difficult time concentrating.
 
The events at the Old Grove kept crowding into my thoughts.

           
Eventually, I gave up and went to my bed where I'd where I'd thrown my coat.
 
I pulled the charred photo out of my pocket and examined it.
 
Mr. Del Gatto, Irina, James, me.
 
I couldn't help but think once again that this was a lineup of victims.

           
I sat down on the bed, still holding the photo.

           
I wondered who had dropped the yearbook photo from the tree.
 
Someone had clearly meant me to find it.
 
Since William had been in the area, he was the most likely candidate to have dropped it.
 
But if it had been him, why hadn't he spoken to me about not going into the cave at that very moment?
 
Why would he wait till later and waylay me in the dark as he had done?
 
I had a feeling that it wasn't William who had dropped the photo on me.

           
Whether or not William had dropped the photo, he certainly seemed to know who was down in the cave.
 
I frowned.
 
What had he said?
 
'That thing' and 'the creature.'
 
Could one of the two figures in the cave have been a reanimated dead man who was walking the earth, looking for victims?
 
An involuntary shudder shook me.

           
I thought back to the strange faint smoke I'd been seeing around town.
 
I wondered where Mr. Hightower lived, and I wished now that I could go to see the place.
 
I had a feeling that I would see the smoke there, too.
 
The smoke trail seemed to be exactly that – a trail.
 
It seemed to me that I somehow had the ability to see where the person who had caused the disappearances had been.
 
Perhaps the ability to see the smoke was related to my visions.
 
If I could see where Mr. Hightower lived, and I spotted the smoke trail again, I would know for sure that the smoke marked the perpetrator's passage.

           
Of course, I could check Simon and James's house for the smoke, too.
 
Maybe I could suggest to Simon that we stop by his house before going to the movies.