Reveal (Cryptid Tales) (17 page)

“
My parents sent me a little money to help me out. The security job really doesn’t pay that much.” He looks down at his feet. I feel terrible that I’ve embarrassed him.

“
Oh Hugh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to, I mean… the place looks nice.”

“
Thanks,” he mumbles as he pages through the book.

“
What are you looking for?” I ask trying to look over his shoulder.

He smiles, “Not what, but who, Shay. And I’ve found them.” He taps the page he’s on.

“
Who?”

“
That friend of mine I think we can get what we need from. Let’s go.” He moves towards the still open door. “I’ll explain on the way.”

We forego the car because Hugh says where we’re going there’s no parking in front of the frat. He tells me to turn my hoodie inside out so that my high school name won’t be seen. I feel like I’m on a covert mission.

“
Lance is having a poker game tonight. I’ve never been to his new place before so I had to get the address.” I notice he takes out his wallet while we walk.

I’m dumbfounded. “Poker? But I don’t know how to play.”

“
You don’t need to, I do.” He counts the money in his hand I see he has two twenties and a ten.
Mom and Dad must really be helping him out.

He puts the money is one pocket wallet in the other, “This will get us in, and I’ll be able to play a few hands. It should only take you a couple minutes to get what we need.”

“
And that is…” I prompt him.

“
A hair from Lance. You’re going to use the bathroom. While in there he should have a comb of some sort.” He pulls a baggie from his jacket and hands it to me. “Just put whatever you find in there.”

I look down at the bag and put it in my sweatpant pocket. “Got it.”

We arrive at a house that’s not far from Hugh’s apartment. It only took us five minutes to walk here. Hugh winks at me as we walk inside. No knock on the door needed as it’s already open.

We go through the living room and go to what looks to be a closet door. There’s no one on the floor and when we get to the grimy looking door, I realize we’re going to the basement. We walk down the dark stairs to find five guys sitting around a poker table. They look pretty serious but when Lance stands to greet Hugh, he gives him a fist bump and beams at me before sitting back down.

Before Hugh is even dealt in, I ask to use the bathroom. Lance says sure, girls are apparently princesses here and have full access to anywhere and anything in the house. He tells me I’ll have to go to the second floor to use the guys’ group bathroom. Lance suggests I announce myself before going in. I smile coyly at him before going back upstairs. A little flirting can’t hurt to help me get my way. As soon as I’m out of sight I practically run to the second floor. After taking the stairs two at a time I stop abruptly at the bathroom door. I am about to enter an entirely boys’ bathroom. This is going to be awkward.

“
Girl!” I yell as I enter. The bathroom is big and surprisingly clean, not exactly what I envisioned when I thought about a frat. Though if these boys have a cleaning service, that would explain it. I look around, luckily for me, there’s no one in here. There’s about four stalls, and a couple places for showers. I move toward the sinks and start looking for the boys’ personal belonging. Along the wall on a shelf there are baskets for each guy. I try to look through baskets of the guys’ stuff as fast as possible. They definitely have a maid or an organizer. This is a nice frat. I have to find Lance’s basket because he has the same colored hair as my brother. Chad’s hair is lighter than mine, but still thick. If Chad sees the vial he still has to think it’s his hair. We can’t let him get suspicious.

I look through about three baskets finding everything from deodorant to condoms when I realize I’m not going to find a brush or comb in any of these baskets. The guys must finish their beauty regimes in their own rooms. I peek out the door before bolting out to find Lance’s room. At the end of the hall there’s a door open. I look both ways to make sure no one has seen me. The bathroom is clearly labeled, I’m not going to able to say I got lost up here.

I tiptoe down the hall to the open door. I look around the corner of the door to see if the room is empty. Once I see that the coast is clear, I go in and make sure to close the door silently behind me.

When I hear the click that tells me the door is closed I turn to look around for evidence that this is Lance’s room. There’s a photo by the bed and sure enough it’s Lance with a group of girls, probably from some wild frat party that was held at the house not too long ago. They’re all wearing togas, it looks like one of the girls is about to lose the top of hers.
Charming.

The room is also cleaner than I expected. It’s simple with a white, red, and blue Calvin Klein bedspread and matching curtains. I’m guessing his mom picked it out. There’s another picture of Lance, this time with his family on their yacht, by the computer. A nice size flat screen sits near the door and there’s a window seat with some clothes on it. But no hair products. At least not laying out. I start going through his desk and dresser, but no dice.

I can hear guys talking in the hall I have to hurry, what if one of them comes in looking for Lance? Do they know he’s downstairs gambling all of his mommy and daddy’s money away? The last place I look is the bedside table. There’s some lotion in here and a couple magazines, apparently Lance isn’t getting enough.

In the very back of the drawer I finally find a comb and hair gel. He better not mix up the gel and the lotion. That would lead to some very interesting questions from his brothers. He would never live it down! I pick up the comb, the voices are getting louder, and see a single medium brown strand. I grab it and stuff it into the baggie as fast as I can. Just as I put the baggie in my pocket a guy walks into Lance’s room.

I spin around to see who is standing there.

Thank God, it’s Hugh. I breathe out in relief; I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath.

“
Shay, where have you been? I ran out of money like five minutes ago. We have got to go! I can’t stay if I can’t play, house rules.”

“
Well I got what we came for,” I whisper.

He winks at me and we walk nonchalantly down to the door as to not attract attention to ourselves. We high-five after making it safely to the street.

As we walk back to Hugh’s apartment, I remind him of my plan.

“
So I just have to switch the hair in the vial after Chad goes to sleep tonight. Should be fairly easy. I’m sure he’ll put it in his backpack so he won’t forget it tomorrow.”

Hugh gives me a quick peck and squeeze of the hand. “You can do this, good luck.”

I smile, “Thanks,” and get in the car to go home and complete the mission.

While I’m driving I crank up the music and jam out to
Dynamite,
I got lucky back there and I need to take a moment to let loose before I finish this task at home.

Just as the song is ending and I turn onto my street, I see her. The little girl from my dreams is standing in the middle of my driveway.

I stay in the car and turn off the ignition, staring at her translucent little frame.

“
Shay, come out here,” she says, “we need to talk.” The last word comes out all sing songy, but she doesn’t look happy.

I sit there, my chest heaving as left over adrenaline pumps through my veins. She’s just a little ghost, nothing I can’t handle.

I get out of the car making sure to slam the door extra loud. It’s like I’m claiming my territory or something,
Discovery Channel here I come
.

“
What do you want Wendy?”

“
You’ve been watching me, haven’t you Shay? Interested in what’s going on in the blue house on the hill?”

“
Watching you? No. I see you sometimes, dream of you, but no, you’re not the highlight of my life right now. Sorry to disappoint you.”

She continues to roll out the fake sweetness. “No, you’re right, that would be Hugh, lovey dovey Hugh. Your mate.” Her eyes narrow.

“
So what if he is? What happened to Daddy, Wendy? Where is he?”

“
Daddy’s gone, he didn’t want to play by the rules.”

“
By who’s rules Wendy?” And then it dawns on me, the dark overlay in my last dream. Of course, it all makes sense now. The woman in black, Erika she called her. I collect my thoughts and say, “Malsumis?” It was Malsumis who told her how to bring her dad back, he wanted to control her. Somehow Erika has a handle on her.

Her eyes widen for just a moment and then she relaxes again. “You’re quite observant, aren’t you Shay?”

“
Wendy, I brought your dad here for you, not for him. Where is your father Wendy? Come on, it doesn’t have to be like this.” I try to plead with her. It’s obvious she’s changed and probably not by her choice.

She suddenly rushes at me in full force. The breeze makes my wisps of hair move around my head. She stops just short of touching me. Suddenly she looks like the Wendy I once knew.

“
Shay he made me do it. He’s coming for you, you need to hide.”

I search her eyes, “What did he make you do? Wendy, we can get Jeremy, he can help.”

“
I banished him Shay, my own father. Malsumis is so strong, you’ll never win.”

I try to take a second to think, but I can’t breathe. My eyes widen as the fear sets in. There’s a dark mist settling around us. I can hardly see my hand in front of me already. It’s so dark and coming in fast. I know I have to leave her. I don’t want to, but I can’t stay. I sprint to the house just as the black fog brushes the ground. I grab the doorknob and luckily it’s unlocked. I slam the door behind me. The mist pushes against my door, making my whole body move with it, but once I shut and lock it, Malsumis can’t come in. I take a deep breath and lay my forehead on the hard wood. I need a minute to relax before anyone sees me. This is the first time in my life I felt like I could die, but I have a terrible foreboding feeling it won’t be the last.

Hugh told me on our way home from Texas that when our fathers were close friends Alo’s father came to my house and put protections on it. I don’t know what those are but Malsumis can’t get to us once we’re locked inside. However, if the door is left open, or even a window, it’s an open invitation for the deity and his followers.

I look around my house to see who all is home. It’s only seven, so I’m still early. Mom is sitting at her desk in the study going over thesis papers. It’s April, so most of the students are getting ready to finish up with classes and handing in their biggest papers.

“
Hi Mom!” I fake cheeriness as I pop my head into the office. It’s lined with books so it makes it a little darker than the rest of the house.

“
Hey there,” she says almost looking relieved for a break.

“
How goes the grading? Kids doing any good?” I nod to her pile of papers about fifty pages high.

“
They’re doing alright I guess. I’m concerned they’re not grasping the schizophrenia case we studied, but perhaps that’s my fault for choosing such a difficult file.” Her shoulders are slumped forward. She turns and looks out the singular small window in the room. She had it built so there would only be one. Fewer distractions that way she had said. “Weird weather, came on so quickly and such a dark fog too. I hope you didn’t get caught driving in it.”

I shake my head, “Nah, it came on just as I walked in the door.”
Ain’t that the truth.

“
And I heard a noise when you walked in, everything OK?”

“
I just dropped my bag, same as every day.”

She squints at me, “Your practice bag? I didn’t realize you took it to Hugh’s with you.” She eyes my empty hands as if they’ll tell her the truth.

“
Well since it’s nice out I thought maybe we would go for a run, but he wasn’t into it.”

“
I can tell what he was into,” she eyes my hoodie turned inside out suspiciously. It’s better if I just go along with it, embarrassing, but better.

“
Mom! Shut up! Nothing happened!” I let my voice go higher than normal, she laughs and plays along.

“
Of course it didn’t.” She looks back to her papers, but I can still see her smiling.