2|| Whispers in the Wind

20|| ugh... just ugh

Wilder

"Ugh," Wilder groaned, staggering under the small store of books Leo had just shoved into his arms. "Easy, Leo."

Leo just smiled and shrugged. Wilder was glad and all to see him coming out of his shell, but really? Why the books? Kalyani had been going commando mode for the last hour, having them scale the entire library top to bottom, insisting they could have a break afterwards and that this would really help. Wilder was glad he'd had that sandwich earlier. He'd really needed it. Leo had collected the most relevant information out of all of them, and Wilder had- most regrettably- offered to carry it for him.

Evelyn kept looking worriedly at her phone, which was unnerving, especially since every time she did, only moments before Jacob had been on his. What were they discussing that they couldn't say out loud?

Wilder was just about to look over Evelyn's shoulder but Leo- curse his nerdiness- dropped three more books to his already massive stack. "Okay, for real though Leo. I need to put these down or I'm going to actually die here," Wilder said weakly.

"Fine, I guess we can go to the back room and study these now," Kalyani sighed.

"FINALLY!" screamed Wilder, only to be violently shushed by both a librarian and Leo. He was such a suck up. The librarian glared over the head of a very tall and very bald man she was attending to.

The group divided Wilder's weight, much to his relief, and entered the back room. You could only go in if you'd had a reservation. But somehow Kalyani worked her wonders and they all got in without any hurling abuse.

"Right," said Kalyani, shifting to her teacher voice. "So we're here to look for minor details we can disarm Roxanne with and also Sarah Wesner. Mostly the second part, but be on the lookout too."

"Yes commander," Aria saluted. Arlo snickered.

Wilder picked off a book at random and set to work. It was about "sibling life." Yeah, he had a lot of experience on that. But why'd Leo pick this one out? The table of contents consisted of multiple names. Some of them were unrecognizable, but on chapter 9 Wilder found her.

Roxanne. Fir Hills library had some really weird books. Why would you want to learn about some murderer's sibling life? Wilder snorted (must've sounded weird to the rest of them) and checked it out.

It was mostly about how "kind" and "caring" and "teasing" the siblings were. Why couldn't there be anything on what to do if your sister was addicted to something that killed your innocence when you were like ten? Then he found something much more like it. "Hey guys, look what I found," he said quietly. "Apparently Roxanne's older sister used to tell her that someone would kidnap her if she didn't listen to what she said."

Arlo attempted something like a half smile. "Yeah? Well that's normal, I do it to my brother all the time."

"But that's so mean!" Kalyani protested.

"You kidding? It's awesome!" Aria laughed - well, as loud as you could in a library.

Arlo's painful half smile spread. It was sort of shy, but only there for a second, like a sneak peek at Angelica Daye behind the curtains. Then, the usual scowling Arlo was back.

Evelyn and Jacob had paused to look at them. They were still texting each other something secret.

"Wait," Leo adjusted his glasses. "Didn't Kalyani say something about Roxanne's nightmares? What if they were her sister's fault? And I bet you could find something each and every member of the family did to turn her bad! That's why she was mad at them. Maybe that article I was told about was a lie. What if it was her true family? Nothing could replace a family like that. It's impossible, even for Fir Hills."

Kalyani stood up abruptly. "Of course! Leo, you're a genius. Wilder, flip through that book. By the way, was it from your library or here Leo?"

"Mine."

"It must be banned by now then."

Wilder was amazed. This was a different side of Leo he had never seen. Already scanning the pages as fast as possible, he looked back up at Kalyani and the others, who were now gathered around him.

Leo was pointing to certain lines. "So the one Wilder told us about was Ashley. She told Roxanne about the nightmares. Let's see..."

"Right there!" said Arlo, "It says that Lucille and Miya were twins, and that they often teamed up against Roxanne, and pulled some pranks on her. That's normal sibling behavior, but I feel like our person isn't quite normal- too touchy. Or maybe the pranks were crueler than it says? I'm not sure."

Kalyani was nodding. "And Aaron. It says one of her brothers hated her for the attention, and some mutual jealousy ran around that area. But why would that contribute to Roxanne's nightmares?"

And Wilder found the last one. "I know. Look at this one. The brother Morgan wasn't a nice person. He threatened Roxanne. He joked about things like their parents dying. He mocked her for her nightmares. And all the Wesners knew. They didn't do anything."

"That part isn't written there. How'd you know?" asked Aria.

Wilder shrugged. To be honest, he didn't. "I don't know. It's just a feeling."

Adjusting his glasses once again, Leo settled down next to Wilder. "Okay, so we have that. What exactly was her nightmare?"

"I know."

They all turned to look at Kalyani. "What? You know?" Wilder felt even more baffled.

"There's one thing I never told anyone. I saw Roxanne's nightmare. It was just a stupid shadow, but it was bulky. So hypothetically, this is why she killed her family."

Everyone accepted this without comment. Only Leo kept going. "Right. So why?"

"I dunno. I read somewhere that she came out of her house with marks all over her body. I read in one of the books from Leo's house that Roxanne was the first to be attacked by the supernatural. Put the pieces together."

For the first time in a few hours, Jacob spoke. "So you're saying that her nightmare grew real? Is that even possible?"

"No, I'm saying she didn't have nightmares. It was real to begin with."

It took a few long moments to digest this information. Wilder especially felt so guilty. He knew exactly why, but didn't say. "Uh huh. So we all know spirits attack off of complicated feelings and negative emotions. So that specific one fed off of Roxanne's fear and sadness. Right?" he was trying to confirm, still not completely believing this wasn't a dream and was really happening.

"I hate to say this, but yes," Leo told him.

"What about the wounds?"

"Either inflicted by the spirit or she was faking it to cover her trail."

"Was she really that twisted and clever since she was young?" Aria had a quaver in her voice.

Kalyani turned to face her. "Probably not, but the thing made her so. Remember how I was acting? I was almost a different person. I still haven't made everything right, so some things I do still feel off. But I wasn't possessed- ghosts can't do that. I threw it off. Roxanne chose not to."

"Ha. So did we find the directory yet that mom talked about?"

Another new voice chimed in- Evelyn's. "No, but I think I have now."