Secrets In The Bones: The Curse of Blood Bay

Seventeen

With the lights off, my heart sped up, but Ellena hadn't reacted. There was no sudden fear or questioning of what was happening. She stood in the same place, head still tilted. All I saw were shades of red and black, except for the radiator and Ellena's body heat.

The situation was off, not just because of the lights. It was Ellena that bothered me the most. I could still see the paintings enough, and my mind drifted to the battle scene for a second. Wondering how much the rest of the town knew. Were there more numbers to find? With the correct map and assuming it was longitude and latitude. The arrows served little purpose unless they had a direction from that point.

A board creaked, sending a shiver down my back and dragging my attention back to the moment. One after the other, someone walked down the steps. Ellena turned to me. A trick of the red in the darkness, I thought at first. My eyes honed in, and the wolf in me reacted to danger. I got to see the side-by-side of Ellena's face.

It was different. She looked paler, bonier and, dare I say it, deader. Her body twisted into a lighter shade of red, and I caught another glimpse of what I saw in the caves. It may have been a vision, but it seemed so real. I assumed it could've been a warning of what Ellena could become if it went wrong. Then we learnt of Anna. Since Amos and then Ruth, all the little details have shaped a scary path. That glimpse frightened me the most.

Just as she'd come front-facing, her mouth opened like she was about to speak. Ellena displayed the tips of her fangs... Then, the lights flashed back on. Ellena looked at me still, and she was normal. My hackles dropped, and the wolf settled down. Those footsteps continued, but my body didn't react at all. It had all been because of that glimpse.

"Oh, sorry. We thought you'd gone, nae noise at all. Apologies for the wee fright." The librarian peered through the gap between the rickety wooden railings.

"That's ok," I didn't take my eyes off Ellena, more out of a mixture of elements. Disbelief, surprise, fear and a tinge of sadness that whatever was going on, I'd brought Ellena here—the one place she should never have been exposed to. Yet, again, this begs the question. Did ADI Locke know? If he did, he put Ellena's life at risk and mine. He would have to answer if we got out of this mess.

"Ellena, are you ok?"

"Of course; why is that?"

"The lights went out, and you didn't flinch,"

"I was deep in thought." Her throat juddered, an octave changed when she says 'deep,' and her eyes twitched.

"Did you notice the lights?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure where I went. I was looking at the geography of this place and the 1700s, and I got lost in the moment."

Ellena was only telling the truth. I could tell she had been lost in a moment. But not the one she spoke of. I was reading every micro expression and chemo signal Ellena gave off. I feared she'd heard that voice again. And when the lights went out, I saw death. At least, what it could look like for Ellena.

This wasn't any battle I was used to. We were up against something that could invade Ellena's mind while Ruth weaved tricks of her own. It seemed the only person who could be an ally so far might be Duncan.

"Did you hear anything? Like the footsteps?" I was hinting at the voice to invoke her memory, disguised by the librarian.

"I guess I was trying to imagine if those numbers meant anything. How far in the sea would the 'X' be marked?" This part of Ellena's story was true, even if it had been wrapped in something worse.

"I hate to interrupt your wee history lesson, but we're closing." I checked my watch to see it was 4.30 pm. We'd had more time inhaling dust than we thought.