A Grave Problem

13. Blackmail

The girls froze in their tracks, and Mia could feel a chill run through her veins. So, someone really had followed them to the clearing. But how did Mia not see them? Slowly, dreading what she might see, Mia turned back to face whoever was now standing in the clearing just a few feet behind them.

At the far edge of the trees Mia could see a girl. Where she'd come from, Mia could only guess. She certainly hadn't heard anyone walking through all those dried leaves to get there. The girl was standing just out of reach of the light, making it hard for Mia to get a good look at her. Mia could tell that she was petite, and her blonde hair and pale blue dress seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. But her face was still covered in shadow. Normally, it would have been easy for Mia to see who this girl was, even in the shadows she was standing in. But with her hair pulled down, and the angle she was standing at, Mia just couldn't get a good enough look at her face. Still, she studied her carefully; something about her seemed familiar.

The girl was standing in the part of the clearing where the shadows were the thickest, but Mia could tell she was very thin – almost frail. She wasn't tall, but the thinness of her frame gave the illusion that she might be. Mia might have thought the girl was more than about 4'9" if she herself hadn't been standing so close to those same trees just a few minutes ago.

Seeing that the girl was so skinny and more than a few inches shorter than she was gave Mia a bit of courage. She might not know much about whoever was standing there, but she was pretty sure she could intimidate her into leaving them alone.

"Why don't you come out where we can see you?" Mia challenged.

"Ok." the girl responded, obviously up for it. She stepped forward, and as the shadows behind her shifted, Mia realized for the first time that this girl was not alone.

The girl in blue stepped forward, and Mia watched with wide eyes as someone on each side of her stepped forward as well. As the three came closer, Mia could see that her two friends were also frail-looking girls about the same height. Mia was surprised to realize that this girl had brought some of the weakest-looking backup she'd ever seen. She knew that if she looked like the girl in blue, the people she'd bring would have a lot more muscle. But as they took their final steps forward, the light finally hit their faces and Mia's surprise turned to anger.

Mia had already known that the first girl was a small blonde. But now, she could see the one on the right had auburn hair. The third girl had light brown waves, but Mia wasn't as concerned about her; she didn't know that girl. But she felt incredibly stupid when she realized that she did know the first two – they were the girls in her history class that had been making it so uncomfortable for the past month! She couldn't believe she'd written them off as not looking guilty enough!

All three stood tall with their heads held just a little too high, like they were queens looking down on some particularly stupid peasants. Mia clenched her fists. Why were they standing there, looking so smug? She was about to tell them exactly what she thought of this whole thing, but the look on the blonde girl's face made her stop. Mia had seen a similar look before – in this very park, in fact. And even though the look this girl was wearing didn't have quite the same maliciousness behind it as the one Mia remembered, she still knew that whatever this girl was planning was not going to turn out well for Mia and her friends.

"So it was you!" Mia snapped at the group, pretending she'd suspected them all along. She might know that these girls had something up their sleeves, but that didn't mean she shouldn't defend herself. She figured if she was going to go down fighting, she may as well start now. She was about to continue on, telling them how obvious it was and how they had no idea what they were getting into. But before she got a chance, Anna got a strange look on her face. She cried out in shock, as if she'd just put something together.