Bitter Demons

19. The Fear In His Eyes

Jackson's motorcycle sat out in the front yard. I didn't want to go inside and risk getting caught there for hours waiting to be questioned by the police. Instead, I leaned against his motorcycle and waited.

Several police officers roamed the woods and the outside of the house with bright flashlights. I doubted they would find any significant evidence. Somehow, Caroline had gone up to that room and simply disappeared. There wouldn't be any sign of a struggle in the woods. The only real evidence was the feather I held in my pocket, and Caroline's family didn't seem to think it was significant.

What was that bird doing in the bedroom? I couldn't be certain, but it had looked eerily similar to the crow I'd seen hovering in the window of the girls' locker room earlier in the week. Was I just imagining things?

When Jackson emerged from the lake house, there was a worried look etched on his face. I opened my mouth to explain what had happened, but he put a finger across my lips.

"Not here," he said. "Too many ears listening to every word. Get on."

We rode together through the dark woods until we came out to the highway. I held tight to his body, looking for comfort in the solid feel of him. I laid my head against his back and closed my eyes until I felt the bike slow and turn to the left.

"Where are we going?" I shouted over the sound of the motor.

Jackson only nodded forward into the darkness ahead. The motorcycle's one headlight shone down a dirt road that ran beside an open field on one side and a row of dense pine trees on the other. When he got to the edge of the field, he turned left down a small pathway through the trees.

He finally stopped once we had moved into the trees a way and out of sight of the main road. He turned off the bike and extinguished the light. The moon was bright enough that I could make out the anger and worry on his face.

"Was she still you when she was taken?" he asked, pushing out the kickstand with the toe of his boot and removing his helmet.

I stepped off the bike and took off my helmet, too. "I don't know. She was up in that room waiting for me to come up there so we could switch in private without there being two of us at once. When I got upstairs, I heard her scream, but it was too late."

Jackson balled up his left fist. "I think you might be in serious danger."

I nodded. "I know. But who would be after me?"

"The Others?" he said. "After your confirmation ritual, the fact that you're the upcoming Prima is a bit more common knowledge. If they were prepared to kill you at the hospital that night, it makes sense that any surviving local members would want you dead."

"I don't think it's the Others," I said. I pulled the black feather from my pocket and held it out to him. "I found this on the balcony right after Caroline disappeared."

"A feather?" He shook his head. "Why is that important? Couldn't this just be from any random bird?"

"No," I said. "I've seen this bird before."

"Where?"

"In the gym earlier this week when I overheard Brooke complaining to Allison about me being the future Prima."

"You're sure it was the same bird?"

"Well, I didn't put a homing beacon on it or anything," I said, then took a deep breath. It wasn't Jackson I was upset with. "I can't be sure, but I think it was the same one. It had these blue eyes that looked... strange. Too bright for a bird, you know? I feel it in my bones that this bird is somehow connected to Caroline's disappearance."

"Unless it was the world's biggest crow, I don't see how it could have carried her off or anything."

"There has to be some kind of strange magic involved," I said. "Do you think a witch's demon could take a solid form like that?"

He ran a hand through his hair, thinking. "I'm not sure," he said. "When..."

He started to say something, then let his voice trail off.

"When, what?"

He sighed. "When your mother was alive, after she was joined with Aerden, I sometimes saw him take the form of a bobcat."

"Actual, physical form?" I asked, my heart racing. I thought of how Brooke's shadow had taken the form of a horse. "Or just a shadow?"

Jackson nodded. "Actually a bobcat," he said. "I only saw it a couple of times, but I knew it was my brother. I could just feel it."

I wanted to ask him more about my mother, but I needed to keep my mind on Caroline. I owed her that much. "So the crow could have been a demon, following the commands of a powerful witch. Maybe the witch was already gone by the time I got there."

"Maybe. But who would have a reason to hurt you or Caroline?"

"That's the question we have to answer," I said. "Jackson, you can't tell anyone about me and Caroline switching places with that glamour."

"I know," he said.

I stopped pacing. I'd expected him to argue with me. I thought he'd tell me I needed to go to the Order with all the information and let them protect me. "You agree with me?"

"If you tell them the truth, they'll put you away," he said. "Or worse."

"Worse?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "We can't let that happen."

I touched his shoulder and he softened. "What could they do that would be worse than locking me away for two years?"

Jackson looked up at me in the dim moonlight. The fear in his eyes pierced through me like a dagger made of ice.

"They could join you with Aerden early," he said.