Blood Moon Lake

Chapter 37

The next time I awoke the sun was high in the sky. Sitting up, I saw Anna was already awake. "Morning," I said, "How'd you sleep?" "You mean afternoon," she corrected, "And I slept fine. You?" "Right sorry," I chuckled, "And I've slept better." "I bet," she hummed, "The ground isn't very comfortable." "Tell me about it," I nodded, "Where's Carmen?" "He went to find a place to pee," Anna said, "Whoever owns this corn won't be happy about him peeing on it." "They won't know," I assured her. "I think they'd notice if their crops smelled like piss," she pointed out. "Maybe they won't," I said. "Maybe," she hummed. We continued chatting until Carmen reappeared. "Feel better?" I asked. "Yep," he snorted, "You guys ready to keep moving?" Anna and I nodded and we began to continue our journey.

There wasn't anything interesting and the walk was relatively boring so I let my mind drift to my plan. The plan was solid but if Chase protests I'll need people to back me up. My friends would probably back me up if I gave good reasoning, but what would that reasoning be? 'Oh he might be a psychopathic world keeper so I don't want to listen to you,' doesn't seem like it will work. They'd probably think I was insane and Chase would want to kill me. It'd go better if they knew the whole story; even then, some might not agree with me. I frowned, but they might not back me if I didn't tell anyone. So I at least need to tell one person. If one person backs me others will too. But who should I tell? Jack might let it slip by mistake or get intimidated and tell Chase so he's out of the question. Leo seems good at keeping secrets, but I think he and Chase get along pretty well, so he might not believe me. So that leaves Ella and Anna.

Ella is reliable and won't get scared into telling, so I'll tell her. Anna wouldn't tell a soul but would she keep the secret under pressure? I thought about it for a moment. Yes, she would. She might not seem like it but she's one tough cookie. ...And also a very convenient person to tell because I'm already with her. Tapping her on the shoulder, Anna glanced back at me. I slowed my pace and gestured for her to join me. Anna fell back and gave me a questioning look. Glancing at Carmen, I made sure he was out of earshot. "I think Chase might be the traitor," I whispered. "What!?" Anna hissed in shock, "Why!?" "There's something off about him," I stated, "I've been thinking about it for a while and he fits the profile, he's already a criminal, he's not worried about betraying people, and last night I heard the demons talking about leading us to the right place." Anna stared at me for a second. "What?" she asked confused.

Oh- right, she doesn't know about that. "Apparently world keepers can interact with people in this dream world and I've gotten pulled into three of Greer's meetings with a demon and last night they said they were leading us to where they wanted us to be," I explained. "Ooooh," she said, "Okay that makes more sense. And you think it's Chase why?" "Because he was the one leading the group," I told her, "We were following him, so he was taking us wherever he wanted." Anna's eyes widened in realization, "So he was leading us to the demons!" I nodded, "I think so, but it's only a theory. So I came up with a plan to test it." "What's the plan?" she whispered. I glanced over at Carmen to make sure he wasn't paying attention. "When we all meet back up and Chase starts to lead us somewhere I'm going to suggest going in a different direction," I said. Anna nodded along, "Which would foil his plan, right?" I nodded, "In theory yes. Which should frustrate him or at least make him insist on going the direction he chose." "Okay," she nodded, "I'm assuming you're telling me this because I need to do something."

"Yes," I confirmed, "If he disagrees I need you to back me and say we should go in whatever direction I chose." Anna grinned, "I can do that." "Good," I said. "Are we going to tell the others?" Anna asked. "We're going to tell Ella," I told her, "We're not telling Jack or Leo." "Okay," she nodded, "So whoever can get alone with Ella first tells her?" "Yes," I said. "Sounds like a plan," Anna nodded, "Now let's catch up with Carmen before he suspects something." Quickly catching up with Carmen, we resumed our original pace. As we were walking, something not far from us shifted in the corn.

WHO

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CAN

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I

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TRUST?

That's the chapter. Ik it's short but that's all a needed to say so, see you next week! Have a great day! Bye! 🙃