Number 667

Chapter Twelve

When Maple saw Vivian, tears running down her face, as she ran through the forest, it was already too late. As Vivian looked over her shoulder, her foot caught under Maple's teal windbreaker as she lay on the ground. She fell over Maple, sprawling on the ground and sending her flying, knocking the wind out of her. The glass phials of potions she had been organizing were scattered about the grassy forest floor, but luckily none were broken. The many spellbooks were intact as well.

Vivian sat up in alarm. "Is she chasing me? Where is she? Am I safe?" Maple placed a hand on Vivian's shoulder. "Whoa, whoa, slow down. Who?" Vivian looked at Maple with wide eyes. "This - this monster. She pretended to be my aunt when I broke through the floorboards, and she took my memories, and then after a mouse bit me I could see her, and-"

"Vivian!" Maple said sharply, bringing Vivian to her senses. "Tell me from the beginning." Vivian combed one stray lock of black hair behind her ear, clutching her knees to her chest. "Well, I was wandering around, looking for you - that's another story - and I thought I saw something move inside that old house at the end of the road, six-six-seven. So I tried to get in, but I ended up busting the door and falling through the floorboards. Then, I was in the basement, and I went through a door, and there she was. She was beautiful at first, but-"

Maple looked at Vivian with terror in her wide golden eyes. "Don't go on. I know who she is." Vivian was expecting further information, but the blue-haired girl did not go on. She took her drawstring backpack from her back, piling in phials and dusty spellbooks into the magenta bag. Then she removed a spool of string and a round charm. She ripped part of the string from the spool with her molars, threading the pendant through it. Then she tied it around Vivian's neck. Vivian barely felt the drop of cool saliva on the back of her neck, nor did she care.

Vivian looked down at the charm, noticing it was a locket. She attempted to open it, but Maple grabbed her hand to stop her. "No. Don't open it. It... I can't explain." She paused, dragging herself up and brushing the soil from her knees. "Just understand," she said, Vivian standing up. "That that's what's keeping you alive. Don't doubt that she'll come back for you." And with that, she marched off into the greenery.

Though Maple was thoroughly annoyed that she didn't get to cast the spell to find the murderer, she was glad that Vivian had stumbled upon her. Literally. Though the necklace truly was a way to protect her from the dark magic of the Snatcher Woman - if it could even be called a woman - it was also a way for Vivian to hold Maple's powers until she was ready to take them back.

So Maple was ready to search again.

The old-fashioned way.

No sooner had she set off into the forest than she heard the screech. It was obviously inhuman, but it didn't sound animal either. But it wasn't the Snatcher Woman, Maple had heard her deadly screeches.

This was something else.

"Peter!" The voice cried. It was definitely a woman's, but not quite. It had a touch of... Bird? "Come back! She doesn't miss you! She never will!" Maple could hear a crashing sound, as if someone was struggling to burst through the trees. "Peteeeeeerrr!" The woman's voice cried again. Maple could hear a man's scream, and then silence.
Then they both burst through the trees, a woman and a man, wrestling on the ground. Maple dove into a bush, deciding to hide until the fight was over. The woman had glossy black, feathered wings for arms, yanking the man with wavy auburn hair and dark circles under his eyes towards her. Maple could see that, though the woman had wings, she also had hands that were grotesque and clawed. The hands latched onto the man, grabbing a fistful of his hair. He cried out as the woman growled, her blonde ringlets getting matted and dirty from rolling on the forest floor. She curled her red lips into a snarl, and she started to change. Her mouth grew out, turning into a long, needlenose beak. Her legs ripped through her pink skinny jeans as they expanded, getting scaly and taloned like her hands. Her hair fell out in patches, giving her a bald, raw pink head. Once she was done, Maple realised what the monstrosity was.

A vulture.

A giant vulture with claws as long as daggers.

Just as it looked like it was about to pounce on the man, it looked at Maple with its cold, dead black eyes, and said in the woman's honey-sweet voice, "Maple, I can see you." Maple was chilled to the bone by the voice, because this time it seemed layered, like many people were talking at once.

"You can't hide from me. Come, I won't hurt you. I just need you to do me a favor." When Maple shook her head no, the gargantuan bird ripped the bush from its roots and threw it into the air. Maple could head the crackle of small branches as it landed on the ground. "Come." The bird said. "Look at his ID." Maple approached cautiously. She looked at the now unconcious man, slowly reaching her hand into his pocket and pulling out a cheap fabric wallet. She unfolded it with quivering fingers, bringing out the ID and almost dropping it in the process. She stared at the identification card. It was outdated. She scanned her eyes down the piece of plastic, to the house number.

Marigold Street, Number 663.

Maple's jaw dropped in horror, knowing exactly who this man was. She clenched her jaw, knowing what she had to do.

She was going to kill him.

She pounced on him like a hungry wolf, pressing her fingers into his windpipe. She didn't want blood, she didn't want bone, just death.

KILL HIM FASTER.

Maple wrapped her hands around the man's neck, squeezing the soft flesh.

KILL HIM HARDER.

Maple stood up, looking down on the man. But... It felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She felt remorseful. It was the right man, she could feel it in her now-twisting stomach, but...

A little voice in her head whispered, "That's not the Maple I know."

Maple had thought from the beginning that she would be too cowardly to actually kill the man. Actually, she knew, for Maple rarely guessed wrong about her own opinions. But it had seemed like, when she was killing the auburn-haired man, that something had been pressuring her to kill him, some unknow force.

Maple looked up at the giant bird as it tore into the corpse, blood splattering onto the ground. After he was torn to shreds, the bird pecked at him until he was eaten. Then she raised her wings of darkness and flew into the orange sunset, screaming behind her, "What's already broken cannot be undone!"

And that's when Maple broke down.
She collapsed onto the blood-splattered grass, tears making pools of dew in the tall blades of grass. She cried silently as she lay in her victim's blood, closing her quivering eyelids. Her beautiful blue hair was now matted and tangled, streaked with dirt and soaked with blood.

Three Weeks Later

Maple walked solemnly to the small police building, hearing only the raps of her feet against the cracked sidewalk. She hadn't been to school in weeks, it seemed. She looked rather like a mental patient as she traveled alone along the foggy street, her face and eyes completely blank. She had been mute since the murder, and she had only moved to find food and water.

Now she had decided to turn herself in.

On the news, they had talked about the man, named Peter Vilios's, death, and how he was thought to have been connected to many arsenal murders ever since a girl named Macy Annas had gone missing, thirty years ago almost.
Maple walked, dejected, to the police station, looking solemnly at the door. She pressed the black button, the tip of her index finger whitening.

"Yes?" A woman's voice said from the speaker mounted to the wall next to the clear glass door that read, "TWISTVILLE POLICE".
Maple strightened herself, saying into the speaker. "I've come to report a... Supernatural sighting. It has something to do with Peter Vilios's death."

Being the Twistville police, they were well accustomed to this.

"Well send you to Crystal. Come right in."

And the door swung open.