Number 667

Chapter Thirteen

As the door swung open, Maple had to grab an out hanging brick from the building as she swayed, lightheaded and dizzy.

So she wasn't turning herself in after all.

She hadn't been expecting to say that, she told herself, but really...

Had she?

She sighed, stepping inside the threshold. Around her, she could see people in black uniforms sipping coffee and staring at computer screens. The atmosphere felt tense, and Maple was nervous walking through the large room filled with silent people. All she could hear was the clack of keyboards and her own feet on the floor, and the occasional whisper of thought. She could feel the exchanged glances, the pointing of evidence.

She didn't feel welcome, to tell the truth.

The person who had answered her, a solemn African-American woman with a headset and cold blue eyes, pointed to a plain wooden door next to her office that read, "Maverick, Crystal". Maple walked, a taught frown on her plastic face, to the door, putting her hand on the stainless steel doorknob. She turned it slowly, feeling the cold metal keyhole under her fingertip. Then she slowly opened it. She was not surprised that it was well oiled.

She peered inside.

At a large, circular desk with a few computers and a pile of papers was a girl of about twelve, the same age as Maple, with long wavy blonde hair and thick black glasses. Maple peered at the papers, which read things like, " Mothman: Sighting in Twills forest?" and "Fifteen disappearances this year. Coincidence? Does the stealer like odd numbered years?". The girl was so immersed in something on the computer screen that she didn't notice the other girl looking in at her.

Maple cleared her throat.

The girl looked up, her deep blue eyes flashing up to Maple. " Enter." she said professionally. She didn't sound like a twelve-year-old. She sounded at least fifteen years older. "I," she said, swiveling her black leather chair towards Maple, "Am Crystal. You may call me so. Now, what have you come to inquire about?"

Maple felt a strange sense of in dominance from this girl, who obviously radiated power and confidence. "Well," Maple fidgeted her hands in her lap. "I was in the forest, and this woman was wrestling with a man, and then she turned into a vulture, and..." Maple trailed off. She left off the part about... You know. Crystal looked at Maple with wide eyes.

"Starsnuffer," she said immediately, swiveling back to her computer. "What?" Maple asked, wrinkling her brow. Crystal pinched the bridge of her nose. "Starsnuffer. What that... That thing his called. They capture their prey to have company, but if their 'guest'," Crystal curled her fingers into air quotes. "Tries to run away, they turn into a vulture but...They can't kill it, so... Oh, right. I'm guessing you killed him? Don't worry, you won't be arrested or anything. It was Starsnuffer's fault, not yours."

Maple's jaw dropped. "Uh... Just one question." she said in an amazed voice. "How do you know this?" The girl stood up, towering over her. Maple wilted under her gaze. "In this generation, there has to be one. I am that one. Math, English, science, everything, I succeed at greatly. I AM," she paused. "That one." she sat back down, acting as if that had never happened. "So, anyways, Starsnuffer is a woman in the woods - well, not a woman - who turns into a vulture if the one they managed to seduce into their house tries to run away. But, since vultures don't kill, they use their persuading powers to get someone else to do it for them. Make sense? And," she lowered her voice, bringing her face closer to Maple's. "She's thought to be the sister of the Snatcher Woman."

Maple gasped. Of course she had heard of the Snatcher Woman. She was the woman in the woods, the one who sucked the life out of children to prevent a curse from killing her the next day.

"Of course," Crystal said, backing away and looking at the computer once again. "They're rivals, each trying to capture. But, unlike Starsnuffer, the Snatcher Woman goes after those she lost, and once she has them again, she traps them in... somewhere so they can't get out again. All I know is that some people... I've talked to them, they've told me their experience of escaping and... the next day they were gone." Crystal's face was blank and serious. "People waste their lives away in what they think is their own personal wonderland, and then they come out seventy years old when they entered as eight."
She stopped, sighed, and turned back to the computer, rubbing her temples. "So, I'm guessing this man that was killed was Peter Vilios?" Maple nodded, and Crystal typed something in on the computer. "Name?" "Maple Shay." "Age?" "Twelve." "Parents?" "Uh... Well, you see... They're dead." Crystal turned to her. "Michael and Deborah Shay? My parents knew them. I'm guessing you've been living... Where? Don't worry, I'm confidential. Required not to tell. This information? Goes straight into my studies." Maple sighed. "Twistwood forest." Crystal's light eyebrows rose. "Never heard that before."
Crystal stood up, the black coat she was wearing rustling. "Done." she said, saving and exiting the window she was on. "Also, down the road a little ways you'll find a house with a sign out front. Very big, looking like a hotel. The sign says " Touched" in big black letters. It's a house for people like you. They'll explain. It's all funded by my parents. Now go, I have work to do."
Maple hurried out of the room, shutting the door behind her and heading out.