The Derivative Ring

Chapter 8

I sat on the floor in the library in the Bronson's basement with the three boys. I was beginning to really want a girlfriend around, dealing with three boys all the time was getting old.

Ben and Nate were busy talking about sports news from the real world while Adam looked through an old book. I needed to talk to Lacey again as soon as possible, and I had no idea how to know when she would come around again, so we needed to know how to summon her. Part of me was scared, would she be mad if I summoned her here against her will? But I told myself not to be stupid, she's a ghost. Even if she was mad she couldn't do anything about it, and we needed information from her. And she seemed nice enough, anyway.

"Okay," Adam said, ready to instruct me on how to summon Lacey. "Take your emerald off your neck and hold it in between both your palms." I did as he said. "Now close your eyes, and concentrate on only Lacey. You have to block everything else out and put all your energy into her, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, taking a deep breath in before closing my eyes.

I relaxed my body and tried to simplify my thoughts. I concentrated on Lacey, on bringing her here and having her in front of me. I repeated this over and over until I heard her say, "I'm here."

I looked over and she was sitting beside me on the floor, smiling.

"She's here," I said to the boys and turned back to Lacey. "We need some answers from you. You're part of the Ring."

"I knew you would figure it out."

"You were living in Luna? How come you're here?"

"I came here a couple months ago. I met some people back in Luna who said they could help me. They said they knew my Ring."

"Who were they?"

"They weren't as nice as I thought. They brought me here and after a couple days, they locked me in a room. They kept putting these spells on me that would put me in pain for no reason. It started getting worse and worse. And then they killed me. But I heard them talk about you and your friends."

"What were their names?"

"They didn't tell me their names. One of them made up a name to get me to come here with them, but it wasn't his real name. I don't know who they were."

"What about the house? Could you take us there?"

"I guess, but we'd have to go quick. They're going to be home later tonight."

"Okay, let's go."

I filled the boys in on what was going on. They were a little apprehensive about following a ghost to a random house, but I told them we didn't have anything to lose. If there was someone in Salem Falls torturing members of the Ring, we had to find out who it was.

We all piled into Ben's truck and followed Lacey as she travelled in front of us. I wouldn't really say she was 'walking,' she would appear down the road and once we got close to her she would move further down the road, guiding us to where we needed to go.

After about an hour of driving, we were beginning to question if Lacey actually knew where she was going when she motioned for us to stop. I told Ben, and he pulled over to the side of the road.

"Where are we?" I asked Lacey, getting out of the truck.

"I'm not sure what it's called, but the house is up there," she said, pointing up a path on the side of the road. Both sides of the road were covered in forest, and we were in the middle of no where.

"Isn't there a driveway?"

She shrugged. "If there is, I don't know where it is. This is how they brought me here."

I told Ben we'd have to go up the path and he agreed to go with me. There was no way Adam would be able to get up the path, so he said he'd stay in the truck, and Nate agreed to stay with him.

Ben and I began to follow Lacey up the path. I was getting more and more nervous the farther we walked. God only knows what we'd be walking into, and I started to regret ever getting out of the truck. I thought about going back and staying with Adam and sending Nate up with Ben, but then I remembered I was the only one who could see Lacey.

After a ten minute walk, Lacey disappeared. I stopped in my tracks.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked.

"She's gone. I can't see her anymore."

"Are you sure she didn't just go further up the path?"

I shook my head. "She's gone."

Ben started looking around the path and took a couple steps forward. I was about to turn around and go back, I wasn't doing this without Lacey, when Ben called my name.

"Hey Linds, I found it."

I walked over to stand beside him and looked straight ahead. Sure enough, there was a house.

"Finally, I was beginning to think she was lying to us," I said. I began to walk forward, but I only took a few steps before Ben pulled me back.

I looked up and a car had pulled up the driveway. Whoever it was, they were home.

Ben pulled me behind some trees where we could still see them, but the chances of them seeing us were very slim. A few minutes passed before they got out of the car, but finally we heard car doors slam shut. A middle-aged man came into view, followed by another, and a young woman. Trailing behind was a teenage boy. At first I couldn't see his face, but as he kept walking towards the house, I could make out who it was. Anthony.

I grabbed Ben's arm and started back down the path. I wasn't going to stick around and risk getting caught. Lacey had been tortured and killed. We had found out who did it, and why the Valiente Coven was back in Salem Falls. They were back for the Ring. It was probably only a matter of time before they came after us.

Once we were far enough away from the house, we broke out into a run and didn't stop until we reached the truck.

Nate saw the panicked look on our faces and opened the truck door when we came flying out of the path and we both jumped in.

"What happened?" Adam asked, almost yelling.

"Did you find the house?" Nate asked.

I looked over at them and nodded, trying to catch my breath. "It's the Valiente Coven. I saw Anthony."

There was a moment of silence.

"Damn it," was all Adam managed to say.