Mirror, Mirror (Book 2)

Chapter 43: The Ending

"Did you try to stop the fire?" asked Oliver softly.

Mr. Hamwood nodded. "After I killed Delphine and burned her body, I tried to get rid of the fire, but the blaze was uncontrollable."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "What flammable liquid did you use to pour on the body? Gasoline?"

A grief-stricken Mr. Hamwood nodded again.

"Why did you become a drug dealer?" inquired Oliver.

"Being a bus driver doesn't get you a high paycheck." Mr. Hamwood explained with a sigh. "I get two hundred dollars an hour picking up and dropping off kids to their destinations."

Amelia's thin eyebrows perked up. "You're broke?"

"Yeah," Mr. Hamwood grunted.

"So, you think if you sold drugs to adolescent kids and junkies, you can get a bonus?"

Mr. Hamwood shakes his head furiously.

"No! No!" he blurted. "It wasn't for the attention, I just didn't want to get another eviction notice."

Oliver's two eyebrows shot up.

Silence dispersed across the tunnels of the cave as water droplets slithering down the teeth-like rocks suddenly stopped.

Despite the cold temperature, sweat appeared on Oliver's hands, but he wiped them across his jeans and listened to Mr. Hamwood.

"The government is taking my house," Mr. Hamwood explained. "I tried to beg the principal to give me a raise, but he wouldn't accept it."

"Have you tried selling your shit to a pawn shop?" Amelia asked bitterly.

"Yes," he admitted. "I sold my wife's old records, my sons' football jerseys, and I even gave away my old fishing rod, but the closest I can get was $50."

"And it's not enough to pay off the bills, huh?" Oliver sadly guessed.

The former bus driver didn't respond.

"Mr. Hamwood," Oliver started to say. "what you did was very horrible."

"You think?" Amelia snorted, crossing her arms.

Oliver ignored her. "Mr. Hamwood, if you are the same kind-hearted person I know, come with us."

Mr. Hamwood frowned. "No."

But Oliver went on. "We can call the cops together, you can come clean."

"I don't want to go to jail," Mr. Hamwood insisted calmly. "I want to stay here and revive my family's souls."

With caution, Oliver makes a bold move by approaching the deranged killer.

However, Amelia stopped him.

"Have you gone barmy ?!" she whispered angrily. "There is no chance in Hell that I will ever—"

"Amelia," Oliver softly interrupted. "Do you trust me?"

"You can't do that," he said. "I know this sounds hard to believe, but what you are doing is illegal."

Mr. Hamwood pretended not to hear him. "I have nothing to lose! Satan-"

"-is a bloody liar!" Amelia cried, finishing his mid-sentence. "You're being manipulated under his spell!"

Mr. Hamwood shakes his head at them. "You don't understand! If I can perform this ritual one more time, I can get my family back from the grave!"

"So, is that why you joined the Black Crusaders?" implied Oliver. "To retrieve your family from Hell?"

When Mr. Hamwood looks at him quizzically, the boy reached into his backpack and hands him the notebook filled Romanian words.