Tower Of Bones

Chapter 10: Three Evil Dogs

A new kind of tense was unleashed after that night. The mention of my parents left me reeling and hurting all over again. It's been about 2 days since then and I still haven't shaken the feeling of utter torment, thinking that a demon may have a hand in the fall of my Mom and Dad. It made everything so much worse.

All of the forgetting was gone. I was hurt all over again and a new sensation boiled inside of me.

Anger.

Lulu had some sort of decency when she realized that there was much more going on with me than she should mess with. At least she cut the crap with destroying my things for fun. She still shot me looks and gave me shit in the hallways.

The weekend had finally approached and when the bell rung, I was quickly on my way out of the school. I get to the stairwell leading down, and then Faye appears suddenly.

"Oh, hey, Max. How are you?" She asked me, delicately, still under the impression I was pissed at her.

But that was completely forgotten by this point as my brain was preoccupied with thoughts of a demon on the loose that may have killed my parents.

"Faye, just the person I wanted to see," I said.

Her eyes turned wide at me. "I am?"

"Do you know anything about demons?" I ask, pulling her off to the side to stay away from any listening ears.

Her shock turns into suspicion as she leans her face away from me slowly. "Demons? Why?"

"I need to know for…" I freeze for a moment and then come up with an acceptable lie. "…for ritual class."

She places a hand over her hip and arches her pierced brow at me. "Nice try, Max. We take the same rituals class and I know we haven't even touched on demonic rituals yet. So what's going on for real?"

A couple of kids walked by laughing boisterously and I glanced back over my shoulder nervously for a moment.

Two things could come out of this. One, I could tell Faye the truth and she could help me. Or two, she runs to Varyn again and tells him about my plans to go looking for that candle in the woods again.

Even if I was completely incompetent, I knew I needed the help to navigate Arcane Hills.

"Okay, okay," I whispered, and grabbed her arm, pulling so she would fall into step with me. "Listen. I ran into some wolves, saw a ritual candle, and I think I was kind of arrested."

Faye listens to me, jaw shut, but the look in her eyes showed all the surprise and concern I was sure she was feeling.

"Ms. Frost told me yesterday that it may have something to do with a demon. I think there was a ritual done in the woods to summon it." I paused for a second to debate my next words. "She said it may have something to do with how my parents died."

Her eyes flew to me, and her face had gone pale. She froze in her step and grabbed my hand from my side. "Max. That is not a good thing. If a demon killed your parents, it could be after you."

"Then help me figure it out," I said.

She swallows. "Max, we really should go tell--"

"You are not ratting me out again, Faye. Help me figure it out or don't help at all."

She is fighting with herself and I can see the conflict in her blue eyes.

Before she can come to a decision to my ultimatum, Luke was approaching, dressed up in a leather jacket and a loose fitting black tie around his neck. He had arched brows, one of his brows had a clean cut through it, to add to his misfit kind of style.