Vicious Memories

Chapter 69

Everything was unsettlingly normal beyond the caves.

Lying beneath the monkeypod tree already, the white shroud covering Perry's body looked small and insignificant. The bulk of the village had disbanded to go about their daily chores. Life couldn't afford any breaks here if it wanted to survive.

I found Arun and Alice in the Gabriel's old cabin. Cool shade kissed my skin as I stepped inside, a temporary reprieve that would disappear as the wood structure trapped more heat and humidity. The curtains were drawn, giving the darkened air an aura of heavy secrecy and mourning.

Arun scowled from behind his desk. Alice looked over her shoulder, her face splitting into a smile.

"Don't let me stop you," I said.

"As if I would." Arun removed his hands from the wood plank and straightened. "I was just reiterating for the tenth time that we should kick you out and be done with it."

"And I was saying," Alice cut in smoothly, "that I never wanted a position of responsibility in the village, but as long as I have it, I'll use it. We won't banish one of our own."

"He's not one of our own."

"Bullshit. Gabriel asked him to choose a last name, and even if he hadn't, the only thing Ollie's done since getting here is help. He is part of this village."

An image of a keycard flashed through my mind. I grimaced.

"You said you would leave," Arun said to me. "Is that still the case? It would make things a lot easier for all of us."

"No. I'm not leaving."

Arun cursed and looked away. Alice exhaled.

I looked back and forth between them. "Gabriel was right this morning. Four people have already been killed, and despite what you may think, Arun, I had nothing to do with it. Whoever Felix's accomplice is, they know I'm the one who caught him. This is a mind game to get me out of the picture. They want to see what you'll do if faced with the choice."

"And when someone else turns up dead tomorrow morning?"

"We won't let that happened."

"But if it does?" Arun insisted.

"Then we'll mourn, and understand that it would have happened anyway. We'll keep protecting the people we care about as best we can, and try to stop whoever is doing this."

"I'm surprised you'd be okay having that much blood on your hands. I know I wouldn't be."

Dead faces looked down at me one by one: Jessica with a sweet smile on her lips, Sirus with his nose twitching, Shana reserved but mischievous, Perry protective from on high. Then the morphed. Jessica vanished. Sirus fell onto a tree trunk. Blood dried Shana's face. Perry disappeared beneath a white sheet.

If something like that happened again, and it was my fault...

I thought again of what Cooper had said the other night. My hands would be stained red, but not by blood. It would be a thin veneer of paint, splashed there by the real killer in an attempt to pin a killing on me that would have taken place regardless. There was only one person to blame, and that was the person wielding the knife.

Or the person who forced them to wield it.

My old self had certainly been capable of killing. I swallowed down a wave of self-loathing.

"I'll handle it," was all I said.

"Then let it be on your head."

Alice gave us both a disappointed frown. "Instead of arguing, we should be focusing on the real problems around us. We need a plan, no matter how drastic. Stop Felix's accomplice once and for all. After that's done we can get back to trying to figure out how we got here."