Behind the Mask - Book One [Editing/Re-writing]

(30) History Lesson

Chapter Thirty

My mouth drops and I just stare at dad. "What? Dad, how do you—?"

Dad shakes his head, "Ask Isaac how I know him, I’m sure he’d be glad to tell you everything. If not, I’ll tell you. But I want your mother with us then too."

Wait one second! Dad knows about Isaac. How in the world does dad know about Isaac? If he knows about Isaac then what else does he know? "Dad," I say quietly, ignoring Kent, Clyde’s, and Stayton’s gazes on me, "How much do you know?"

"I know that these three plus Nick are not camp councillors. I know what they actually are," he turns to Clyde, "He’s a warlock," he turns to Kent who looks dumbfounded, "he’s a werewolf," and finally he turns to Stayton and says, "He’s a demon hunter," he pauses and then says, "And Nick is, well, I don’t know what Nick is. I think he’s just normal."

"Dad! How do you know all of this?" I cry while looking at Stayton. He’s a demon hunter? Does that mean that vampires and werewolves are considered demons? Because he’s got knives for them too.

Dad smiles at me, "I think you already know that answer," he says quietly and I look at Nadine in complete shock.

"Mom," I whisper, trying to really and truly come to terms with it, "Mom really is a demon. But she freaked out when I brought that paper home. . ."

Dad gives me a funny look, "You never brought any paper home."

I look up, shocked, "Yes I did. A girl in my class gave me blood and a piece of paper saying I got a virus and then we went to her house."

"No, Bethany, you never brought a paper home. And you never went anywhere, you came straight home after school; claiming you didn’t feel good and went to bed."

I stare at dad without really seeing him. Fragments of pictures come to me, Kristy leading me to the bathroom, Kristy giving me a bag of blood but then the pictures seem to break and shatter and I blink a couple times, "Kristy isn’t real." I say quietly, more to myself than anyone else, "those memories aren’t real. They were planted in my head by," I close my eyes and a sharp pain in my head makes me cry out and then I get sucked into the darkness. A picture soon crystallizes around me and I see me and Shay walking home together after school on Friday, me telling mom I didn’t feel good and then, then a man with dark brown hair and grey eyes standing beside my bed. He touches my forehead and I open my eyes and gasp, "They were planted in my head by some guy."

Dad frowns at me, "Bethany—"

I cut him off and turn on Kent, "You had the same knowledge I did. About that paper," I say, the thoughts tumbling through me like a rockslide, "whoever messed with me must have messed with you guys too."

Kent frowns and turns to my dad, "You’re positive there was no paper?"

Dad nods. "I’m one hundred percent certain. Even if there was Miranda would never be horrified by it," he looks at all of us, "it sounds to me like someone was messing with your guys’ heads."

I make a noise in the back of my throat, "but who could have done that? If what you’re saying about Isaac is really true then who—?"

"Isn’t it obvious?" A feint voice interrupts me and I turn with a guilty start, I had almost forgotten about Stayton.

Kent’s eyes widen and he looks at Stayton, "You’re not suggesting that José did this, are you?"

Stayton gives Kent an impervious look, "How much do we really know about the guy, Kent?"

"Enough," Kent says while narrowing his eyes on Stayton, "you can’t be serious. Why would José even want to do this?"

Stayton shrugs then cringes and lowers his shoulders very slowly, "I don’t know. But if it wasn’t Isaac then who else could it be?"