Visions (Forest Secrets Book 1)

Chapter 15

“I hate you guys so much!” Christine spat, her brand spanking new cheer outfit gleaming in the sunlight. It had taken a lot of persuading, and even more guilt trips. We bargained, pulled a few tricks, and in the end, she grudgingly agreed. When she told her parents that she wanted—riskiest cover story ever—to go to cheer camp, they practically swooned with joy. I felt a little regretful doing this to her, but we needed the information, and she was our best bet.

            The thing was, Christine really didn’t have anything against cheerleading or cheer leaders, what she had a problem with, was the fact that she looked so much like one. She was tiny, with big blue eyes and blonde hair, and people just assumed that she couldn’t do anything else. After years she’d come to resent that and the only way she had of venting it came out a little bit like she wanted to see cheer leading burn. A lot.

            I didn’t think the cheerleaders would see it that way, though.

            She had made a deal with her parents that she would follow it through if they didn’t come to drop her off, or visit her, while she participated and called them. So Emily and I leaned against my car, alone, waving to Christine, who, at the moment, was shooting us dark looks. Her name was called and a few of the cheerleaders our age sent her frigid glances. She gulped and looked back at us, panic in her eyes. I tried to give her an encouraging nod as I opened the car, miming a phone call and giving her a thumbs up. They all started to head into whatever the hell they did at that camp, as we drove away.

            “You think she’ll be OK…?” Emily asked.

            “Yeah,” I said, a pinched look on my face and way too much nodding, “She’ll be fine. She’s tough.” She still didn’t look so convinced, so I told her, “I packed her some pepper spray.”

I stood, looking at a wall hanging in Emily’s room. It was the face man with leaves surrounding it, and I remember her telling me that it was Pan, one of her gods. I just liked the craftsmanship, plus, woods were my favorite places to be. I turned around and sat in front of Emily, who was sorting rocks by color.  Christine had been at camp for a few days and hadn’t come up with anything. At least the work outs weren’t that exhausting since she was still in shape from softball. The only things that were getting to her were the suspicious cheerleaders and memorizing routines.

            “I feel bad for putting her up to this,” I once again said to Emily.

            She smiled understandingly. “ First, Christine knows she’s the best for the job. Second, it’s because she’s the one that’ll blend in the best. And third, she’s not mad anymore. Now, we wait… What do you want to do?”

            “If I ask you questions about divination, you won’t get all hippie on me, will you?”

            “I’ll try to stay conservative,” she replied seriously.

            So seriously that I busted out laughing. The infection didn’t take long to spread and soon she was laughing along with me.

            “Ok, but really,” I said, sobering up after a while. A few giggles still echoed under my breath, but I held it together.

            “Ask away…”

            “What’s the deal with it? Do I see everything? How? Will I even have any more surprises?” That thought sobered me even more. It no longer seemed like a gift with that thought looming in my future. Not that it ever really felt like a gift in the first place.

            She thought for a bit, pointer finger thumping against her chin. “I’m not an expert, but I do know…some things. You won’t be able to see everything; that’s just impossible. You have very good intuition, but telling the future is something different… It’s not instinct fully, but instinct paired with knowledge and focus. Divination is full of illusions and blatant truths. You have to know how to separate the two. Seers are said to be very good at that. Of course, if you told your future every day, not only would it be boring and isolating, but after a while, no matter how good you are, you might start to see things you want to see, instead of those that are real… Not good. You need to practice restraint, but not avoidance. And, it takes a lot out of you, so eat before and afterwards.”

            “That’s it?” I was a little relieved. Of course, things seemed even stranger now, just not as scary as the unknown.

            “Yes. You’ll grow into yourself, and it’ll get easier.”

            We went over a few more things about the investigation, until we hit a snag. “What do you mean you have a holiday?”

            “I can’t do any work that day; I’ll be busy setting up with others and purifying my coven sister’s house. It’s a very important holiday, and we’ll all put our power together to pray for Carter. Litha is a prime time for magick working.”

            Oooookay.

            “You’re welcome to come. You don’t have to be a witch to enjoy a festival…just respectful. If you and Christine wanted to come, I’ll lend you some clothes and give you the directions, otherwise, do what you want, I won’t be offended.” She smiled and went back to sorting rocks.

            “What, exactly, would go on in the festival?”

            She tilted her head, thinking. “Well…we dance and sing, and there might be some chanting or Celtic music, then we’ll probably meditate, do a few spells, and eat. Some of the members volunteer ahead of time to bake meals for everyone to share. It’s not necessarily in that order…sometimes we repeat things, like the dancing, and music is always there…but that’s really it.”

            “Oh. Cool. It sounds kind of fun. Really, we might go. Just make sure to tell us if anyone made the brownies a little extra special.”

            “Like with cinnamon?”

            I just shook my head.

Christine called two days later with good and bad news. Good meaning she had finally gotten in good graces with the cheerleaders.

            “How the hell did you accomplish that? I’m proud, don’t get me wrong, just confused.”

            “I told them the reason I joined cheer camp.”

            “The real reason?!” I looked behind me, as if Detective Reeve was suddenly on my ass.

            “It was realistic.”

            I relaxed and laughed. “So what did you find out?”

            She sighed. “They didn’t do it.”

            “You sure? They were really good suspects.”

            “Yeah, I’m sure. They’re just as devastated as everyone. All of them.”

            So the bad news was that we were out of suspects and without any leads. Again.

             “Oh, you want to go to a party with Emily’s witch friends?”

            “Um…OK.”