The Rosewood Prophecy

Chapter 26

"The ground's still wet, and some parts still have liquid on the surface," Rachel observed. "That means Katherine just left a few moments ago."

"Katherine wouldn't just leave half a cup of cider here, unfinished," Aaron paced, thinking out loud. "She would at least throw her trash away. But the cup was on the floor, its contents spilled. Kath wouldn't litter, so that must mean..." He paused and looked at me, eyes wide.

"She left in a hurry," I completed his sentence. "But why?"

"Guys? Come look at this." Rachel was near the haystack, poking around. "Does this look familiar to you?" She held a ribbon up for us to see.

"That's Katherine's hair ribbon," Aaron and I said together. He took it from Rachel and sniffed it. "See, it even smells like her shampoo."

"And how would you know what her shampoo smells like?" Rachel asked, eyebrows raised. Aaron seemed suddenly very self-conscious.

"We, uh, sat next to each other during class," he explained hurriedly. "I used to catch a whiff of it every so often from her hair, so I assumed that was her shampoo..."

"Okay, so we know that Katherine was actually here. Where did she go? And why did she leave so suddenly? She must have left behind her hair ribbon as a sign for us to find, to tell us something." I bit my lip, thinking. "Did she leave behind any other signs?"

"I don't see anything..." Rachel prodded around the haystack. Aaron was pacing again, walking around the area.

"Hey, what's this?" He bent down to pick something up. "Oh my gosh. Indigo, Rachel, look." My eyes widened. Aaron was holding an arrow by the fletching, dangling it from his hand. "Why would there be an arrow next to a building? There shouldn't be any discarded arrows."

"No, it looks sort of new...like it's not weather-worn or anything. The tip is polished, and the feathers are still intact." I looked at it closely. There was a piece of something stuck to the head. I pulled it off gently.

"A small piece of parchment," I said. "This arrow was meant to send a message. Where's the message?"

"The question is, what does this arrow have to do with Katherine?" Rachel corrected. "Was she shot at? And where did she go?"

So many questions, and none answered. Just as we looked at each other, clueless, a firework exploded overhead. Ka-boom! We all looked up, seeing the sky light up in a shower of green, followed by red. Three reds.

"We better hurry," Rachel said, running down the hill. Aaron and I followed, holding the items we found as we weaved through the thick crowd to find the rest of our group. Skidding to a stop, I saw Ashley, Jason, and Lucian standing nervously next to a Katherine who just looked like she ran a marathon. Her face was flushed, her hair tumbled down her shoulders untamed, and she looked somewhat unsettled.

"Oh my god Kath! Where did you go?!" Aaron exclaimed. "We were so worried about you!"

"Yeah, Katherine, you shouldn't run off like that. What if something happened to you?" I chided her gently.

"Sorry guys, but I got information." Katherine said apologetically. She held out a folded piece of parchment, the top jagged and ripped. "Read it."

I took the paper from her and smoothed out the folds, reading out loud so everyone can hear. "Lord Victor has moved his stronghold to Devil's Peak. He awaits you there." I flipped the paper over. Nothing. I looked back up at everyone else.

"That's it? A message just to tell us Lord Victor is no longer in the Northern Mountains but has moved to Devil's Peak?"

"It appears so," Katherine said, leaning against the supporting pole of a nearby vendor. "Anyone have water? I'm so thirsty from running." Ashley pulled out a water bottle and handed it to Katherine, who chugged its entire contents down within seconds. "Oh jeez, I really need to exercise more if we're going to keep doing this."