All the Wicked Things

Chapter 4

A repetitive and annoying sound slowly brought me out of the dream I'd been having. Though, it was irritating, I welcomed the release from the perpetual darkness I had been stuck in. When I opened my eyes I saw One Feather, squawking at me from up in the maple tree. I'd named him that after the night I'd seen him on my aunt's porch, and now my suspicions were confirmed: he was stalking me.

My head was still woozy from the fall, and it suddenly got worse when I realized it was dark out.

"Holy crap!" I screamed out loud to the raven. "How long have I been out? Aunt Meredith is going to kill me!"

I jumped up, hoping and praying that she didn't currently have Blackstone's finest combing the neighborhoods for me. That's all I needed to add to the spectacle that was today. Grabbing my bag, I ran as fast as I could through the woods, and when I reached the edge of the forest I stopped dead in my tracks because the school was gone.

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. I must have hit my head really hard, I thought. But as I opened my eyes, the school was still gone and sitting in its place was a small wooden building. There were some smaller buildings in the distance, but they looked downtrodden and out of place compared to the regal colonial homes I'd seen just this morning as Aunt Meredith dropped me off for school.

"I must have gotten turned around," I huffed.

I headed back through the woods in the other direction. And by the time I made it out on the other side, my hands and arms were torn to shreds from the thorn bushes. Death by a thousand cuts—that would be my legacy. The forest disappeared into a clearing, but once again, there was nothing that looked familiar. Off in the distance, I noticed two figures walking away from my direction.

"Hello!" I yelled, waving my arms in the air. "Hi, can you help me? I seem to be lost."

The two silhouettes stopped and turned, but didn't say anything as they changed their course and headed my direction. They moved in time with each other, prowling almost as they stalked my way. When they got closer, they broke rank; separating and walking around me so that one was on either side, circling me like animals. It made me uneasy, but I tried to keep my cool.

"I-I'm just trying to find my way back to the town, t-t-to Blackstone. I got turned around in the woods," I said, more nervously than I intended.

Neither of the men spoke as they moved around me in unison, and I could have sworn that they were sniffing me. Both were quite attractive, which was unsettling all by itself. And they were tall, very tall—one more so than the other, but even he was a good foot taller than me. The really tall one had blonde hair and strong masculine features. He was a beast of a man. The other had dark sleek features that gave him a feline look, though it wasn't feminine at all. I swallowed a hard lump down my throat as that feeling in my gut told me to run. In fact, it was screaming at me. The blonde one lifted up my black leather jacket and smirked.

"Excuse me," I said, pulling my jacket out of his hand. "No touching." My nervousness was replaced by aggravation.

"What strange clothing they wear?" the blonde one said to the other. Weighed and measured. Clearly, these two were older rich kids that I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting yet. Lucky me. "Well, what do you wanna do with it?" he said, once he was finished taking an assessment that obviously found me lacking something.

"I say we let the commander figure this one out," the raven-haired one replied. His voice was deep and curt.

"I'm sorry, I think maybe there's been a misunderstanding," I began, hoping a different approach would help my case. "My name is Abigail Thurgood, and I'm just trying to find my way back to the town."