Drone

IV

IV

It wasn't the first time Phoebe had driven down to Second Point, but it felt like it.

She pulled into the parking lot of the hiking trail and parked her car. Instead of barreling out and charging down the path, she remained inside and simply looked at it. The first time she had been there, she had raced from her car down the trail. She had been worried about being lost but anger at her sister had driven her to overcome that and head into the lakeside woods.

Now the once pretty hiking trail had become sinister.

“Why did I even come?” Phoebe asked herself out loud.

She should have gone home. She should have gone to Officer Hayes. She should have gone to a psychiatrist. Anything would have been a better choice than returning to Second Point.

To Wasp.

Then again, after last night, how could she stay away?

It was about an hour and a half long hike down to Second Point and, for the first time, Phoebe didn't feel like she could make it. The after affects of the agony of her memories returning had left her limbs weak like a flu that had been successfully fought off. Her body felt heavy, like it wanted to rest.

However, her mind was active and running and it demanded answers.

Uneasily, she climbed out of her car. Immediately, a breeze hit her face bringing with it the smells of the lake and woods. It was a familiar smell, it used to be pleasant.

Should she just walk up? It was strange. How did you approach a...mage?

Her mind rejected the word but she forced herself to think it. If Wasp wasn't a magic worker of some kind, then he was incredibly good at faking. Phoebe could still remember the warmth of the energy that surrounded her, how steadily her memories had faded one by one and been replaced by the fake ones.

Phoebe forced herself to walk to the beginning of the hike path and looked down the relatively straight road. It continued for about a hundred yards before it split into three paths. Two led away from the lake, closer to nature and the river that fed the lake. The third skirted the lake and would, eventually, take her to Second Point.

The familiar crunch of dirt under her sneakers was actually kind of comforting. She wasn't sure what was driving her back to Second Point but she knew she couldn't turn and leave things as they were. She couldn't just go on living her life normally now. Not when she knew.

Knew what, she asked herself. What did she know? There was magic in the world and a man with blue-green eyes controlled it? That was a ridiculous thing to know. Still, she had to go back.

It might be easier, Phoebe thought with a grin at herself, if Jean had been at Second Point. Then, at least, she would have a reason to return that she could give. There would be no mistake now, Phoebe was returning of her own free will for her own reasons.

Did that mean she was joining Nest?

Phoebe shook her head fiercely at the thought though there was no one around to see. There was no way she was joining Nest. She simply had questions, she simply had to know. That was human nature. That didn't mean she was ready to lay on a stone table and let Wasp wave a knife over her, ceremonial or otherwise.

The third fork in the road, about half an hour into the hike, split in two directions, both of them blocked off. The left fork led up and around the lake and would, eventually, deposit the hiker at the top of a tall cliff overlooking the water. Many people had gotten hurt up there so the path, and the one beside it, had been blocked off.