Feeding Frenzy (Watty Award Winner)

Priya

The line snailed forward. "So, what should I take instead?"

"Take Feminist Theory in Popular Culture, with me." On her phone, she showed Tonya the course description.

"That's a second-year course."

"I'm a quick study. I just have to convince the registrar." She smiled.

Tonya caught herself envying Priya's perfect teeth and striking looks. Her clothes were straight out of a gothic novel, all black chiffon and Victorian lace. Definitely not department store stuff. If university was going to be a new beginning, Tonya wanted interesting friends like her, people who didn't remember her eating lunch alone in the high school library.

The line moved, and it was Tonya's turn, but Priya was taking different subjects. Their paths might not cross again for weeks.

"Wait, after this, do you want to go for lunch?"

Priya flashed her perfect teeth. "Thought you'd never ask."

"How about the Mackenzie cafeteria?"

"Sure."

Loon Lake University grouped students according to their passions and vocations. Students interested in native studies and the environment were housed in one college. Future leaders and politically active students lived in another. Nursing students shared space with students interested in science and agriculture.

"What's your major?" Tonya asked Priya as she walked her bike along the path back to the dorms.

"Fine arts."

"So, you're at Mackenzie too."

"Top floor," said Priya.

"I'm on the third."

Tonya left her bike on the rack outside and entered the main floor cafeteria, watching for her roommate, Lynette. With lecture halls on the second floor, and their dorm room on the third, she was always running into her. With her cool new friend in tow, Lynette was the last person she wanted to see.

As they lined up with their trays, Tonya checked for messages from her parents or Aunt Helen. Both numbers went straight to voicemail. That was unusual for Dad but not for Aunt Helen. For good measure she sent them each a text. Why weren't they responding?

The line moved forward, and she handed the cashier her meal plan card. After lunch she would try again.

"One thing about Mackenzie," said Priya as they sat at a table, "if I sleep in, I can go downstairs and catch my first lecture in my PJs."

"No tromping through snow." Tonya knew too well what to expect from winter in the region. It was one of the reasons she had wanted to study in Toronto. At least her parents had insisted she stay on campus.

"So, tell me about Loon Lake, local girl." Priya smiled encouragingly.

"It's a pretty little city."

"Picturesque. What else?"

"The Village of Loon Lake is hundreds of years old."

"Any original buildings still around? I'd love to take some pictures," said Priya.

"The new part of town is much nicer. Have you visited the farmer's market?"

"Who wants to photograph vegetables? I want to visit Loon Lake cemetery. The city website says there are tombstones 300 years old."

"What's so great about that?" Tonya didn't like the way Priya's eyes lit up when she said cemetery. There were good reasons to keep outsiders from getting too interested in that place. "Anything else you want to see?"

"There's this tall log cabin on Kenny Road. I saw it when I drove in from Toronto."

"That would be my aunt's Herbal Healing Shop."

"We could visit both."

"It's just a boring store."

"With interesting architecture."

"If you like log cabins we should go to the Ice House. They used to cut blocks of ice out of the lake in the winter and store them in sawdust all summer. It's more authentic than the store."

Priya took a bite of her veggie lasagna before she answered. "I should warn you, when somebody tells me not to do something, that's exactly what I want to do."

"Then let's hit the cemetery, right after lunch."

"No way!" Priya laughed. "I have class. In fact," she checked her phone, "I'm almost late. What's your number?"

Priya stayed long enough to add Tonya's contact info before rushing to class. The moment Priya headed for the staircase at the opposite end of the building, Tonya called her Dad.

No answer. Not good.

With the weird way her family wouldn't discuss Aunt Helen's illness, Tonya feared her Mom was protecting her from something she considered worse than disease—magic.

Between classes, Tonya called Loon Lake Hospital, but Aunt Helen hadn't been admitted. Tonya rode her bike west through campus and cut through the cemetery, coming out through a small break in the tall, wrought iron fence opposite the shop. She crossed the small field between cemetery and store only to find the closed sign posted. Tonya knocked but nobody answered. She tried phoning, but her aunt's mailbox was full. It seemed Tonya wasn't the only one who couldn't reach Aunt Helen.

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Author's note: I'm excited to announce that you can buy the final version of Feeding Frenzy: Curse of the Necromancer in paperback or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and other major retailers.

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