CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:
JUDGE, JURY, EXECUTIONER
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED were nothing short of awkward. Mae did her best to avoid the group, even going as far as to run in the opposite direction whenever she inevitably crossed paths with them. It crushed Embry's heart, so much that it pained Maggie to witness. She knew why he stood her up, and she couldn't blame him for it, but Embry refused to let Mae in completely, no matter how much it hurt.
In the end, it cost him, the choice made for him.
Maggie had decided to spend the day with Kim while Paul and Jared were stuck patrolling the area. A girl's day, Kim had eagerly declared, and so they spent their morning and most of the afternoon out shopping. First in town, then once they'd exhausted Forks' bookstores and boutiques, vintage stores and florists, Kim drove them out to Port Angeles. They watched a movie before they ate, then had a late lunch in a cute little diner on the outskirts of town. It was nice. Maggie couldn't remember the last time she had a good, non-supernatural day out with a friend. Maybe with Hayden, or even before that, with Carson...
The sun had only just started to set when they decided to head back to Forks. They were driving with the windows down, Bowie blasting from the radio, the cool wind biting against their skin. Before leaving that morning, Maggie had stolen one of Everett's jackets from the hook by the front door, and as the breeze began to get unbearably cold, she wrapped the faded denim tight around her shoulders, merely grinning when Kim began to tease her about being 'cold-blooded.'
"We should stop and check on Mae," the Conweller girl suggested upon recognising the streets of Mae's neighbourhood. She frowned at the hesitant look that suddenly crossed Maggie's face. "Unless you don't want to..."
"No, I do," Maggie insisted, sighing when Kim's expression didn't change. "I just don't think Mae is too happy with me right now."
At first, Kim's only response was a nod, brief and noncommittal before she pulled up beside the curb in front of a small ice cream parlour. "What?" she shrugged. "The way to someone's heart is through ice cream. Everyone knows that."
Maggie chuckled, "Well, I can't argue with that logic."
Five minutes later, they returned to Kim's car with the largest tub of mint ice cream the parlour had to offer. Maggie sat with the canvas bag on her lap, some of the ice bleeding through the pink material and onto her jeans. By the time they pulled up outside the Cooper-Song house, the sky had darkened into a deep shade of purple.
Mae greeted them at the front door with a tired, somewhat frustrated grimace. "Guys, this isn't the best time..."
"We figured as much," Kim cut in before Maggie had the chance to say anything. She held up the ice cream, grinning when Mae's eyes darted to the bag thoughtfully. "So, are you going to let us in?"
Mae sighed, her doubt unwavering, but gave her permission in the slightest shove of the door. "Fine, but I'm only saying yes for the ice cream."
"We did get mint choc-chip for a reason," Maggie said at last.
Mae smiled then, some of the tension easing out of her shoulders, and the Sullivan girl took that as a positive sign, bygones be bygones and all that jazz. Neither of them spoke about the last time Maggie was at Mae's house, simply following after Kim as she eagerly demanded a tour from Mae. Eventually, they ended up in the girl's bedroom, Maggie and Kim admiring the records she'd hung on her walls. Each of them was impressively painted with varying patterns. One depicted a wilting sunflower, another a series of stars and the moon.
"These are so pretty," Kim murmured, carefully tracing one of the flowers. Despite willingly letting them in, Mae was still rather quiet. Her eyes were sunken, mouth down-turned in a constant frown. Her smiles were few and far between. It was like looking in a mirror for Maggie. She didn't like what she saw. "Do you make them yourself? Could you make me one?"
Kim, though, she overlooked it the best she could. She brightened when Mae finally showed some kind of excitement, nodding eagerly as she replied, "Lina finds it a waste of time, but I love it. If you give me a pattern, I'm so down."
Kim let out a laugh, amused. "Lina finds a lot of things a waste of time."
Mae went to agree, and that was when they heard it. Maggie was the closest to the door, sitting cross-legged on Mae's bed and admiring the posters on the roof. Her head snapped up as the crash reverberated down the hallway, followed by a deadly kind of silence.
"What was that?" she mumbled, looking to Mae for an answer she didn't have.
Paranoia didn't wait for that answer before swelling in her chest. It got caught in her throat, making it hard to breathe around the pounding of her heart. As much as she and Kim had gathered, none of Mae's family was home. But that sound... it definitely wasn't nothing.
And there it was again. The unmistakable creak of a door opening and closing, then opening again. Through the rush of blood in her ears, Maggie was almost positive she heard footsteps pacing around the kitchen.
"Mae..."
Slowly, Mae stood up, craning her head around the door frame only to find nothing out of the ordinary. "That's odd," she said, glancing at Maggie and Kim almost suspiciously. "Nobody's supposed to be home for a while."
Maggie felt like she was in some kind of shitty horror movie. Any second now, the murderer would jump out from the closet, taking down the first person who got in their way. If this really was a horror movie, that person would be Mae, who still seemed relatively unphased despite Kim's pale face and Maggie's wide, terror-filled eyes.
"Not even Lina?" Kim pressed.
Mae shook her head, quickly dashing their hopes. "She's staying the night at a friend's house. And she would've texted me first so I'd have the door open for her."
"Then what was that?" Maggie demanded.
She certainly didn't expect Mae to shrug and say, "We should just check." Both girls disagreed, Maggie even reaching for her phone. She had a horrible feeling about this, one that Mae just didn't seem to pick up on. Maggie was sure she wouldn't be so unbothered if she knew the truth.... "Guys, come on, it's nothing."
She didn't wait for them to argue again. She had a point to make. Instead, she stepped out into the hallway and almost immediately stepped on a creaking floorboard. The sound pierced the air like a gunshot. Maggie's trembling fingers began to type.
Maybe she'd end up looking stupid. She could already picture Paul's smirk when he showed up in a state only to find they were scared by an animal or something else just as harmless. But this wasn't a risk she was willing to take.
Maggie: S.O.S. Mae's house.
Sounded urgent enough. And it was the best she could manage while following after Maggie, holding onto Kim's hand and struggling to reign in her own tremors all at once.
Paul: ???
Or maybe not.
She didn't have the chance to reply as they reached the living room. The television was playing the end credits of a movie she didn't recognise, some rom-com Mae must've been watching before she and Kim got there. Nothing of note had been touched. The cushions were ruffled and some popcorn was scattered across the floor, but Maggie couldn't be sure if that was an intruder's doing or just Mae's. They continued into the kitchen.
"Mae, we should go back to your room and wait," Maggie hissed, hating how loud her voice sounded in the silence. "I-I'm sure it's fine..."
Her phone buzzed.
Paul: omw
At least that was something.
Mae took another step into the kitchen. Maggie heard her muffled voice seconds before she disappeared around the corner, "We can look."
"Mae, please--"
Mae froze so suddenly that both Maggie and Kim rammed into her back. Maggie really didn't want to, but she forced herself to look over Mae's shoulder.
The back door was wide open, swinging back and forth in the evening wind. The lock was broken, the pieces scattered across the tiles, smashed by what looked to be a brick or a rock of some kind. Nothing else had been touched. There was no one inside. Maggie wanted to scream when Mae kept going, stepping over the mess and out into the night.
Please, the terrified voice in her head screamed.
She knew what would be waiting in the shadows. It was only a matter of time. But Mae didn't know.
"We're just being paranoid," she laughed it off, turning around to usher them back into the kitchen. Maggie felt a sob build up in her throat as the bushes began to ruffle behind her. "You're right, let's go back to--"
It was too late. Paul wasn't there yet, but Victoria was. She met Maggie's eyes, red clashing against brown, as her hands wrapped around Mae's throat and lifted her into the air. Mae immediately began to gasp, frantically clawing at Victoria's marble fingers, her legs kicking out in vain. Maggie screamed, or at least thought she did. Time seemed to slow down around them as Maggie desperately held out an arm in front of Kim. She knew it was pointless, that Victoria could easily take out the three of them, and no pleas or arms in front of her friends would stop her. Maggie was stuck again; just as people got close, she lost them.
"Hello, Maggie." And it was all Victoria's fault. Maggie hated her so much. She relished in Maggie's hateful stare, her sobs as Mae's arms fell to her sides in defeat. Her wide eyes began to droop from the lack of oxygen. "Who's your little friend? She smells like a dog."
Maggie wasn't sure how she managed to find the words. She seemed to move on auto-pilot, caving in on herself, watching everything unfold from outside her body. She was aware of Mae losing consciousness, Kim's hand clutching her wrist, the swooping movements of her stomach threatening to empty its contents. But none of it felt real. This had to be some kind of dream.
"Just let her go," dream-Maggie exclaimed. "Victoria, come on. You know she isn't the one you want."
Victoria let out a laugh, mocking her, taking a slow step closer to Maggie and Kim. Mae's feet dragged along the ground, her body thrown around like it meant nothing. Maggie's heart hurt for her. If she somehow survived this, she'd know the truth, and what a horrible way to find out.
Suddenly, Victoria's expression dropped, her lips twisting into a furious snarl. She dropped Mae hard on the ground, Mae's body colliding against the cement with a sickening crack. Victoria stepped over her to sneer at the shadows as three wolves prowled into the yard. Paul. He had come for her.
"This isn't over," she growled at Maggie.
With that, she took off into the woods, Sam and Paul hot on her heels. Embry phased back and disappeared for a second to change, allowing Maggie and Kim to rush towards Mae's body.
"Mae!" Maggie sobbed out her name, holding the girl's head against her chest, arms blocking out the cold wind as Embry sprinted towards them. "Mae, oh god, I'm sorry."
She couldn't stop saying it, not as Kim confirmed her pulse was still there, not when Embry took her away to hug her himself. Paul and Sam returned five minutes later, their grim, furious expressions telling Maggie and the others everything they needed to know.
Even then, she said it, unable to put enough emotion into the words.
I'm so, so sorry.
Maggie knew, deep down, that this was because of her.
Just like her mother. Just like Carson. Just like every other body that the police had found with the more time Victoria spent in Forks because of her.
Maybe it was time for Maggie Sullivan to stop hiding.
Her life was worth nothing if everyone she loved died to protect it.
So she made a promise to herself, a silent one for herself and herself only. It rattled through her brain as Paul lugged her body up from the ground, checking her over for injuries before the group hurried out to where Kim's car was parked. Maybe he sensed it, for his grip on her was tight and unforgiving, almost like he was saying don't you dare do this.
But Maggie had made up her mind.
The next time she saw Victoria, one of them would die, no one else.
If it had to be Maggie, and she finally got to rest, then maybe that was a choice she just had to make.