When she realized what was at stake, Tonya told Priya to go back to the residence.
"There's no reason for you to stay with the body. I'm from an Old Loon Lake Family, and when the local police get here, they'll be much happier if they don't think a Mundane found the body.
"Not even me?" asked Priya. "They know me and all your friends since the eating epidemic."
"Don't remind me. They might be suspicious if they see you getting mixed up in magical affairs a second time, especially since this looks like murder."
"All right, all right. You convinced me. I want to get out of here anyway. I can't look at that poor girl's body without feeling sick to my stomach."
"Go home and study Frankenstein," said Tonya.
"As if. I won't be able to do anything but worry until you get back. Call me once you know something?"
"Of course, now hurry before somebody sees you here."
Tonya watched Priya walk away, but couldn't relax until her friend had left the beach. Now that Priya was taking care of, she just hoped Helen would arrive before the police did.
Unfortunately, first on the scene was Constable Purrell, the same policewoman who had tried to prevent her from going into her aunt's apartment when it got burned down.
The pale police officer with her blond hair, and thickly mascara eyelashes looked at Tonya and sighed. "Are these footprints around the body all yours?"
"I'm sorry. I had to see if she was still alive."
The officer raised a penciled brow.
"She was lying face down when I found her. I rolled her over to see if she was breathing."
"We appreciate you acting the good Samaritan, but from now on leave the crime scene to us. Would you please go to the police station and make a statement? Oh, and before you go, I'll need to take those boots. We'll need an impression to help us eliminate your footprints now that you've stomped all over the crime scene."
"Footprints? The beach is all pebbles and rocks. How are you going to get a clear footprint from that?"
The constable pointed at Tonya's feet. "Your boots. Now." Purrell waited for her to slip off her boots and hand them over. Tonya was left shivering, standing in stocking feet on the cold stones of the beach.
"Leave the investigating to us." To the constable, she said, "Valentino, would you please bag her boots? Let her wear a pair of crime scene booties home."
Tonya looked Purrell in the eye. "It's freezing out. If I walk all the way back to my dorm, there isn't going to be much left of some plastic booties by the time I get there."
"Constable Valentino? Could you give this young lady a ride home?"
Valentino frowned at Constable Purrell.
"It's okay. I can ride my bicycle there."
"Yeah, she can ride her bike." Valentino crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. "You're going to need me here. This crime scene needs a special touch. Am I right?"
Tonya wasn't sure what that meant, but she knew the chance to slip away when she saw it. It was a long walk from where she found the body, on the shore facing the water spout in the lake, to her dorm on the west side of campus. She retreated along the beach, hobbling over stones with the equivalent of plastic hair nets on her feet.
When she was finally out of sight, she hid around the corner of one of the science buildings and texted her aunt that the police had beat her to the scene. She should meet Tonya by the science building instead.
When she arrived, Helen pulled Tonya into a warm embrace. When they stepped apart, Tonya felt like she was looking into the future. Now that they both had white hair, she couldn't ignore the family resemblance. Helen had the same bone structure in their face, and pale, clear skin Tonya saw in the mirror every morning. Except Tonya's skin was smooth, and while Helen wore her hair back in a ponytail, Tonya let hers hang free like the mother she grew up with, Helen's sister. Tonya wishes this were some kind of family visit instead of an emergency.
"What do you know?"
Tonya sighed. Of course Helen would want to get straight to the point. "I'm not sure. There was a body. The insides were gutted, like an animal ate them, but I'm afraid that's not what happened. There weren't any bite marks on her coat, on the outside..."
"You think an animal ate its way out from the inside," said Helen, finishing her thought. "She must have gone missing in the summer, along with all those other swimmers. Except her dragon's egg hatched."
"I don't understand how this could have happened. I found the swimmers. I brought them all back." Tonya felt a painful lump in her throat.
"Hush, it's not your fault." Helen wiped a tear from Tonya's cheek. "You barely got out alive."
Tonya sniffed. "I found the nest. I found them all. We beat the dragons, so what happened?"
"Describe to me exactly what she looked like when you found her."
Helen listened intently and when Tonya was finished, she said, "it could just be a coincidence. A girl could have drowned, and wolves could have started eating her."
"Wolves, in Loon Lake? It's not exactly in Algonquin Park here. I've never seen a wolf inside city limits."
"A bear then. What proof do you have this is supernatural?" Helen's eyes narrowed, a dangerous sparkle lit there.
"It's just this feeling." Tonya's stomach turned again, like it was packed with eels, wriggling past each other.
"Sounds like an attack of guilty conscience to me, but you're not responsible for this. Just tell me everything you know."
Tonya wasn't sure what to say. The twisting sensation in her gut was a secret she had been keeping since she rescued the other swimmers. She should tell her aunt that she was sick, and that there was something wrong with her, yet every time she got up her courage to confess, she couldn't. Tonya opened her mouth, determined this time to tell her aunt the truth, and ask for help.
Instead, she said, "well, if it's my not my fault, it must have been werewolves."
"Very funny," said her aunt.
Tonya tried to take a deep breath but her diaphragm felt cramped and she wound up panting for breath. "I should go. If you hurry back to the beach, you can probably get a look at the body before the cops take it away."
"Didn't you take pictures on your phone?"
She hadn't even thought of it. The sight of that girl, and the pain she must have suffered to die like that..."Don't you think the police would've thought it was suspicious, if I started taking selfies with the corpse?"
"I'm just being practical. If we want to know what really happened..."
"I know, I know, we can't leave it to police. I'm sorry."
"Come here." Helen cupped Tonya's head in her hands. She put her ear to Tonya's forehead, as if listening for something. Helen clucked her tongue then held Tonya in place while she bent down and listened to Tonya's chest, and finally, to her stomach.
Helen's head jerked back. She looked Tonya in the eye but didn't say anything, instead she put her hands on Tonya's stomach. "When were you going to tell me?"
"There's nothing to tell."
"I felt something moving in there."
Tonya broke away. She shook her head vehemently. "You're imagining things. Leave me alone!"
"I sensed magic on you."
"From the body. It had magic all over it."
"I'm not talking traces of magic that transferred to you when you touched the body. You're practically glowing with dark magic."
"Death magic? Are you crazy? I haven't channeled any death magic, not since we fought Waldock and that was your idea. I never would have done that if you didn't trick me into it. You have to know that."
"There was no choice. How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"
"That's why people don't trust you."
"I'll never do something like that again, okay? Promise me if you're in trouble, you won't try to hide it from me? I won't judge. I want to help you." Helen's eyes were wide, down turned.
"I swore in front of the whole City Council at our trial. I don't use death magic. Isn't that enough for you?" Why couldn't Helen just believe her?
"Of course, you wouldn't. I said dark magic."
"Okay...So, what is this dark magic you think you detect on me?"
"Inside you."
Tonya's stomach sank. "There isn't. I'm fine." She backed away.
"You know what's wrong. There's a Dragon's egg inside you, just like the one that hatched inside that poor girl. What I can't understand is, why didn't you tell me?"
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2024 update Good news! This story is revised and published as Double Dead Magic.
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Maaja