~The Hunter~
It was as if he was under a curse.
Grayson could not bring himself to say no to anything.
Whether it was his parents inviting him on a family outing, his grandmother asking him to pick up some shifts at her restaurant, or his friends taking him places after school, he couldn't say no.
It was as if he was two different people. One of them was still reeling from the events of the masquerade. This part of him didn't have the capacity to think about anything else or devote time to being present in the lives of others.
The other part of him wanted it all to be over. He didn't want to think about Beth or the Beast anymore and if he could blot her out of his life by being busy, he would. As selfish as it sounded, part of him wished he could have amnesia.
Grayson's father zoomed by him on his bike with a quick holler, "On your left!"
He was struggling to keep up with him despite his former status of being the family athlete. He wanted nothing more than to lay down on one the park benches but he ignored the throbbing in his head and pedaled on.
An hour later, the two of them were drinking water outside of a local bodega, their bikes resting against the building beside them. Drinking the cold beverage in the chilly weather should have been hard but he was building a tolerance for pain. He drank until he was cold to the bone.
"That was a nice ride around the park, wasn't it?"
Grayson nodded, guzzling down the water. He had meant to further elaborate his response but his father continued before he could get a word in.
"I knew this was what you needed. Some time and some distractions." His father gripped his shoulder with a dimpled smile. "You are finally looking like yourself again."
His father couldn't have predicted this reaction to such a well intended comment but Grayson wilted inside. Guilt had its hands around his throat once more and all he could think about on the journey home was how he was failing Beth. And the pain his father thought he had gotten over? It was still there. It was as strong as ever. His father's pride in him wasn't earned and he felt like an imposter in multiple ways.
What was the alternative? To be honest and disappoint his father, his family, his friends? To make them worry and argue about him? To not only be inactive in his search for Bethany but be a burden wherever he was?
It was a losing game. He was trying to make the most of that loss.
"Hey Dad," Grayson said once the two had locked up their bikes outside of their townhouse. "I'm meeting the team for some pizza. I'll see you later."
His father smiled again, sending a glass shard into Grayson's heart. "What time should we expect you home?"
The sun was setting but that wasn't saying much considering the time of year. "Not too late."
"Do you need any money?"
"No, I've got enough."
"Okay." His father waved him off. Over the past few days he was able to gain his parents' trust again. Gone were their fears of him getting himself into trouble. He had done a fantastic job of convincing them the events at the masquerade had changed him for the better. "I love you."
"Love you too," he called over his shoulder.
Telling his father he was meeting his friends wasn't a lie but it wasn't the whole truth either. He was going to meet them just not yet.
He had a stop to make.
On the ride back home, he got to thinking. The roses he found in the Beast's garden couldn't be another dead end. It was a garden of magic after all. It was human life preserved in and reduced to a plant. He was too quick to dismiss the supernatural, too willing to brush it away because it was too hard for him to understand. It was not something he could take to the police but it was something that had potential to help him on his own search. The masquerade had almost made him forget all about it.
He found himself in front of a magic shop on a busy avenue.
The shop was wedged between a pharmacy and a department store. It was swallowed up by its neighbor's fluorescent lights and flashy ads stuck to their windows. In contrast, its outside was minimalist with only the store sign and a purple curtain hiding whatever lay behind the display case.
Grayson contemplated walking away. It appeared sketchy to say the least. Perhaps he could keep pretending to be better like his family and friends believed. He could fake it till he made it. The small chance it could help him get to Beth again was what got him to step foot inside and forsake his chance at getting back to normalcy.
He had faith in this magic shop in particular because of its rose theme. The shop logo was a glowing rose that grew out of the end of the A in Rosalinda's. He was aware that this could be a play on the owner's name but that part wasn't what really hooked him. What really got him was the info paragraph he read on the shop's website. It was a poem.
Little rose as you bloom,
a hint of sadness heavy looms.
For though you are of ground and sun,
a woman near calls you her son.
Your petals show me who you are,
transformed by a deadly scar.
If you are not made whole once more,
you'll stay a rose forevermore.
It gave Grayson the same inkling he had when he got the invitation for the masquerade. It was like someone was laying it all out for him. How could he discover all this with a quick internet search? He couldn't begin to guess who was guiding him along or how.
Well, he had one suspicion and hoped it wasn't the right answer.
It could be the Beast messing with him. It was already revealed he had superhuman powers to some degree. Who was to say that he couldn't have been orchestrating this whole thing for his own amusement?
Still, he couldn't risk not pursuing this lead in fear that it was a trap.
The shop was dimly lit, almost relying solely on candlelight from the antique holders scattered across the shop. The decor was vintage and elegant with a dark edge. Every modern appliance was replaced with its older counterpart. The phone was a black and golden rotary, a chandelier hung from the ceiling with its candle holders replaced with bulbs, and there was an ink and quill station at a desk. The curtains were strictly a witchy purple shade with black lining the ends. It made him feel as though he walked into a haunted house.
The whole left wall was filled with shelves. Each one housed a different row of knick knacks and antiques. The row that caught his eye contained snow globes. All of them were different sizes and in different styles but all of them appeared dated. One of them housed a couple kissing with the New York City skyline behind them and a taxi cab in the foreground. The man was in a sailor suit and the woman in a white dress.
The biggest one rested in the center. It had a very different tone than all the others and as he stared at it he wondered why anyone would feel inclined to make the morbid artwork into something as traditionally cheerful as a snow globe.
A woman laid fast asleep on the forest ground, a meadow of flowers cushioning her slumber. Beside her stalked a brown bear twice the size of her on all fours. It sniffed at her head, it's nose brushing her hair. Behind the bear was a hunter dressed in leather with a bow and arrow aimed at the bear's back. He couldn't see how a bow as small as that one would do significant damage to a beast that size.
The snow particles that would float around the globe when shaken laid on the ground. It was not white or snowy at all. It was red.
He immediately thought of blood. The snowflakes were blood.
"Captivating, isn't it?"
Grayson nearly jumped out of his skin.
The woman standing behind him was dressed in a green medieval style gown that dragged along the carpet. She had her arms crossed behind her back as she peered over his shoulder.
"Yeah." He scratched his ear moving to the side to put some space between the two of them. Her creeping up on him had given him goosebumps.
"It's up to the beholder to determine whose blood it is. Some say it's the bears, some say it's the woman's. I've even heard arguments for the blood belonging to the hunter." She slithered over to the antique cash register, her dress making her appear as if she was hovering. "I, for one, think the blood belongs to all of them."
He didn't see her point of view. He thought it was clear it had been the bears. If the scene had played out, the arrow would be shot into the bear's back and blood would be splattered everywhere. If the creator of the snowglobe liked classic fairy tales, then there would be a happy ending where the bear died and the hunter went on to marry the damsel. However, he had come for a specific reason that did not include snow globes.
"Are you Rosalinda?"
She tipped her head back, staring into his eyes with great intensity. "Yes. What did you come here for?"
"The poem on your website. I wanted to know . . . what it meant." He couldn't help but feel a tiny bit crazy trying to talk about human flowers. Could he explain the concept to her if he tried?
"You know what it meant."
Her answer made his hair stand on end. He gulped.
"You're right. I think I do."
She circled around the counter and grabbed the candelabra closest to her. Underneath it was an envelope that she handed to Grayson.
As he took the envelope from her, his skin brushed her own. In that millisecond he felt a shock run through his arm. It wasn't the kind you get when sparks fly because you've met the girl of your dreams. It was the kind you got when a piece of technology was glitching. Something was off and he would have been able to place his finger on it had he been given the time to.
"This is what you're looking for." Keeping the candelabra with her, she guided him to the entrance. It was as if she was politely kicking him out. "Good luck."
Grayson was mesmerized by the peculiarities of it all. He couldn't find a single word to utter as he stepped out of the shop. He had questions. He wanted to tear open the envelope and see if she had really given him something helpful and barge back in if she hadn't. Yet, as if he was under a curse, he continued walking until he reached the train station.
It wasn't until after he met his friends at the pizzeria and spent the night with them that he opened the envelope.
Palm Readings $5.00
Card Readings $5.00
Contacting Spirits $15.00
Grayson crumbled up the card in his hand and flung it at the ground.
He was being chipped away at by these experiences. Beth's initial abduction, the Ryan Daniels situation, getting beat up in the abandoned house, Maris, Detective Brendan, the masquerade - these were all hacking at his sanity. It was only a matter of time until there was nothing left and he knew it.
"The subways are dirty enough, dude," Carter, who he hadn't realized was standing beside him, jerked his head at the card. "People get fined for littering, you know."
Grayson had not had a real conversation with Carter since before he knocked him out. At team meetings and practices they avoided each other, only ever interacting if they needed to. It was always dry and cut to the chase. Their relationship was a shadow of what it used to be.
He had tried to apologize. He knew what he did was wrong and he would take it back if he could. Grayson just didn't know how to fix it or if he could.
He bent down and picked up the card, shoving it into his coat pocket. "I forgot we took the same train home."
Carter scoffed. His headphones were pulled off one ear like he had intended to talk to Grayson from the beginning. "We almost got away without talking to each other at the pizzeria. It's strange how good we are at ignoring one another - considering we were good friends once."
Grayson's weekends were a lot more empty without Carter. Football practice was more bland. There was no one competing with him during the drills and no one crashing into him just to rile him up.
"Listen," Carter brought his headphones down around his neck, not glaring at him as he had become accustomed to. "We have a pretty big game coming up and I don't want to let anything going on between us mess things up for the team."
He was extending an olive branch to him. He had started to think he never would.
"Me either."
The stiffness of the air melted into the subway tracks. A train passed them on the track opposite to them. Its speed sent a rush of cool air their way.
"I heard what happened with Beth at the museum ball in upstate," Carter said. "You did good. You did what you could."
Grayson glanced at him. Everyone at school had a similar sentiment regarding his heroic attempts but no one knew him or Beth well enough for it to mean something to him. "Thanks."
Encouraged by his friend's reaction, Carter became more passionate about what he was saying. His voice was dripping with the frustration Grayson felt every second of the day since Bethany was taken. "And what they're saying at the police press conferences about her being a runaway? I know that's nonsense. Everyone who knows her knows that!"
"That means a lot coming from you." A plethora of memories flooded his mind. They were memories of Grayson trying to get Carter and Beth to be friends. It was never successful in the end to say the least. "I know you never really liked her - "
"Bethany is great," Carter clarified. "She's smart and she's strong but what I didn't like about her was I always thought she was leading you on. Not purposefully but the consequences were still the same. You'd still get hurt."
With everything going on during the last few months, Grayson seldom had a chance to contemplate whether Beth would have agreed to their date if he had gotten the chance to ask her. In his perspective, it seemed like their friendship had evolved over time, the climax being right before she was taken. Had she not been, he thought they would have naturally transitioned to being more than friends. They'd be boyfriend and girlfriend right now. Never had he thought she would feel differently. He still didn't think she would.
Grayson gave a dry laugh. "Well, now I'm hurt anyways. Thanks for looking out for me though. The thought counts."
They stood quietly waiting for the train for a few moments. The station was oddly calm for a weekend. People were entertained with their phones or a book, sitting or standing still so that the scene felt like a painted picture - a moment of stillness caught on a canvas.
"I want you to understand," Grayson spoke softly, "I'm really sorry about what happened in your car."
Carter shrugged. "It's alright. I'm over it."
"Just like that?"
"I've done you worse on the field." The train arrived and as the two boarded it, they found themselves sitting together. Carter gestured to the card in Grayson's pocket. "What got you so angry you commited a crime?"
He took the paper out of his pocket and handed it to his friend. "A scam."
"This is why I keep my hands in my pockets. I have an excuse not to take the things people on the corner are handing out." Carter turned it around in his hand pausing at the back. "You wrote this?"
He was referring to the blank side of the card or the side that should have been blank. Black pen ink ran across it.
Not everyone sees what the roses truly are but her mother did. Ask her.
Carter scoffed. "I can't even begin to decipher what this mumbo jumbo means. Is it supposed to be like a fortune cookie or something?"
Grayson knew exactly what it meant.
He needed to see Beth's mother.