Honesty Falls

twElvE

"Nevaeha, I wish you'd sit down."

"Eligah, let her concentrate." Mr. Churchill ordered.

"Pacing is helping her focus beyond her fear." Sebastian said to stop Mr. Hermann from telling Mr. Churchill that he didn't need to be ordered around.

Nevaeha took a deep breath and took her place at the table. Instead of looking at any of the men there, she focused on Gloria's knitting. Pink booties.

"Conway, do you and Sebastian feel as uneasy as she does?"

"No, but that means nothing. Neither of us can connect to anyone outside of town. Neither of us would know about the dead, either."

Mr. Churchill nodded. "At least that means the evil isn't here."

"With members of our council outside the city limits, that doesn't lessen our worry." Sebastian said as he watched Nevaeha.

"If this plan goes wrong, I say we blame Silas." Benjamin chuckled at himself. 

"What did Wade say the last time you talked to him on the phone?" Mr. Hermann asked Benjamin, but Mr. Churchill answered him. 

"They are trying to trace the scent."

Conway nodded. "I wouldn't have them try that for too much longer before they need to get started back."

She tried to close off the voices around her. She concentrated on Nigel. Henry. Wade. and Sil__.

Nevaeha jumped back on her feet. "Something is wrong. He's in trouble. Evil's eyes are on him."

"Call them."

"We need to know what we are facing." Conway stopped anyone from following Sebastian's order then he took her by the shoulders. "Sebastian and I can't do it. It must be you. Shadow him. Find the evil."

She pulled on the thread between her, and Silas until she was standing at his side.

"Catch her before she falls." She heard Conway order from far away.

"Silas, if you don't stop making so much noise eating those nuggets, I'm going to... my sister makes less noise than that eating a wild boar still alive."

She supposed shifters wouldn't think that was a horrible thing to say, but she did. Remind her to tell Henry so. For the boar's sakes and his sister's.

They wouldn't be able to see or hear her, but to her, it was like standing right beside them. Just minus the body.

Fear gripped the back of her neck, so she searched around them.

Silas was trudging behind, the rest of them were up ahead. Wade and Nigel were both working and concentrating, but Henry seemed to be having a nice strode down the sidewalk enjoying his freedom outside of town.

Silas was stuffing his face. He had a box of nuggets in one hand and fries in his other hand. Since he had no more hands, he was digging into the container of nuggets with his face.

How could they not feel the evil? Their senses should have been on high alert, just as hers were.

She searched the streets. Her eyes moving over everyone she could see. Then she saw it.

The man couldn't be much younger than Silas. He was tall and wore basketball shorts and a muscle shirt.

She couldn't tell you anything else about his features because where his face should be was a blurry void, like two faces on top of each other.

Evil had many faces, and in this moment, she was staring right at one.

Nevaeha checked the faces of the other three boys with him, but they were all human. They laughed and joked around. Unaware they were in the presence of a monster.

"We don't have much longer than we'll have to head home."

Henry and the others were way ahead of her now. Silas had stopped so he could throw away his trash.

A girl passing Silas had her head down because she was reading and not watching where she was going, and she stumbled into him.

"Hey, watch where you're going." Silas said rudely.

She mumbled an apology and went around him.

Nevaeha barely glanced in the girl's direction and because of that, she was able to watch the monster's face when he caught sight of the girl.

It was a look that made her skin crawl and made her sick to her stomach.

The girl passed right through Nevaeha and never glanced in her direction, but the boy with no face whose eyes had been following the girl now paused on Nevaeha.

She stiffened because she was quite sure he was staring right at her.

Which was impossible. She wasn't really here. She was a thought latched to a thin thread, one of millions that made up the essence of Silas.

Not only was he looking at her, but now he was giving her the same looked he'd given the girl that passed through her.

Her skin crawled.

She was jerked forward as Silas got too far ahead of her.

When she looked back, he, it, was following them.