If I Die Young

27. Supernatural BS

I backed away from the deputy, crying my eyes out as the rest of the house began to wake up. Miss Huld finally made her way outside and she was followed shortly after by Elyse and Brandon. Aurelia helped to keep the younger children inside and Ladon pushed his way out, running towards me at full speed. I latched onto him and hid myself as I cried, my throat burning from the hot tears that streamed down my face.

"They found him, Ladon," I choked out, "he's dead, something killed him, those bastards!"

"Hey, shh come on Sable," he did his best to comfort me, slowly guiding me away from the prying eyes of the officers, "remember, the rest of the house doesn't remember him. They think he never existed."

"I know, I can't believe this!"

It took about two hours for the police to go through all of us and get statements. Ladon and I flat out said he'd been missing while the rest of the house didn't know or remember who he was. Then there was Noelle: she looked the officer dead in the eyes and told him Ezra was murdered. The officer seemed taken aback, but I could tell she was reading his mind, seeing the images of the crime scene. She was putting them to memory while he was still reeling from her blunt statement.

"What are we going to do, Ladon?" I whimpered, "how do you just pretend you never knew someone? This isn't going to end well at all."

"I don't know, all I know is that they're going to get conflicting statements from us and it's going to lead them in circles."

Noelle was finally released to join us and I picked her up, gripping her tightly as I took comfort in her small form. She was crying, but it wasn't as ugly or loud as before.

"He had his throat torn out," she sobbed quietly, "they think an animal attacked him. An animal wouldn't attack him Sable, he'd talk to them and they'd go peacefully. He was murdered Sable, he was murdered!"

"Shh, keep quiet Noelle," I whispered, rocking her back and forth, "we can't let them know we know the details."

"What or who could've done that to him?" Ladon asked. We were standing in the corner of the kitchen while everyone else was seated at the table or in the parlor. Brandon seemed especially uneasy.

"I know exactly what did it." I whispered. "He told me the wolves saw a creature trying to get into the house. It had wings and black eyes, either it finally got in or it caught him when he went outside."

"What, is this thing supposed to be the Jersey Devil or some shit?" He hissed, and I slapped his chest as Noelle whimpered.

"I don't know." I told him plainly. "Whatever it is, we can't go outside at night. If we do we have to be in pairs. No matter what the kids aren't allowed outside without supervision."

"I can agree to that." He nodded. "I'm going to take the kids to bed, they don't need to be here for this."

"Good idea." I nodded, handing Noelle over to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hid her face from view, and I sent Daisy and Delilah up to bed alongside him. James hadn't woken up, which I was inherently grateful for. He was much too young to be exposed to any of this.

It was another half hour before we were released to go to bed, but I stuck around, hiding behind the wall as I listened. There was going to be a search done on the property for any animals that could've killed him and I knew instantly the wolves were going to get blamed. I also knew they weren't going to pursue this for what it was either: a murder. I knew then that I had to do something to keep those poor animals safe.

When I got to the top of the steps I was almost surprised to see a small animal waiting for me at the edge of the steps. Brandon was a fox, his ears pinned back to his skull as he whimpered slightly. I dropped to my knees and scratched his head gently, petting his spine and giving him a hug.