The Huntress [2018 Archived]

Chapter 7

For the longest time, I stood on the hillside, watching as Joel's car sped off into the distance. I didn't answer Jamie's pleading question because I didn't know how to. My mind was churning and I didn't know how to make sense of my thoughts.

I was aware of Jamie standing helplessly by my side.

My attention snapped back to her. "Are your parents at work?" I demanded, scanning her home for any sign of Mr. and Mrs. Longford.

She looked a little shocked at my outright question, but nodded. "They're both at a conference in Salem."

"Good," I nodded, marching for her front door. My gaze swept her whole property. It was quickly growing darker. The pale greyness of day was gradually fading, and with it, all protection from the evils that lurked in the forest was fading too.

Was Artemis evil? I wasn't so sure.

I could recall the cold blasts of fury as she spoke, her harsh words biting into my skin.

"Where are you going?" she asked, following me. I saw her glance nervously down at the woods, like she wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Three people are dead, Jamie," I murmured. "Three people are dead... because of me."

In the end, it didn't matter that Mr. Parker was a miserable creature. It didn't matter that Anna made poor choices that would ultimately hurt her. It didn't even matter that Nate was an abusive monster. They didn't deserve to die.

I could still see Mrs. Eastman hunched over in her pew. I could hear the Chinese foreign exchange student gasping for help. I could feel the cool rain as it bathed Anna's tombstone.

They weren't perfect. But they didn't deserve this. And they were the Huntress's targets. Her prey.

Because of me.

"Alexis," Jamie said sympathetically as she grabbed my sleeve, forcing me to stop. "It's not because of you. Art-she is...evil. No benevolent being would kill three people in cold blood. It's her fault. Not yours. I don't want that on your conscience."

I looked into her eyes and saw the sincerity in them. I could see that her words rang with truth. Still, Artemis had said that it was because of me. People were dead because of me.

Or rather of him.

I briefly wondered what he the Huntress had been referring to. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Whatever person had messed with Artemis, I was going to get blamed for it.

Jamie turned to me, breaking through my thoughts. "Hey, since my parents are out of town, you want to stay overnight?" She didn't say what we were both thinking. We didn't want to be alone. Jamie's home was haunted with dead ghosts (the Longfords had to stay in a series of hotels for weeks after Nate's death) and mine was haunted with living ones. I didn't want to be subjected to the quietness of my dark room. It would only give me time to think.

I cocked my head and gazed at her. "They won't mind?" Sierra's parents didn't let anyone over when they weren't home. Or rather, her mother didn't. Her father disagreed with her...just like he did on everything.

Jamie shook her head and rolled her eyes, a familiar gesture she had done ever since preschool. "I'm the only child. I can do whatever I want."

Her statement wasn't said flippantly or snobbishly, it was said with annoyance. Like Jamie resented the fact that she had no siblings.

Trouble in paradise?

I really took in her huge home with the amazing view for the first time. I was seeing it in a new light, without distractions like beer, or music, or Joel Callister. It must have cost a lot of money. Both her parents were overachievers, Type A, the CEO's of the company or the attorneys in a major law firm. A far cry from my family, or even Sierra's. And her family was still deemed "decent". Once again, I briefly wondered why the Longfords had settled in such a nonexistent town as Winshest.