Secret Secrets

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The pond was covered with a thick layer of ice, just as my face was covered with a numb feeling from the below zero winds. People were flying across the pond, gliding on their shiny ice skates. I bent down to re-lace my own skates and wobbled onto the ice.

"Venice! Over here!" Eliza called out to me. I followed her voice to the other side of the pond. She too was wrapped up head to toe in winter clothing. But even under all the fabric I could tell she was smiling at me. "Isn't this cool?"

"Yeah!" I exclaimed. And for the next two hours we skated around giddily, enjoying each other's company and trying not to fall flat on our faces. As the sun began to set, mothers began showing up to grab their children and take them home. Soon Eliza's mother came to get us, and I ended up staying at their house for dinner.

Once Eliza and I started peeling off our winter acsessories, I felt like something was wrong. I zipped off my navy jacket and my hands flew to my neck. The necklace was gone.

I could feel my eyes welling with tears. Eliza looked puzzled. "Venice, what's wrong?"

"The necklace!" I cried. "It's gone! It must have snagged on something and came un-clipped!"

Eliza smiled and gave me a big hug. "Don't get so upset over this, Venice." She said. "We don't need necklaces to bind our friendship." She stepped away from me and reached up to her own necklace. With a hard tug the chain flew off her neck, broken. "See? We are still friends, right?"

I tilted my head. "Yeah. Friends forever."

"Friends forever." She echoed.

Gabriel, Dax and I stood over another victim of Della.

She had long, tumbling hair that must have been so much fun to style when she was alive.

She wore a track suit, a sign that she had just been out for a jog when she had been killed.

When she had been bitten.

"This is the third person she's killed." I observed. We had found another male victim not even five days prior. Gabriel reached into his jacket pocket and fished out a lighter. I knew what he was going to do, and I couldn't watch. The minute I saw the flame, I turned my back.

Dax control the fire as Gabriel came up behind me. "Venice," He whispered in my ear. "some secrets you have to keep secret."

"Secret secrets." I said, placing a fly-a-way hair behind my ear.

"Exactly." He mumbled, and kissed my neck. When I turned around, the fire had died down quite a bit. You couldn't even tell that a dead body had once laid there.

"This is getting to be a problem." Dax said, his eyes on the flames. "We need to think of something-soon."

"We have to lure her back in, she needs to have someone she can trust." Gabriel said.

"What if I get her to trust me?" I suggested.

"That would seem the most logical," Dax agreed with me. "it's going to be hard to gain her trust back, though."

I pulled out my cell phone and began to search through my call log. "I think I can handle it." I said and then my eyes found what I was searching for-the unknown number call that I got from Della. I selected it and stepped off to the side.

"Hello?" A voice answered that I had never heard before. It was light and smooth, a girl's voice.

"Uh, hi. Is Della there?"

"Yeah, hold on." The girl said. "Della! Someone's on the phone for you!" I heard her call.

There was a slight static filled rustle and then Della's voice shot through the phone. "Hello?"

"Della, it's Venice Thornbe. Before you hang up, I really think we need to talk."

Della scoffed. "What do we need to talk about?"

I took a deep breath. "I want to help you."

Della didn't believe me. "You want to help me?"

"Yes." I said, trying to sound convincing. "I broke up with Gabriel, I realized how stupid he was being for wanting to...kill you. I'm on your side now."

"Really?" She sounded a little more convinced now.

"Really. I want to help. How can I help you?"

"Meet me behind Fell's House at midnight." She said, and then clicked the phone shut.

I turned around. Gabriel and Dax had their jaws practically on the ground. "What was that?" Gabriel asked me.

"It's called getting Della to trust me." I explained. "I'm meeting her behind Fell's House at midnight."

Dax threw another stick into the flames, his eyes on me the whole time. "Be careful."

I tucked my phone into my pocket. "Well I don't plan on being reckless."