I want to throw his arm off me, but I know he must have a reason, so I look around and take in the entire situation instead of rushing forward.
“What now?” one of the girls asks.
As if the question prompts action, another girl bends down and gets close to the little girl’s face. Her eyes widen a bit, but she does a good job pretending not to be frightened. “I want to ask you some questions, but I can’t do that if you don’t shut up!”
The little girl’s nostrils flare as she tries to catch her breath, but she does stop mumbling. “Good. If you scream, I will put this right back on,” the older girl warns, while grabbing the end of the tape, preparing to rip it off.
The brunette nods eagerly. “Ouch!” She winces as the older girl moves back toward her, as if she may replace the tape, so she chants, “No, no, no,” in a much lower voice.
“Then keep quiet,” the cloaked figure hisses. The girl proves her bravery even more when she narrows her eyes on the older girl above her. The heavy feeling of wrath fills the clearing. If I had to guess, I would say the little girl is plotting some form of retaliation. The purity of the emotion sends a shiver down my spine. Yum.
A couple of the girls forming the circle start to shift nervously. “Come on, Carly,” one insists, looking around briefly. Humans always ignore their baser instincts, telling themselves the feeling in their gut is just anxiety instead of acknowledging it’s the primal part of their being trying to warn them.
“Are you ready to tell me what she said to you?” the one kneeling asks. She must be Carly.
“I told you what she said, you dummy,” the little girl snarls. Oh stars, I like her. Carly reaches out and pinches the girl hard enough to make her yelp. I move to step forward again.
“We won’t let them hurt her,” Gunnar breathes.
“They already are,” I hiss.
“Shut her up. Did you hear that?” All the girls start to look around. Damn it, I was too loud. Calix gives me a warning glare.
“Tell me everything she said.” Carly ignores the other girls’ worry and questions the kid.
“She said she went to school here, and she wanted to see if it was the same.” The little girl shrugs.
“And?” Carly prompts. “What about all the guys with her?”
“She said they were her boyfriends.” The girl continues to struggle, making it clear by her tone she thinks Carly is stupid for even asking these questions.
“Listen, you little bitch, I need to give him answers, so there better be more, or I’ll leave you out here for the animals and bugs to eat,” Carly threatens.
The likelihood of an animal eating this little girl is low, but the look on her face tells me she either doesn’t know that or is just afraid of being left out here. Not that I blame her.
“Carly,” another girl whines, “hurry up.”
“Shut up, Allyssa.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say. I told you the truth.” The small girl chokes up a little. My black heart cracks with the sound. I feel completely responsible for what’s happening to her right now.
“I need you to tell me the truth, Lily. That’s all. Then I will let you go, and we can pretend this never happened,” Carly cajoles.
“I don’t know… she said her boyfriends were special… and took good care of her.” Lily starts to sob softly. She’s telling the truth. I didn’t tell her anything important.
Carly slams her hand down next to the girl’s head. “I need more. He won’t tell me the next step if I don’t have more!”
I glance around at the guys. We’re all wondering,what next step? “Just tell me what to say,” Lily cries.
“Carly,” a girl hisses, “this has gone too far, I’m not going to let you hurt her, she’s just a kid.”
Carly stands up and turns to face the girl who spoke up. Her hands are balled into fists, and I can see the smudge of dirty magic tangling around her feet, swirling as if she’s getting ready to strike. “You gonna stop me, Bridgett?” she singsongs in a mean girl fashion.
Bridgett takes a step back and looks around at the other girls. Most of them have their gazes averted, pretending to find the ground very interesting. Seeing she doesn’t have any backup, she swallows. “You said we were just going to question her. She told you what she knows. Let her go so we can get back to the dorm before someone realizes we’re gone,” she reasons.
“I have to tell him something or he won’t come back.” Carly looks down at Lily, who’s still struggling, but most of the fight has left her now.
Grim glides into the clearing, cloak and scythe on full display, and the moonlight glints off his blade.
