Tonya didn't stop running until she got a painful stitch in her side.  She slowed to a walk but her chest still heaved, and all that breathing made her wonder. Was she inhaling the same contagion that killed Professor Rudolph? Would she die too? How much time did she have before the infection took her over? And that voice. He wasn't just dead, he was able to send his thoughts into her mind. This was a power never mentioned, even in rumours, in her family. What was the purpose of it? To frighten or warn, or was the voice in her head also the means of transmission?

Tonya had been so concerned that sick people were getting real, biological symptoms, that she had forgotten about a less earthy kind of magic. Normally magic was manipulated by means of natural elements like herbs and minerals, but at other times spells could be cast purely through the will of the caster. Such spells were dangerous. As a kid, Tonya had accidentally overheard Helene warning her mother to stay away from a man who practised this art. It had damaged him. When Tonya stepped into the room to ask who it was, her mother had sent her away, claiming she had misunderstood their 'grownup talk.'

Tonya tried to swallow the lump that suddenly caught in her throat. Her parents were mixed up in this, and Aunt Helene too. They never spoke of the danger, but it was real. Whoever was behind this must have beaten them. Why else would Tonya be facing this mysterious force, ignorant of its real power, helpless and alone?

Even in daylight, this patch of the forest between the cemetery and the campus, was half-dark. She shivered and zipped her coat up to her chin, scrunching her face into her scarf. The wind blew through her hair, whipping it around, and making the trees hiss and sway, lending life to the artificial creatures Priya had hidden there. Tonya closed her eyes and stood still, wondering how far the Dead Professor's mind could reach. Could he feel her shivering right now? She had run away without thinking, but now, standing between campus and the dark thing hidden in the forest, she had no idea what to do.

She had failed to find Roberto, failed to stop the bonfire, failed to even find Priya so she could make her understand the stakes. Without really knowing her next move, Tonya started jogging towards campus, away from the creepy trees.

If only she could tell the authorities, but the police would laugh at her. And campus administration? If she could find somebody to talk to her on a Saturday, she would only succeed in convincing them she was crazy. No. Her best bet was to appeal to Ducky and Priya. Ducky hadn't seen Marta's choking scare at the swim team party like Priya, but at least he knew her. Maybe he would listen.

When she reached the Hub Pub, Tonya double timed down the stairs, almost colliding with Ducky, who was leaving, arms full of boxes with cables and equipment.

"Am I glad to see you!"

"Likewise, you can help me load boxes into my car. One more run and I'm finished." He kept coming up past her, forcing Tonya to trail after him.

"That's what I want to talk to you about. The cemetery, and especially the big ash tree, are too dangerous."

"Too right! Priya's concept is to actually scare people." They reached Ducky's car, which was parked near the door. He arranged the boxes into the trunk and shut it. He was about to get into the car.

"Wait! I have to explain something important. Promise me you'll listen."

"Okay." Ducky waited with the door open.

"It's Professor Rudolph. He's dead," said Tonya. "Something unnatural has made him sick, and it came from the woods by the cemetery."

"Dead?"

Tonya nodded and explained how he had checked out of the hospital, and laid himself at the foot of the Three-Century Ash to die. "That tree is supposed to protect the town," said Tonya. "It has for hundreds of years, but now I don't know. Somebody is channelling its power to do terrible things..."

"Tree powers?" Ducky quirked an eyebrow at her.

Tonya shifted her feet. "It might sound crazy, but my family knows things." Uncomfortable under his stare, she shoved her hands into her pockets, until her right hand encountered the jar and she snatched it back, as if it were hot.

"It is a big, ugly monster. I get it," said Ducky. "You're upset because it's your Aunt's tree and it has historical value. I'll talk to Priya. She'll be disappointed, but we'll put it back the way it was."

"That's not it." How could she make him understand?

"The spot where Professor Rudolph died deserves a memorial," Ducky said. "We'll put a picture and flowers there, so his students can pay their respects..."

"His corpse is contagious. I suspect the whole place is."

"You're against a memorial?"

"We have to keep people away from the tree and the cemetery because it's making them sick."

"Like who?"

Tonya had forgotten to tell Ducky about Lynette's uncontrollable eating urges. She was messing up her only chance to get help.

"The swim team, my roommate Lynette..."

Tonya explained what had happened to Marta.

"And my roommate Lynette has these binge bouts where she eats everything she sees." Lynette's concern for Roberto was all-consuming, and that might have distracted her for a while, but the binging must mean she was infected.

"Oh my god. If my roommate's sick, and this thing is contagious, you have to get away from me." She backed away, not even bothering to check behind her as she crossed to the other side of the road.

"I'm having food cravings." She was hearing voices too. "I'm afraid if you come near me, you'll end up like Professor Rudolph."

Ducky started to follow her, hands palm out, as if he wanted to comfort her.

"Stay back!" She fought her tears. "What if I make you sick too? I'd never forgive myself."

"What's wrong?" Ducky stepped closer and brushed the hair out of her face. He was too close. She could see the crystalline structure of his blue eyes, like agates.

She held her breath and shoved his chest, hard. "Get away from me! I'm poison, don't you get it? And if you go into those woods, you're going to die like Professor Rudolph." She tied her thin wool scarf over her mouth and nose like a surgical mask.

"He was old," said Ducky. "He had problems. Maybe we saw him wandering because of a mental breakdown. He still could have died of natural causes."

She looked up at Ducky, The angular planes of his face were like porcelain, subtly strong, but not unbreakable.

"Why can't I make you understand? This thing could become an epidemic."

"Maybe you should sit down." Ducky offered her the driver's seat. "You saved Marta from choking to death. You said she looked like she was dead when you started CPR. You're still in shock, that's all..."

"It's not me," said Tonya. Why wasn't he listening to her? He seemed like a nice guy but here he was, discounting everything she said, as if she were some hysterical female.

"Just promise me you'll help me cancel the installation," she said, "and the bonfire too."

"Sorry. It's not mine to cancel." He looked at his phone. "I'm late. I promised Priya I'd get the last cameras to her half an hour ago."

"So a few more minutes won't kill you." Tonya took his arm and led him down the stairs into the clubhouse. She had been going about this all wrong. Ducky was rational, and he wasn't going to see a supernatural cause for anything, no matter how much evidence she could tell him about. He wasn't going to believe until he saw these things for himself.

When they sat down at the table, Tonya began to explain, being careful to breathe softly through the scarf. "Lynette and I went looking for Roberto this morning," she started. Tonya described the Herbal Healing Shop after it got hit with the unexplained fire, the shattered jars, and the unnatural burn marks. "My Aunt and Roberto went missing from the hospital," she said. "This and the strange eating compulsion, must be related. I think they walked out of there, unconscious, just like Professor Rudolph."

"I'm really sorry about your Aunt," said Ducky. He reached for her hand and, although she probably shouldn't, she let him take it. His hand was warm and calloused, and holding it made her feel calmer.

"Now do you believe me?" she said. "Something really bad is happening. Help me convince Priya to move the installation. I can't fight magic and Priya all by myself."

Judging by his frown and furrowed brow, Tonya guessed she couldn't count on his help just yet.

"You have to call the police and tell them to pick up Professor Rudolph's body," said Ducky. "And if your parents and your Aunt have gone missing, you should report it to the police.

"Okay, but you'll help me call off the bonfire tonight, right?"

"You're looking at this wrong. Tonight we should remember Professor Rudolph. The bonfire will be like a wake, and we can all drink a toast and remember him. He was a special professor, loved by many. People need to mourn."

"He's contagious," although she wasn't quite sure how that worked. Did things like this have an incubation period, like diseases? "He was eating himself to death, just like Marta, and then a magical force drew him to the tree. Remember when we couldn't stop him, no matter how hard we tried?"

"That makes no sense."

"In Loon Lake magic runs in families. There's a reason why the town stays so small. Outsiders aren't welcome because they don't understand how things work." She was overstating the case a little. Even most Loon Lakers didn't know about magic, and Loon Lake welcomed tourists every summer, but with few jobs, there was no great influx of people seeking residence.

"Professor Rudolph is dead, and you think it was some kind of magical disease? Do you know how crazy that sounds?" He crossed his arms.

"A local would understand. Listen." She pulled out her phone and called the hospital and asked for Reception. When Donna answered, she set it to speaker phone so Ducky could hear everything.

"Hello, this is Tonya. Remember Professor Rudolph? We found his body lying under the Three-Century Ash, out by Aunt Helene's Healing Shop."

Donna sounded excited to hear this. She listened as Tonya described the white, hair like roots growing out of the ground, and into all the openings in his head.

"That's just terrible," she said. "Evil forces are at work in Loon Lake again."

Finally, somebody who believed her! She arched an eyebrow at Ducky and smiled. To Donna she said: "Do you think you could get word out to the other old families? When I was growing up, my parents never told me who was who."

"I'll send an ambulance to pick up the body. And Tonya, take care of yourself." Tonya thanked her and hung up.

"I'm not being pranked, am I?" He frowned.

"Can I borrow your car? I need to get something from the hospital."

"Something more important than getting the equipment to Priya?"

"You still don't believe me?"

"I don't know," he said, "but the lady at the hospital does. Either it's a mass hallucination, or this town really is hiding something."

"So you'll lend me the car?"

"I'm coming with you."

"Sorry. Every moment you spend with me is another chance you'll get infected."

"But you need somebody to help you."

"I need somebody to stop the festivities. Can you do it?"

"I don't know..."

Tonya held out her hand. "Give me the keys." She didn't have time to wait around while he dithered. If Ducky was plan A to stop Priya, she probably needed a plan B, and for that she definitely needed some equipment.

He surrendered the keys. "Get back as soon as you can."

On impulse, Tonya kissed him on the cheek, right through her scarf. She ran up the stairs.

 *****************************************************

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