✖ Chapter 17 ✖

        IT DIDN'T TAKE long to notice that Jessie had not been introduced, thus putting my instincts forward and on alert. A part of me crushed inside, like I had nearly believed my brother had not meant to hurt me all these years and then the hopes were torn to shreds. But he looked as if he were speaking the truth, and Marcus said he was...

        I decided I couldn't trust Marcus, but I knew that much already. So I politely excused myself from the room, Raven and Rose both following me. I think Rose did because she could feel the sudden tension radiating off me, and Raven just happened to be my new puppy or something.

        My eyes scanned the busy village quickly, but to no avail did I see a familiar brown head like mine. I chewed the inside of my cheek, figuring asking Raven couldn't hurt. "Raven."

        "Hmm?"

        "Do you know where Jessie went?"

        "The boy that stole your face?" She hummed. "I don't remember him coming out of the forest."

        I pursed my lips but Rose was already halfway over to the wooded area we had emerged from. I was hoping more than I should that he had maybe gotten confused with all the people and just got some odd form of stage fright. Which, obviously, was unlikely but I tried to keep my hopes in a safe place. I didn't want to be too damaged when I found out my brother had been controlled yet again to make me believe he wasn't.

        How screwed up and confusing this had all became.

        Raven grabbed the hem of my shirt just as I started following Rose. I looked down to see her eyes held worry. "Is he the bad clone?"

        Not feeling up to explaining twins to the little girl, I just heaved a sigh. "Let's hope not" was all I managed to get out.

         And all I had time to.

        Rose had yelled my name in a panicked tone, one that was unnerving and horrifying and that I would probably never forget. It was enough for almost every towns person to look up and in her direction, and she was frantically clawing out of the trees, eyes huge and mortified.

        She stopped panting long enough to say shakily, "We have a problem."

***

        I didn't remember him trailing behind at any point during the time it took to follow Raven and the other kids. I'm still not sure how such a thing had happened with us so close and yet we hadn't heard a thing. But it was real.

        He was hanging from a tree with a noose pulled tight around his neck, his arms flashing deep gashes as if this were staged as some form of suicide. I hadn't hesitated it running over, lifting his knees and praying there was still a pulse, but my mind was reeling, almost beginning to throb at how spontaneous and eerie this was.

        "He's still breathing," I told Rose after clasping one of his wrists in my hand for a pulse. The other men who had followed us out here, all gaping in horror. "Help me get him down."

        Rose was the first to move, then a few villagers came up. I had told Raven to stay away, and yet there she was peering from around the trees, her eyes huge and jaw agape. I made a mental note to scold her later if her mother didn't beat me to it.

        "How did this happen?" Rose asked, her hands shaking. "He was behind us with Daniel the whole time, I thought."

        Before I could answer, Jane was elbowing her way through the mass of people. She informed everyone she was a nurse to get through, but took a moment to examine Jessie, her face blanched. She recovered quickly, snapping into actions and barking orders.

        "Someone get me some peroxide, bandages, and a bucket of water. Hurry!"

        "Is he gonna be okay?" I asked, my heart thudding in my chest louder each moment his eyes remained closed.

        Jane nodded. "I think so. But he's lost a lot of blood and clearly a lot of oxygen. Was he suicidal?"

        "Not that I knew of," I said, scratching behind my ear. "Things have been... complicated."

        I was thankful when Jane left it at that and questioned no further. She was fumbling around, though, checking his pulse multiple times and wrapping the bandages tightly when the men returned with them. She parted his lips, dripping the water in slowly and as she told us it's "crucial he maintains hydrated."

        A few other men helped me carry him into Jane's house where he was laid out on the couch. She looked apologetic when she told me that's all she could do for now, and that we just needed him to keep breathing and wake up. I felt quite hopeless, honestly.

        Rose sat beside me on the couch opposite of the one Jessie was on and squeezed my hand. Daniel and the others had appeared in the doorway, looking confused and shocked and horrified all the same. Even Marcus seemed to be quite on edge with the entire ordeal, but he said nothing and quickly turned back into the kitchen.

        I was about to go question him due to his suspicious behavior, but something else caught my eye - Jessie's right fist was squeezed shut.

     Leaning closer, I practically gagged when I opened his fingers and saw a piece of paper nailed to his palm. I scrunched my face, pulling the nail out and quickly wrapping a towel around it afterwards. He hadn't done such a thing as flinch when I did so, which also brought my spirits of him staying alive even lower.

        "What is it?" Rose asked, her voice still quaking just the slightest.

        "Not too sure."

        Pursing my lips, I tied the towel around Jessie's hand before attempting to wipe some of the blood off the crumpled piece of paper. There was ink scrawled across it in cursive, but the words were clear enough: 

WHO'S NEXT? 

        My fist slammed closed around the paper, nails digging into my skin but I didn't pay mind to it. Instead, I was trying to solve all of this in my head. My first thought of the attempted murderer was Cecilia, but playing dirty was not her thing.

        Manipulation was, and this was no mind control.

        Unless... 

        "Either Cecilia still has a grasp on his mind, or there's a serial killer in this town," I said to everyone, and Rose carefully pried open my hand. I let her.

        She read the two words aloud in confusion, but everyone in the doorway cowered just the slightest. I was seething. Hating myself, hating the so-called "good guys", hating society and the way it's become - hating everything. I wanted out of it all so damn badly.

        "What do we do?" Megan whispered, fear whelming in her eyes but also anger.

        I stood, chewing the inside of my bottom lip. "I'm tired of running," I bluntly said, shaking my head. "We need to leave, but they'll just keep following us. I don't know what to do anymore."

        My shoulders slumped and I felt great defeat. How could I possibly keep everyone safe if I continued to drag everyone into danger? Why had I become this person? Why couldn't I be someone normal that worked in a gas station with a dull life? That's more appealing than a stressful life constantly on the run. 

        Movement over Daniel's shoulder caught my eye, coming from the kitchen. I squinted before shoving through them in the doorway, quick enough to see Jane grabbing a knife and backing into the counter, shakily pointing it at me. In shock, I slowly raised my hands, unsure of what else to do.

        The tides just keep turning and it's only four in the afternoon.

        "Whoa," I said quietly. "No need for a knife, I promise."

        "I was suspicious the moment Raven brought y'all here," she told me in a hushed tone, sounding more frightened than ever. As if we were the ones with a knife pointed in her direction. "We finally got away from the Council and-"

        "Wait," I interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "The Council used to run this place?"

        Gradually, she began to lower the knife, confusion seeping into her features as well. "Yes. Not even a year ago. Bloody battle, it was. I thought y'all would've known since you're that wicked woman's spies." The hatred in her tone was evident, and I decided I liked her even more for hating Cecilia almost as much as me.

        I shook my head furiously. "We're not spies, trust me. She doesn't like us very much."

        Jane still gripped the handle of the knife tightly, but she lowered it to her side. "T-then... who are you?"

        Shrugging slightly, I glance at everyone else. "Fugitives, I guess you could put it. I've had my fair share of being locked up, so have the others here. We're on your side, okay?"

        She rose an eyebrow. "Fugitives? What have y'all done to be locked up? You look completely normal to me."

        I snorted, almost laughed, and Daniel actually did chuckle under his breath. "You know about witches, right?" I wasn't sure what else to say.

        But it seemed to click and her knife was in the air again. "My God, I thought that was the Council's way of scaring us to keep us in line! I didn't know... your kind was real!"

        Annoyed that she was still waving a knife in my face, as if she could do anything with it as much as her hands were shaking, I let out a sigh before flicking my hand and the knife flew out of her grip and clattered on the floor. Of course, dumb move on my part, it only freaked her out more and she grabbed the next best thing - a frying pan.

        "Oh for God's sake," I muttered. "We're not going to hurt you, okay? I swear on my life that that's not what we intend to do."

        Jane looked at the knife on the floor, then back at me, then at the knife, then at all of us. I hadn't realized she had tears in her eyes until now, which softened me up just a little bit. Why was she crying? I thought it was clear we weren't going to touch her.

        I opened my mouth to try again, but she beat me to it, shaking like a wet dog. "W-what do you w-want from me?"

        Rose stepped in, and I almost praised her for it. "We don't want anything from you," she said quietly in that sweet voice of hers. "We do need a place to stay, but if we aren't welcome anymore, we understand."

        "What?" Daniel scoffed. "No we don't."

        I shot him a glare and he closed his mouth. I looked back to the quivering Jane and gave her a sympathetic look. "Don't mind the shapeshifter. He probably won't mow the grass because it'll 'hurt their feelings', but he might be a good house-service person... if it's still okay for us to be here."

        Jane's eyes widened a little. "Shapeshifters, too?"

        Daniel looked a little smug. "Yup. The best thing I can morph into is a tiger, but I haven't figured out anything else yet. A dragon would be pretty great, but I'm not picky."

        Jane still looked like she couldn't process anything.

        "Maybe you should sit down," Aiden surprised everyone by saying, though his voice was hardly audible.

        Setting the knife down carefully, Jane cautiously looked at us all again, and then seemed near content that she believed we weren't here to harm anyone. She took a wary step towards me and I tried to smile kindly, though it was foreign and difficult to do. 

        "You can still stay," she said quietly, blinking the water from her gaze. "I don't trust you, but I do trust that you're not awful people."

        Daniel snorted. "Gee, thanks."

        Megan elbowed him.

        I gave her a grateful smile to which she nodded in return.

        Jane shook her head some. "This isn't an easy concept to grasp, but it'll work. Hopefully. And if not, there's the door." She pointed as if emphasizing her words. "I don't bet I could take you in a fight, but you don't want to see this aging woman angry."

        Rose smiled. "We don't plan on it. Thank you."

        Jane nodded once, but a pleading look was in her eyes. "And... Raven and Clark..."

        "Won't be harmed," I finished for it. "That's a solid promise."

        She sucked in a breath, biting her bottom lip. "All right, then. Guess this'll be our little secret. Fay'll still be willing to have y'all, and like I said before, we have one spare room. Y'all can sort that out yourselves. And I'll go ask for some spare clothes down at the tailor's."

        Rose thanked her again on behalf of the rest of us, and she even seemed okay with the fact that we left politeness up to her. I was okay with kids, I'd admit that, but it was different with adults. They had a tendency to piss me off quicker, but I was glad Jane didn't seem to have that quality, aside from the knife bit. I could accept a little fear and desperation for protection.

        Raven peeked in the door then, her hand clutching her little brother's. "Are there bad guys here?" she whispered, but it didn't seem like she was talking about us. More like whoever hurt Jessie.

        Her mother smiled at her, glancing at us again before saying, "No, of course not, sweetie. And if there was, they're long gone now, okay? You shouldn't've been out there."

        Raven shrugged and Clark ran inside to wrap his arms around his mother's legs. I bit my lip before turning and wiggling back into the main room, sitting on the couch opposite of Jessie once again. I didn't need to see a mother-child scene when I wasn't even sure who my own was anymore. And the one I thought I had was long gone.

        Raven came in and I heard Rose asking Jane if she needed help getting the extra clothes. I didn't hear the answer before Raven said, "Did ya still wanna see our fancy computer?"

        And it clicked - a little research wouldn't hurt, would it?

        So I said, "Yeah, I'd like to take a look."

        Then she was leading me out the room, and all I could do was pray I found some answers to all the twisted questions.