The Innocent: Chapter 5 (Patreon)

Notes: Posting this one a little early because I'm going to be traveling the next two days. Read away, my beautiful patrons!

Index

Chapter 5

Kyla

The bell for the end of fifth period rang, and I was the first student out of my seat. Devon Nealy’s girlfriend sat on the opposite side of the room as me, closest to the door, so I’d prepared by packing up my bag over a minute ago. I rushed across the room, getting blocked by the rest of the students trying to leave and standing on my tiptoes to try and keep track of her. By the time I made it out, I had to search up and down the hall to see which direction she’d gone. I caught sight of her black braid down the left, so I hurried to catch up to her.“Hi,” I said. She glanced over at me, and I was paying attention during class to get her name. “Catalina, right?”“Yeah,” she answered, and her pace slowed a bit as she seemed open to conversation. “But Cat’s okay too.”“Kyla,” I introduced, holding out my hand. While she took it, I said, “I sit across the room in math.”“Right,” she recalled, shuffling off to the side so she could stop and we weren’t blocking the hall. “I think I sat by you the first day, until we got assigned seats.” I nodded, smiling. She looked tired. There were dark bags under her dim brown eyes like she hadn’t slept a wink all weekend, and probably hadn’t wanted to come to school either. She wasn’t overly enthusiastic – to say the least – but she was talking, which was a good sign. “Where’s your accent from?”“Texas,” I said. She nodded and leaned back against the wall. We both stood there for a few seconds in silence while I worked up the courage to ask what I’d started this conversation for. “So uh, I ain’t trying to be rude, but I was wondering if I could ask you about… well... about Devon.”Her face fell, and she pushed off the wall while motioning down the hall. “I’m going to be late for sixth period.”“Cat, wait,” I put my hand gently on her arm, “let me explain. See, you probably heard about Patrick, right?” That got her to pause. “And I know Patrick’s brother, Travis, was friends with Devon, and the whole thing’s a bit peculiar, is all.”“Why do you care?” she asked, sounding loads less inviting than she had a minute ago.“Can I be honest with you?” I asked, and she gave a hesitant nod. “Patrick had a strange mark on his hand, and Devon had some too.”Her aversion faded to something like interest. “You know something about it?”“I know some,” I admitted. “I know the cops ain’t sure what to make of it. I’m just trying to help, but I need to know anything you can tell me.”“The cops came to question me,” she said quietly, her gaze dropping. “Wanted to know why he had my bracelet. They couldn’t tell me anything though.”I nodded my understanding. “Did you tell them anything?”“As much as wouldn’t make me sound crazy,” she said. “What do you want to know?”“Why’d Devon have your bracelet?” I asked.She shrugged. “It went missing last week, I thought I’d never see it again... Now I don’t think I want to.”“When’d you lose it?” I asked. “Before Patrick died?”“After,” she answered.“What about Devon?”“Before,” she said.“You think he took it from you?”“Devon?” she asked, and I nodded. “No. He told me to keep it when we broke up, he wouldn’t have stolen it back.”“You weren’t together anymore?” I asked in shock. She hadn’t been at school and she still looked so upset about his death, it was hard to imagine they weren’t dating. “Why’d you wear it?”“We were childhood sweethearts,” she said, the corners of her mouth twitched up like she wanted to give a reminiscent smile, but they immediately fell to a frown. “I guess part of me hoped someday I’d forgive him.”A moment of silence hovered in the air, and I knew she was waiting for me to ask, “For what?”She took in a deep breath, and it was shaky when she let it out again. “Devon and Travis were really good friends since elementary school, but a couple of years ago, Travis started getting into some weird stuff.”“Weird?” I prompted.“Yeah, like, freaky witchcraft stuff.” She shuddered, studying me to see if I was put off from wanting to hear what she had to say. I gave her an encouraging nod. “Devon went along with it for a while because it was harmless, but Travis started getting serious. It was all talk at first, but he’d say how real power needed sacrifices, and then it wasn’t talk anymore.”“People?” I asked, trying to keep the horror off my face.“No,” she answered, “not at first. It was animals. Small ones, and then bigger ones.” She swallowed hard, shaking her head. “Devon was already scared, but when Travis started talking about people, he got terrified.”“What’d he do?” I asked. “Tell the police?”“He couldn’t,” she said. “He was too scared that Travis would get mad and curse him or something. Travis was already taking things out on people for less. Caused a teacher’s car accident because of a failing grade. She’s fine, but she had a few broken bones.”“Cat,” I said seriously, “what’d he do?”Her eyes flooded with tears, and she sniffled and looked away until she could speak again. “Travis, um,” she swallowed and cleared her throat, “he wasn’t a good swimmer. They used to go out to the lake and get drunk and… and Devon dared him to swim out to the sunken canoe in the middle.”I knew that lake, we passed it all the time on runs. “There ain’t a sunken canoe out there.”“No,” she agreed, brushing the back of her hand over her cheek and wiping away a stray tear, “but Devon got him drunk and convinced him there was.”“Devon was sober that day,” I said. “I read it in the news.” Cat nodded, lips pursing to hold back another frown. “He planned it,” I realized. “He took Travis there just to let him drown.”“It was wrong,” Cat whimpered, looking up toward the ceiling and trying to blink away her tears. “He was scared and didn’t know what else to do, but I couldn’t look him in the eyes afterward.” The right thing to do would’ve been to tell someone long before she’d told me, but getting mad at Cat wouldn’t solve anything, so I kept my thoughts to myself. “Do you know what happened to him?” she asked tearfully.“I think-” I paused, taking another minute to consider everything she told me and compare it to what I already knew. “I think Travis was teaching Patrick. Patrick did something before he died, and it might’ve caused Devon’s death.” Cat’s eyebrows met in the middle while her eyes filled with fresh tears. “I ain’t sure exactly what’s going on,” I told her. “The safest thing for you might be to steer clear of this. No telling if Patrick knew you knew about it.”“You think I’m in danger?” she asked.“I’m sure you’re alright,” I lied. I had no idea if she was safe or not. “Better not to take chances though, if you ask me.”She nodded, sniffling some more. “I think I’ll go home.”“Thanks for talking to me,” I said, offering the most grateful smile as seemed appropriate.She walked away, and I’d been so wrapped up in our conversation that I didn’t hear the bell for sixth period ring. It must’ve though, because there wasn’t anybody left in the halls. I jogged across campus to my final class of the day, smiling apologetically at the teacher while I ducked in late. As much as I’d have loved to spend the entire period thinking about everything Cat told me, I had a test that lasted the entirety of it. I started ruminating a bit while I walked back to my dorm room, but as I reached the door, those thoughts left my mind. There was a horrible sound filtering through, and though I knew it was my guitar, it’d never sounded so bad.I opened the door, spotting Camille sitting on the edge of the bed with the instrument in her lap, and I couldn’t help snorting. “What’re you doing?”She laughed, picking at more strings in anything but a rhythmic order. “I was just seeing how hard it is to play.”“And?” I asked, dropping my backpack on the floor near the desk.“It’s really hard,” she chuckled. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”“Well, first of all,” I laughed, striding over, “you’re holding down the most random combination of chords I’ve ever seen.” I pecked her on the cheek in greeting as I reached down to adjust her fingers. “Second, it might help if the pick wasn’t stuck in the strings.” I pulled it out from where I stored it tucked into the strings, putting it in her strumming hand. “Try this,” I moved her hand with the pick to the bottom, and guided her through each motion, “down, up, down and mute. Then up, down, up, down and mute.” She repeated it on her own slowly for a few seconds until she got the rhythm, then picked up speed a little bit. She only played it for about twenty seconds, but she was grinning by the time she stopped. “Look at that,” I said with a smile, “you can play guitar.”“Yeah,” she set the instrument down on the floor by the foot of the bed, “but I think I’ll leave it to you.”“Maybe you could sing instead,” I suggested, stepping between her legs and slipping my arms around her neck. "We could do a duet."“I’ll spare us all the torture,” she laughed.“It’s alright,” I assured her, and there was a flare in our connection that let me know she was catching onto my flirtatious tone, “you got other talents.”She hummed curiously as her hands landed on my hips. “Like what?”“Well, you’re a really,” I set my forehead against hers, “really,” our noses brushed, “really,” I skimmed her lips with mine, “great kisser.”“Yeah?” One hand fell to the back of my knee, bringing it up past her hips to set it on the bed.“I think so,” I answered. Her lips were still grazing mine, but as much as I wanted to kiss her, I loved the tension in the connection every time we waited as long as possible.“You think so?” She reached down behind my other knee, and I shifted my weight so she could lift that too, bringing it up onto the bed beside her other hip so I was straddling her. All I did was hum an agreement while I sat back in her lap, and while her hands rounded the curve of my hips. “Maybe I should prove it to you.”I let my eyes drift closed, basking in the final moments of tension while I whispered against her mouth, “Maybe you should.”The second her open lips finally met mine, everything else melted away. I could even hear my cellphone start vibrating from my backpack on the floor, but I didn’t care. There was only her. Her soft lips guiding mine apart. Her smooth tongue grazing the tip of mine. Her strong but gentle hands clutching at my hips to bring me closer. Her loose blonde curls like silk between my fingers. I’d have forgotten about everything and everyone if her phone didn’t start ringing seconds after mine stopped.Her hands loosened on my hips, her lips closed against mine in a final kiss, but she didn’t pull completely away. I could feel her breath skimming my jawline toward my ear as she said, “That’s either Luna or Abby.” I hummed my agreement. “Should I answer it?”“Probably.” But my hand didn’t want to leave her hair. I didn’t want her lips to leave my skin.She pressed one last kiss to the edge of my jaw while one hand left my hip to grab her cellphone. “Hello?” she answered, putting it on speakerphone.“Hey.” It was Abby. “I tried calling Kyla but she didn’t pick up.”“She’s here,” Camille told her. “You’re on speaker.”“Hey, Kyla,” she said. “Did you lose your phone or something?”“No, I have it,” I answered.“Oh.” Abby paused, and I could almost hear her thinking about why I’d have my phone on me and not answer it. “Oh,” she realized, “you guys are busy. I can call back later.”“It’s okay,” Camille laughed, but her cheeks shaded pink, and I couldn’t help grabbing her face to kiss it. “What’s up?”“I finished getting those pictures from the morgue translated. I was going to see if you wanted to meet me in the cafeteria in an hour for dinner.”Camille glanced at me to double-check. “Yeah,” I said. “I talked to Devon’s ex-girlfriend too, I’ll tell you what she said.”“Sounds great. I’ll see you both soon.”Camille and I said ‘bye,’ and then Camille hung up and tossed the phone sideways onto the bed. She was staring at me, thinking hard about something, and it took her a long minute to say, “Kyla?”“Hm?”She leaned back on her hands, putting some distance between us so she could see me better. “Would you work with the Council, if it was an option?”“Ain’t that what we’re doing already?” I asked.“I mean… not really.” She shrugged. “We’re working with Abby, it’s different.”“If Abby wasn’t in the picture?” I asked, and she nodded. My gaze dropped to the bed while I considered it, and then I met her eyes again. “No, I don’t think I would.”“Really?” A surprised crease formed between her eyebrows. “It’s just that you’re so eager to help, I thought you’d do it if you needed to.”“Well, it’s like you said, we’re working with Abby and it’s different. I trust her.” I set my hands on Camille’s stomach, tracing her muscled anatomy through her shirt. “But when everything happened with the phantoms… I don’t think her dad would’ve cared much about getting you out alive if it didn’t mean saving people from you being possessed. I don’t trust him.” My hands traveled up past her torso and chest so I could cup her face. “I know this is important to me, but you’re more important than all of it. I wouldn’t put your life in the Council’s hands because they don’t value it the same as I do.” Camille nodded, tilting her head to press a kiss to my palm. “Is this because of what I said the other day? About you being scared and needing to buck up? Because I didn’t mean it like I don’t care what happens to you so long as we’re helping.”“No, I know,” she said, “I’m over that. I was just wondering what you thought about the Council because Abby and I were talking about it.”I shrugged. “Tell you the truth, I don’t think about it much.”“Okay.” She pursed her mouth to one side, and there was a smile in her beautiful brown eyes as she said, “But uh, just so you know,” and she gave a smooth push of her hips beneath me, “I can still buck up if you need me to…”I couldn’t help laughing as I dropped forward to kiss her, and she fell completely to her back. “We ain’t got time anymore,” I said into her lips.“We have time if we’re quick.” Her hands slid up my thighs and inward, reaching for the button of my jeans. It was what I wanted anyway, and I was about to give in when there was a knock on the door. Camille groaned, tossing her arms out to either side of her while I straightened out of the kiss. “Luna, I hate you,” she called.From outside the room came a muffled, “How’d you know it was me?”“Because,” Camille said, “you have the world’s worst timing.”Luna finally tried the door, finding it unlocked and letting herself in. “My bad,” she said when she saw the position Camille and I were in. “You can finish later.” Camille stretched a little farther for a pillow, chucking it at her sister while I rolled off of her. Luna caught the pillow easily, laughing and throwing it back. “What are we doing for dinner? I could probably eat three whole cows right now.”“Meeting Abby in the cafeteria,” I told her.“The food here sucks,” Luna sighed, dropping into the desk chair. “Let’s go home, I volunteer Camille to cook.”“Abby can’t come over,” Camille said, and in response to the confused look on Luna’s face, added, “her father’s the Council director, Eli’s pissed at the Council…”“Oh, yeah.” She hopped out of the chair. “Fine, shitty food it is. Let’s go.”Camille and I climbed off the bed, and after grabbing my cellphone out of my backpack, we followed Luna out the door. I texted Abby on the way there to tell her we were going early.“Come on,” Luna whined the moment we walked into the dining hall, inhaling through her nose. “It’s Meatloaf Monday. Abby owes me big time.”Camille rolled her eyes. “We’ll grab a table.”Camille and I sat down at the most private empty table we could find, and Luna found us a couple of minutes later with her tray stacked unreasonably high for the food being bad. “Hey,” she said as she fell into the seat beside me, leaning over the table to get closer to us, “that girl works here.”We both looked over at the food counters. It was that girl from their classes, who lived in the room next to Patrick’s. Constance. Students were allowed to serve food as a part-time job, but we hadn’t had dinner here since we’d started noticing her.We were in the process of nodding when Luna reached across me to shove a forkful of meatloaf under Camille’s nose. “Smell that,” she instructed, and when Camille made a face and tried to pull her head back, Luna leaned even farther. “Tell me that’s not something other than beef.”“You’re so obnoxious,” Camille laughed, pushing Luna’s arm away.“Roadkill, maybe?” Luna asked, sticking it under her own nose. “Raccoon? Squirrel? A combination of-”“It’s beef,” Abby said, dropping down into the chair beside Camille. “Repurposed from Cheeseburger Saturday with the leftover buns.”“Cheap bastards,” Luna mumbled, gesturing with her forkful of meatloaf, “that’s why the food is horrible.”“At least it don’t taste like cardboard,” I pointed out.“Ever the optimist,” she said, grimacing as she stuffed the meatloaf into her mouth and adding around the bite, “I admire that about you. Say something else to get me through this.”I studied her tray of food for a second and said, “And you got chocolate pudding to wash the taste out of your mouth after.”Luna pointed her finger at me. “I knew we recruited you for a reason.”“I’m getting in line,” Camille laughed.Abby and I followed her, picking up trays and carrying them down the counter while the student workers piled on food. It wasn’t until we got toward the end that we reached Constance. I didn’t know what to expect, and I certainly wasn’t expecting the smile she gave me.“Hi, Kyla,” she said.“Hey.” I tossed a confused glance back at Camille and Abby, and both of them nodded to get me to say more to her. “How are you?”“Well,” Constance answered. “Pudding?” She held up a ladle full of chocolate pudding.“Please,” I extended my tray, “thank you.” While she put a bowl onto it and dropped pudding in, I asked, “Just wondering if you happened to hear anything strange last week? You know… when Patrick died.”“No,” Constance answered. “Here." She reached over with another ladle full of pudding. “Have some extra.” And she put not one, but two extra scoops in my bowl. Camille and Abby were gawking, and I didn’t know what to say or do, so I smiled gratefully and moved down the line.“Hi, Constance,” Camille greeted, holding up her tray. Constance didn’t say anything, but put a bowl onto it. “I don’t suppose I could get a little ex-”“No.” Constance slopped the pudding so carelessly into Camille’s dish that half of it fell onto the tray. “Next.”Camille looked dumfounded as she left the line, and when Abby reached us a few moments later, her pudding had received the same treatment. “What’s her deal?” Camille asked while we carried our food back to the table.“I seriously can’t tell,” Abby answered. “Her brain is Censorship City.”“How’s she do it?” I asked.Abby shrugged. “Could be magic, or she could be some kind of supernatural I’ve never met before, or it could just be she’s wired differently.”“She seems to like Kyla okay,” Camille said. “You sure you’ve never met her before?” And she added under her breath, “Saved her life or something dramatic.”I laughed, trying not to look too amused because I really did feel bad about their lack of dessert. We sat down at our table, and even Luna noticed my dish, because she asked, “Who’d you bribe for that?”“Constance has a crush on her or something,” Camille griped.“Don’t worry,” I said, throwing my arm around Camille’s shoulders and pulling her in so I could kiss her cheek. “It’d take at least five scoops of pudding to win my heart.” Luna and Abby laughed while Camille passed me a half-hearted glare out the side of her eyes. I took my first bite of meatloaf and looked at Abby, “What’d you find out?”“The four words on Devon,” Abby said, washing down her bite of food with some water. “They’re a phrase. Alisded bi dreares geut.” She paused, but we all just stared at her. “I thought dreares meant ‘heart,’ but it doesn’t. It’s blood. Redeemed by shed blood.”“Reedemed?” Camille repeated. “Redeemed from what?”“Murder,” I said, leaning forward so I could talk quieter, and they all leaned in with interest. “Devon’s ex-girlfriend, Catalina, told me that Travis Prevost was practicing.”“That’s where Patrick learned it,” Abby guessed.I nodded my agreement. “Travis was getting out of hand and Devon got scared. So he got Travis drunk, knowing he couldn’t really swim, and took him out to the lake.”“He drowned him?” Luna asked.“Let him drown,” I corrected, “but I suppose it’s the same thing, and Patrick had to know.”“So this was about revenge,” Abby said. “But who, or what, killed Devon?”Luna took in a startled breath, whispering, “It was Travis’s ghost.”“Seriously?” Camille asked in exasperation, and then gestured her fork at Abby. “You’re the expert, how likely is it that a ghost killed Devon?”“Stop, I’m not an expert,” Abby laughed, her cheeks tinting a flattered shade of red. But then she cleared her throat and said, “I don’t think it’s likely. Travis’s death doesn’t exactly fit the criteria for creating a vengeful ghost, and they aren’t so meticulous about killing. They definitely wouldn’t move a body to the middle of the woods.”“Why that phrase on Devon’s arms and feet?” I asked. “If Patrick just wanted revenge, why’d he bother with something like that?”“It wasn’t Patrick,” Abby said. “It was someone else. Something else.”“Something like what?” Luna asked.“It could’ve been some kind of a spirit… Revenge is usually their thing.”“You said it wasn’t a ghost!” Luna objected.“Spirits and ghosts are different,” Abby said.Luna rolled her eyes. “Potato, pot-ah-to.”“Think it’s still around?” Camille asked Abby.“I doubt it,” she answered. “Spirits with a purpose don’t linger. We might be investigating a closed case at this point…”Even though I’d been eager to help solve this, it seemed like good news that nobody else might get hurt. I certainly wasn’t as disappointed as I might’ve thought about not being able to catch the killer. “I guess only time will tell,” I said, and the others nodded their agreement.

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