CHAPTER FIVE

“She’s rather mean,” Beth declares as I stand outside her shower stall with her change of clothes. Unfortunately, she was one of the few students who got completely covered in the mud. Abigail, Anderson, and a couple of others had the same experience.

I opted to come with Beth to help her shower and get changed quickly.

“Why was she getting so personal with you, Taylor?” comes another voice from the stall over.

I recognize Kathleen Turner’s voice. I don’t know what exactly she is but I’ve not really interacted with her. She’s an oddball, preferring to hang out by herself. So, it comes as a little bit of a shock to have her try and initiate a conversation with me.

“Ah,” I mutter, “maybe because she’s crazy? I don’t even know her.”

From under the sound of the rushing water, I hear her laugh. “She has it out for you. You know she seemed to know I was part of your team because when she came up to me, she was like ‘you’re a traitor now.’ Do you think she had the paper marked or something?”

“Awfully chatty, aren’t we, Kathleen?” comes another voice just as Susan Bree, a younger girl, steps out of her stall, wearing a towel. Susan can’t be older than fourteen but she’s a temperamental little thing.

She spends a lot of time in the infirmary, so I barely see her outside of classes.

“I’m just saying,” Kathleen sounds defensive. “I thought counselors were supposed to be unbiased. At first, she seemed nice but she almost sounded like she was targeting you, Taylor.”

Susan shrugs, meeting my gaze as she picks up her clothes from where they are folded on the sink, “I heard about this girl though. She’s insanely smart. A genius or something-“

The door to Abigail’s stall is thrown open with a bang and her eyes are as wide as saucers, “Wait! She’s the Rachel Adkins?!”

I just ignore them, knocking on Beth’s door, “You okay?”

I heard her make a distressed sound. “Taylor, my hand is looking strange again.”

I blink. “Have you tried the breathing exercise?”

“It’s not working.”

Susan, who is pulling on her jeans, hobbles forward, “Open the door, Beth. Let me see.”

“N-No.”

“Don’t be a baby,” Susan buttons up her jeans. “I can help.”

The door slides open and Beth slowly emerges.

Her left hand is covered in a silverish blonde fur, thick, dangerous looking claws extending from where her nails should be. Her breathing is shallow. “I can’t make it turn back. What do I do? What do I do, Taylor?”

Since this isn’t the first time this has happened, I’m relatively calmer. “Okay, maybe stop crying first.”

“I’m not crying!” she wails loudly, clinging on to me.

Susan laughs and Kathleen shakes her head. “Just remember the breathing exercises, Beth.”

“Hello?” Abigail looks annoyed. “Did no one hear me? Our new counselor is a genius!”

“I think it’s more that no one gives a crap, Abigail,” I respond, irritably, as Susan walks Beth through her breathing exercise.

I watch Beth’s fur retract into her skin and I stare at it in awe.

None of the Level Ones have gone through a full transformation. It’s the wolves who keep spurting fur every now and then. Beth always panics when she does, which would be funny if she didn’t get so hysterical.

I hand over her clothes. “There, it’s gone. Go change. I’m starving and we still have fifteen minutes for the mess to close.”

She sniffles and retreats into the stall to change.

“Imagine,” Abigail is still talking, all wide-eyed, “someone like Rachel Adkins being our instructor. She’s like the best of the best.”

“And yet she’s stuck here, teaching us,” I retort, my gaze fixed on Beth’s stall door.

“You sound jealous,” Abigail says, tauntingly.

“Yes,” I roll my eyes, “because it’s my dream to work at a camp for all things supernatural. You really got me there, Abigail.”

Susan snickers and Kathleen hides her grin.

Abigail just splutters, “Y-You just wish you could be like her.”

“Can you just leave already Abigail?” I sneer at her. “And take your one-person fan club with you.”

Outraged, Abigail storms off just as Beth exits the stall, looking pale but less shaken.

Everybody has already changed, and as Susan and Kathleen leave, Beth and I linger behind for a moment.

“Even they think it was targeted,” Beth murmurs.

My lips press into a thin line. “Forget it. Let’s hope this was a one-time incident.”

As we head to the mess, I have a feeling that this might not be the last time Rachel tries to come after me.

***

I have my therapy session today.

I’ve missed the last few because adjusting to the Level One island was not as easy as I had thought. I’ve not seen Dr. Sherry Brown, the therapist here at Mistfall Wilderness Camp, since that morning in Director Yearwood’s office.

I had been sure she would try to rope me into some extra sessions to cope with whatever happened, but so far all I got was a written message that we would be putting off our sessions for a while.

As I cross the main building, the sun is setting. As I’m passing through a corridor, a pair of hands grab me by the waist and pull me into a dark corner. My scream is barely out of my mouth when a hand stops the sound from coming out.

“It’s me,” Jesse’s laughing voice makes my skin tingle.

I shake off his hand, turning around, only to be pressed into his chest, his hands locking themselves behind my back. For a moment, I forget what I was supposed to be annoyed about. And then when his mouth lowers to mine, I blink and lean back. “Hold on. What are you doing here?”

He makes a face. “Waiting for you?”

“Really?”

I can’t prevent my anger from leaking out. “So, you want to tell me what happened after I left last night?”

He blinks and then, “Oh, that. Nothing much. I left as well. No point in sticking around when you weren’t there. Who was I going to make out with? Myself?”

He grins as if proud of himself for making that joke.

But I’m not laughing. “So, you didn’t spend the whole night ‘catching up’ with your ex-girlfriend?”

Jesse’s expression stiffens. “What?”

“That’s what I heard,” I look him straight in the eye. “In fact, she said so herself, after implying that I have a nightly routine of sneaking out with any guy I can get my hands on. That part was fun to hear. Not at all insulting.”

“Rachel said that?” Jesse looks a little unconvinced. “Are you sure?”

Something cold forms in the pit of my stomach and I take a step back, staring at him, before asking slowly, “Is that so hard to believe?”

“I mean,” Jesse tries to defend himself, “she’s not that type of person. Or at least I don’t remember her like that. Rachel is really chill. Always has been.”

“I’m sure,” I murmur.

He doesn’t believe me.

Jesse must have noticed something off about my demeanor because he immediately tries to backtrack, “I’m not saying you’re lying-“

“-How are you making this worse?” I gape at him.

“I just-“ he looks flustered and I shake my head.

“I have to go. I can’t do this right now.” I turn around and have just taken a few steps before I stop and look over my shoulder, my voice cool. “I do like you, Jesse. But if I find out you’re just messing around with me, you’re going to see a side of me which might just give you nightmares.”

My peace said, I keep walking, my hands clenched by my sides.

He never denied it.

That’s what’s eating at me.

I make my way up the steps to Dr. Brown’s office. On reaching the unassuming, gray-colored door, I take a deep breath. The last thing I want to do is discuss the crap-show that just happened. While Dr. Brown has been nothing short of kind towards me, and I do like her, it doesn’t mean that my distrust of therapists has suddenly vanished and I want to bare my soul to her.

A little mystery is good for every relationship, professional or personal.

When I knock on the door, the usually gentle voice that I expect to hear sounds almost tired, “Come in.”

Opening the door, I walk in, only to go still.

Dr. Brown has a sweet face, with wide brown eyes and round-rimmed glasses. Her curls have always been frizzy, over the top, suiting her perfectly, and her clothes have always been immaculate, always a pencil skirt and a cheery looking bouse. But right now, her eyes have dark circles under them and her pallor is almost grayish.

She doesn’t get up to greet me, instead gesturing at me to sit down.

I slowly take a seat, my eyes fixed on how weak she looks. “Ah, this is a new look for you.”

Her lips twitch at my dry assessment. “I can see the concern in your eyes, Taylor, but you don’t have to worry. I’ve just caught a bad bug.”

“You’re not worried about passing it on to me?” I question, hesitantly.

Her laugh is quiet, “It’s not that kind of bug. But I’ve already taken too many days off and I thought it apt that we continue our sessions.”

“I thought you gave me a break to settle in.”

She smiles, weakly, “Not at all. In fact, I should have been there to help you.”

“It’s okay. You kinda look like you’re the one who needs help right now. Um, do you want me to make you some tea or something?”

“Would you?” She beams at me. “And one for yourself, of course.”

I’ve seen her make it enough times for me to follow the steps. By the time I carry over the delicate cups, she has some color in her cheeks.

I put down her cup before sitting across from her and setting down my own tea. I will never admit to anybody how much I’ve begun to like having tea. Despite her obvious exhaustion, Dr. Brown’s eyes are warm as she looks at me. “It’s nice to see you looking like you’ve settled in your skin a little bit.”

“Is that how it looks?”

She just raises a brow, sipping her tea.

“It’s okay,” I finally shrug. “At least I don’t feel like I’m insane, seeing and hearing things.”

“How are you doing, though?” Dr. Brown presses. “After everything that happened down in the tunnels, you must have concerns, things you want to talk about.”

“Will you answer all my questions truthfully?” I ask, wryly.

Her smile is meaningful and I know she won’t.

“Annabelle died,” I murmur. “She knew something about my dad’s death.”

Annabelle was the first counselor I met when I arrived at Mistfall Wilderness Camp. A perky and cheerful person, I would never have guessed that she had been a traitor all along. She, along with another counselor, Regan, had kidnapped my best friend in an attempt to open the vaults that lay under the islands. She had ultimately died but had revealed a secret to me just before she did. A secret about my father.

“The Director told you she lied.”

I’m silent, before I say, “Yeah.”

I don’t believe it though.

There was no way she would have known about my sister.

I need answers but I don’t think I’ll get them here. The only person who knows the truth is sitting in a trailer far away from here. I need to see Dolores. My stepmother might be the only one who knows the truth.

What does Dad’s death have to do with me coming here? And how is it linked to what happened to Jane?

My sister’s disappearance is a memory that is blurred and filled with a grief that rises up at random moments. I have never been able to remember what happened to her. I don’t remember talking to Dad about it. All I know is that one moment she was here and the next she wasn’t and everything is fuzzy.

But Annabelle knew something.

She implied that Dolores knew something about Jane which is why she approached my dad in the first place. But what?

“Taylor?” Dr. Brown studies me, questioningly. “Where did you go just now?”

I open my mouth.

I could tell her all this, have somebody to confide in about the tangled web of confusion within my head. But I force myself to stop. I have to confront Dolores. And that means finding a way off this island first. If Dr. Brown figures out my intentions, she might try and stop me.

So, I give her a wan smile. “Nowhere. Just thinking about how difficult the physical classes are.”

“Is that so?”

I can tell she doesn’t buy my excuse but my eyes linger on Dr. Brown’s appearance and a new questions pops up in my head.

What on earth happened to her?