The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Eighteen

The next morning, Elena woke to rally Damon gone, his masking folded neatly at the foot of her bed. Meredith was dressing for a morning work step forward, sleepy-eyed and silent, and she only nodded as Elena passed her Elena had learned long ago that Meredith was useless for intercourse before shed had her first cup of coffee.Bonnie, who didnt consent class until that laternoon, was only a lump under her c overs.Surely Meredith would have utter something if she had noticed Damon on the floor, Elena thought as she dropped in at the cafeteria to grab a gemstone before class. Maybe Damon hadnt stayed. Elena bit her lip, opinion about that, kicking elfin stones on her way to class. She had thought he would stay, that he would want to take heed and keep her safe.Was it right that she liked that and that she felt more than a hurt of hurt at the idea that he had left?She didnt want Damon to be in love with her, did she?Wasnt straggle of the reason she put her romance with Stef an on hold so that she and Damon could lay each other(a) out of their systems? only ifI am a lousy person, she realized.Musing on her stimulate lousiness took Elena al the way into her History of the South class, where she was doodling sadly in her notebook when Professor Campbel crowd came in. Clearing his throat loudly, he walked to the drift of the class, and Elena reluctantly pul ed her fear away from her own problems to pay attention to him. jam looked different. Unsure of himself, Elena realized. His eyes didnt expect quite as chic as usual, and he appeargond to be somehow smal er. in that respects been another disappearance, he said quietly.An anxious babble rose up from the rest of the class, and he held up his hand. The victim this time and I think we slew say at this point that were talking about victims, not students simply leaving campus is, unfortunately, a student in this class. Courtney Brooks is missing she was last chance onn walking congest to her d orm from a party last night. Scanning the class, Elena tried to think about who Courtney Brooks was. A tal , quiet misfire with caramel-colored hair, she thought, and spotted the misss empty seat. pile raised his hand again to quel the rising clamor of frightened and crazy voices. Because of this, he said slowly, I think that today we must hedge continuing our discussion of the colonial period so that I can tel you a little bit about the story of Dalcrest Col ege. He looked around at the confused faces of the class. This is not, you train, the first time ridiculous things have happened on this campus. Elena frowned and, looking at her classmates, saw her confusion mirrored on their faces.Dalcrest, as many of you doubtlessly know, was beed in 1889 by Simon Dalcrest with the aim of educating the wealthy sons of the postwar Southern aristocracy. He said that he wanted Dalcrest to be considered the Harvard of the South and that he and his family would be at the fore anterior of intel ectualism and academia in the soon-to-begin new century. This lots is frequently featured in the official campus histories.Its less Wellknown that Simons hopes were dashed in 1895 when his wild twenty-year-old son, Wil iam Dalcrest, was found dead with three others in the tunnels underneath the school. It was what appeared to be a suicide pact.Certain materials and symbols found in the tunnels with the bodies suggested some ties to dreary magic. Two years afterward Simons wife, Julia Dalcrest, was brutal y murdered in what is now the administration building the mystery surrounding her death was never solved. Elena glanced around at her classmates. Had they known about this? The col ege brochures mentioned when the school was founded and by who, exactly nothing about suicides and murders. Tunnels underneath the school?Julia Dalcrest is one of at least three distinct ghosts who are rumored to haunt the campus. The other ghosts are those of a seventeen-year-old girl who drown ed, again under confidential circumstances, when visiting for a weekend dance in 1929. She is said to wander wailing through with(predicate) and through the hal s of McClel an House, leaving dripping pools of water after part her. The third is a twenty-one-year-old boy who vanished in 1953 and whose body was found three years later in the library basement. His ghost has reportedly been seen coming in and out of offices in the library, running and looking spinal columnward in terror, as if he is being pursued.There are also rumors of several other mysterious occurrences a student in 1963 disappeared for four days and reappeared, saying he had been kidnapped by elves. A nervous giggle ran through the class, and James waved a reproving finger at his audience. He seemed to be perking up, sWelling thorn to his usual self under the influence of the classs attention.The point is, he said, that Dalcrest is an foreign place. Beyond elves and ghosts, there has been a plethora of documen ted unusual occurrences, and rumors and legends of further more spring up around campus ein truth year.Mysterious deaths. inexplicable societies. Tales of monsters. He paused dramatical y and looked around at them. I beg you, do not be bonk part of the legend. Be smart, be safe, and stick together. partition dismissed.The students glanced at one another uneasily, startled by this abrupt judgement of dismissal with stil more than half an hour left in the class. Regardless, they started to gather their possessions together and trickle out of the room in twos and threes.Elena grabbed her bag and hurried to the front of the room.Professor, she said. James.Ah, Elena, James said. I hope you were paying attention today. It is important that you untried girls be on your guard. The young men, too, real y. Whatever affects this campus does not seem to discriminate. Up close, he looked demented and worried, older than he had at the blood line of the semester.I was very interested in wh at you said about the history of Dalcrest, Elena said. But you didnt talk about whats happening now. What do you think is dismission on here? Professor Campbel s face creased into even erosivemer lines, and his ingenious eyes gazed past her. Well, my dear, he said, its hard to say. Yes, very hard. He cream his lips nervously. Ive spent a lot of time at this school, you know, years and years. Theres not a lot I wouldnt believe at this point. But I sightly dont know, he said softly, as if he was talking to himself.There was something else I wanted to ask you, Elena said, and he looked at her attentively. I went to see the picture you told me about. The one of you and my parents when you were students here. You were al wearing the same pin in the picture. It was blue and in the shape of a V. She was close enough to James that she felt his whole body jolt with surprise. His face lost its grim thoughtfulness and went blank. Oh, yes? he said. I cant imagine what it was, Im afraid. Pro bably something Elizabeth make. She was always very creative. Now, my dear, I real y must run. He slipped past Elena and made his escape, hurrying out of the classroom despite a few other students trying to stop him with questions.Elena watched him go, feeling her own eyebrows going up in surprise. James knew more than he was saying, that was for sure. If he wouldnt tel her and she wasnt giving up on him just yet shed find out somewhere else. Those pins were significant, his reaction turn up that.What kind of mystery could be tied to a pin? Had James said something about secret societies?After my parents died, Samantha told Meredith, I went to live with my aunt. She came from a hunting watch family, too, yet she didnt know anything about it. She didnt seem to want to know. I kept on doing martial arts and everything I could learn by myself, scarcely I didnt have anyone to train me. Meredith shone her flannel mullein into the sick bushes over by the music building and waved th e beam around. Nothing to see chuck out plants.You did a good job teaching yourself, she told Samantha. Youre smart and strong and careful. You just need to keep trusting your instincts. It had been Samanthas idea to patrol the campus together after sundown, to check out the places where the missing girl, Courtney, had been spotted last night, to see if they could find anything.Meredith had felt powerful at the beginning of the evening, poised to fight, with her sister hunter beside her.But now, even though it was interesting to patrol with Samantha, to see the hunter life through her eyes, it was starting to feel like they were just wandering(a) around at random.The police found her sweater somewhere over here, Samantha said. We should look around for clues.Okay. Meredith restrained herself from saying that the police had already been through here with dogs, looking for clues themselves, and there was a good chance they had found anything there was to find. She scanned the flashl ight over the grass and path. Maybe wed be remediate off doing this during the day, when we can see better.I guess youre right, Samantha said, flicking her own flashlight on and off. Its good that were out here at night, though, dont you think? If were patrol ing, we can protect people. Keep things from getting out of control. We walked Bonnie legal residence last night and kept her safe. Meredith felt a flicker of anxiety. What if they hadnt come along? Could Bonnie have been the one who disappeared, instead of Courtney?Samantha looked at Meredith, a little smile curling up the corners of her mouth. Its our destiny, right? What we were born for.Meredith grinned back at her, forgetting her momentary anxiety. She loved Samanthas enthusiasm for the hunt, her constant striving to get better, to fight the vileness. Our destiny, she agreed.Off across the quad, someone screamed.Snapping into action without even thinking about it, Meredith began running. Samantha was a few steps behind her, already attempt to keep up. She needs to work on her speed, cool y commented the part of Meredith that was always taking notes.The scream, shril and frightened, came again, a bit to the left. Meredith changed direction and sped toward it.Where? She was close now, but she couldnt see anything. She scanned her flashlight over the ground, searching.There. On the ground nearby, two dark figures lay, one pinning the other to the ground.Everyone froze for a moment, and consequently Meredith was racing toward them, yelling Stop it Get off Get off and a punt later, the figure that had been pinning the other down was up and running into the darkness. non-white hoodie, black jeans, the note taker said calmly.Cant tell if its a guy or a girl.The person whod been pinned was a girl, and she flinched and screamed as Meredith ran past her, but Meredith couldnt stop. Samantha was behind her so she could help the girl. Meredith had to catch the fleeing figure.Her long strides ate up the gro und, but she wasnt fast enough.Even though she was going as fast as she could, the person in black was faster. There was a glimpse of pallidity as the person looked back at her and then melted into the darkness. Meredith ran on, searching, but there was nothing to be found.Final y, she halted. Panting, trying to catch her breath, she sweep the beam of the flashlight over the ground, looking for some clue. She couldnt believe she had failed, that she had let the attacker get away.Nothing. No trace. They had gotten so close, and stil , al she knew was that the person who attacked this girl owned black clothes and was an insanely fast runner. Meredith swore and kicked at the ground, then pul ed herself back together.Approximating calmness, she headed back toward the victim. While Meredith was chasing the attacker, Samantha had helped the girl to her feet, and now the girl was huddled close to Samanthas side, wiping her eyes with a tissue.Shaking her head at Meredith, Samantha said, S he didnt see anything. She thinks it was a man, but she didnt see his face.Meredith clenched her fists. Dammit. I didnt see anything either. He was so fast Her voice trailed off as a thought struck her.What is it? Samantha asked.Nothing, Meredith said. He got away. In her mind, she replayed that momentary glimpse of sentry hair she had seen as the attacker looked back at her. That shade of pale she had seen it somewhere very recently.She remembered Zander, his face turned toward Bonnies. His white-blond hair was that same unusual shade. It wasnt enough to go on, not enough to tel anyone.A momentary smell of a color didnt mean anything.Meredith pushed the thought away, but, as she gazed off into the darkness again, she wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold.