What would she and Iris do if they actually managed to catch up with it?
She’d started the chase feeling very brave, but was now beginning to doubt herself, to wonder if they should turn and run in the other direction, back toward home.
But which way was home?
The trees flew by. Vi’s legs were burning. Her lungs ached. She felt like they’d been running for hours, like the woods had to end soon. At any minute, they’d come out by the highway. At least, she thought that was the direction they’d been running. Maybe they’d come out near the dump or the old Wheaton farm. She looked up at the sky, hoping to see a familiar constellation. Then she might have some idea what direction they were heading. But there was nothing but a thick, dark cover of clouds.
And now it was starting to rain.
The Ghoul was slowing.
It’s a trap, a voice screamed inside Vi’s head, the God of Caution or her own fear, maybe—she couldn’t be sure.
They’d reached a steep hill covered in trees, with a thick carpet of dead leaves and moss beneath them, and the Ghoul kept slipping, stumbling, scrambling up again.
Vi and Iris were closing in.
“Stop!” Vi yelled. “I command you, creature of the night! Leave our realm! Go back to your world! You are not welcome here!”
It was stupid, really, trying to cast the spell without the protective circle of salt, without weapons or any banishing herbs. And she wasn’t even sure she remembered all the right words.
The creature ran a few steps up the steep incline, then slipped, fell down on its knees.
“Shit!” it yelped in a high-pitched female voice.
“I am a hunter of monsters,” Vi began. “I have knowledge and weapons that could end your life, and I command you—”
“Would you stop already? I think I twisted my damn ankle!” the Ghoul yelled, still down on the ground. “How the hell am I supposed to get out of here now?”
Vi moved closer, Iris right behind her.
Even in the shadows of the woods, Vi could make out the Ghoul on the hill. And it didn’t look so Ghoul-like now. It looked like a person in a too-big hooded sweatshirt and a white ski mask. The Ghoul pulled back the hood and peeled off the mask, revealing a young woman with long blond hair.
An imposter. A fake.
Vi was relieved and disappointed all at the same time.
“Crap,” the woman said, cradling her ankle inside the big boot. “I really wrenched it. I don’t think it’s broken, but I doubt I can walk on it.”
“What… who are you?” Vi demanded, walking right up to her.
The woman looked at her, then at Iris, then back at Vi. “My name is Julia Tetreault.”
“Prove it,” Iris said.
“Huh?” Julia said. “You’re kidding, right? You want ID or something? I left my purse back in my car.”
Iris leaned close to Vi. “They can look human, right?” she whispered. “A clever monster knows how to disguise itself. To blend in.”
Vi nodded.
“Isn’t there a test or something?” Iris asked.
Vi thought. She moved closer to Julia. Touched her shoulder, then gave it a pinch.
“Ow!” Julia shouted. “What the hell?”
“Maybe we should stick her with a pin or something,” Iris said. “See if she bleeds.”
“No way! No one is sticking me with anything,” Julia barked.
The rain was picking up, had turned from scattered showers into a full-on downpour. It pattered down on the leaves of the trees and was quickly soaking their clothes.
“Great,” Julia said, looking up at the sky. “Perfect time for a monsoon.”
“What are you really?” Vi asked. “I command you to answer.”
“You’re really stuck on this commanding thing, huh? Like I said, my name is Julia.”
“And you expect us to believe you’re a human?” Iris asked.
Julia laughed. “What else would I be? An alien from outer space?”
“You’ve been spying on us,” Vi said. “For days now, right?”
“Shit. The little boy saw me. I knew it. And now you two. Are you going to tell?”
“Tell who?”
“Dr. Hildreth.”
“Maybe,” Vi said. “But maybe not. Tell us who you are and what you want.”
“Like I said, my name is Julia.”
“And? Why have you been watching us?”
“I’m a journalist. Well, actually, a journalism student over at Lyndon State. And I’m doing this project.”
“What kind of project?” Vi asked.
“Look, kid, in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s raining like hell. It’s nearly nine-thirty at night, we’re lost in the woods, and I’ve got a twisted ankle. What do you say we put our energy into getting out of here, and we can talk later?”
Vi shook her head. “Tell us now.”
Julia sighed. “Well, it started with me looking into Dr. Wilson Hicks. He taught at the University of Vermont and wrote a book called—”
“The eugenics guy,” Vi said.
“Yes!” Julia said. Her demeanor changed completely—she was excited.
“A Case for Good Breeding,” Vi said. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything, but she couldn’t really resist showing off a little to adults, even strangers.
“What’s eugenics?” Iris asked.
“It’s the scientific study of heredity and breeding and how to improve the human race by making everyone white and smart,” Vi explained.
Julia laughed. “Couldn’t have put it better myself.”
Iris shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
Julia got up on her knees, pulled herself up by holding on tightly to a tree. “God, that hurts,” she said. “Hey, do you think you could find me something I could use as a walking stick?”
Iris and Vi started looking around.
“Did you find him? Dr. Hicks?” Vi asked as she picked up a stick that looked perfect but was actually too rotten to use.
“He died back in the late fifties. Have you read his book?”
“Parts of it.”
“So you know about the study of the Templeton family?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that’s what I was going to write about for my project, see. I was going to interview surviving members of the family. Templeton isn’t their real name, of course.”
“Have you talked to any of them? Interviewed them and stuff?” Vi asked. She’d found a good sturdy stick and brought it over.
Up close, she could see how young Julia was. She looked like she could be one of the students at Fayeville High School who worked at the drive-in.
“Some of them,” Julia said, taking the stick, testing her ankle by putting a little weight on it. She took a shuffling step forward. “There were some I couldn’t contact, though. Because they were dead or… missing.”
Vi felt the skin at the back of her neck prickle.
“Weird,” she said. “So do you think you’re okay to walk with that? Iris and I can help you if you need it.”
“The stick is great. We’ll just go slow, okay?” Julia said. “You think we can find our way out of here?”
Vi shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think we might be near the highway. Or maybe the dump?”
“I can find the way back to the house,” Iris said.
“You can?”
Iris nodded. “Follow me.”
“I managed to track down Dr. Hicks’s research assistant,” Julia went on. There was no stopping her now. Vi recognized the excitement in her voice, the pride. She’d been able to follow the trail and uncover what she needed to know. A kindred spirit. “And it turns out she’s the one who runs the Inn here, Dr. Hildreth.”
“Gran,” Iris said.
“She’s your grandmother?”
“I’m Violet Hildreth,” Vi said. “My brother Eric and I live with Gran.”
“And what about you?” Julia asked Iris.
“Her too,” Vi answered before Iris could speak. “She’s our sister, Iris.”
“So Dr. Helen Hildreth is your grandmother?”
Vi nodded. “Yeah.”
“Maternal or paternal?”
“Paternal. My father was Jackson Hildreth.”
“Jackson Hildreth,” Julia repeated, saying the name slowly. “And all three of you live there, in that house with Dr. Hildreth?”
“Yeah.”
“For how long?”
“Since our parents died. Like…” Vi calculated. “Eight years ago now.”
“I’m sorry for asking… but would you mind telling me how your parents died?”