Page 2 of Entranced By the Immortal

We finished our meal and paid, stepping outside, and I took a deep breath. It was my favorite time of year, when the leaves began to change, turning everything into a multicolored painting around town. Even though it was the middle of the day, it was still cool enough to be comfortable in my jeans and long-sleeve flannel.

“I wonder what all the fuss is about,” my mother whispered, and my gaze followed hers to a storefront a few doors down. A handful of people had congregated, and although I couldn’t hear them, I could tell their conversation was urgent.

Something unsettling hooked behind my navel, and I exchanged glances with my mother.

“I don’t know, but it looks important.” My eyes drifted back to the small huddle of people. A young couple hurried across the road to join them, a few stragglers on their heels, and curiosity burned through me.

What the hell was going on?

“There’s only one way to find out.” Mom jerked her messy bun toward the group of people and took off without another word. I followed closely behind, my heart skipping a nervous beat.

First ambulances, now this. Even though I couldn’t know for certain, something told me the two were related. What were the chances of two strange things happening back to back in a town where nothing exciting ever happened?

Slim to none.

The closer we got to the crowd, the more snippets of conversation I picked up on.

“...said it was an animal…”

“...bobcats this close to town…”

“...up there near Dupont Manor…”

The name of the manor nearly stopped me in my tracks, but my mother beckoned me closer so we could eavesdrop. We fell into the huddle, standing just behind a middle-aged couple, listening as two men frantically updated the group.

“You said they were two boys, Henry?” an elderly woman asked.

A dark-haired man in a collared shirt nodded, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “Both teenagers. Probably still in high school. Police said they went missing last night, but we just found them not long ago.”

“What happened to them?” someone asked.

A flutter of chatter rolled through the group, a mix of speculations and accusations, but everyone fell silent when the dark-haired man spoke up again.

“We…we don’t know,” he sighed. “It looked like they’d been attacked, but they were both unconscious, unable to tell us anything. By the looks of it, it was some kind of animal. They had scratches and bite marks all over them…” His voice trailed off.

“You said they were found near Dupont Manor?” The question left my lips before I could stop it, and a few curious glances whipped in my direction, including my mother’s.

Henry nodded. “Not ten feet into the woods. It looked like…” He swallowed hard, like he was struggling to find the rightwords. My stomach turned at his hesitation, and I shifted back and forth. What doesn’t he want to say?

A second later, he broke his silence.

“It looked like they were trying to crawl out of the woods and didn’t make it before they passed out,” he said. “They’re banged up pretty good, but I reckon they’ll pull through.”

Another wave of comments rippled through the crowd, which had grown considerably over the last couple of minutes, everyone huddling together on the sidewalk.

“Go home and hug your families,” the man on Henry’s right urged, raising his voice so everyone could hear him. He was red-headed with a neatly-trimmed beard. “Hug your kiddos, and for God’s sake, stay away from those woods.”

An ominous feeling weighed in the air as the crowd began to disperse, and my mother and I headed back up the sidewalk to where we parked. My insides turned and my mind raced, my unanswered questions multiplying.

“It’s so sad,” my mother said when we stopped next to my red pickup truck. She shook her head. “Terrible, what happened to those kids.”

I nodded in agreement, hardly listening. I was too lost in my own thoughts, wondering what the fuck could be hiding in those woods. Wolves? Bobcats? Bears? Living near the mountains, anything was possible, but this was the worst attack I’d heard about in months, maybe years.

“Crazy,” I muttered to fill the silence.

A beat passed before she said anything else. “Okay, sweetheart, I’ll see you this weekend.” She pulled me in for a hug. “Maybe sooner, if you feel like visiting your lonely mother.”

“Yeah, right.” I chuckled, pulling my keys out of my pocket. “If you need me, call me.”

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