Page 66 of Sutton's Shadow

“That’s pretty normal in that house. Even I spent a few nights crying, remember?”

“Yeah, but this crying is not coming from any of the rooms. It comes from the basement. And sometimes I see the witch take food down to the basement. She never lets any of us down there, so it doesn’t make any sense. I think... I think they’re hiding something.”

“Or someone?” Bethany wondered. Lia nodded as she bit into her thumbnail. A habit she knew Lia had when she was scared or nervous. And from the looks of her fingers, she’d been chewing nonstop.

“What do we do?” Lia whispered, as if scared to even say the words out loud. Bethany had no idea how to answer. For an instant, she wondered what Sutton would do. She would want to get to the bottom of whatever weird stuff was happening. No matter what else was going on, Bethany knew that home did not operate like a normal foster home. None of the girls went to school, which was bizarre. Lia said they were being homeschooled, but the parents hardly did anything with it. They’d throw a few workbooks at them and call it done. Hugo and Daniella were barely home, leaving the older girls in charge of the younger ones, making it easier for Lia to sneak out to see Bethany.

What were two teenage girls supposed to do? After less than a month in that house, she had been too afraid of the parents to speak up. She couldn’t imagine what Lia was feeling after being with them for as long as she had. Six months was a long time to be living around the witch’s subtle abuse. They hadn’t beaten any of them, but the threat was there. No one wanted to push it to find out what it would take to set them off.

“Maybe we should tell someone?”

Lia’s whole body jerked as if something had electrocuted her. “Are you crazy? We can’t tell anyone. Who’d believe us? We have no proof that anything bad is going on, just weird shit.”

“But?”

“No! You can’t say anything. Please, Bethany.” The panic in Lia’s voice made her gut churn. She wanted to be brave and help her friend. She didn’t like to see Lia so messed up, but she had no idea what to do.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Lia jumped at the voice, her hand tightening around the phone, which she hastily shoved into her pocket before turning to face Melanie.

“Jesus, Mel. You scared me.” Lia’s hand flew to her chest, shaking. She panted as her chest rose and fell rapidly. Her gaze darted everywhere, as if terrified someone else would jump out of the woods.

“Again, I ask... what do you think you’re doing here?”

“Lay off, Mel,” Bethany warned. “We were just talking. Catching up.”

“You need to go home. Now,” Mel ordered.

“Mel?”

“Stay out of this,” she growled. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“I... I just wanted to talk to a friend,” Lia beseeched, her voice trembling.

Melanie’s eyes narrowed to angry slits as she crossed closer to Lia. “I don’t care what you wanted,” she sneered. “You were not allowed to leave the house.”

“What about you? You’re not allowed to leave either,” challenged Bethany.

“I had to follow this bitch. Keep her from doing something stupid.” Lia’s entire body slumped. She stared at her feet, her thumbnail back between her teeth. Bethany had not seen her look so petrified in front of Melanie before. She was usually good with the comebacks when the mean girl started in on her. She was surprised things had gotten this bad for Lia. Surprised and more worried than ever. She had to figure out what to do... soon. She had to save her friend.

“Jeez, Mel. We were just talking,” Bethany offered, attempting to mitigate the tense situation. She’d never liked Melanie much. The girl was nothing but a bully. But her anger at Lia seemed over the top.

“Shut up,” Mel hissed. “Stay out of this. You got out. Now stay out.”

“But?” Lia started, her voice barely a whisper.

Melanie whipped her angry glare back at Lia. “Go home. Now,” she gritted out through clenched teeth.

Lia huffed out a frustrated breath and nodded before turning to go.

“I’ll talk to you later, Lia,” promised Bethany.

“No, you won’t,” Melanie interjected, turning to skewer her with a scowl. Bethany backed up a step, the fury radiating from the girl making her nervous.

“You need to stay away,” Melanie growled at her.

“Jeez, Mel. What is your problem?”

“I can’t have a fucking goody two shoes get in the way.”

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