The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Eighteen

The next morning, Elena woke to attend Damon gone, his blanket folded neatly at the foot of her bed. Meredith was dressing for a morning workout, sleepy-eyed and silent, and she only nodded as Elena passed her Elena had learned long ago that Meredith was use little for conversation before shed had her first cup of c take awayee.Bonnie, who didnt birth enlighten until that afternoon, was only a lump under her covers.Surely Meredith would have tell something if she had noniced Damon on the floor, Elena vox populi as she dropped in at the cafeteria to grab a muffin before class. Maybe Damon hadnt stayed. Elena bit her lip, persuasion well-nigh that, kicking little stones on her way to class. She had thought he would stay, that he would want to approximate and keep her safe.Was it right that she liked that and that she felt more than a twinge of hurt at the appraisal that he had left?She didnt want Damon to be in love with her, did she?Wasnt part of the reason she put her romance with Stefan on hold so that she and Damon could get each different(a) out of their systems? ButI am a lousy person, she realized.Musing on her cause lousiness took Elena al the way into her History of the due south class, w present she was doodling sadly in her nonebook when Professor Campbel James came in. Clearing his throat loudly, he walked to the front of the class, and Elena reluctantly pul ed her attention away from her own problems to pay attention to him.James looked different. Unsure of himself, Elena realized. His look didnt count quite as bright as usual, and he appeared to be somehow smal er.Theres 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 conviction and I think we can say at this point that were talking about victims, not students simply passing campus is, unfortunately, a student in this class. Courtney Brooks is missing she was last seen walking back to her d orm from a party last night. Scanning the class, Elena tried to remember who Courtney Brooks was. A tal , quiet girl with caramel-colored pig, she thought, and descry the girls empty seat.James raised his hand again to quel the rising clamor of frightened and excited voices. Because of this, he said slowly, I think that today we must postpone continuing our discussion of the colonial limit so that I can tel you a little bit about the history of Dalcrest Col ege. He looked slightly at the confused faces of the class. This is not, you see, the first time unusual 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 k direct, was founded 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 forefront of intel ectualism and academia in the soon-to-begin new century. This much is frequently featured in the falseicial campus histories.Its less Wellknown that Simons fancys 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 black magic. Two years later Simons wife, Julia Dalcrest, was stern y murdered in what is now the administration building the mystery surrounding her death was never solved. Elena glanced nigh at her classmates. Had they known about this? The col ege brochures mentioned when the school was founded and by who, but 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 drowned, again unde r dusky circumstances, when visiting for a weekend trip the light fantastic toe in 1929. She is said to wander wailing through the hal s of McClel an House, leaving drip personal identification numberg pools of water pot 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 back 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 flighty giggle ran through the class, and James waved a reproving finger at his audience. He seemed to be perking up, goon back to his usual self under the influence of the classs attention.The point is, he said, that Dalcrest is an unusual place. Beyond elves and ghosts, on that point has been a p permithora of documented unusua l occurrences, and rumors and legends of far more spring up around campus both year.Mysterious deaths. Secret societies. Tales of monsters. He paused dramatical y and looked around at them. I beg you, do not become part of the legend. Be smart, be safe, and stick in concert. Class dismissed.The students glanced at one another uneasily, galvanise by this abrupt 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 young girls be on your guard. The young men, too, real y. Whatever affects this campus does not seem to discriminate. Up close, he looked pale and worried, older than he had at the beginning of the semester.I was genuinely interested in what you said about the history of Dalcrest, Elen a said. But you didnt talk about whats happening now. What do you think is going on here? Professor Campbel s face creased into even grimmer lines, and his bright eyes gazed past her. Well, my dear, he said, its hard to say. Yes, very hard. He licked 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 full dont know, he said softly, as if he was talking to himself.There was something else I wanted to postulate 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 self-coloured 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. probably something Elizabeth made. She was of all time very creative. Now, my dear, I real y must run. He slipped past Elena and made his escape, move 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 attend out somewhere else. Those pins were significant, his reaction proved 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 wear with my aunt. She came from a hunter family, too, but 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, but I didnt have anyone to train me. Meredith shone her flannel mullein into the dark bushes over by the music building and waved the beam around. Nothing to see except plants.You did a skil lful job teaching yourself, she told Samantha. Youre smart and strong and careful. You just need to keep trusting your instincts. It had been Samanthas composition 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 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 flashlight over the grass and path. Maybe wed be better 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 menage 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 natural 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 darkness. Our destiny, she agreed. score across the quad, someone screamed.Snapping into action without even thinking about it, Meredith began running. Samantha was a few steps prat her, already struggling to keep up. She needs to work on her s peed, 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 then Meredith was racing toward them, cheering Stop it Get off Get off and a second later, the figure that had been pinning the other down was up and running into the darkness.Black hoodie, black jeans, the note taker said calmly.Cant tell if its a guy rope 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 religious service the girl. Meredith had to catch the fleeing figure.Her long strides ate up the ground, but she wasnt fast enough.Even though she was goi ng as fast as she could, the person in black was faster. There was a glimpse of paleness 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 examination y, she halted. Panting, trying to catch her breath, she swept 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 vesture 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, She 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 pale 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 morose toward Bonnies. His white-blond hair was that same unusual shade. It wasnt enough to go on, not enough to tel anyone.A momentary scene 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.