was it just a trick of the hazy lighting? Her blood chilled. Ms. Wykes told us about the natives who used to live in those woods. She said one’s still out there, a war-mongering demon hungry for human flesh.
“Stop it,” she whispered to herself. She refused to give credence to dark fairy tales. She knew very well that was just a story used to keep the girls in line. Keep them from attempting to venture off the Lilith House grounds. She squinted, trying to make out what it actually was when suddenly something else to her right caught her attention. It was the kid. Kandace turned her head, watching as the boy paused for a moment as though listening to make sure he didn’t hear anyone nearby, and then ducked around the chapel and headed for the forest.
What are you doing, Dreamboat?
Kandace turned, looking at her roommates who both slept soundly. Then she pulled on her uniform, left her room—committing the sin of breaking curfew—and tiptoed quietly down the stairs. For a moment she stood still, listening for any sounds, but all she heard were the creaks and moans she’d grown used to. The students and teachers were still in bed, but Lilith House? Lilith House never slept. Lilith House had stories to tell, especially in the dark. She crept toward the back stairs. If she returned before anyone woke, no one would be the wiser.
When she made it to the first level, she checked quickly behind her, and then ducked out the back door, closing it very gently.
Kandace took the same route the boy had, entering the woods at the large gray rock where she’d seen him last. She expected that she’d have to travel more deeply into the forest to find him—if she was able to locate him at all—and so when she practically stumbled upon him just a few feet from the edge of the tree line, she almost screamed.
The kid, obviously shocked to see her, jumped to his feet, eyes wide, face filled with fear.
Kandace held her hand out. “Whoa, sorry. It’s Kandace. Remember me?”
He stared at her another few beats before bobbing his head and swallowing. “Yes. I remember you.”
“Okay, good.” She didn’t lower her hand, still attempting to calm him, to wipe that startled expression from his face. He looked like a frightened animal who’d just been cornered in the wild. Could she really blame him? If he’d grown up at Lilith House . . . Geez. She didn’t even want to think of what sort of life he’d led. She’d be a chronic nervous wreck if she’d spent her life in that hellhole too.
He swallowed again, his eyes darting to the ground and then back to her. She followed his gaze to the place he’d just looked. “Holy shit. What is that?” She lowered her arm, going slowly to her knees so she could get a better look.
The boy dropped down beside her, still looking at her warily. “A baby fox.”
Kandace tilted her head. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Twisted leg,” he murmured. “Probably born that way. His mother abandoned him. Nature doesn’t tolerate imperfection. It’s a weakness. And in nature, weakness equals death.”
She stared at him for a moment. He had mumbled it, but his eyes shone with passion as though the words he’d said were very personal. “How sad,” Kandace murmured, her heart giving a small twist as she took in the tiny creature with what looked like a miniature splint on its leg. She knew what it felt like to be motherless, despite that her mother was very much alive. And maybe that made it worse. She looked from the small, curled-up creature to the boy. “Where’d you find it?”
He glanced down at the baby animal he’d been mending and then back to her before shrugging. “They come to me.”
Kandace frowned. “They come to . . . what does that mean?”
He shrugged again. “They seem to . . . find me. Sometimes here . . . sometimes closer to the back door of my room. They’re sick or injured—imperfect—and I help them.”
“How often?”
His eyes met hers. “All the time.”
Confusion swept through her. Had no one ever seen this boy? The others he’d mentioned? Or if they had, had they been explained away as one of the staff member’s children? She thought of the crawl space where he’d helped her hide. Were they the whisperers in the walls? The source of the sounds she’d heard on her first night at Lilith House, convincing