Chapter 23
Cadella's POV
"You betrayed us.”
“Redeem yourself.”
“Sacrifice yourself.”
“Wash your sin.”
Voices echoed around me as I ran through the forest. My feet ached as I continued along the path. The path opened up into round clearing. I stopped in the middle and spun around trying to figure out where to go.
Feeling defeated, I looked down and saw an intricate design painted on the ground in the red. One of the lines glowed, and something tugged in my chest. I took a step to follow the line, and stumbled, falling to my hands and knees. My hands landing in something sticky.
I raised my hand to look at it, horrified to find not paint but blood covering it. A scream echoed through the clearing. My scream.
Beep Beep Beep
I groaned and cracked my eyes open. The last thing I wanted to do was get up and moving. Sleep hadn’t come easy last night, my mind playing different versions of the dream over and over. Each of them featuring the angry voices telling me I failed, and featuring the round, intricate design drawn in blood. Each time, I woke covered in sweat and breathing hard.
My alarm continued to sound, making me growl in frustration. Reaching out of my warm cocoon I patted my hand along the nightstand trying to find my phone so I could snooze my alarm. Bringing my hand down, expecting to be met with hard wood, I was surprised to be met with sticky, almost dried ice cream. Crap. I’d forgotten about my bowl last night after the call with Vasile.
Using my clean hand, I threw the blankets back and went to the bathroom to start my shower. I turned the water on and rinsed most of the gross ice cream mixture off my hand, I turned to the mirror. My reflection made me freeze as I stared back into my face.
Sex hair. That was the only description I could think of to describe what my hair looked like. My cheeks heated as my thoughts wandered back to my call with Vasile. I’d gotten naked and touched myself — made myself orgasm, while he sat and stroked himself. Of course I had heard of phone sex, but I’d never participated.
There was never a reason for it.
Until Vasile.
He was breaking through all of my firsts, and leaving me needy and wanting more of him.
The steam rising behind me caught my attention, telling me it was time to get ready. I rushed through the shower and got dressed. After slipping on my shoes, I grabbed the bowl from the nightstand and went down stairs.
“I can’t believe I let this sit out. Now it’s all dried on to the side and impossible to get off.” I muttered to myself as I tried to scrub the bowl of ice cream I’d forgotten about last night. “It’s like cement now.” I groaned.
Quacking from my back pocket let me know that it was time to leave for class.
Filling the bowl with hot water, I decided a soak couldn’t hurt. I grabbed my bag and keys and rushed to class. At least the routine would get me through the day while I waited to hear from Vasile.
My classes blurred by and I was just leaving my last class when my phone pinged with a text message. A wide grin grew on my face as I pulled it from my back pocket.
Hello, Cadella. I’m Benedict Fiera, proud president of Mysterious Spirit Research Association. You are cordially invited to the first meeting of the club today at 3PM in the main building-room 301. We look forward to seeing you and getting to know you!
My heart sunk a little as I realized the message wasn’t from Vasile. But the official start of the meeting was exciting-plus it would be a good distraction and keep me out of the empty house. Glancing at the time, I realized it was close enough to three that I could just go there now.
Entering the building I walked slowly up to the third floor. The classroom was the first one on the left. Muffled voices and the screech of table legs sliding against tile sounded from behind the closed door. Assuming it was the club, I opened the door.
Five sets of eyes snapped to me. Four grew wide as they took me in. They were huddled around a large table that they were trying to push to the side of the classroom. But it was the fifth one was caught my attention.
They belonged to a tall, muscular yet lean man. His dark brown hair had a slight curl to it as it hung down over his forehead, stopping just above his grey eyes. He slouched in a chair with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the others rearrange the classroom for the meeting. He wasn’t directly a part of the group, but he didn’t look disinterested.
Instead his eyes were locked on the group of people. His head was tilted to the side, reminding me of a curious puppy, like he was trying to figure out something about them. Dark eyebrows would work their way towards each other then relax, only to repeat the action a few moments later.
The harsh buzzing sound of party favors being blown interrupted my study of the man. I jumped, surprised by the sound. My gaze snapped to the group who stood at the table.
“You must be Cadella! We weren’t expecting you to be early, but that’s alright. I’m Benedict, but everyone calls me Benny. I’m the president of the club. We are so excited to have you join us. The Mystery Spirit Research Association is a small group, but we are proud and close knit.” Benny smiled at me.
Benny was about average height with a slightly rounded middle. Black hair and dark brown eyes made his pale complexion sharper. His cheeks were ruddied, but I couldn’t tell if it was due to the effort they were putting into setting up the classroom, or if he was just excited. He walked toward me with his hand held out.
I took it, trying not to flinch when our hands met. His hand was sweaty and gross. So maybe the red in his cheeks was from rearranging. He released my hand and I tried to subtly wipe it on the back of my shirt.
“Today will be a more relaxed meeting, think of it more as a welcoming party. We wanted to give you a chance to get to know us and see what we were about before we got into the fun stuff. Grab a bite of cake and we can go over introductions!” He said as he moved beside me and herded me deeper into the room.
I looked over at the table he was steering us towards and saw that the others had finished setting it up and were already placing pieces of cake onto plates and serving juice at one end of it. The man who had been sitting at a desk had moved from his corner post to one of the far seats at the table. He smiled as Emilia handed him a plate and cup. Maybe he did want to be here, or he was at least polite.
“So, let me tell you about us. My interest in the spirit and supernatural world comes from my family’s business-antiques. Once I graduate I’ll be a fourth generation antique dealer for Fiera Antiques. Growing up I loved to listen to all the tales and stories about properties or unique items that were haunted or belonged to a certain group of supernaturals. Granted a lot were not as true as I hoped, but there were a few here and there that were. Enough that I fell in love with learning more and investigating different theories. So I started this club with my wife, Emilia.” Benny started once everyone was seated.
“Hi, Cadella. I’m glad you decided to come today.” Emilia smiled sweetly and waved at me.
Today she was dressed in high waisted jeans with a short sleeved flower tunic style top that was tucked in. A few silver bangles clinked off each other as she waved. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a high pony tail.
“Emilia and I have been friends since grade school. We starting getting closer in middle school and have been together ever since.” Benny said as he took Emilia’s hand in his and squeezed it as he smiled lovingly at her.
Emilia’s face heated, but she smiled back.
“Alright, now that you know Emilia and I, let’s go around and introduce ourselves. Sergei why don’t you start us off?” Benny asked the man sitting next to him.
“I’m Sergei Cristian, a Russian transfer student. This is my second year at Celtradian. If anyone gives you trouble for being here, you let me know.” Sergei stated in a thick Russian accent as he nodded at me.
“Ah, yes. Thank you, Sergei. He is very protective of his friends. We lost a few members last year because of other peoples views about the supernatural and spirits. Since then, Sergei has appointed himself our unofficial protector.” Benny explained.
I nodded and waved at the large Russian. His size made him intimidating, and his bluntness reinforced it. I couldn’t imagine anyone in Celtradian bullying. So far every one I’d met was so kind. But it was early in the year still. Sergei seemed like a good person to have as backup if it was needed.
“I’m Adina Rose. We met at the table.” Adina smiled and waved at me.
She seemed much more subdued today than she had when we first met. She was dressed in a loose skirt that fell to her ankles, and had lace up boots on. Her shirt was light blue, and very similar to the loose fitting one she wore when we met. Gold bangles lined her forearm, and tinkling as they bounced off from each other.
“I heard you were able to experience Adina’s powers first hand at the recruitment day. She has super divination, a real asset to the club.” Benny proudly smiled at her.
“I’m Mark Lycian. No super powers.” The dark haired man who had been silently watching, sneered in Benny’s direction. “It’s nice to meet you, Cadella.” His voice softened as he turned to me.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you all. I’m Cadella, a history student. I love learning about local legends and lore, so this seemed like a good fit.” I smiled and waved at everyone.
“Well, now that we all know each other, let’s get to the exciting topics.” Benny said, leaning forward.
Benny reviewed the last meeting, and they all discussed a trip to Maga Pond for the weekend. I watched as everyone talked, their excitement clear in their animated gestures. My gaze fell back to Mark, who was watching them talk. He leaned forward slightly, his lips slightly parted as he listened. I could almost see him cataloging every detail that was important-yet he stayed silent and didn’t participate in the discussion.
“Cadella, will you be joining us?” Benny asked, pulling me back into the conversation.
“Yes, of course. It sounds fascinating.” I smiled.
“Good. Then we’ll meet Wednesday to iron out the details for the trip.” Benny said, standing making his dismissal clear.
I was excited to learn more about the local history, but I hadn’t noticed that Vasile hadn’t mentioned any of the places they discussed today. Especially Maga Pond. I’d remember a name like that. I made a mental note to check with him and see what he knows when we talked next as everyone stood and started to wander outside.