Chapter 3

By some miracle, they’d scored a club room. It was in the science wing, which Cami avoided like people who knew her from high school, but it was better than nothing.

Even if the place kind of smelled like dusty rocks.

She and Jane were setting up chairs when Rachel came in. The girl walked with a skip in her step, beaming like she’d won the lottery.

“I could barely focus in class, waiting for this!” she exclaimed, bolting past the chairs to perch on the table. Up this close, Cami noticed something odd: her eyes were a bright, piercing blue. They stood out against her dark skin. Rachel must’ve noticed her staring, because her grin turned rather sheepish and she said, “The contacts aren’t excessive, right? I broke my glasses last week.”

“So, you have… prescription colour contacts?” Jane asked. She’d given up on the chairs, and Cami followed suit: this was everyone, wasn’t it?

Rachel nodded. “Yeah, those. I just think they’re fun. Oh, and before I forget!” She straightened up, her hands fluttering at her sides. “I invited another person. Kind of? I think?”

“How do you kind of invite someone?” Cami’s eyes drifted to the chairs. Did this mean more heavy lifting?

“Well,” Rachel’s head tilted up, and Cami all but felt the ripple effect going through the other girl’s head as she recalled the event. “I was on my way here from Biology, and as I said, I was really excited, so I wasn’t seeing where I was going, and I bumped into this girl. She dropped, like, all her books. Everywhere. And cussed me out. Then I told her about this club, and her eyes lit up. Maybe. She was wearing shades, it was hard to tell. But she bailed without another word.”

Just as Rachel’s voice petered out and she was breathing for the first time in thirty seconds, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Cami hollered, “if you’re here for Freakspotters!”

There was a moment's hesitation as the person on the other side of the door presumably mulled over what they’d done in life that’d led them to this point.

Then it opened, and a girl stepped in. Probably Cami’s age, but she had one of those youthful-looking faces, and the fact her eyes were behind tinted shades sure didn’t help.

She was tall, dark, and looked like she’d rather be anywhere else.

“This is the paranormal club, yeah?” Her voice was lower than Cami had expected, carrying the slightest accent. Spanish? Her gaze fell on Rachel. “Must be.”

Cami nodded, holding back a squeal of pure joy. Already, they had four members! “That’d be us! Paranormal, supernatural, you name it, we’re down to discuss it.” She opened her mouth to say more, but found she’d run out of words.

I never planned on getting this far, she thought to herself.

Thankfully, Jane swooped in and saved the day. “How about we start with some introductions? Probably won’t take too long, with only four of us. We’ll do our names, what we’re studying, and… how about a paranormal, supernatural, or mythical creature we’re interested in? I’ll start: I’m Jane Cardinal, I’m studying Psychology and minoring in Theatre, and I’m really fascinated by the whole of cryptozoology.”

Rachel beamed. “Cryptids are fun! So, can I go next?” She slid off the table, standing up straight. “My name’s Rachel, I’m studying Bio with a Creative Writing minor, and I’m really interested in fairies! I”

Cami chuckled. She couldn’t help it. Then she realized people were looking at her. “Right. I’m a person. Um, my name’s Camilla Wilde. I’m most interested in aliens.”

“Wait, what’re you studying?” Rachel asked.

Shit. “I haven’t quite figured it out yet,” Cami admitted. “Something in the arts, probably. How about we let the new girl talk?”

The girl perked up, like she was startled they'd remembered her. “I’m Olivia Ramirez. I’m majoring in Education, minoring in Music. And I’m most fascinated by ghosts.”

“Lots of variety here,” Jane remarked. “Is there any possible overlap, though? Like, does anyone believe in cryptids? Raise your hand.”

Olivia and Rachel exchanged a look but didn’t budge. Cami half-raised her hand.

“I don’t know why you’d focus on them when there could be aliens,” she said, “but who knows what’s out there?”

“They're cooler than aliens,” Jane muttered.

Rachel nodded. “Maybe aliens exist, but who’s to say that their existence is anything like ours? Maybe they’re just sentient rocks. That’s boring. What about fairies?"

Olivia groaned. “All of you believe all of this, but the idea of ghosts is too much? You’re ridiculous.”

As the bickering overlapped and crescendoed, Cami’s head spun. Where had she gone wrong? This was supposed to be the highlight of her week, and now she was at the brink of sensory overload.

The classroom door flew open, slamming against the wall loud enough to silence everyone.

In stepped Cassidy Wells, Head of Student Council. Cami avoided her steely gaze: the two of them had a pretty mixed relationship. That is to say, Cassidy had bullied her all throughout high school, and in a grand act of comeuppance, Cami had shoved her face into a cake at graduation.

“This is going about as I’d expected it would,” Cassidy said dryly.

“You here to join?” Rachel piped up, beaming. “I remember you from Orientation!”

Cassidy chuckled, a sound with no humour. “No, I’m just here to make a quick announcement.”

Cami went stiff where she stood. The school wasn’t going to shut them down, was it? They’d only been open for a day. And sure, their Club Day performance had been lackluster, but they already had two more members…

Swallowing her fear, Cami asked, “What’s the announcement? You aren’t here to close us, are you?”

“No, I’m not.” And to her surprise, Cassidy’s smug front faltered. She frowned, her eyes drifting. “Recently, a student disappeared. Abigail Burton. Second-year, Chemistry major. She was in the Choir Club. Sweet girl.”

Rachel put her hands up in surrender. “We didn’t do it! I’ve didn't know we had a Choir Club!”

Cassidy shot her a look. “I wasn’t accusing you, but… duly noted.”

“Then why are you here?” Jane asked.

“I don’t know exactly what this club is about,” Cassidy began, “but I want to make one thing clear: I don’t want any theories about what happened to Abigail. If I see this group devolve into a conspiracy nut circle about a very real tragedy, I’m shutting it down.”

And that, Cami had to admit, was fair. “So we can do whatever, so long as we leave this Abigail Burton case alone?”

“Within the standard rules for school clubs, yes.” Cassidy’s lips quirked. “That won’t be too hard for you, will it?” I know you’ve been quite the party animal lately, but try to reign it in when on campus grounds.”

Again with this party rumour? Who’d even started that? Cami forced out a laugh, which sounded about as real as Cassidy’s eyelashes looked. “No, don’t worry about it, I’m not doing anything like that.”

“Then we won’t have a problem.” Cassidy straightened up, forcing a diplomatic smile. “I’ll leave you all to… whatever it is you do in here.”

And as soon as she was out of earshot, Rachel asked, “What do you think happened to her?”

“Better question, who started this rumour I had a big party?” Cami groaned. “Like, of all things to accuse me of. And of all people to accuse of that kind of thing! I haven’t been to a party since high school, and I left when everyone started drinking.”

Olivia snickered. “You didn’t miss out, don’t worry. Anyways, Abigail was probably just kidnapped and murdered. Happens a lot to young women around here, doesn’t it?”

“What do you mean by around here?” Jane asked.

“America. I used to read a lot of true crime, and most of it took place here.”

Cami barged in between the two, throwing her hands up. “Okay, okay, we’re changing the subject now. You guys heard Cassidy, right? If we blab about this, we’re getting shut down. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want this club being shut down.”

“What’re we gonna talk about instead?” Rachel asked, perking up.

And that was when Cami realized she hadn’t thought that far ahead. “How about we call it a day for today, and next week I’ll have some kind of planned prompt for a group discussion?”

Both Rachel and Olivia deflated a bit, but neither argued.

“Maybe next week we can discuss the history of the supernatural in this town,” Jane chimed in. “My mom’s the mayor, so she knows a thing or two. I might even be able to talk her into getting us some old records or something.”

“Is that legal?” Rachel asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Legal enough."

“Sounds like we have a plan, then!” Cami beamed. “I don’t know where I’d be without you, Jane.”

Jane shrugged. “Your life would be way more boring, for starters.”

Olivia rose from her seat. “Are we done here? Because it looks like we’re done here.”

Cami glanced at the clock. They still had the room for another forty-five minutes, and she didn’t want to wait a whole week to be in a room of likeminded people...

Jane followed her gaze. “You know, we still have time to kill. How about we get some food from the cafe and just… hang out?”

Olivia’s eyes widened, like Janet had suggested human sacrifice. “Um, no. I’m done here.” Without another word, she rose from her seat and raced out of the room.

“I’m allergic!” Rachel blurted out.

Jane frowned. “To everything at the cafe?”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry!” She grinned sheepishly and half-walked, half-stumbled out the door.

And just like that, Cami and Jane were alone again. The awkwardness sunk in like water through socks.

“Well,” Cami breathed, “it’s a start.”