Chapter 6

As it turned out, the five of them met long before next Thursday. One dreary Monday afternoon, Cami and Jane made a beeline for the study wing of the library with sharp eyes and sharper pencils. They had every intention of finishing their English essays and not leaving the building until it was done.

“I can’t believe it has to be handwritten,” Jane grumbled. “What kind of sadist makes you handwrite a ten-page essay?”

And that was when a familiar voice chimed in, “Good ol’ Professor Harris, right? Scourge of Woodshore’s English program?”

Cami whirled around to see Helena sitting at a table with Rachel and Olivia. She threw up a peace sign, grinning.

“That’s why your faces all looked familiar!” Jane exclaimed. “The three of you are in the 21st Century Lit class she teaches the before ours, right?”

“We’re morning class masochists,” Olivia confirmed her head in her hands. Even now, she wore her shades. Maybe she's hungover, Cami thought. Or has one of those light sensitivity conditions.

Rachel snickered. “I don’t think it’s masochism. I for one am a proud early bird!”

“Yeah, Helena and I just got shitty registration dates.” She eyed the books in Cami and Jane's hands. “You here to finish the essay?”

Cami beamed. “Yeah! Wanna work together?” She was grabbing a chair before she’d heard an answer, but judging from the matching smiles on the other girls’ faces, they were welcome company.

“Wanna pretend to work and actually talk about the Abigail Burton thing?” Helena asked. “I mean, this technically isn’t a Freakspotters meeting, so it's not against the rules.”

And while some part of Cami knew her grades probably mattered more than the unsolved case of the hour, she couldn’t turn down a good mystery talk.

But also, if she failed English, she’d never forgive herself. How did you fail the only language you spoke?

“Well?” Helena prompted.

Cami opted for a compromise with herself. “Is there anything new to add? Like, I think we’ve said all there is to say already. If that makes sense.”

“Oh, there’s very much something new to add.” Helena slid her phone to the centre of the table, which was opened to a news article. “Read it and weep.”

The headline was fairly to the point: Local Cult Accused of Involvement in Dog Murders.

“We have a local cult?” Rachel exclaimed. “That’s so cool!”

Cami stared at the screen, like the words would change if she blinked. “Since when do we have a local cult?” How hadn’t she heard of this? She kept her eyes peeled for this kind of thing.

“Wait, you didn’t know?” Jane murmured.

Cami looked up at her. “You knew we had a cult and didn’t tell me?”

“I thought you’d have found it on your own!”

Helena laughed. “Okay, nobody’s perfect. We can’t all have encyclopedic knowledge about the clowns of the area. Anyways, they’re called the Children of the Lone Angel, and they have exactly one church in the entire PNW. Just happens to be in the sleepy little college town of, you guessed it, Walder.” Her fingernails clacked as she drummed on the tabletop. They were pastel pink. “Right. Here.”

“And they’re still running?” Rachel's eyes looked ready to pop out of her head. “Even after being accused of being serial dog-nappers?”

Helena chuckled. “I mean, they’re devoted to their craft. After being launched into the public spotlight, their private forum was found, and apparently they’d been conspiring to sacrifice a human girl, with animals only as a backup.” Her bravado faltered, her mouth a solemn line. “I guess they finally got what they wanted.”

And then Jane’s phone rang.

“Shit,” Jane hissed, glancing at the screen. “It’s my mom. I’ve gotta take this.” Without another word, she raced off, leaving the four of them to stew in the depressing mood.

“It’s gotta be a coincidence,” Cami breathed. “There’s no way we have a murder cult. I mean, Walder? Really? Nothing happens here.”

“Except for serial dog-napping,” Rachel pointed out. “And the missing girl. And the cult. And the mysterious parties in the woods.”

Cami groaned. Again with this bullshit? “There wasn’t a party in the woods. At least, not one put on by me.”

“Okay, maybe no wood parties, but everything else is still weird.”

And that was when it hit Cami that maybe, just maybe, she’d been in denial this whole time. She’d always complained about Walder being uneventful, whined about how it didn’t have a famous UFO sighting under its name. How boring it was.

This whole time, maybe it’d been the kind of weird that hit too close to home. The animal and potentially human sacrifice kind of weird.

The kind of weird with consequences.

“Bad news,” Jane announced, rejoining them. “They found Abigail’s body, and… it’s in a really bizarre shape.”

“Bizarre how?” Helena asked, sounding about as disturbed as if she’d asked about the weather.

Jane shrugged. “I didn’t get the whole story, but my Mom said it looked like she’d decayed at an accelerated rate or something. And that there were… bite marks.”

Cami shuddered. Definitely the kind of weird with consequences. “Yeesh.”

“Yeesh indeed,” Jane agreed. “Also, my mom says she doesn’t want me staying the night at your place as often. Considering you’re so close to… you know.”

It made perfect sense, just like every other thing Jane’s mom said or did, but Cami’s heart fell at the change of routine. How was she supposed to stay sane without the company? “Yeah,” she sputtered out. “Y-Yeah. So you’ll just… leave before dark?”

“Mhm.”

Rachel perked up. “Wait, you live by the woods? Where Abigail was found?”

“I guess so. Maybe I’ll go home to a bunch of cops in my area.” She sighed. That was a disruption to routine if she’d ever known one. “Why do you ask?”

“Maybe, as a club, we can…” She paused, wringing her hands, her eyes alight. “You know. Do some kind of… off-campus meet?”

“Like a field trip?”

“Exactly.”

Cami grinned. “I’m down for a field trip.”