CHAPTER II

        Zane dozed as he stared at the window of his collage class room, the heat from a fever dragging his mental state. The wall was a strange yellow tint to the otherwise white paint that was divided by a thick, red line that carried from right there at Zane's eyeline toward either ends of the hall. This was the "guide line" to help students get to teachers' offices in case of emergency or meetings or... Something. Zane never cared enough to need them. He was in this college class because of his and Rowan's father. Even after two years in Kipher Community College, Zane still didn't know what sort of major he would take, if any. All he wanted to do, at that moment, was go back to the apartment, fall face first in his pillow and sleep. That, or bring home some ditzy girl from the local bar for a good old round of-

        His stomach growled, and he felt his innards swirl. He'd have to take care of that soon. He pushed his seat back and leaned into his hands, elbows propped at his knees as he tried to stifle a groan.

        "Mister Chayse!" The teacher, a wild, redheaded man in his late thirties, said as he turned from the whiteboard. "Maybe you would like to solve this equation?" He pointed to two fractions at the board with his capped black marker.

        Zane shook his head. "Nah... Mister Rapala, I think I'll pass. I don't feel all that good." It was true; Zane's stomach was turning into knots. Was it the pizza? Maybe it was whatever that dumbass Fuyuko passed on to him? It could have been something he caught last night in the woods near Foster Lake.

        Mister Rapala gave a warm, soft smile. "So then, why do you look like you're ready to stand up? Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

        Zane didn't notice the other students around him. Now, though, he could feel all of their eyes burrowing into the back of his head. His fever made it worse, pulsating, as he felt his stomach grunt and growl at him. He shot up, walked straight for the door, and threw it open. "I gotta go." The door pulled back on the hydraulic assist.

        He followed the red guideline on the wall to the small auditorium that split into four other paths before leading outside, and he went down the middle, stepping down a small decline as the hall descended a few feet. Zane saw the bathrooms to his right as he picked up his pace, his urge to beat the natural urge to relieve himself, becoming more and more urgent. He was a foot away when he noticed the red-haired girl pass by him in the halls. She had eyes that bore into him, not unlike the others in his class. What stood out to him was her confident air about her. There was an aura that seemed to give him instant relief as she passed by him. Their eyes locked for a moment as she walked on by and Zane forced himself to push on into the bathroom.

        It was not the first time he had seen her. He had seen her at the local gas station and the town library in a small, silver Versa. It was strange thinking about it now, perhaps not much to really ponder on, because Kipher was a tiny town. Anyone knew anyone. But Zane didn't know her. Maybe some of the other girls in town knew, but he usually made himself available to the ladies. He would have known because of the gossip. But nothing.

        The growling of his stomach and the sudden force on his colon pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as he took care of himself. When he walked out of the bathroom, movement outside caught his eye and he saw a gaggle of guys outside. They huddled around one another as one in the middle ducked down again and again. Squinting, Zane looked closer, then sprinted for the closest door to that part of the yard.

       Rowan curled into a defensive ball. The usual sloucher gritted his teeth as he held his head in his hands. The boy above him was none other than Gaven Hillsire. His face was red from screaming and, unlike his jovial manner of bullying, he was angry, brows furrowed.

        "It had to be you! What did you do with Hector?" Gaven shouted as a foot buried in Rowan's gut.

        Rowan gagged on air, his lungs restrained by his hard-hit diaphragm. He felt drool at the edges of his mouth as he tried to cough what air he could, desperately trying to open his lungs again. When he finally did, he could only croak, "what are... You talking about?"

        "Don't play dumb with me, you freak! Foster Lake! He was there looking for a place for us to hang out! I guess he didn't know you were haunting there!" Another kick made Rowan yelp before coughing again. "Guess it wasn't enough for you to just leave him alone! You went and killed him! Well, guess what, freak! Cops found out where the body was. Maybe you didn't see the news or look it up on Goggle, but they found your handiwork." Gaven knelt down to Rowan and smirked. "When I find out how you did it, I'm gonna watch you burn on the chair."

        "Hey, Gaven! The freak's brother's coming," one boy said as Rowan's eyes rolled in his skull. He was still gagging, trying to speak. Hector? Killed? By him? There was no way, Rowan thought, as he finally caught his breath again. It made no sense. His alibies are airtight, but proving it to this bully would fix nothing, and Zane fighting Gaven and his gang wouldn't do much for them either. But Rowan didn't hear Zane's voice this time. He heard someone else. A lower baritone of a voice that caught most of their attentions, including the fuming Zane.

        "You idiots need to stop this. Right. Now."

        Gaven glared at the woman, this woman that Rowan saw as having ink black hair and brilliant, cold, steel-blue eyes that sent a shiver through his spine. "Who the hell are you? Actually? No. The hell with you. Piss off, this isn't your problem!"

        "The man you're kicking isn't responsible for multiple claw marks on your friend's body," the woman continued, "In fact, you would be more interested in knowing that the only thing the police found until the body was a pool of blood from where the body hung, dead in the trees." She stared at Gaven, bowed her head and sighed, "God rest his soul. He didn't have time to feel it when it came."

        Gaven gritted his teeth, the sounds of his molars grinding so close to Zane and Rowan. "D-damn you... How do you know?"

        "I make it a personal interest to find bizarre deaths in this area. I help the police do their job by keeping my eyes open. Unlike you and your cronies, who just blame the first poor person interested in the paranormal." She waved a hand dismissively at the group. "Now, begone. Don't you have classes or something?"

        As she left, Gaven and his boys glared after her, then back to Zane and Rowan. "This isn't over." Then they, too, left.

        Zane helped Rowan to his feet. "Please tell me you weren't talking to someone about Foster Lake, and Gaven overheard you."

        "We have to go back..." Rowan said, as Zane guided him toward the campus building.

        "Yeah, big guy, we're going back to class-" Rowan wrenched free.

        "No! Back to Foster Lake! I know I heard something. I know something is out there. And now Gaven said Hector was out there? You don't find that the least bit strange?" Rowan fired back as Zane scratched the back of his head.

        "Dude... Hector was one of Gaven's friends-"

        "Hector made sure Gaven never went too far! I just started being his friend too!" Rowan shouted. "Now there are people sent in by the government to look into this! Not because Hector was someone special, but because there is something very real and very deadly out by that lake!"

        "Rowan, what do you want us to do about it?!" Zane caught Rowan's collar and yanked him closer. "We got no business going back in there! Why are you pushing yourself to doing these stupid things?! Is it because Fuyuko?!"

        Rowan slapped Zane's hands away. "Fuyuko is about the only person who actually listens to me!"

        "Bull-honkey! I listen too!" Zane retorted, "About the pukwudgies, the bigfoots and everything in between!"

        "Then why won't you believe what I tell you about Lidya!?"

        The twins stared at one another for the longest time, teeth grating, as the words fell hard on both of them. It was a few years ago, at least to Zane's memory, that their little sister, Lidya Chayse, left the world. He, their father and mother, suspected someone broke in, abducted and killed Lidya during a long string of murders closer to the Atlanta area. It was for that reason the family broke apart. Police took their father into custody, unable to get answers from their mother. Somehow, he got sentenced to life. Their mother tried to take care of them both. Unfortunately, she kept going into random fits of crying to a monotone death stare into space, all until she finally abandoned the boys at the doorstep of New Life Worship Center.

        It was one reason that the caretakers and Father Hammond were so hard on Rowan. He claimed to have been awake when it happened. Rowan had spoken to Zane in private, claiming about things in the room with them, things that woke Lidya up and guided her to the window in their bedroom. Of course, Zane prattled to their mother and father about this, whom both talked to Rowan about it. When he would not stop talking about shadows that led Lidya out of their home, they spanked him for lying. All the while, Zane watched. Now, it was no different to Rowan; Zane wouldn't believe him before, and now he would be indifferent. That didn't matter, though. Not anymore and never again.

        "She's dead," Zane said and let his bigger brother go. "Not much else to it. These monsters you're looking for; they don't exist."

        "How can you say that when you were right there?!" Rowan glared, something that caught Zane in unease. His amber eyes quivered in the afternoon light as he stared on, waiting for an answer. When none came, he pushed ahead. "Just forget it. I'll see you at work."