Page 66 of Into the Dark, We Go
The witch chewed her lip, smearing her lipstick a little.
"There’s a place in the woods. Just off the Black Water Creek trail. Turn into the woods by the Three Sisters."
"Three what? Never mind," Mitch said, "What’s there?"
"Don’t know. I’ve never been. But it’s...there."
"What’s ‘it’?" Mitchell asked, annoyed with her vagueness.
"Don’t know. Now go on, get."
Mathilda demonstratively unlocked the door.
"What’s gonna happen if we go there? Is it safe?" Mitch asked as we were leaving.
The witch raised an eyebrow and remained silent. Clearly, our safety was of no concern to her.
We didn’t say goodbye. But as we were walking out the door, Tilly spoke to our backs, "Obey the rules. The darkness often hides in plain sight. "
"What rules?" Mitchell asked.
But the store door had already shut. The "Closed" sign smacked onto the window.
"Bitch," June concluded, and I couldn’t agree more.
"I don’t like this," her brother said.
"What exactly?"
"Everything. What did Amanda get into?"
I was wondering the same about Lucas. And Duane? And Mathilda—she clearly knew more than she was letting on, but she gave up so easily when Nick’s mother was mentioned. I wanted to ask him about it, but decided against doing it in front of Mitch and June. He definitely wouldn’t open up with them around, fearing their endless questions and suspicions—and rightly so.
We were poking at things around Duane, and then he died.
Then, another desperate thought hit me: Sammy.
We’d talked to him, too.
19
Chapter Nineteen
September, 2020
Mitchell was tense and volatile,and his frustration, although justified, was spilling over onto everyone, especially June, who bore the brunt of it as they spent the entire morning arguing. She refused to leave without seeing things through, no matter how much he pushed. Nick and I tried stepping in when their voices got too loud, but the backlash was swift, and we backed off, wandering the motel grounds for nearly an hour, making empty conversation, waiting for the siblings to figure things out between themselves.
When we returned, Mitchell was still on edge, but at least calm enough to talk.
"So, what’s the plan? Do you want to look for the kid? I’m worried something might happen to him," I said, trying to pull everyone back on track.
"I already have one kid to worry about," Mitchell growled, and June scoffed in response.
"Nellie’s right. The boy knows something. Whether or not you care for his well-being, we should find him," said Nick.
Mitchell’s head whipped in his direction. "Then why don’t you two go look for him if she always knows best what to do?"
I huffed, bristling at his words. Mitchell was taking out his anger on everyone today, but Nick wasn’t going to let it slide.
