The Children on the Hill(70)

Other things you can do to protect yourself: Sleep with your windows closed. Block the space under your bedroom door and your keyholes. Hang a cross and cloves of garlic above your bed. Put mirrors all around your room, facing out of your windows.

Make a charm by filling a small sack of cloth with equal amounts of lavender, dill, oregano, and sage. Keep it with you at all times.

Charge a knife by soaking it in salt water on a full moon. Sleep with this knife under your pillow, knowing that if you need to, you can slay a monster.





Vi

July 24, 1978




HOW LONG HAD the Ghoul been there watching?

How much had it seen?

Had it seen the kiss? Had it heard what they were talking about?

Vi’s head raced as she chased it through the trees.

The creature matched Eric’s description exactly: black hood, tall black boots, pale face.

It was just approaching dusk, and Vi knew they didn’t have much time. If they were out in the woods without a flashlight when it got fully dark, they’d never find it. Worse, they might not be able to find their way home.

Worse still, the Ghoul might tire of being chased and turn around and chase them.

Part of Vi worried that they were being led into a trap: that the Ghoul knew just what it was doing, that it had a plan.

Monsters, Vi knew, were clever creatures; some were experienced predators.

They were already far away from any path Vi knew. The sun was down low enough that she couldn’t tell what direction it had set in. She was disoriented. Lost. And the Ghoul was fast. Otherworldly fast.

Vi didn’t have anything to use for a binding spell—no kosher salt, no holy water, no magic words. She didn’t have an amulet of protection or a magic blade.

What would she and Iris do if they actually managed to catch up with it?

She’d started the chase feeling very brave, but was now beginning to doubt herself, to wonder if they should turn and run in the other direction, back toward home.

But which way was home?

The trees flew by. Vi’s legs were burning. Her lungs ached. She felt like they’d been running for hours, like the woods had to end soon. At any minute, they’d come out by the highway. At least, she thought that was the direction they’d been running. Maybe they’d come out near the dump or the old Wheaton farm. She looked up at the sky, hoping to see a familiar constellation. Then she might have some idea what direction they were heading. But there was nothing but a thick, dark cover of clouds.

And now it was starting to rain.

The Ghoul was slowing.

It’s a trap, a voice screamed inside Vi’s head, the God of Caution or her own fear, maybe—she couldn’t be sure.

They’d reached a steep hill covered in trees, with a thick carpet of dead leaves and moss beneath them, and the Ghoul kept slipping, stumbling, scrambling up again.

Vi and Iris were closing in.

“Stop!” Vi yelled. “I command you, creature of the night! Leave our realm! Go back to your world! You are not welcome here!”

It was stupid, really, trying to cast the spell without the protective circle of salt, without weapons or any banishing herbs. And she wasn’t even sure she remembered all the right words.

The creature ran a few steps up the steep incline, then slipped, fell down on its knees.

“Shit!” it yelped in a high-pitched female voice.

“I am a hunter of monsters,” Vi began. “I have knowledge and weapons that could end your life, and I command you—”

“Would you stop already? I think I twisted my damn ankle!” the Ghoul yelled, still down on the ground. “How the hell am I supposed to get out of here now?”

Vi moved closer, Iris right behind her.

Even in the shadows of the woods, Vi could make out the Ghoul on the hill. And it didn’t look so Ghoul-like now. It looked like a person in a too-big hooded sweatshirt and a white ski mask. The Ghoul pulled back the hood and peeled off the mask, revealing a young woman with long blond hair.

An imposter. A fake.

Vi was relieved and disappointed all at the same time.

“Crap,” the woman said, cradling her ankle inside the big boot. “I really wrenched it. I don’t think it’s broken, but I doubt I can walk on it.”

“What… who are you?” Vi demanded, walking right up to her.

The woman looked at her, then at Iris, then back at Vi. “My name is Julia Tetreault.”

“Prove it,” Iris said.

“Huh?” Julia said. “You’re kidding, right? You want ID or something? I left my purse back in my car.”

Iris leaned close to Vi. “They can look human, right?” she whispered. “A clever monster knows how to disguise itself. To blend in.”

Vi nodded.

“Isn’t there a test or something?” Iris asked.

Vi thought. She moved closer to Julia. Touched her shoulder, then gave it a pinch.

“Ow!” Julia shouted. “What the hell?”

“Maybe we should stick her with a pin or something,” Iris said. “See if she bleeds.”

“No way! No one is sticking me with anything,” Julia barked.

The rain was picking up, had turned from scattered showers into a full-on downpour. It pattered down on the leaves of the trees and was quickly soaking their clothes.