Page 16 of Salem’s Rise

I pick up my phone again and search through the call log. No outgoing calls after Friday afternoon. No emergency call to 911. Nothing to my mother.

A wave of nausea rolls through me, and I set the phone down before I drop it. That’s when I notice the smell. Something sour hangs in the room, faint but unmistakable, like something gone rotten.

I glance toward the trash, thinking maybe I left spoiled food inside, but it’s empty. It must be coming from somewhere else. Perhaps something dead inside the walls or down the hallway. An old building like Hallowell Hall probably has rodents, and with my luck, one recently crawled somewhere within smelling distance and decided to die.

A knock sounds at the door.

I freeze, every muscle in my body tightening. My mind immediately goes to the men in the forest. Is it them? Did they return to finish the job they started?

“Jack?” a female voice calls from the hallway. “It’s Wren. Are you in there?”

Relief rushes through me.

“Come in,” I say, my voice sounding scraped raw.

The door swings open and Wren steps inside, carrying a small white bakery box. The warm scent of chocolate chip cookies reaches me before she does. The polite smile on her face vanishes the moment she sees me.

“Oh my God!” Her expression tightens with concern. “Jack, are you okay?” She walks toward the bed and sits at the edge, wrinkling her nose. “Wait, what’s that smell?”

“I think something died in the walls,” I say, propping myself up with pillows, leaning against them for support as a wave of dizziness moves through me. “Shockingly, it doesn’t even make the top ten list of my problems right now.”

“I heard you were in the infirmary. I wanted to check on you. Thought some cookies might help.” She drops the white box at the foot of the bed. “Jack,” she says slowly, “what happened?”

I press the heel of my hand against my temple and internally debate how much I should tell her. I don’t really know Wren. She seems nice enough, but she’s basically a stranger. Trust has never come naturally to me, and it certainly doesn’t now after just being kidnapped and attacked by three masked men in the woods.

Still, so far, Wren is the only person on campus who has shown me any kindness. And maybe I do need an ally. Maybe Wren can help me. I certainly haven’t gotten very far on my own.

It goes against every one of my survival instincts, but I decide to tell her everything. Not just about the kidnapping outside the library, but all of it, including Josh’s disappearance and the real reason I’m here in Salem’s Fall.

After I finish, Wren reaches out to give me a hug, careful not to jostle my injured arm. “I’m so sorry this happened to you,” she says softly. “We need to call the police.”

My stomach knots. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“What do you mean? We have to report this.”

“If I do that, the police will start asking questions. They might find out I enrolled here under false pretenses so I could investigate Josh’s disappearance. The university could send me home.” I start to panic. “I can’t leave yet.”

“But, Jack, this is dangerous. You must see that, right?” she asks. “If something bad happened to your brother, it could happen to you too.”

The words sting even though they’re reasonable.

“So what? I’m just supposed to give up?” I ask. “Let them get away with it?”

“Maybe there’s nothing you can do.” Her voice softens. “Maybe whoever took him is too powerful.”

The room goes quiet as I let myself consider the possibility that she may be right. I came here believing determination would be enough, but I hadn’t counted on masked men with knives.

“I really thought they were going to hurt me,” I whisper.

I stare down at my shaking hands and then I see it again. The black stone gleaming in moonlight. Dark as night. I’d seen someone wearing that ring before, my first night in Salem’s Fall.

“Silas.”

Wren frowns. “What?”

“One of my attackers was wearing a black stone ring.” My heart starts pounding. “It was Silas. And I bet Rowan and Van were the other two assholes with him. They knew my name. They knew about Josh.”

“I don’t know, Jack,” she says hesitantly. “If those guys wanted to scare someone, they have people they can pay to do it for them.”