NOVEL NEXT 31. Awkward Confrontations
"I'm still not sure this is a good idea," I sighed. "My parents could get home any time."
Kaylee grimaced then shrugged, "We're not going to search the place again. We're just going to talk. And if your moms come home while we're talking, we'll make sure not to say anything sensitive."
"I guess," I frowned.
Both my and Kaylee's phones buzzed with another text, and we both stopped to look. It was from Marissa, letting us know they'd all be here in a couple minutes.
Brooke was still unavailable, she was back at the hospital with her mom again. When Kaylee sent the earlier group chats our club leader sent one brief text saying she was leaving Paige in charge for now. Then our temporary club leader texted that she borrowed her mom's mini-van. She was picking up Marissa and Melanie, and the three of them would meet here at my place so we could all discuss the situation.
I was hoping we could keep the conversation focused on that Roslovic guy, but I had a bad feeling the others would want to see those glass rings for themselves. I could just imagine Marissa impulsively grabbing them and triggering whatever magic they were enchanted with.
"It's going to be ok," my girlfriend stated confidently. "We'll figure out what to do about the necromancer. Maybe we can go find him today? Then we don't need to involve your parents at all."
I sighed again, "I sure hope so. I almost wish I didn't hear that stuff my mum said yesterday. I think I was happier when I thought my parents were just normal moms who didn't keep a bunch of huge secrets from me."
She pulled me into a hug, "I know Cass. And for what it's worth, I'm sure your moms love you. I'm sure they have a good reason for keeping those secrets."
"Yeah," I nodded slowly as I hugged her back.
A minute or two later there was a knock at the door and the two of us separated. Kaylee got up as she said, "That'll be them."
We headed down the stairs and I got the door. Paige and Marissa both came right in, but Melanie hung back. She sort of hesitated in the doorway, as she glanced around the front hall.
I could see she was sniffing the air, and she had a little frown on her face. Suddenly my mood shifted away from anxious and uneasy. I wasn't quite angry, I don't think I had it in me to get angry with people, but I was really unhappy with her. I wanted to be her friend, I tried to be nice to her, but she always acted kind of tough and mean whenever I tried to talk to her.
Then last night she seemed polite and friendly to me for the first time, but it was all just an act so she could check my mom's scent. Watching her sniff the air in my house like it was some kind of monster den felt like the last straw.
"Melanie if you don't want to come in then you can wait outside," I stated in a flat tone. I let the door swing shut in front of her as I turned and walked towards the kitchen. Without looking back I said to the others, "We've got cola and spring water if anyone wants something to drink."
For a couple seconds it was like everyone was sort of stunned by how I reacted. And to be honest I was kind of surprised by my actions too. In fact I almost felt sick to my stomach, I wasn't normally that rude to anyone.
By the time I got to the kitchen there were some hushed whispers in the hall, then Kaylee hurried to catch up to me while Paige and Marissa opened the front door to talk with Melanie.
"Cass what was that?" my girlfriend asked quietly. "I know Melanie's not the nicest person around, but it's not like you to be so..."
I sighed as I pulled a can of soda out of the fridge. My emotions were churning again, and I shook my head as I whispered "I don't know. I've been trying to be friends with her since new years and she always acts like I'm some weird stranger."
"Then last night she when mom came to pick us up she was nice all of a sudden?" I continued with a frown. "But she wasn't being nice, she just wanted to get close to my mom to check her scent. And she didn't even say anything to me about my mom, but she told everyone else. Now she's acting like our house is some kind of monster's lair or something? I just... I can't deal with that."
Kaylee sighed as well, "I know Cass. I have no idea what her problem is, but I get annoyed with her every time she gives you the cold shoulder. And I think you're a very good person for not letting that get to you before."
I didn't know what to say so I just shrugged quietly then had a gulp of my drink.
Paige joined us a few seconds later. She looked worried and uneasy as she said, "Cass what's going on? I've never seen you like that before."
"Seriously Paige?" Kaylee spoke up first. Unlike me she could get angry with people, and she didn't try to hide how she felt as she stated, "You know what the problem is. Melanie's never been nice to Cassandra. Then last night she went out of her way to check Mrs. Underwood's scent, and told you and Marissa what she found but didn't say a word to Cass."
Our temporary club leader grimaced and muttered a quiet swear, then said to herself "I've only been in charge for twenty-four hours and the club's already falling apart..."
"It's not your fault Paige," I responded quietly.
Kaylee shook her head and insisted, "No, it's Melanie's. And I hate to say it, but Brooke should have said something sooner. I know the rest of you can see how Melanie acts towards Cass, and you all know how much Cass wanted to help her right from the start."
Paige sighed, she put her hand over her face and rubbed her eyes and forehead for a few seconds. While she was doing that we heard the front door again. For a moment I thought my parents were home, until Marissa spoke up.
"Hey Cass?" she called. "You around?"
I stepped out of the kitchen back into the hall, and found both the young blonde and the wolfgirl standing just inside the door.
My voice was dull and flat again as I asked, "What?"
Melanie looked awkward as she stared at the floor and said, "Uh Cassandra, I'm uh sorry for last night. I should have said something first, or I guess I shouldn't have done that at all. I just thought uh, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Like after the stuff you and Kaylee said? Anyways I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have checked your mom's scent without saying something to you first."
I was quiet for another second or two, then finally said "Ok. I guess we're all in the kitchen, so c'mon in. There's drinks if you're thirsty."
A minute or two later we were all sitting around the kitchen table. Melanie and Paige had bottles of spring water while the rest of us were drinking cola.
Paige started it off, "So from the sound of it this Roslovic guy could be our necromancer? Kaylee do you know where we can find him?"
My girlfriend shook her head, "I used my dad's password to access the hospital's private server, but all that got me was a list of employee names and departments. We can get his hospital email address and his extention number on the hospital's phone system, but no personal details."
The tall brunette frowned and gulped her water, then finally said "If you can get me into that system again, I can probably use some technomancy to get us everything else."
"What about those magic collars you two found?" Marissa asked. "Can we get a closer look at those?"
"No," I stated firmly.
I could tell the others were still surprised by how I was acting, like I was normally quiet and just went along with everything. Even with all four of them staring at me I forced myself not to back down or cringe or anything like that.
"My parents haven't done anything wrong," I stated. "My mum was attacked by that guy's zombie. She's the victim. And my mom never did anything wrong either. They've both been super supportive and they've looked after me and they love me. I don't care if they're supernatural, they're my parents and I love them."
When I was done everyone was quiet for a couple seconds, before my girlfriend spoke up.
"Cass I'm sorry," Kaylee said softly. "I hope you're not upset with me for wanting to look around while your moms were out?"
I took a deep breath then shook my head. "I want to know what my parents are, I want to know what they've been keeping from me. I'm their daughter and I think I have a right to know. That's between me and my parents though. And I don't mind my girlfriend helping me with that stuff? But it's none of Club Luna's business."
After that the others were all quiet for another few seconds. This time it was our temporary club leader who finally spoke up and broke the silence.
"Ok Cass," Paige responded. "You're right. What ever's going on with your parents is none of our business. Sometimes looking into why a victim was attacked can help find their attacker, but we haven't been very respectful about handling this situation."
She was looking at Melanie when she said that last part, and the wolf girl shrank a bit in her seat.
"So what's our next move?" Marissa asked. "How about you do your thing with the computer Paige, then we go confront this guy?"
Paige looked to me and asked, "Can we use your computer Cass?"
I nodded, and everyone followed me up to my bedroom. It only took a minute or two for Kaylee to get back onto the hospital's internal website. Then she moved out of the way and Paige took over.
The tall brunette's hands moved over the keyboard as she used the Will, the Way, and the Word. I saw some purple flickers flow over the keys before they seemed to drain away out of sight. I could almost picture the magic going into the computer, then into the internet, and eventually getting to the hospital.
A half minute later the information on the screen changed, and we were looking at Isaac Roslovic's employee file. I knew it was probably very illegal, definitely a huge breach of privacy. According to the screen he was sixty-three years old, he lived in a smaller village about ten kilometres east of town, and he'd worked for the hospital for over a decade.
"He's at work right now," Kaylee said as she pointed to the screen. "His shift today is from noon till seven tonight."
Marissa grinned, "So what are we waiting for? Let's go, before he raises another zombie to attack the town!"
Paige hesitated, but after a few seconds she nodded in agreement. "Marissa's right, we need to make sure nobody else gets hurt."
She shut down my computer and we all headed back downstairs. A minute or so later we were all out in the mini-van, with our temporary leader behind the wheel. Marissa was in the passenger seat, then Melanie was in the second row. And I sat in the back row with Kaylee.
The drive to the hospital didn't take long, and we were all quiet for the short trip. When we got there Paige found a parking spot then we all headed into the hospital lobby together. Everything was clearly marked, including the lab, so we didn't have to search around or anything.
And even though there were a lot of people around, nobody bothered us as we walked together as a group. We took the elevator down to the lower level then followed the directions, till we reached a locked door. Nobody was around though, and with the rest of us keeping Paige hidden from any security cameras she used her magic to open the door. We all filed through and continued on our way.
I was kind of amazed that we hadn't run into any trouble as the five of us walked quickly but quietly down the hallway. This part of the hospital seemed deserted though, unlike the lobby and public areas.
A half minute later we spotted our destination. The lab door was clearly marked and we headed straight for it. Paige reached out to open it but her hand stopped just short.
She glanced at the rest of us and made a 'shhh' gesture, then indicated we should listen. Sure enough there were voices from just inside the door, and all five of us did our best to listen in.
"I'm sorry," a man's voice said. He sounded stressed, frustrated, and maybe a little bit frightened. "I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt! It wasn't supposed to attack, but I think it must have had a violent temperament in life?"
After a brief pause the voice continued, "It's for my wife, she's dying. I need to save her, I'll do anything to save her. Yes I'm a necromancer, but all my power and all my knowledge is useless! I can't cure her myself, my talents don't work on the living."
It had to be Roslovic that we were listening to. He sounded about the right age, like someone in his sixties. And someone else was in there with him asking questions, but they were quiet enough that we couldn't hear what they said. All we heard was his answers.
"I went to a seer," he explained. "She said holy magic was my best bet, she said it was the strongest kind of healing magic in the world. Then I hired someone to scry, he said the closest source of holy magic was somewhere on Main Street. He thought it might be some kind of artefact? So I sent a zombie to search for me, to find me the source of the holy magic."
He sounded even more anxious as he insisted, "I swear I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt! I just wanted to recover the artefact so I could help my wife! Please, I just want to save her..."
We all exchanged a glance, like none of us were sure what to do. It sounded like somebody else was doing the exact same thing we meant to do, like we were going to confront the guy but someone else beat us to it.
Marissa and Melanie looked like they wanted to storm in there and join the interrogation. They probably wanted to know who had a necromancer scared. Kaylee and Paige looked uncertain, and I figured they were probably thinking the same thing as me. Like maybe we didn't want to confront whoever was scary enough to frighten a guy who could raise the dead.
Then we finally heard another voice, and my stomach lurched as my blood ran cold.
Plain as day, like she was just inside the door, my mom stated "We're sorry your wife is ill Isaac, but you cannot send zombies marching through town to search local shops! Especially if you can't control them!"
All four of my friends stared at me in shock as I pushed past them and swung the door open.
Sure enough my mom was there just inside the door. And my mum was on the far side of the room blocking another exit. Isaac Roslovic was trapped in the middle of the room, in between my parents.
