Salem Falls

Harry kept his hand held out in front of him in his attempt to block the branches, as he and Zayn walked through the thick woods. Harry had no idea why Lucie wanted them to meet her out in the woods in the middle of the night, but he was sure it wasn’t good.

“You’re sure she said I needed to come, right?” Harry questioned, as they pressed further into the woods. Zayn flicked his eyes back at Harry before looking forward, and it was just quickly enough that Harry caught the light in his eyes.

“I’m positive.”

“You’re lying,” Harry said quickly, groaning as a stick slapped against his cheek. “She didn’t really invite me, did she?”

“She did, I swear.”

Harry knew Zayn wasn’t going to budge, so he simply shook his head. Odds were that Lucie hadn’t invited him at all, but if that were true, it meant that Zayn simply didn’t want to be alone with Lucie and Harry had one guess as to why.

After a few more sticks slapped across the boys’ faces, they landed in a small clearing, lit only by the light of the moon. Lucie sat on top of a wooden stump on the opposite of them with her chin pressed into her hands.

The boys approached her slowly, not wanting to startle her, and when they were a few feet away, Zayn cleared his throat.

“Zayn,” Lucie said, her voice sounding soft and smooth. Her eyes flicked up at him, then over to Harry. “Harry?”

“Hello, Lucie,” Harry all but whispered, looking to the ground as he kicked his feet beneath him. He could feel the tension in the air, coming both from Zayn and Lucie, and he thought he’d never been more uncomfortable in his life.

“Hello, Harry,” she whispered back before turning to Zayn. Her eyebrows furrowed while she folded her arms across her chest. “I thought I said just you.”

“Did you?” Zayn asked, rubbing his hand against the nape of his neck. “I thought you said to bring Harry.”

Lucie glared at him, but she seemed relieved somehow. Her shoulders fell back, while her hands fell down to her sides.

“So, um,” Zayn paused, shifting his eyes around the clearing. “What was it that you needed?”

Lucie paused for a long moment, her eyebrows furrowed while she did. To Harry, it felt like far too much time had passed before she finally spoke again.

“Well, I suppose I was going to ask you a few questions about the engagement, but I’m sure Harry doesn’t want to be bored with all the details.”

“Right,” Harry said simply, as he slowly nodded his head. It was more than obvious that there was something going on that Harry didn’t quite understand, and he wasn’t sure if he ever would. There was far too much going on for him to try to keep up with, and he wasn’t sure he’d want to even if he could.

“So we should go then?” Zayn said quickly, as if he’d rather be anywhere else in the world at that moment.

“That sounds good,” Lucie said, nodding her head. She gave a weak smile, and Zayn began walking away without another word. He didn’t need a second invitation.

Harry followed behind Zayn back to the opposite end of the clearing, ready to be whipped and slapped by more trees. When they hit the tree line, Zayn turned around, locking eyes with Lucie.

“Get home safe, okay?” Zayn said, while biting his lip. “It’s not safe to be in the woods alone.”

Before Lucie had a chance to respond, Zayn had pushed past a large bush and onto the small trail he and Harry had walked down.

Harry knew Zayn well enough to know that something was going. Zayn was tense and that was obvious to anyone within a mile radius of him. His eyes were dark and he hardly seemed to be able to focus on anything.

“Zayn, I know something’s going on,” Harry said, locking eyes with his best friend. “Something you won’t tell me.”

There was a long pause that filled the room, causing both boys to tense up. It wasn’t until a few moments later that one of them dared to breathe again, and it was Zayn.

“They found another body,” Zayn said, letting out an exasperated breath. “We found another body.”
Harry’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Zayn. “What do you mean we?”

“Maggie and I.” Zayn paused. His eyes fell to the floor and he gave a shake of his head. “We were walking in the woods and we almost ran right into her.” He let out another deep breath. “She saw everything, Harry. Maggie saw everything. The blood, the torture, all of it. I let that happen. I let her see that.”

“You didn’t let anything happen,” Harry responded, shaking his head at his best friend. “It’s not your fault.”

“It is, Harry. She never would have gone out in the woods without me. She never would have seen any of that if I hadn’t been there.”

“That’s not your fault, Zayn. She won’t blame you.”

“You don’t understand,” Zayn shouted, lifting himself off the chair with a huff. “It was someone from the Sixth Circle, Harry. One of our people did that, and I didn’t do anything to stop them.”

Harry’s breath caught in his throat the moment he processed Zayn’s words. Had someone from the Sixth Circle really murdered someone? Harry knew that there were many powerful spells that required human sacrifice, but he didn’t believe someone from the Sixth Circle would actually be crazed enough to do that. He didn’t want to believe that someone he knew could do such a thing, but he knew by the look in Zayn’s eyes that it was true.

Harry took a deep breath as he shook his head. His voice was soft and low as he spoke, sounding much less confident than he had hoped. “You couldn’t have known, Zayn. You couldn’t have known that would happen.”

“But I should have. I should have seen it coming.” Zayn paused, running a hand through his hair. “My father would have known, and he never would have let a member of his coven get out of control like that.”

Harry always knew that Zayn wasn’t as confident in himself as everyone else was in him. He never believed that he could be as good as his father, and all of the strange things that were happening only deeper instilled that fear within him. Harry didn’t know what to say to make Zayn feel better, because he wasn’t sure if he could, and he wasn’t sure if Zayn should feel better.

The world was clearly dangerous, and maybe Zayn realizing that wasn’t such a bad thing.

“I’m scared, Harry,” Zayn continued. “I’m scared something’s going to happen to Maggie. If coven members are making sacrifices, there’s no telling what sort of things are going on that I don’t know about.” Zayn paused before looking over at Harry with a pained expression on his face. “Things are bad, Harry, and I don’t know how to make them better.”

There was no way either boy was ready to deal with whatever was happening within their coven. They were far too young to have to deal with things like that, but they didn’t have a choice. Bad things were going to happen whether they were ready to face them or not. That was just something they were going to have to learn to live with.

They were going to have to grow up a little too fast. They were going to have to make tough decisions they weren’t ready for. There would be sacrifices they would have to give, because they couldn’t afford not to.

“I have to protect her. I have to do something to keep her safe.”

Harry paused, biting at his lip. He knew how desperate Zayn was to keep Maggie out of harm’s way. Zayn would do anything to protect that girl, because she was so innocent and she didn’t deserve to be brought into the world they were living in.

“What are you doing to do?”

Zayn sighed, while running his hands through his demolished hair. Harry thought he hadn’t seen his friend look so upset since his father passed away.

“I’ve got to end things with her. I’ve gotta stay as far away from her as I can, so I can keep her safe.”

Harry simply nodded and wondered if he should do the same. Did he need to protect Alexa like Zayn needed to protect Maggie? She could be targeted just as easily as Maggie could, but it didn’t seem as likely. If anything, they’d try to get to Zayn before Harry, because rattling the coven’s leader was more important than rattling his best friend.

Zayn let out a deep breath, his eyes locked on the ground. “I just hope she doesn’t hate me.”