A Curse So Dark (Pioneer Falls Book 1) Read online

  A CURSE SO DARK

  Published by Heather Davis

  Copyright 2017 by Heather Davis

  www.heatherdavisbooks.com

  All Rights Reserved

  First Edition 2017

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9993664-0-0

  Edited by: Eilis Flynn

  Cover Design by Asha Hossain

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written notice of the publisher. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sneak Peek of A Forest So Deadly

  About The Author

  Other Books By Heather Davis

  For my sisters.

  Chapter One

  No secret can stay hidden forever. The best ones—crushes, surprise parties, special gifts—are revealed and everyone smiles or laughs. But then, there’s the other kind. Dark truths that break apart families, destroy reputations, ruin lives. Nothing can prepare you for the reveal of a reality-imploding secret like that. Trust me.

  It’s pretty hard to keep any secret in a small town like mine. And when I say small, I mean one-stoplight-everyone-knows-your-business small. Pioneer Falls is barely a map dot in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. It’s pretty and green—so green—surrounded by endless trees and cut by a river, which long ago, starving settlers miraculously found full of fish. Couples love to take engagement and wedding pictures in front of the falls, and tourists come from miles around just to watch the leaves turn colors. Basically, our town is the fantasy of every suburbanite who longs for a simple life. A safe community where people move to raise kids and earn an honest living, a place where you know every neighbor.

  But the folks in town don’t know the truth about my family, and I hope they never find out. We’re hiding a terrible secret, a mark that will never fade, a gnawed branch on our family tree.

  And I didn’t learn the truth myself until my father went missing.

  That night I was working my usual Monday shift at the coffee shop––the only one for twenty miles. Business at Pioneer Perk always slowed to a trickle after seven, but Maggie, the owner, insisted on staying open a few more hours for the folks heading to work graveyard over at the lumber mill. I gladly filled travel mugs and sold the scratch-baked muffins and scones, but the tip jar never counted out to more than a few limp dollars and a handful of coins. After pocketing that night’s skimpy proceeds, I adjusted my College Fund sign, wondering if I needed to put a few more glittery stickers on it to attract more contributions. At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to afford community college tuition, let alone the cost of the university next year.

  Just before nine, the last customers finally cleared out. I closed the copy of Wuthering Heights I’d been reading behind the counter and locked the front door. Out on Main Street, antique lampposts illuminated the emptiness. The rain had stopped an hour earlier, but the pavement glistened, reflecting the sliver of moonlight. A raven perched on a telephone wire swaying in the night breeze, not seeming to care it should be nested in for the night. A few lonely leaves skittered down the sidewalk, runaways from the maple saplings that’d been planted recently in the square. I definitely wouldn’t miss this kind of excitement when I left town for good.

  After straightening the couches near the front, I wiped down the tables, and then closed out the till. My last task was gathering up the garbage, compost, and recycling to take out back. Though we were two hours from Seattle, Maggie insisted the shop observe the city’s progressive sustainability standards. Pioneer Falls may have been founded by loggers and miners using the natural resources of the area, but there was a surprising number of conservationists like Maggie around. I emptied the first container of recyclables into the bin, hearing the satisfying clunk of glass hitting glass.

  That’s when I saw them.

  Four wolves edging the woods near the parking lot.

  They’d heard me, because they stood motionless, staring in my direction. A chill slithered down my neck as I realized they were standing over something. Another creature, down on the ground. The wolf closest to me lifted its nose in my direction. Viscous dark liquid dripped from its graying muzzle, illuminated by the light of the quarter moon.

  My heart hammered. I hoped they were some of the hybrids bred by the eccentric man Ivan, who lived across the river. Locals saw the half-wolf, half-dogs occasionally sniffing around livestock pens when they escaped his kennels. But these canines seemed larger, as though they might actually be more wolf than dog. They reminded me of the violent creatures from my nightmares, predators that chased me unrelentingly. Dreams that I’d been having since I was little.

  Countering my lengthy stare, the animal flashed its teeth and issued a low growl. Horrified, I stepped backward, right into someone standing behind me. I was almost too startled to scream.

  “Easy now,” a familiar voice said.

  I whirled around and found myself face-to-face with my boyfriend, Kyle. “You jerk! What are you doing?”

  “Protecting you from mutts who might want to eat your muffins,” he said, grinning. “I hear they’re delicious.”

  “Very funny.” I punched him on the arm, and then tossed the biodegradable bag into the compost bin. “Lucky for you I don’t scare easily.”

  “That’s one of your best qualities, Lily. Among other things.” He slid his hands around my waist and kissed my neck. I winced. I hadn’t seen him since Friday night after the football game, and we’d left things in a weird place.

  “What?” Kyle asked, lifting his head.

  “You didn’t answer my texts again today. Were you even at school?”

  “Sorry,” he whispered in my ear as he turned me around. “I was distracted. Coach kept me after gym, so I missed lunch.”

  “Okay.” I managed a half-smile. A football player like Kyle Robbins wasn’t my typical pick, but working together as biology lab partners last year I’d found there was more to the guy than his athletic body and his deep brown eyes. He knew the names of everyone at Pioneer Falls High, from the freshmen to the custodian, and his happy-go-lucky attitude was contagious. He made me feel anything was possible.

  “Are you finished with your shift yet?” he asked.

  “Almost.”

  “I can’t wait until we’re done with this place,” he said, kissing me lightly.

  “It’s not that bad.”

  “What? Making cappuccinos or this town?”

  I smiled. “Well, the coffee’s fine.” I glanced back toward the fence. The wolves had
taken off, but their prey, whatever it was, was still on the ground.

  “Whoa! What is that?” Kyle asked, tracking my gaze.

  We walked over to what I realized was a downed buck. His head lolled to one side, velvet-covered antlers touching the earth. Blood spatters shimmered on the dirt near him.

  “He’s probably in shock. Don’t get too close.”

  I ignored Kyle’s warning and inched closer to examine the damage anyway. The deer’s upper chest bled from a massive wound, and there was a wide gash near his neck. The buck snorted, try to rouse itself from the ground.

  “No, no, no…” I knelt alongside the animal. Dangerous or not, I put a hand on its quivering shoulder. “It’s okay.”

  “What are you doing? Don’t touch it.”

  My breathing slowed. The deer’s eyes were filled with so much fear. My heart ached for the beast dying in front of me.

  “C’mon, leave it,” Kyle said behind me. “There’s nothing you can do.”

  “I just… I want to stay with him for his last moments.”

  “That shouldn’t be long,” Kyle said under his breath.

  “Seriously?”

  The deer made a huffing sound. Blood gurgled in the gash near his throat, and little clouds of steam drifted up from his mouth. I moved back a little, my stomach churning.

  “It’s in shock. I told you,” Kyle said.

  “Those disgusting wolves got you,” I whispered. “You didn’t deserve this cruelty.” The buck’s dark eyes reflected the slice of moon overhead. This was the way the creature’s life would end. A savage attack. A mortal wound.

  I felt my eyes start to water. Trembling, I reached for the stone pendant around my neck, a gift from Dad a couple years ago on my sixteenth birthday. I turned the cool white disk over and over in my fingers, as I often did. The smooth surface of the stone never failed to calm my nerves.

  “Maybe we should call this in,” Kyle said, trying to get my attention with a wave. “I’ll try the non-emergency number at the station.”

  I nodded, and then focused again on the buck’s pleading dark eyes. “I’m sorry you had such a painful death.” Shivering now, I looked toward the edge of the pavement to where it met the treeline, wondering if there were other deer out there.

  As if in answer, a dark flash of something moved in the bushes. I held my breath. There was a definite rustling. The dying buck heard it, too. It stirred, struggling to pull itself up, but then collapsed again.

  “No, no. It’s okay.” I stepped back. “Don’t run.”

  “Look out!” Kyle called, putting his hand over his phone for a second.

  In a burst of desperate movement, the deer wobbled to his feet and staggered into the woods. My eyes filled with tears as the brush rippled and the buck vanished. Something was shaking the brush, advancing toward the break where the deer had disappeared. Multiple things.

  A howl rose from the woods. And then another. My skin rippled with goose bumps. The wolves were circling for the kill.

  ***

  Thankfully, our driveway stood empty when I got home. No sign of my dad’s squad car. I exhaled slowly as I made my way up the front steps. I hadn’t meant to stay out so long, but it was easy to lose track of time sitting in Kyle’s Audi on one of the dark roads around town. At least I’d beaten my father home from work. My little sisters had promised not to say anything to him about me sometimes hanging out with Kyle after my shift, but secrets were like currency to them. Any day now, one of the twins was going to sell me out when something came along that they wanted.

  “You’re late.” Fawn met me on the front steps of the house. Notably, she was wearing my black sweater and what looked like my peach lip gloss. Her dark hair, the mahogany color similar to mine, was swept into fancy braids at the nape of her neck. Her green eyes were perfectly rimmed with charcoal eyeliner. I had to hand it to Fawn, the girl had style, even if it was mostly borrowed without asking.

  “And...you’ve been in my closet,” I said, pushing past her and into the house.

  “Whoa. What happened to you?”

  “Huh? Work.”

  Fawn pointed at my chest, where a drying brown stain had spread across the front of my gray jacket. “Work or murder? What is that, blood?”

  “Oh, crap,” I said, glancing down. It hadn’t looked that bad in the dim lights of Kyle’s car, but now I could see, it was pretty big. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”

  Fawn’s fraternal twin Rose glanced up from her math book. “That looks serious. Are you hurt?”

  “Nope.” I shucked the coat and headed to the mudroom off the kitchen. “There was this downed buck near the woods at the back of the shop.”

  “Gross,” Fawn called from the hallway.

  “It was sad, actually.” I squirted some detergent on the jacket and rubbed the fabric together gently. “Did you guys eat already?”

  “Hours ago. Fawn made chili. There’s some on the stove for you and Dad,” Rose called from the kitchen table. “Want me to fix you a bowl?”

  “Not hungry.”

  “Murder’ll do that to you.” Fawn lounged in the doorway, watching me scrub at the mark.

  “Cute.” I threw her a strained smile over my shoulder and then held up my jacket, inspecting the stain. It might wash out. I’d try, anyway. This was a new coat for school, and on Dad’s salary from the sheriff’s department, there wouldn’t be money to replace it. Especially not with the twins’ birthdays coming up in less than two weeks.

  Dad had scraped together his savings to throw the twins a big sweet sixteen celebration—much nicer than the simple party I’d had—but then again, there were two of them. And it seemed as though Dad was determined to show the town that he’d made good. He spent a lot of time worrying about what people thought.

  I’d seen the hurt in his eyes over the years when we’d been at the grocery store, dressed in hand-me-downs and sneakers with holes in the toes. I’d noticed the shame he felt under the judgmental stares of other parents we’d run into. Say what they might about a single dad who’d once lived a much harder life, George Turner could provide a nice living for his girls. And it was clear from the venue he’d rented for the celebration and the cake he’d ordered that he wanted all the residents of Pioneer Falls to know it.

  “Should I round up more laundry to make a full load?” Rose yelled, not bothering to get up from the table where all her school stuff was spread out.

  “No, it’s okay. I don’t want everything covered in this mess.” I shut the lid of the washer and went off to find dinner in the kitchen.

  A little while later, we all ended up in the living room. Down on the floor, Fawn added flair to some handmade party invitations in between texting her boyfriend. Seated next to me on the couch, Rose tapped a pencil against her forehead as she worked math problems on her paper, her precise numbers a contrast to the glitter explosion happening at our feet. A thick blanket covered Rose’s lap, even though she was wearing a school sweatshirt and jeans—she was always cuddled up in our old drafty house. Her straight blond hair, in a knot on the top of her head, was the color of wheat. I guessed by the residual wave I saw in it that Fawn had tried to braid her hair earlier, but Rose hadn’t liked how it turned out. That wasn’t a huge surprise.

  The twins had never liked the same clothes, or fixed their hair the same way, or even enjoyed the same activities. The only thing they shared was an unbreakable bond, a loyalty that they didn’t offer to anyone else, even me. I’d always been an outsider with them, the older sister, the one in charge. Growing up without a mother around tended to put an extra burden on an older sibling. I’d read that somewhere. Sometimes that felt unfair, but I tried not to think about it. College was only a year away and then I’d be free from all of this responsibility.

  “Dad should have been home an hour ago,” I said, when the news came on at eleven.

  “He didn’t call,” Rose said, shutting her book and sitting up.

  “And he didn’t say anythin
g about taking a long shift.” Fawn muted the TV.

  “Great.” I shook my head, irritated that I’d cut my time short with Kyle if Dad wasn’t even going to be home. As I transferred my jacket from the washer to the dryer, I tried Dad’s cell phone. The call went straight to voicemail. Not too unusual when he was on duty, but still, it seemed kind of strange with him being so late.

  “Anything?” Rose asked.

  I shook my head. Fawn shoved Rose’s feet over and sank down on the end of the couch to share her blanket. No one moved to go to bed.

  An hour later, the phone rang.

  “Why is someone calling the landline?” Fawn said, dashing to answer it. She came back a second later, holding out the cordless handset. “Um… Lily? It’s the station.”

  “Dad?” I asked.

  “No. The sheriff,” Fawn said, her teeth raking her lower lip.

  Whatever calm I’d summoned in the last hours vanished as I took the phone from my sister. My other hand reached for my stone pendant as I forced out a hello.

  ***

  “We’re out looking for him. Take the truck and go home. You girls have school tomorrow, I’m sure,” Sheriff Polson said.

  I touched the cool surface of the wood paneling as I followed her down the hallway of the sheriff’s station, passing photographs of the deputies past and present mounted in matching black frames on the walls. My father’s face smiled out from its place near the end of the display.

  The sheriff caught my glance. “Like I told you on the phone, his squad car shows no signs of foul play. It’s parked and locked. I’m sure he’ll turn up. Try not to worry yourself.”

  I scanned the waiting area, where my sisters were curled up on the hard plastic chairs near the half-empty water cooler. Kyle had dropped us off a little while ago, but hadn’t stuck around to see what was up. Between that and wanting to leave the buck earlier, Kyle’s priorities were a little messed up. Still, a ride from him had been better than walking to the station that late.