Page 24 of Jacob Michaels is Dead

Against our will, both Lucas and I turned our eyes to look out the windshield. Suddenly, we were looking at each other and having to slap our hands over our mouths to keep from laughing at the absurdity of such a thing. Santa Claus wasn’t going to appear on the hood of the car. However, with all things considered, it wasn’t completely crazy to imagine it.

“Look, Rob.” Lucas shook his head. “I vaguely remember the man in the black hooded cloak. But I know I’m not supposed to remember. And for a good reason, I think. Something that happened when I met him…I’m not supposed to think about. Talk about. Or remember. For my own safety. Maybe other people’s safety. I don’t know. But I also don’t know if I made myself forget or if this is Esther Jean Wagner’s work at play. I…just…don’t…know.”

Slowly, I breathed out, unable to connect the dots as to what was going on in the little town of Point Worth, Ohio. Or what my life was even about. Just as I had been thinking before the wolves had attacked us, Lucas put into words what I knew to be true. We couldn’t trust any of our memories.

“Jason said something to me.” I sighed. “Last night. When I decapitated him.”

“You’re going to have to get better at that.” Lucas teased.

“Next time, I’m taking his head with me.” I snorted. “Or burning him until he’s nothing but ashes. But…he said that my magic is the only magic in town that doesn’t have anything to do with…him.”

Lucas was nodding along, looking thoughtful.

“Do you think,” I chewed at my lip, “do you think everything in this town that is some part magical has something to do with him?”

“Maybe?”

“He’s coming,” I said. “Maybe he’s draining all of the magic he’s put out there so he can use it?”

“For what, though?”

“Well, it ain’t to pull a bunny out of a hat, babe.”

Lucas chuckled ruefully.

“He’s planning something big,” I said. “I feel like he’s been stocking away ammunition…waiting for the right time…and now, he’s ready to use it.”

“But for what?” Lucas repeated. “If we knew what he had planned, maybe we could figure out what the hell is going on. Make some sense out of all of this. Maybe we could actually freakin’ remember things, and our memories wouldn’t be a fog.”

Lucas and I both slumped back in our respective seats. For several minutes, we sat there, just staring out of the windshield into the darkness. Lucas finally pulled his shirt on and buttoned it, looking slightly silly with one sleeve missing. However, the choice between looking silly and bleeding was an easy choice to make.

“We have to see Esther Jean,” Lucas said with finality.

“No,” I said. “I can’t trust her.”

Lucas slumped back in his seat, a harrumph escaping his lips.