They staggered out into the afternoon sun in a daze. Most of the others hurried to their calculus class, while Jesse, who had better things to do than sweat over imaginary numbers, was stuck in geometry. Sitting by herself in a quiet, hot classroom, she finally had the time to mull over the events of today.
It felt like an absurd dream. Dylan, that magnet for drama, got beat up by that jock, Marty, got played like a fucking fiddle by Monica, and was possessed by some sort of demon all in one day. Because, apparently, those were real. There were not enough human-shaped monsters in this world; of course there had to be supernatural ones too, for fuck's sake. She'd tease him about it, but the pale face he had when he waved goodbye to her reminded her strongly of her own a few years ago, when she was heading home from Adam's house to that bastard of a man, waiting with a bottle and a belt. A gallows walk if she ever saw one. She and Dylan had a barely courteous rivalry going, but she wouldn't wish that fate upon her worst enemy. Well, maybe that harpy Monica.
The twins were something out of a BookTok slop novel. Tall, handsome, and apparently into Dylan, Nikolai and his bossy, irritating, know-it-all sister, Nastya. It baffled Jesse how quickly the two just accepted the madness going on in the shed and began spinning theories, like they were the cast of some teenage Netflix flick.
The self-proclaimed "witch" was terrifyingly right on the money about the prophecy, the door, everything. She had forced them to agree to meet up tonight, and the door was conveniently unlocked when they did. While they were all panicking, like any reasonable person would in that situation, Nastya was assertive and unyielding, as if this sort of thing happened to her every day. Jesse had a nasty suspicion that maybe all of this was a setup to lure them into her house.
She chuckled to herself, making a few classmates flinch slightly but not turn to look at her. Apparently they were all shit scared that she would snap and stab them with a protractor or something. Well, the only way to find out what the hell was going on was to jump straight into the belly of the beast tonight. Where, hopefully, all would be revealed.
Speaking of revelations, Ian seeing the future was not on her New Year bingo card this year. How the little shit managed to keep that one for himself, she would never know. It hurt, though, surprisingly more than Adam being his usual dense self and trying to grant her forgiveness and absolution, when she knew perfectly well there was none to be had. That was expected. Ian's biggest fucking secret was not. She thought they were friends who could tell each other anything. She most certainly did. The cold, non-judgemental attitude and uncanny perception that Ian had were a breath of fresh air in the emotional minefield surrounding her. She spilled her heart out to him, and he shrugged and gave her the reality check she sorely needed. All the while keeping to himself that he could see the goddamn future. For ten freaking years.
This seething carried her in a daze through the different classrooms until the end of the day. When the horde of children was released from their confinement, they all rushed out to catch their bus, hang around the quad or hitch a ride home with their friends. Just as Jesse was about to slip away to walk through the back alleys towards her empty house, she froze at the sight of Adam, leaning against Dylan's car, arms crossed and face more grave than a marble colossus. He silently nodded his head towards the backseat without breaking eye contact, and she knew it was pointless to try to escape him again. She sighed and trudged towards the Honda, climbing into the back. Dylan was sitting at the wheel, picking his fingernails, quiet as a lamb. Adam got into the front passenger seat and closed the door with force, plunging them into an uncomfortable silence. This was going to be one awkward ride.
Five minutes later, they were still sitting in the parking lot. Dylan was fiddling with his keys and pointedly looking anywhere but at Adam, who was staring straight ahead, huffing like an enraged bull, muscles bunching in his broad shoulders. Jesse wanted to throttle both of them and escape through the window. She met Dylan's eyes through the rear-view mirror and threw him a pointed look. He snapped to action and started the car.
They had a twenty-minute drive ahead of them to Burkittsville. Most of it was spent in traffic, stuck behind the wave of cars trying to use a narrow road exit to disperse through the various towns in the area. Dylan's turn signal ticked rhythmically, interrupting their only pocket of silence in an otherwise chaotic mess of yells, car honks and radio noise. It was giving Jesse a headache.
At last, when they turned to the main road, Adam piped up.
"We have to set things straight."
Oh, shit. Here we go again.
He paused for dramatic effect, the bastard, and continued, "Both of you have been lying to me for a long time, and that stops now. Jesse, our conversation is nowhere near over. But due to the circumstances, I'm going to let it go for now."
A Holy miracle. She rolled her eyes and huffed in agreement.
"And you." He stopped and turned his head to Dylan, who was making an effort to look straight at the road, his nervousness betrayed by the death grip he had on the wheel. "Will you tell me what really happened to you?"
Dylan hesitated, those odd eyes shifting across the road, tracking an old lady slowly making her way across the pedestrian crossing, as if summoned by a vengeful God insistent that Adam get his interrogation over with.
"I… I don't remember. I told you." He swallowed, still looking ahead. "One minute I'm watching you stop Jesse from assaulting the new kids, then I get this horrible headache. The next thing I remember is waking up, kneeling on the floor, all of you looking at me like I grew another head."
"A headache…" Adam mused to himself. "And then bouts of lost time. Are you sleepwalking again?"
Jesse swore under her breath as the car swerved sharply to avoid colliding with someone else turning in the same direction. She gripped the front seat, feeling Dylan twitch and look back at Adam, panic on his face.
"What?! No!" he protested loudly, and Jesse wondered how this idiot became the president of the drama club if he couldn't lie for shit. "Last time was before we met. I've not had an episode since."
"Are you still taking your medication?"
"They took me off of it a long time ago. I don't need it anymore!" Dylan spat angrily as he sped up to make the yellow light. Jesse strapped her seatbelt on and sat behind him. She wanted to break this up as soon as possible, but the revelation that Dylan apparently had been sleepwalking and was on the meds for it was being drowned out by sheer fear for her life. At this rate, a car crash wouldn't be out of the question.
"Well, if you are still having episodes, then you clearly do." Adam pressed, and Jesse wondered if he genuinely didn't notice that the forest was speeding by the windows at an alarming rate.
"I'm NOT… HAVING… EPISODES… ADAM!" Dylan's voice was rising as he was swerving between lanes, car horns blaring after them. This dude was gonna get his licence revoked.
Adam was the face of serenity. He stared, unblinking, at Dylan, and Jesse heard this strange high-pitched ringing in her ears. At first she thought it was the blood and adrenaline rushing into her head from the potential death on the road, but now it seemed more and more like it was coming from Adam.
"I told you not to lie to me again, Dylan." Jesse shuddered as Adam's voice reverberated through the car, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Dylan swerved again, the shit, and took the car to a stop near the curb and killed the engine. He was breathing heavily, arms gripping the wheel. Jesse thought, horrified, that he was going to fucking cry.
"Fuck! Fine…" he said, imperceptibly quiet. His grip loosened as his hands flopped down to his lap, defeated. He looked up at Adam, eyes glistening.
"I…I had one last night." At Adam's sharp intake of breath through his nostrils, he rushed to continue. "But I wasn't lying when I said I don't have them anymore! It was the first time since five years ago! I swear!"
Jesse was afraid to open her mouth, for once in her life, as the two guys in front of her were locked in a stare-off. Eventually, Adam broke the stalemate and leaned back into his seat. Tension leaked out of Dylan's muscles almost instantly.
"How bad was it? The one last night." Adam said conversationally.
Dylan hesitated. Jesse wanted to smack him, to force him to spill his guts. Adam was fucking scary right now, and a small survival instinct in her belly was screaming at her to give him what he wanted… or else.
"I…" the idiot finally opened his mouth. "I had a mild headache before bed, nothing major. Took a long time to fall asleep because of it. Then…"
He looked up through the windshield at the road, shoulders sinking. "Then I woke up… in the dark. By…" Quick, guilty glance at Adam, and Jesse knew they were screwed. "By the stream. Had to trudge back to my house barefoot and muddy, but otherwise unhurt. So I'm fine. Really."
The silence that followed made Jesse consider just getting out of this pressure cooker and hitching a ride with a trucker. Whatever harassment that she would encounter there would be better than this unbearable tension.
"I see," Adam spoke up and made both of them jump. He returned his insistent, unsettling gaze back to the road. "Thank you for telling me."
Taking this as the end of his interrogation, Dylan quickly started the engine again and drove the last mile or so home in apparent calm. When they pulled up to the driveway infront of Adam's house, Jesse didn't wait for the car to stop as she got the hell out of there and swung her backpack onto her back. Adam got out as well and walked around the car towards the driver's seat. He was about to open the door, but Dylan stopped him.
"I… I need to get home to grab my overnight bag. For tonight?" The poor bastard was so pale, Jesse thought he might hurl. "I'll leave the car there; Mom needs it for her night shift."
Adam hesitated for just a second too long, staring down at Dylan's face, but nodded and let go of the door handle. Dylan couldn't get out of there fast enough.
"Longest fucking drive of my life. And that includes being handcuffed in the police van," She said, as Adam's eyes did not leave the car until it turned the corner.
He turned towards her.
"What do you mean?"
"What do I…" She blurted, astounded at Adam's confused expression. "What do I mean? I mean that next time the two of you want to spill your hearts out and have a lovers' spat, can you NOT do it in a moving vehicle? I genuinely thought we were going to die!"
Adam was speechless, looking at her with those doe eyes full of warmth. No sign of whoever the fuck that was in the car.
"Also, what is going on with you?" She asked, tired of circling the issue.
"Huh? There's nothing…"
"Bullshit." She chucked her backpack at his chest, which he reflexively caught. "I get why you've been moody lately, what with your worldview falling apart and all, but that…" She pointed in the vague direction of the disappearing car. "... was fucking terrifying."
"Since when do you intimidate people into telling you what you want by assaulting them with this… this…" She had no idea how to phrase it properly. "... this high-pitched sound thing."
"I… I don't know what you mean? What sound thing?"
Jesse stared at her oldest friend, who genuinely seemed confused by her accusation. She suddenly realised that this discussion was pointless, at least until they got to Nastya's house. She was right about Adam all along. He was still hopelessly clueless. But now he was apparently a magic truth detector. Fucking perfect.