Chapter 68 – The Unknown Confidant – Holly Hayfield

Sofi returned to the other side of her table and sat back down. The change in her mood showed visibly on her face. Our being here wasn’t good for her and she knew it. That’s why now she was looking at us like unwelcome guests. She rested one elbow against the table and rested her head in her hand.

“Why should I talk to you about anything?” She asked.

“Because like it or not I’m the greatest defense you have from the vice principal’s ire.” I said. “It’s in your best interest to work with me.”

Sofi then looked over at Lilith.

“And you…? Are you working for the vice principal too? Is that what the great granddaughter of Judith Meredith has become?” She asked cynically.

Lilith’s eyes flared with anger upon this change in tone.

“I don’t work for anyone but myself!” Lilith said. “I came here with Holly because I thought you might have something interesting to say but so far I’ve been wrong!”

“Ms. Sampson wanted me to talk to you about the pamphlets you were seen handing out.” I said to steer the conversation back on track, “You’ve put yourself beneath her crosshairs and I don’t think you care.”

“I don’t.” Sofi said.

“You should.” I said. “For the sake of the Occult Club, you should. Sending me wasn’t her first idea. From what she tells me she was going to have the both of you called to her office separately and dealt with harshly.”

Sofi folded her arms and looked away like a spoiled little brat. Alyssa, however, continued to watch me in silence with great interest. I faced towards Alyssa.

“I’m worried that if the two of you continue your campaign like this then being sent to her office might be the least of your concerns. You could be staring down suspension, or worse. She might insist you have some involvement in the criminal case surrounding Ms. Logan’s death.”

Sofi turned back towards me.

“What?” She asked in an annoyed voice, “How could we have anything to do with it.”

“Ms. Sampson told me you were spending a lot of time Ms. Logan in the weeks before she died.”

“And so were you!” She fired back.

“Yet, Ms. Logan never told me that she was having extended conversations with anyone else. I spent so long counseling her and she never once mentioned you. The reverse doesn’t seem to be true.”

“So what…?”

“So that means you had some secret connection with Ms. Logan.” I said. “The vice principal wants to know what you know, and that is the heart of why I’m here.”

“You want me to oust everything Ms. Logan told me, betray all her trust, and bow down to her majesty the vice principal?”

“No.” I said firmly. “I want you to work with me to find a solution that removes you and Alyssa from her crosshairs.”

Sofi had a frustrated look on her face like she was about ready to give up on this conversation. Alyssa was still watching me with deep intent. It gave me an idea.

“You might be willing to go down for your beliefs,” I said directly to Sofi, “But don’t force that choice on your friend, Alyssa. She’s been patiently letting you take the lead this entire time. You need to be considerate of her feelings.”

Sofi was taken aback by my change in attitude. This wasn’t just me speaking as a counselor. I was purposely speaking to her as if she were a child. She knew it. I wanted her to know it, because she was acting like a problematic child. Sofi looked over at Alyssa and her expression softened. They shared an intimate look for a moment before Sofi turned back to me.

“What would you ask me to do?” Sofi asked reluctantly.

“Not much,” I said, “We just need to make clear to Ms. Sampson that you aren’t a threat to her. Once that happens she won’t want to waste her energy on you.”

“How do I do that?” Sofi asked.

“You can start by telling us about your conversations with Ms. Logan. What led you to begin handing out copies of The Night of the Killing Cat? Something tells me you know more about the author of that story than you’re letting on.”

Sofi brushed one hand through her short hair as she sat in quiet contemplation. Alyssa put one hand on her shoulder. Sofi inhaled and exhaled deeply.

“I spent a lot of time talking to Ms. Logan about Malorie Noelle.” Sofi said reluctantly, “She asked me not to talk to anyone else about her or those conversations. I don’t know how much I can say. I…”

“You can say it all.” I said abruptly, “Lilith and I already know about Ms. Logan and Malorie. Malorie’s disappearance was largely the reason that Ms. Logan became the way she did. Malorie transferred to this school, then joined art club shortly after. When the art club was scrapped they merged with the theater club to form the Art and Theater Club.”

Sofi looked at me in wide-eyed bewilderment.

“How did you…”

“Like I told you before, we know about them.” I said.

“That isn’t all,” Lilith added, “We know that that Ms. Logan lost herself when she joined the Art and Theater club. We know that everything changed for their three person group when they merged with the Theater club.”

Sofi was dumbfounded. Perhaps she believed, like I did, that Ms. Logan was the only one she confided in about Malorie and her past. She was having the same realization that I had back in Ms. Sampson’s office after being told about the fact. Now she was forced to reconcile that there were parts to Ms. Logan that she didn’t fully understand. She held more secrets than we thought she did.

“Where do I even begin?” Sofi asked.

“With the reason you were talking to Ms. Logan in the first place.” I said.

Sofi sighed.

“Alyssa and I keep up to date on all of the strange happenings that go on around this school.” Sofi said. “We take note of anything that looks like it could be the work of paranormal intervention. When I learned that Malorie went missing 10 years ago Ms. Logan wasn’t my first choice to talk to. The first person I went to was Ms. Foster.”

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“Why her…?” Lilith asked.

“I knew that she went to school here as a student and I was already on friendly terms with her. She believes in the supernatural too. That’s when I started asking her about Malorie Noelle. There was a problem though. She didn’t know much about Malorie.”

“That was when you went to Ms. Logan?” I asked.

“Ms. Foster pointed me to Ms. Logan. She said that the only thing she knew about Malorie was that she was close friends with Ms. Logan and a girl named Vivian. She said Ms. Logan spent a lot of time talking about her to the annoyance of the other club members. Ms. Foster wasn’t very involved with the club since she joined only as it was shutting down. So I turned my focus to Ms. Logan.”

“I’m surprised Ms. Logan met with you at all.” I said honestly, “Whenever I tried to get her to divulge information about Malorie she was resistant.”

“It was like that with me at first too.” Sofi said. “But she knew that I knew.”

“Knew what…?” Lilith asked.

“That I knew that Malorie had been a victim of the school’s dark magic.” Sofi said with conviction.

Lilith let out an insulting laugh.

“It’s true!” Sofi shouted in anger, “If you don’t believe me then get out! This is the Occult Club! I won’t have people laughing in my face in our own club room.”

I tapped Lilith on the shoulder, hopefully signaling to her to rein in her reactions. Sofi had an easily frustrated temperament that was a lot like Lilith’s. Lilith rolled her eyes at me, but seemed to get the message.

“Sorry,” I said to Sofi, “Please, go on. I want to know what you mean when you say she was a victim of dark magic.”

“It wasn’t a joke.” Sofi said. “Malorie really was a victim of dark magic. She was sacrificed as part of a blood ritual.”

“Blood ritual…?” I asked calmly, trying not to let my disbelief be heard.

“I confronted Ms. Logan each and every day for several days in a row, asking her about my theories on the disappearance of Malorie Noelle. Finally, after begging again and again, she capitulated. Malorie had been a victim of the Ritual of Knives.”

“You can’t be serious.” Lilith said.

I elbowed Lilith to get her to shut up.

“I’m serious!” Sofi shouted. “Ms. Logan said she even saw it!”

“What?” I asked. “You’re saying that Ms. Logan told you that she witnessed this blood ritual.”

“Yes.” Sofi said. “Not only that, but she admitted to holding one of the knives for the ritual. That’s not all. She gave me something. She told me to keep it safe until the time came for it to be useful.”

Sofi turned to the filing cabinet behind her and went through the jumbled mess of papers inside. She pulled out one that looked like it had been crumpled up and then straightened out again many times. She slid the paper in our direction. Lilith and I took a look at it. The paper held a list of students that I recognized as being part of the Art and Theater club. Not all of the members were on it, just a select few.

“What is this?” I asked.

“It’s a list of people that were involved in the Ritual of Knives.” Sofi said. “According to Ms. Logan they sacrificed her over a summoning circle.”

“Why would they do that…?” Lilith asked.

“To summon something,” Sofi said plainly.

“To summon what…?” I asked.

“I’ve got a few theories about that. I think it has something to do with the Killing Cat. Ms. Logan said they were working on the Night of the Killing Cat before Malorie died.” Sofi said, “Check out the very top of this list that Ms. Logan made for me. It’s your beloved vice principal. If only the people knew she was an acolyte of blood magic. She’d never be allowed to step foot in this school.”

Lilith and I looked at each other with troubled expressions. Sofi knew, just as she said. However, what she knew was mixed up with mysticism. Ms. Logan told her enough to put Sofi well into Ms. Sampson’s danger zone. What would Ms. Sampson do to her if she knew that Sofi knew? Why did Ms. Logan shroud Malorie’s story in blood ritualism and magic? What was she hoping to accomplish by telling Sofi all this and giving her that list? Maybe it was just as Ms. Sampson said. She wanted a confidant as sort of insurance.

“This is madness. Sofi, you can’t go around handing out those pamphlets.” I said.

“I can’t. The vice president deserves to be dethroned.” Sofi said.

I leaned over to Lilith.

“This sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” I whispered to Lilith.

“You’re right.” Lilith said to Sofi, “She does need to be dethroned. She was involved in something shady. However, Holly has spent a lot of time teaching me that there is a proper time and place.”

Sofi leaned back into her seat, listening to what Lilith had to say.

“You want to get rid of her too?” Sofi asked.

“I do,” Lilith said. “Who do you think printed out the original copies of The Night of the Killing Cat?”

Sofi blinked in surprise.

“I thought it was Ms. Logan? I found one in my locker on Monday morning.” Sofi asked.

Lilith stepped closer to the table to be the center of Sofi’s focus.

“That was just by chance. I printed them out.” Lilith said, “I printed them with help from Val and Holly. We organized the masked event so that we could dispense this information to get Malorie’s story out while hiding our identity. Sofi, you’ve stepped across a dangerous line by doing the same thing publicly.”

It looked like my teachings weren’t lost on Lilith. It felt gratifying to hear my lessons in safety be so sincerely repeated by her. Sofi was a more dangerous case than Lilith and Val ever were. Sofi thought that she was alone with Alyssa to speak for Malorie. She was wrong.

“The student council is well aware that Malorie was betrayed.” I said. “I’m sure you heard the student council president and I speak at length about changing the school’s culture. That wasn’t hot air. No one was as emotionally shook by Malorie’s story as Val herself. That’s why I want you to step back.”

“Step back…?” Sofi said confrontationally, “How can I step back when it was blood magic that claimed Malorie’s life? How can you ask me to step back when it’s the Occult Club that focuses on that type of thing? This is our area of expertise.”

Sofi’s voice became louder and louder as she spoke defensively. This was having an electric effect on Lilith.

“It’s a delusion!” Lilith finally shouted after hearing Sofi’s argument, “Spirits, ghosts, blood rituals, they’re all delusions! Malorie was killed, murdered, not by spirits, but by people! Get that through your thick skull!”

Sofi shot up out of her chair angrily.

“You don’t know anything! Ms. Logan confirmed everything for me personally! She told me all about her friend Malorie and she taught me that this school is shrouded in darkness! I can’t believe you! You don’t even believe in the mystery of the Meredith family! What sort of pathetic great granddaughter are you?! I can’t believe I wanted to meet you so badly!”

Lilith’s eyes widened with rage at the mention of her family.

“You…!” Lilith said angrily. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! You have no idea how the world really works! You little…!”

The two of them looked like they were ready to fight. I put my arms around Lilith and she struggled to break free. Alyssa did the same to Sofi.

“I refuse to be silenced! I… I…” Sofi was broken off as she began breathing deeply.

She leaned forward, trying to swallow down a full breath of air. Lilith and I froze completely. Sofi was struggling just to breathe. Alyssa acted quickly, reaching into a bag that was behind them to get out an inhaler. She put it into Sofi’s hands and helped her to activate the device, allowing her to breathe normally. Alyssa carefully guided Sofi back down into her chair. Sofi closed her eyes and relaxed as she drew air from her inhaler. Alyssa looked over at us.

“If you two don’t mind I’d like you to give us some space. Save whatever you have to say for another day. Please let Sofi rest.” Alyssa said.

Lilith and I couldn’t really say anything against that. We walked out awkwardly as Alyssa held Sofi closely and kept watch over her.

Lilith and I walked down the halls away from the Occult Club in relative quiet. We weren’t aware of her medical condition and were thrown off by its sudden appearance. Lilith obviously felt guilty about pushing Sofi so far in aggravation. From the way Alyssa behaved it looked like that wasn’t the first time she had to look out for her friend like that. She likely grew into the role of supporting Sofi, given the gap in their personality types.

“We should talk on the phone over the weekend.” Lilith offered. “The whole thing about the Ritual of Knives is worth talking about.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in that?”

“I don’t, but I think part of what she was saying had some truth in it. Ms. Logan might’ve told her everything, but covered her tracks by putting it in Sofi’s language.”

“You might have a point about that.”

“Do you have any other plans this weekend?” She asked.

“Hmm… I’m trying to get back into shape now that I have control over my ankle monitor. I’ll probably be exercising for a few hours each day, but other than that my schedule is clear.”

“Good, just call me when you’re finished exercising tonight and we’ll talk.”

“We’ve got more to talk about than just paranormal rituals.” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Sofi and Alyssa aren’t going to back down without a fight.”

“You saw how stubborn she was. I don’t think we can dissuade her.” Lilith said.

“We made those pamphlets, Lilith. We can’t let her be crucified for them.”

“I feel the same way but she doesn’t care. She’ll bite your hand no matter how much you try to help.” Lilith said.

“The help I’m going to give her isn’t the type of help she wants.” I said. “We’re not going to placate her by asking nicely. Today was just a warning.”

“Then what are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to use this weekend to start gathering people. On Monday we’re going to realize Val’s dream. We’re going to reinstate the Student Corrections Authority.”