Chapter Text
Lilith Clawthorne sat on the sidewalk, her head nestled between her knees as she waited. She knew her father wasn’t coming—he had done this before, after all. Something came up or Mom needed something and Lilith was just left waiting for him.
At least it wasn’t raining this time. The sun sank to an orange glow on the horizon. The last rays of its warmth fighting a rearguard against the approaching cold of a clear spring night. The rest of her soccer team had gone home by now, leaving her alone in the school’s parking lot. She had watched her teammates as they got into their parents’ cars or rode off on their bikes. Lilith wished she had a bike.
With a long sigh, she reached for her gym bag that sat bundled by her side and pulled out her phone from the front pocket. There were no missed calls or even a text from her father. She slid it open and hovered her finger over the dial button for a few moments before she pressed down. The phone rang twice, then her father picked up and spoke with a frantic panic in his voice, “Lilith! I’m so sorry, Sweetie. I’m on my way just a—“
“Dell? Who is it?” Lilith heard her mother’s voice echoing through the receiver, distant and muffled.
“It’s Lilith. I’m going to pick her up!” her father yelled before pressing the phone back against his head. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. I promise.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Lilith said, with as little enthusiasm as she could muster.
It was twenty minutes later her father’s old sedan trundled up to the soccer field and pulled to a stop with the screech of the handbrake. Lilith gathered her gym bag and threw it on the backseat before slipping into the passenger seat.
“I’m so sorry, Lilith,” Dell Clawthorne said. He was still wearing his work clothes with wood shavings dusting his red beard like dandruff. “I was going to come on time, I swear. I just got lost in this new sculpture for a client.”
“It’s fine,” Lilith said. She didn’t even look at her father. She turned her gaze back out the window as the sun retreated over the tall trees behind the soccer field. The sports lights had turned on, flooding the field with false daylight against the darkening backdrop.
Dell said nothing else as he backed up the car and drove down the wide roads of suburban Gravesfield.
Gravesfield, Connecticut wasn’t a particularly interesting place to live, but it was old and had stories, and Lilith liked old things with stories. Its main claim to fame was the historical town centre that had survived untouched by the bulldozers that scoured Connecticut in the fifties. She was thankful for that every time she walked through those old streets, passing independent stores and cafes nestled within some of the oldest buildings in the state.
History marked the town, and there was nothing bigger in the town’s history than the Witch Trials. Everywhere you went you could see lingering signs of a touch of the supernatural woven into the town’s folklore, from street names, to witch motifs on stores. But the legends didn’t come without a heavy price for those caught up in such superstitions. The town remembered the trials well, especially on Halloween. Lilith loved it. Last year she helped run an event with her boss, Masha Williams, the Curator of the Gravesfield Historical Society. Their Haunted Hayride idea had been a great hit with the locals.
Unfortunately the drive home was through the endless modern suburbia that made up most of Gravesfield. They passed by little white wood-panelled houses broken up by thick groves of trees, parked cars, and the occasional swing set.
The car turned into a driveway as the light faded. The moment her father pulled the handbrake, Lilith swung out of the passenger side door, slamming it behind her. She grabbed her bag from the rear seat and slammed that door too.
“Lilith! Sweetie!” Dell said as he jogged over to her. “I’m sorry. I really am.”
Lilith paused on the front porch. “It’s fine, Dad. I get it.”
“It won’t happen again. I swear.”
Lilith grit her teeth. “That’s what you said last time.” She threw open the front door, stormed past the kitchen where the smell of pasta still hung in the air, and marched up the stairs. She passed rows of photographs of her family and the few trips they took when she was younger. She swung left at the top of the stairs, threw open her bedroom door and slammed it behind her. Her gym bag crashed to the floor, she kicked off her shoes and then fell face first into her bed, letting out a muffled scream into her pillow.
She wasn’t sure how long she lay there until a knock came to her door. She didn’t answer, but the door opened anyway. “Lilly?”
Lilith’s head snapped up to see Eda standing in her door. Her younger sister had a mane of wild ginger hair, far lighter than her own dark red curls. She wore comfortable sweatpants and her school varsity jacket hung loose around her thin body. Lilith sighed and gestured for her to come in. “Hey.”
Eda closed the door behind her and climbed into Lilith’s desk chair, sitting on her knees with her chin resting on the headrest. “Dad forgot to pick you up again?”
Lilith lay back in the bed and nodded. “Yeah. I know he’s busy but I just don’t get it. How hard is it to set a reminder or something?”
“He was missing from dinner. I just thought you were running late.”
“It’s not your fault,” Lilith sighed.
A silence fell between them for a moment. “How was training?” Eda asked. Lilith looked up at her and saw that sad look in her eyes. The look gripped at Lilith’s heart and twisted in her stomach. She wanted to roll away, pretend that Eda wasn’t there. Wasn’t looking at her with that look.
“Same as always,” she said. Hoping to keep the conversation brief.
“Oh come on, Lily! How did you do? How many penalties did you score?”
“Eda—“
“What about Daisy and Becca? Are they still trying to beat each other’s lap times?”
“Eda, please—“
“Was it Mr Heart or Mrs Rosenberg who—“
“Eda! Please! Not now,” Lilith snapped. Eda flinched back, and her downcast look only made the churning in Lilith’s stomach worse.
“Sorry. I… I just miss it.”
Lilith sat at the side of her bed, her hands gripping the bed sheets tight. “I know,” she said in a weak voice. She felt sick. She couldn’t even look at her sister.
“I can’t wait for the game this Saturday,” Eda said, a small smile curling onto her lips. “It’s gonna be so epic. You’ll crush St. Margaret’s!”
“Yeah,” Lilith said and forced herself to crack a smile. “You bet we are! I won’t let them get the trophy again!”
Eda raised herself on the chair, leaning over the back as she smiled down at Lilith. “Yeah! What’s the game plan?”
The tightness in her chest lessened as Lilith started talking. She explained the plan, the backup plan, and the counters. Eda asked questions and offered her own ideas. Lilith’s smile became genuine as things finally felt normal just for a moment.
“You’ll be unstoppable!” Eda said with a laugh. She threw her hands into the air. “They won’t know wh—wha!” Her celebration cut off as she leaned too far back on the chair. It twisted and the legs lifted from the floor. Lilith jumped for her sister as Eda fell, but she was too slow. Eda crashed hard between the dresser and scattered laundry.
“Eda!” she screamed and was next to her sister's side in a second. “Eda, are you okay?”
Eda just laughed. “Oww, that hurt, but yeah. I’m fine, sis.” She smiled for a moment before frowning. She blinked, her eyes narrowing and looking around as if seeing something only she could see. Her nose twitched with a deep sniff. She held up her hands, moved her fingers, and started breathing fast as panic crossed her face. “Lilly! It’s… It’s happening again.”
Lilith’s eyes widened. She grabbed her pillow and placed it under Eda’s head as Eda flattened herself on the floor and took deep, long, shaking breaths.
Don’t touch her. Don’t hold her down. Make sure she has room to move.
A pained choking gasp escaped Eda as she went rigid. Her back arched, her fists clenched, her face twisted and burned red. Then, after a long few seconds she relaxed just for a moment, as if a great pain had washed over her.
Then convulsions shot through her.
Her body juddered without control. Violent and rhythmic. Her eyes wide, vacant, hollow. Spittal frothed at her mouth.
Lilith shot to her feet and threw open her door. “Mom! Dad! Eda’s having a seizure!”
A moment later her parents thundered up the stairs. Her mother was first. Gwendolin Clawthorn was a large, strong woman. Her auburn hair was streaked with grey. She barged right past Lilith, knocking her back and into the bookcase. Trinkets fell from the shelves as Lilith let out a grunt of pain. Her mother fell to Eda’s side and held her hands above her as if willing to hold Eda down but thankfully she thought better of it. “Dell! Call an ambulance! Call it now!”
Her father stood frozen in the doorway. He shot Lilith a worried look before pulling out his phone and dialling 9-11.
Lilith just shrank into the corner, her hand covering her mouth as she watched her parents fret over her sister. And her sister…
Lilith’s eyes darted to her dresser. Her eyes fixed on an invisible mark on the wood. One that only she knew was there. One that would never go away.
It was all her fault. She did this. She did this to her.
~~~
It was almost one in the morning when Lilith heard her father’s car pull into the driveway. She sat at the kitchen table. The pasta leftovers she made for herself still sat almost untouched. She was hungry, but her stomach just wouldn’t stop churning.
The front door opened and the hallway light flicked on. Her father appeared at the kitchen door. “Hey,” he said with a tired smile.
“Hey.” Lilith didn’t look at him. She kept her head buried in her arms on the table.
Her father dragged a chair over to sit next to her. “I think you should head to bed. You still have school in the morning.”
“Is Eda okay?”
“She’ll be fine. The doctors just want to keep her overnight. Your mother convinced them to let her stay by her side.”
Lilith nodded as the tightness in her chest unravelled. That had been the worst seizure since Eda’s first. She hadn’t had many since then—her medicine was supposed to stop them—but it had been a rough few weeks.
Her father rested a hand on her back and she was too tired to shake it off. “She’ll be okay. Your sister is strong. We’ll work this out.”
“I know. I know, Dad.” Lilith sighed as she sat up and blinked her heavy eyes. She yawned and took one last look at the cold pasta before pushing her chair back. “I’m going to bed.”
As she walked toward the door, her father stood sharply. “Lilith. I… I’m sorry about earlier. I really am.”
Lilith sighed and turned to him. He genuinely looked so guilty. Just as guilty as he did the previous two times. “You’ll be there on Saturday, right? For the game against St. Margaret's?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” he said with a small smile. He offered a hug to her and, after a moment, Lilith fell into it. She felt nothing but hollowness from the warm hold.
~~~
“You lied! You promised you would and you lied!”
Dell winced as he pushed himself back into the hallway wall. “Lilith, please—“
“Lilith! Stop it. This is for your sister,” Gwendolin snapped. She stood at the top of the stairs with Eda hiding behind her. An ashamed look was etched on her sister’s face.
“I’m sorry, Sweet Flea,” her mother continued. “I know this game is important to you, but the doctors wanted to see Eda. It was the earliest we could get.”
The look on Gwendolin’s face looked anything but sympathetic to Lilith. She stood in the hallway, her fists clenched, a wet heat burning in her eyes. It was Saturday morning and the game started in a little over an hour. She had gathered all her belongings ready for the game only to find her father preparing to take Eda to the hospital.
“You knew about my game! You could have booked a different time!” Lilith’s voice cracked. She couldn’t do this. Not now. Why now? She looked to Eda who just gave her a sad look. “Eda wanted to go to my game!”
Eda nodded. “Yeah. Can we please go, Mom? I need to be there to cheer Lilly on.”
“Nonsense,” Gwendolin said. “Your health must come first. I know it’s hard, but we need to do all we can to keep this from happening to you again.” She pulled Eda down the stairs and deposited her next to her sister.
Eda looked tired and so utterly defeated as she stood with her head bowed. Lilith’s younger sister was always full of life and a rebellious spark, but those times have been growing rarer ever since the accident—the one Eda can’t remember but Lilith can never forget.
“The game is in an hour,” Lilith said to her parents. “How will I get there?”
Her father pulled out his wallet and handed her a few bills. “You can get the bus.
Lilith stared at the money, wanting nothing more than to slap it from his hands. Her hands shook with the energy for it, but she sighed and looked away as she snatched the money from his hand and shoved it into her pocket.
“Right. The bus.”
“Come along, Edalyn. Get your shoes on,” Gwendolin said as she pulled her handbag’s strap around her shoulder. “We don’t want to be late.”
“Yes, Mom,” Eda said in a soft voice.
Lilith stood there as the rest of her family finished getting ready. Her arms tucked tightly against her body. Her teeth clenched.
“Hey,” Eda said and nudged against her side. “You’ll rock, okay. I know you will. Remember, you’re unstoppable Lilith.”
Lilith flashed her sister a faint smile. “We’re unstoppable together.”
“True, but it’s your time to shine, Sis. You go rock the world, okay?”
Lilith chuckled. “It’s just St. Margaret's. Not like it’s the World Cup or anything.”
Eda laughed too, and they hugged briefly.The hug was welcome, but only made that unease in Lilith’s stomach rise up once again.
She watched her family close the door behind them, get into the car, and pull out of the driveway. Leaving her alone.
~~~
Lilith kicked a rock down the street as she walked hunched over with her hands buried in her overalls’ pockets. Her gym bag slung around her back hung heavily, far heavier than it should. Each step was a struggle as if her change of clothes had been replaced with bricks. She kicked the rock again and saw it skitter along the sidewalk, bounce off a crack, and land in the gutter. A bitter bark escaped her as she thought of joining it in the gutter.
She shook her head and trudged on. The cool spring morning was giving way to a warm midday and she had a game to be ready for. The game needed her to keep her cool, be focused, and be ready for whatever St. Margaret's threw at them. It would be a hard game after all. Lilith might have been team captain, but Eda was always the star player. This would be the first season without her and…
Lilith clenched her fists. She felt like she wanted to scream. Eda should have been there! They all should have been there!
She grabbed her gym bag, pulled it off her back, and threw it down onto someone’s front lawn. She pulled at her hair and choked on a yell. It wasn’t fair! Why even bother playing the game without Eda there? It was always their dream. They would be stars together. Standing side by side as they won the World Cup!
She sat down on the curb and buried her head in her hands, only dimly aware of the occasional car that drove by. No one paid her any attention. Not even the dog walker who gave her a wide berth.
Her mind wouldn’t stop thinking about the gutter. She really did deserve to be in it.
She was knocked from her thoughts by a small meow from her side. A white cat had walked up to her and rubbed itself against her legs. A soft smile spread over Lilith’s lips as she reached a cautious hand out and stroked it along the cat’s back and up its tail.
“Hey there. You really shouldn’t bother with me.”
The cat mewed and finished circling her, sat on its haunches, and looked up at her with its bright blue eyes. Lilith couldn’t help but feel the cat was studying her with a human-like intelligence. She squirmed, uneased by the cat’s gaze, but gave it a weak smile and held a hand out to stroke it again. The cat purred and nuzzled into her hand.
“Thank you. I really needed this. At least someone likes me.”
The cat pulled back and walked behind her. She turned and watched as it poked at her gym bag, then it grabbed the zipper in its mouth and pulled back. Lilith could only stare dumbfounded as the cat artfully peeled open her bag, poked its head inside, and pulled out her soccer boots in its mouth.
She blinked twice and then jumped for the cat. “Hey! Drop those!”
The cat leapt away from her hand and darted off across the lawn. It raced toward a thick forest behind the rows of houses. Lilith jumped to her feet, scooped up her bag, and ran after the cat.
“Stop! I need those!”
She rushed between trees, ducking under branches as she followed a narrow path trodden between the thick vegetation. Then she burst out into a small clearing. An old house stood in the woods. The roof was rotting and the awning over the porch had been torn down and left in a pile a short distance away. Lumber, bags of sand and cement, and various other building supplies sat around the house, eaten by mildew, grass, and strangled by vines. An old “Sold” sign lay on the porch’s steps. The walls were half painted with a fresh coat of white that stopped abruptly as if the painter had walked off one day and never returned.
The cat bounded up onto the porch, nudged the front door open, and disappeared inside.
Lilith paused for a moment. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on ends. All sorts of possibilities raced through her mind. Perhaps some homeless man had trained the cat to steal for him? What if he was inside? What if it was a trap to lure her in?
She thought about just heading back to the road and calling her team. Maybe someone had a spare pair of boots for her. But no, she couldn’t do that. There wasn’t time. She needed those shoes and there was no way she’d let a cat steal them. No one would even believe that story anyway!
She raced forward and pushed through the door.
Her stomach flipped. Reality warped. Her skin prickled like a thousand static needles crawled over her.
There was a change in the air. She ran into a wall of warmth and humidity. Her mind spun as she stumbled forward and blinked at the light—it was far brighter than inside an old rickety house should have been.
It took her a moment to realise she was in a tent. Dark purple fabric hung over her, pierced by tiny motes of the sun’s light high above. Neat shelves of random knick-knacks and antiques—billiard balls, old TVs, a garden gnome—stood either side of her. Against one wall was a workbench, covered with gears and cables, tools, and jars of a bubbling purple liquid.
And then there was the cat. It looked up at her for a moment, before leaping through the tent flap, her shoes still in the cat’s mouth.
Lilith looked behind her. Where she expected a wooden wall and door stood just a door all on its own in the middle of the tent. Through it she saw the same forest path she had run down. The morning sun was still rising, its light casting long shadows through the trees towards the house. She looked up and saw the sunlight piercing the tent behind her, away from the house.
Lilith looked around the side of the door. There were just more shelves and boxes stacked behind… right where the path should be.
She circled the door, seeing only a solid plane wooden back panel before coming back around to the front and looking through the door at the forest. She reached through the door and felt a tingle, like a wave of static heat that pierced right through her arm as it crossed the threshold. On the other side the air was cool and crisp in the spring morning.
She pulled her hand back. Her breath quickened. This was impossible. It had to be some kind of trick or illusion. She staggered back from the door, only for her foot to catch on something. She tripped and crashed against the dusty hard floor with a yelp. Pain shot through her, stunning her.
The tent flap opened. Light blinded her. Someone tall entered, their dark shadow towering over her. There was a flash of violet and Lilith felt the ground shift under her. Something burst from the dirt—a clawed hand. It was dark and made out of a cold slime. It grabbed her by the waist and held her down.
Lilith struggled at it, kicking with her feet as she tried to pry herself free. The door! She had to get out!
But then the door slammed shut with a finality like that of a jail cell. The shadow loomed large over her and she stared up at it. She met golden eyes buried deep in a midnight purple hood.
Lilith screamed.