It was silent as we sat in the camper that moved down the highways with ease. Given that I was behind the wheel, the only one with a license to drive it as well as experience in maneuvering large vehicles, I couldn’t keep track of the mood. Lynn was next to me, phone handy as the navigator. She kept glancing back at the others, opening her mouth, only to look back forward with a sigh and pout.

Everyone was unsettled by the news we heard earlier, that much was clear. The air itself felt thick with the tension between us all. Myrus’s death wasn’t much of a consolation for whatever it was he’d done with my blood. We weren’t even sure what it was that he’d done, just that Minnie, Jo, and Lynn had all felt it. My grip on the steering wheel tightened reflexively, my knuckles a shade whiter than before.

Jane and Lee were sitting at the booth seats, side by side, leaning on each other. Minnie had gone to the room in the back, needing a moment to herself. She’d tried calling her mom earlier, but there wasn’t a response. All of us had seen the agitation she was trying to hold back.

Jo, and I wasn’t certain how, had actually managed to fall asleep. She was in the bunk above the seats Lynn and I were in, but it was clear by the light and even breathing coming from there that she was out. I supposed it was a compliment to my driving skills, right?

Ring…

I flinched at the sudden sound of a phone call. Lynn glanced back at Jane and Lee, as did I, in the mirror above me. They both stared down at the phone without expression.

Ring…

Ring…

Jane reached up and clicked the side button, declining the call. She tapped a few more times and then flipped her phone over on the table with a sigh.

And back to the silence we went. Lynn made a bold choice about ten minutes later and turned the radio up a bit louder. There weren’t any objections, thankfully.

An hour later, Minnie joined us up front and started discussing the plans for travel with Lynn. They decided on a campground as the mid-point, where we’d spend the night. When it was all decided upon and confirmed, I gathered up the courage to ask Minnie what she knew.

“Minnie?”

“Yeah.”

“Uh… Do you happen to know, um, how exactly he died? Myrus.”

“You want to know what killed him?”

I nodded slowly, keeping my gaze on the road and surroundings. It wasn’t hard to tell the others were listening in, curious as well.

“When my Mom saw it, she said all of his injuries weren’t recent. That… after, well, after he fought you, it was inevitable.”

I pursed my lips, my head bobbing up and down a bit.

Right.

It was just that I didn’t kill him fast enough.

“Thanks for answering that.”

Minnie visibly hesitated before she spoke again.

“It’s not your fault, you know that, right?”

My brows furrowed. If I was the one that gave him those injuries, then it was my fault. Otherwise, what was she talking about? I glanced at her, only to find her piercing gaze staring right back at me.

“What do you mean?”

“Lake Tarva. The blood. It’s not your fault.”

“Uh… how’d you get to that conclusion?” I asked, dubious. All of this eventually trickled back to me, or to my family. It seemed almost wrong to say it wasn’t our fault, that we had nothing to do with it.

She sighed.

“A person was trapped long before you were born, before your grandparents were even born. This was… something bound to happen. They were going to be freed, if not you, then your children or your grandchildren.” She shook her head. “This was all because of some idiot in the past who thought it was a good idea. Absolutely nothing we did was wrong.”

My eyes widened at the clear anger rolling through her words. Usually she was always so clear-headed, calm. This was different. Strange even.

“You said someone was trapped?” Jane asked, interest piqued.

Minnie looked back at her, nodding. “Yeah. They’ve been in there over a hundred years. And, they’re probably going to be very upset when they get out.”

I nearly slammed on the brakes at that, but I held still, my gaze scanning the road faster before I looked at her. I wasn’t the only one alarmed. Lynn was practically half out of her seat to stare at Minnie. She shrugged, confused.

“What? Wouldn’t you be?”

“Why on earth would they still be alive after that long?” Lee voiced what all of us were thinking.

“Yeah, who the heck would live that long – oh…” Lynn backed off. “They’re a witch?”

Minnie laughed lightly. “No. They aren’t a witch.”

Lynn’s mouth fell open and then flapped like a fish out of water as she tried to find the words.

“Um.” I saw Jane’s hand raise in the mirror. “How would they eat? Drink? Is there like a whole little paradise in there?”

“No. As far as I’m aware, it’s probably the size of two and a half of this particular camper. And they don’t need to eat.”

“But, if this person was trapped in a cave for over a hundred years, how would they still be alive?”

“Ah. I understand the questions now. The spell on the cave preserves everything inside until the seal is broken, including the person.”

Preserves…

The person?

This was far outside of my wheelhouse.

This was utterly confusing. How was there even a spell that could prevent a person from aging or needing to eat?

“So, he just doesn’t get hungry?”

Lynn nearly jumped out her seat at the voice that came from right above us. I shook my head. Jo was awake now, it seemed.

Minnie leaned back in her seat to look up at Jo. She shook her head.

“It allows them things like hunger and thirst, but never a way to quench it. And never a way for it to kill them.”

“Yikes.”

“That’s cruel.”

“I mean, their actions in the past might’ve warranted it, but how could someone do that and leave them there for that long?”

“Witches don’t follow those ways anymore…” Minnie commented quietly.

Somehow, I didn’t believe her words. There was something in the way she’d said them.

If I’d gathered anything form this enlightening conversation, it was that witches weren’t exactly the brightest, nor the nicest.

Evil didn’t have a clear face, it was in pieces, everywhere.

But, on a better note, at least we weren’t covered with the thick tension anymore. Conversation bloomed and Jo even hopped down from the bed to join in.