Zach
Zach and his dad had been walking swiftly along the path. Robert led the way. He knew the exact point where they would need to break off the trail to find Victor’s cabin.
Zach’s eyes were beginning to burn with exhaustion. If he had had a mirror, he knew how his eyes would look—bloodshot and puffy, like the mornings after he and Logan’s sleepovers. His stomach was an empty vacuum. The protein bar his dad gave him had helped, but he needed more. Despite all of this, he was still able to walk at a brisk pace, with renewed energy. He was like Perseus, his Andromeda waiting for him.
“Here, this is it,” Robert said. “Look at this tree.” Zach’s dad pointed to the bark of a skinny birch tree. On the side of the trunk were two small letters written in black marker.
“CS.” Zach paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He turned to his dad. “Chris Sutton?”
“Yeah. I marked it so I would know how to get back to the cabin, if it ever showed up again.”
“Good thinking. So, where do we go from here?”
“I think if we walk directly south from this tree for about fifteen minutes or so, we should run into the cabin. Or, at least the clearing where the cabin should be.”
“Dad, trust me. I’m positive the house will be there this time. I’m not sure how I know, but I just do,” Zach said.
Zach’s dad nodded.
Zach and his father began their trek through the woods at an even quicker pace than before, with Zach leading the way, Chris’s stone securely in his pocket. The stone seemed to be guiding him. He placed his hand on his pocket as he ran, making sure it was still there. He hadn’t told his dad about the rock yet. It was only for him right now. His magic wallet. His winged sandals.
He moved magically through the thick brush with the fluency and ease of a galloping deer. He could sense he was close to Victor’s home. To Michael and Tristan. To Chris. His dad grunted and gasped for air behind him.
Zach slowed down a bit. Looking straight ahead, he asked, “You okay, Dad?”
“I’m fine. We should be there soon,” he said, trying to catch his wind.
Zach moved even quicker now. It was as if the woods had become his home. He seemed to know every branch, every twig, every ditch and divot in the ground. There were no scratches or welts on his hands or face this time. He eluded the dagger branches with an unconscious ease.
Zach stopped running. His father’s footsteps crunched behind him.
Robert, with hands to his knees, panted trying to get air. “Why … did … you … stop?”
“Look. Around that big tree.” Zach pointed into a clearing. No trees. No brush. It looked like someone’s yard.
“That’s it,” Zach’s dad said. “That’s where the cabin was. But, just like I told you, it’s just a clearing. No house.”
Zach inched forward, peering around the remaining trees. His dad was right. There was no building at all, just an empty space where the trees had been cut down. He stood at the edge of the forest, the clearing directly in front of him. He toed the border between sanctuary and peril.
Robert stood a few steps behind Zach. “Zach, buddy. I think we should head back to the camp and let everyone know you’re all right. Your mother and your teachers are worried sick about you. There’s nothing to see. I’m sorry, but this is exactly what I ran into the last time I was here.”
Zach didn’t listen. Instead, he lifted his right foot out of the leaves and wet snow. Then he took one step forward into the clearing.
As he placed his wet shoe on the ground, the space in front of him transformed. The cabin they had been searching for appeared simultaneously with Zach’s presence. The sun’s rays reflected off the windows directly into his eyes.
It was as if the home knew he had come.
It had been waiting for him to come.
Mr. Sutton stood next to him now. His mouth wide open. His eyes round like quarters. “That’s it. That’s the house I saw the first time I came here. How did it just appear like that?”
“I don’t know, Dad. None of this stuff makes any sense, does it?”
Zach’s dad shook his head.
“So, what do we do now?” Zach asked.
Robert was still shaking his head.
“Dad? What do we do?”
His dad looked at him. “We go in. We go in and find your friends. And we go find Chris,” he said.
Zach nodded. The cabin didn’t look scary. It didn’t look like a witch had lived there. It was a log cabin. One you might see on a family vacation in the north woods or on a lake. Nothing out of the ordinary. But Zach’s hands trembled. Drops of sweat dripped down from his forehead on to his cheek. And the emptiness in his gut was no longer a side effect of hunger.
Zach and his dad walked side by side toward the cabin. They moved at a slow pace, their eyes darting in every direction.
Then as suddenly as it had appeared, the cabin was gone.
“No!” cried Robert.
Zach stared straight ahead at the empty space. The trickling sound of a creek pulled his attention away. He gazed across the clearing. Behind where the home had stood was a rectangular, blue, metallic glow. Some kind of fence or barrier. It looked to outline what would have been the backyard of the cabin.
Zach edged closer. Were those people inside the barrier?
He turned around. “Dad! Look …”
His dad interrupted him. “Zach, I think I know why the cabin disappeared again.”
“Why?”
“Because I came with you. I was allowed to see the cabin once, but only once. Victor is teasing me. The house appeared when you stepped out into the clearing, but once I started walking with you, it disappeared.”
“Why would you being here make any difference?”
“Victor took Chris for a reason. You’re his brother.” Robert looked toward the absent home. Then he turned back to Zach and looked him straight in the eye. He put both hands on Zach’s shoulders. “You said that Victor wants something from you. You aren’t the youngest Sutton of this family, so I don’t know why, but Zach, I’m beginning to think you’re right. It’s you he wants. It kills me to say this, but there is only one way to find your roommates and Chris. You go without me. You face Victor alone. If I stay back, I’m sure the home will reappear.”
“What am I supposed to do when I get there? How do I fight a ghost witch? How can I possibly win that battle?”
Robert took a deep breath. “Zach, I’d be lying if I said I knew. But remember, you knew something about this place. You knew that house would be there. And I’m betting that you will know what to do when you get inside.”
Zach put his head down. “Dad,” he began. “When you showed up here, I got reenergized. I couldn’t wait to continue this search. But now that we’re here, I’m scared.”
Zach’s dad bent down to his level, his hand still on Zach’s left shoulder. “Zach, if you don’t feel good about this, let’s go back. You don’t have to go. There’s no shame in that. Trust me, I understand.”
Zach still stared at the ground.
His dad pulled him closer and hugged him tightly. His father’s strong hands gripped his shoulder blades. “It’s okay, buddy,” he whispered. “Let’s go back to camp. We can figure this out later. We’ll figure out another way. I promise.”
A quiet peace passed between the two, Zach still in his father’s arms.
Finally, Zach looked up at his dad. “Dad, if we don’t take care of this now, it will never end.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out Chris’s stone. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen when I go up there. Maybe the cabin will reappear, maybe it won’t. But I do know my friends are in trouble.” Zach pointed to the glowing barrier. “I know they’re in there. And if there is any chance of finding Chris, I have to try.”
“Zach, are you sure?”
“No. Not at all. But I have to do it anyway.”
“Zach, listen to me. If you have any trouble, if you aren’t sure what to do, just run. Do you hear me? Get out of there as fast as you can. I’ll be waiting in the woods. Hopefully if I stay far enough away, that thing will let you in.”
“Dad,” Zach said with a smirk. “You know I can run.”
Robert laughed half-heartedly. Then he looked at Zach’s hand. “What is that?” he asked.
Zach opened his palm, revealing the rock. He held it out in front of him, so his father could see.
His dad placed his finger on the stone, rubbing it gently. “It looks like something Chris would have found.”
Zach nodded. “Yeah, it is.”
“You still have one of Chris’s rocks?” Robert asked. “But I don’t remember this one.”
“He found it in Duluth that day. I took it from the hotel room.”
A tear dropped from Mr. Sutton’s eye.
“Dad, I don’t think this is just another one of Chris’s rocks. There’s something different about this one. Something special. Victor may have special powers, but I think this rock does too.”
“What kind of powers?” Robert asked.
Zach looked back to where the cabin had been. “I’m not exactly sure, Dad, but it’s time I found out.”