Kc's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

Kc carried the locked box home and set it on her table. She stared at it all night. Someone hated Killerc enough to keep his key. But who? She knew no one who spoke his name without fear. If she asked the wrong person, she might hand a dangerous enemy proof that she studied under him. She needed a name, and she needed it safe. At dawn she walked back into the woods. She followed a narrow path she had never taken. A weathered wooden sign leaned at the fork. Painted letters read forgotten dog forest. The path forked toward a small cabin tucked in the trees. Bright shutters. Paintbrushes hung by the door. An easel stood on the porch with a wet canvas. It was an art school, hidden here, so close to Killerc's cabin that Kc's skin prickled. A girl came around the side. Brown hair tied back, pink dress, a lively dog trotting at her heel. She smiled the way Kc used to smile, before Mr. Clean's words changed her. "You're new," the girl said. "Are you here to paint?" "I'm looking for someone," Kc said. She chose her words like stepping stones. "Someone who knows the man who teaches in these woods. The cruel one." The girl's smile fell. Her hand dropped to the dog's head. "You mean Killerc," she said. She spat the name. "He built this school. Then he left it. Left the dog too." She pointed to a twisted tree behind the cabin, where a brown dog lay curled in the roots. "That one waited for him until it died. This forest is named for it." Kc's heart beat hard. Here was hatred, real and old. "Do you have his key?" she asked. "The one to his safe?" The girl went still. Then she laughed, low and cold. Something changed in her eyes. The kindness drained out. "You're his student," she said. "He sent you. Of course he did." She stepped closer. "I've kept that key for years. He wants it back, so he sends a girl to charm it loose." "I only want the lesson inside the box," Kc said. "Then you'll learn my lesson first." The girl held out her open palm. A small iron key sat in it. "I'll give you the key. But not for nothing." Her smile turned sharp as glass. "You bring me something Killerc wants more than this key. Then it's yours. Refuse, and I tell everyone in town whose student you are." Kc looked at the key. She looked at the dead dog under the tree. She had found the person who hated Killerc. She had found the key. But the girl had trapped her between two masters now. Kc closed her hand around empty air. "Tell me what you want," Kc said. The girl smiled wider. "You'll know soon enough." She turned and walked into the school, the key still in her fist.