"Have you seen the walkin' dead girl, Garo?" Mr Marius asked as he came up to the three chefs in charge: Gliga, Garofița and Vitalis.

"No, Sir." She said. "The forest has been quiet lately. Nothing much is happening."

"They're preparing for hibernation." Vitalis laughed coarsely.

"I'm guessin' even the supernatural dislikes the cold." Marius said. He picked up a plate with a plăcintă fresh off the pan, scalding hot, tore a corner and ate it.

"Watch it!" Mr Gliga said, stifling a cough. "You'll get burnt!"

"I like 'em hot." He said with his mouth full.

Simona Berindean was on her way to the encampment as well when she saw her brother, Robert, accompanied by a young man she didn't recognise. No, she had seen him before. Where did she know him from?

"Hello!" She put on her pleasant face. "Who might you be?"

He was about to introduce himself when Robert answered for him. "This is Adrian! Adrian Mateoc! He's ditching Văleni and Bălașa for us and Mirabela."

"Oh, really?" She asked in a tone Adrian wasn't sure how to interpret.

"Pretty much." He shrugged.

She smiled. "Welcome to Ferești, then!"

They took Adrian with them to the encampment, walking on either side of him. He had rusty brown hair and big brown eyes, was fairly tall, and wore plain jeans and a hoodie, and a backpack filled to the brim.

"You've chosen a good day to run away!" Simona said. "We have something of a town meeting at the encampment."

"Yeah, I, uh, I heard there's homeless people here." Adrian clumsily said.

"Don't think Văleni is any better." Robert spat on the ground as he walked.

"I don't." Adrian said. "That's why I'm leaving."

The siblings went down an alley, Adrian warily followed, and they showed him the way to a gate in the shadow of a weeping willow. Beyond them, Adrian saw an inner courtyard between abandoned buildings, with people on the ground and in the glassless windows above.

"Marius!" Robert hollered, waving his arm.

"Just go closer to him." Simona rolled her eyes and made a beeline to Mr Gliga.

Marius turned around with a start and headed towards him, Simona taking his place. She wore a lavender sweater, tailored pants, black loafers and a leather purse, yet sat down next Vitalis and Garofița with no hesitation and ate plăcintă. There were planks and buckets for makeshift benches, and old newspapers for table cloths and napkins. Garofița got some words printed on her fingers from the oil.

"Who do we have here?" Marius asked Robert, eyeing the kid as he did.

"Adrian!" Robert tapped the boy's shoulder. "He would like to join us! Or at least our town."

"Hello, Sir." Adrian carefully said.

"He's from Văleni." Robert added.

"Yeah?" Marius raised an eyebrow. "Why did you come here?"

"My dad's a piece of shit." Adrian said.

"Same." Marius put out his hand for a handshake. Adrian took it.

Garofița sneaked glances at Simona. She looked so sweet, so kind, with her big round face and chic outfit. She looked like she couldn't hurt a fly. Yet Garofița was certain she was the person she heard during her short expedition in Văleni. The woman who was screaming at that police officer, about cheating on his wife with her, outside, in broad daylight.

Garo really wished she didn't go there. She was so scared they would check her house while looking for the cult, only to stumble onto the cult there too and narrowly run back home without being seen. Idiot.

At least she got Bezea out of it!

She looked at Simona's hands and noticed very pretty rings on her fingers: one with a black stone on the right hand's middle finger, and one with a white stone on the left hand's middle finger.

"I like your rings!" Garo said.

"Thank you!" Simona smiled, reflexively looking at them too.

"I want rings too." She said. "A black one and a white one, l-like that. On those fingers."

Simo's smile softened. "One of the ladies I work with at town hall told me about them. She has a black one too."

"Really?"

"Yeah! She's a 50 year old lady, a former museum guide, never married. She wrote some books too, and has a pet peacock."

"I wanna be her...!" Garo gasped.

"Me too!" She giggled. Her nose scrunched up a little, making her very cute.

Gabriel and Mr Ozsvar found themselves in the woods on the edge of Călimari, walking between the abandoned structures of the cult.

Since the Seekers of the Forgotten Truth have been arrested and/or disappeared, their compound was quickly overtaken by nature, rot and wild pigeons. The fire pit looked like a random hole in the ground, and their murals were almost completely faded by rain.

Gabriel looked around with an expression of disdain. Heaven, the final reward for doing as God demanded, readily here on Earth - the cult claimed. Skip the line and be free to do as you please right now, free of all those restrictions and guilt.

"I suppose it was more pleasant-looking if you were drunk." Mr Ozsvar said, rubbing his nose.

"Let's go." Gabi sighed.

They met with the police officers, detective Andrei Guler and the local priest. As the exhumation ceremony was finished, a couple officers started digging. The girl found in Văleni, who should be long dead, was a victim of the cult. Her name was Aurora. "Aurica" they endearingly called her in their home videos, waving in the background half-naked, so painfully obviously a teenager. To think Gabi tried to re-baptise these freaks, that he was anywhere near them, made his skin crawl. To think they were able to hide not just her, but other unknown teens...

A shovel tapped the lid of the wooden coffin and Gabriel's breath stopped in his throat. Nowhere was it mentioned when or how Aurora died, and none of those bastards would talk. In one video she was fine, smiling and dancing. In the next was her funeral. She looked like a wax statue, surrounded by flowers and paper stars. The photo from the autopsy table in Văleni looked the same despite being years apart, just a different background.

They pushed the earth away, pried the nails out and carefully opened the coffin.

Inside

was a corpse.

It decomposed a long time ago, only a thin veil of tissue covering the small skeleton like cobwebs. The remains of a bouquet were still visible on her chest, held by the dainty bones of the hands.

"There she is." Mr Oszvar murmured.

"We will collect samples and compare them with what Dr Groza got from our fugitive." Detective Guler said, bending over to take a closer look. "If they match... we hope you'll know what that means. And what we can do next."

Gabi grinded his teeth. If Aurora was raised from her grave, that would have been much easier to speculate on. The fact there is one Aurora here and another elsewhere...

"I never truly liked anybody." Simo said with a pout. "I liked how they looked, in the way you would admire a painting, but that's it."

"Yeah!" Garofița said. "Exactly!"

"I have the opposite problem." Denisa suddenly appeared at Garo's side, making her jump. "I find everybody hot."

"Do you like anybody right now?" Simona asked.

"Not in particular. They're cute, but I wouldn't date them."

"You don't have to date people just because you like them." Vitalis said, nursing a bottle. "Some crushes should stay just crushes."

"I shouldn't date at all." Simona said.

"Why not?" Garofița laughed.

"I'm too toxic to date anybody." She very casually said. "I'm emotionally manipulative, I start controlling them - frankly, I would like a pet more than a significant other."

"Oh...!"

"What's the most manipulative thing you've done?" Denisa asked.

"I almost convinced a guy to leave his wife and marry me instead." Simona giggled. "And we only dated for a couple months or so."

"W-Why?" Garofița asked.

"I thought it was funny! And I don't know when to stop, so that's why I can't date anybody. I'll just torment them for as long as they let me."

"A-At least you're self-aware." Garofița said.

"Have you considered therapy?" Denisa asked.

"Girl, I did and my therapist ghosted me!" Simo said. "I just finished telling her everything going on, that I almost broke up a marriage, and that I was raised by my brother because our mom abandoned us-"

Garofița choked on her plăcintă.

"Why did you sneak that last part in there?" Denisa narrowed her eyes.

"Y'all know Sex and the City?" Vitalis interjected again.

"Uh, yeah?" Denisa said.

"I-I heard they have nice clothes." Garofița said.

"This bitch is a female version of Mr Big." Vitalis pointed with her cigarette.

Simona cackled like a witch.

"Who is the new guy over there?" Denisa asked, craning her neck.

"Who knows." Vitalis said, looking at the gate where Marius and Robert were still talking with Adrian. "They're interogating the fuck out of him."

"He seems nice!" Simona said.

"He's cute!" Denisa added.

"I guess..." Garo said.

"Eddy!" Mr Marius called out. "C'mere a second!"

Mr Eduard was on the other side of the encampment with Elena "Hurrem" and Melinda "the mean lady who abandoned her kid that Garo avoided". He got up to his feet and headed towards them. Marius and Robert bridged the gap, passing in front of the chefs.

"This is Adrian. He would like to stay here."

"Nice to meet you, Sir."

Garofița froze. She knew that voice. Where did she know that voice from?!

"I'm from Văleni, sir."

Văleni?! Where she hid! The building! The two boys that came to smoke! That Walker scared away! That hid from the cult! That she scared away too!

What was he doing here?!

"Hey, y'all!" Gigi walked up to them.

"H-Hello!" Garofița said.

"May I have some plăcintă?"

"O-Of course!"

Adrian froze. He heard that girl's voice before. In Văleni. That terrible echoing "hello", like a broken record, human and inhuman all at once. What was that voice doing here?!

"When did you run away from home, Adrian?" Mr Eduard asked, very matter-of-factly.

"T-This morning, Sir." He replied.

"Does anyone know you're gone?"

"Not yet, I don't think."

"Hmmm." Mr Eduard and Mr Marius hummed at the same time.

"So there's still time to go back!" Robert quipped. Adrian glared at him.

"Ignore him. He doesn't know when to shut up." Marius said. "But I say don't go straight to Mirabela yet. Stay here for a while, in the encampment. You're almost 18, right? You could rent a place and get a job, no need to get involved with us."

"Oh... I... kinda wanted to."

"As you wish." He shrugged.

Boys get treated differently in regards to working for Mirabela, Garofița thought as she listened to their conversation. Everybody advised her against it. Adrian was advised the same way, but it felt different. Or maybe it's because he's older.

Adrian took one more uneasy peek at Garofița, then followed the men. Garo remained with the women and Mr Gliga.

Mihai was picking at his face in the rear-view mirror, when he saw Gabriel and Mr Ozsvar coming back. He quickly straightened the mirror and assumed an innocent position, but his nose was redder than before.

"We've returned." Gabi said, sitting in the back.

"Welcome!" Mihai said. "What did you find?"

"Aurora is still resting in her grave." Mr Ozsvar sat at the steering wheel and turned the key. "Whatever that girl is, I am inclined to think it's not her. It's just borrowing her appearance."

"Did they actually manage to summon something...?" Gabi said, more to himself, as he chewed his own lip.

"It doesn't feel like it." Mihai said, looking at the woods as they drove away. "Not like, y'know..." He awkwardly gestured to himself.

"I don't think that's it either." Mr Ozsvar said. "The cult had been active for only 10 years. Aurora was 17 at the time of her first death. Unless she also ages faster, it is unlikely she's something's bastard. It still wouldn't explain why we have a human corpse in the ground and walking corpse in Ferești."

"Maybe it's like The Substance." Gabi suggested.

"The what?" Mr Ozsvar furrowed his brows.

"It's a, uh, it's a movie. A woman gets a clone of herself, basically. Maybe they, I don't know... made a new Aurora after the first one died?"

"... it's a possibility." Mr Ozsvar nodded. "But judging by their limited resources and basic at best knowledge, I'm really curious how they may have been able to do something like that."

"You don't know about The Substance, Sir?" Mihai asked.

"I don't really go to the cinema."

"He doesn't really leave his house, unless it's cryptid related." Gabi added.

"It's true, I don't." Mr Ozsvar pulled the car next to a pharmacy the size of a supermarket. From it emerged Roxi with several bags.

"I got everything!" She said, holding up a receipt long enough to be a scarf.

"Did you max out Mirabela's card?" Mr Ozsvar asked.

"No, Sir!"

"You should have."

"Mr Gliga, can I take some plăcinte to my dogs, please?" Garofița asked.

"Sure, darling." He said, pausing to cough in his shoulder.

"Don't feed them too much, so they don't get spoiled." Vitalis joked.

"I had a puppy for a couple of years." Simona said. "I used to give him mashed potatoes and sliced fruit straight off my plate!"

Garofița giggled, wondering if Mr Marius or Mr Eduard had told her about what her 'dogs' really were. "I usually give them what I eat too." She said out loud.

"My brother used to read me books by the Countess of Segur, and one of them was called The Donkey's Memoirs." Simona continued. "It said that you know somebody has a good soul if they love animals. I think it's true."

"It does apply to our Garo." Vitalis said.

"You think so?" Garofița asked, flustered.

"Yeah, girl. You're the sweetest person in this shithole."

"Roxi praised you too." Simo smiled. "That you're polite and kind."

"Eheh, you're like our little lady!" Mr Gliga said.

Roxi arrived at the encampment followed by the boys. "Who wants drugs!!" She called out, holding up several bags. The crowd cheered.

"You guys get medicine here?" Adrian asked, watching from where he sat on a bench.

"Whoever needs it." Marius said. "Mirabela pays for it to keep the people here doin' okay. She's more generous than your Bălașa, everyone in this town can get her protection. Especially the folks here. You may say she's got a soft spot."

"So, whether you work for her or not, you still rely on her?"

"Eyy, you're smart!"

Garofița happily went to her house, a plastic bag with plăcintă in one hand and a honey lollipop from Roxi in the other. She thought she looked like Vitalis with the white stick between her lips.

She was soon to reach the street with Mrs Delia's store and then her own street, when she passed by the thrift store and glanced inside. From a distance she saw a book with a striking cover and rushed inside to buy it. Holding money was easier with the pockets of the hoodie. Only 4 lei.

She heard of "Sultănica" and other Delavrancea stories, but hadn't read them yet. Maybe she would have if she still went to school. The cover reminded her of that fairy girl from the forest, Smaranda. Garo wondered if she was okay. Spooky-ass bitch.

"I'm back, my beloveds!" Garofița said as she arrived home. She bowed to kiss Buddy's nose, holding the food out of his reach.

"Look what I have!" She showed him the new book, but he didn't really care, eyes locked on the oily potato prize. She handed him the lollipop instead, which he cracked between his molars, the stick falling on the ground. "You psycho."

Garo shoved the package on the window sill, in the space between the frame and the glass panel. "Excuse me, other buddy!" She told the spider hanging from the top, above her head.

She put the book in the box with the other ones and picked up Bezea. "How are you, babyyy?"

"Mew!"

Garofița kissed her face a dozen times, like a chicken pecking grains.

She set her down and turned to Walker, who was napping against the wall. His skin sloughed off his face like a cotton handkerchief, the holes for the eyes revealing the plumy skin of his cheek.

"How are you, Walker?" She crouched in front of him, poking his closed eyelid with the tip of her finger. He grumbled, but didn't open his eyes. "You don't mind it anymore?" She poked around the greying skin and dry hair, being deliberately annoying. She pulled his eye-hole up with the tip of her finger, stretching it to see his real brow-bone and forehead.

He made the motion to swipe her hand away, but didn't make contact.

"Aren't you cold?" She asked. "It's way colder here... I saw my own breath the other day. In the encampment there's the buildings that block off the wind, and warmth from the fire pit when they're cooking. And I think just being around other people makes it warmer too. I read that igloos work like that."

Bezea was chewing the lollipop stick.

Garofița watched her, then made pretend to sneak up on her. Bezea ran away and Garo snatched her up, pretending to eat her. "Awwawuuhwaawaawa!" Bezea wiggled free and assumed a fighting stance. She was about to pounce, when Buddy's nose came in the way and the cat fell on her back. Holding her hand like a claw, Garo put it over Bezea and wiggled her around the floor.

"Ow... ow... girl, ow..." She said as Bezea bit on her fingers.

There were sounds of leaves and branches rustling in the trees nearby. It wasn't uncommon, but considering there was an undead cult girl going around, Garofița was on edge. More than usual, that is. Whenever she passed an older teen girl on the street she wondered for a moment if it was her.

"I think an undead girl would stand out in a crowd." She told her animal friends. "Even if she got clothes from somewhere. Maybe she'd be pale like a vampire, like Mirabela."

Bezea escaped and made a mad dash towards Walker's face. He was startled awake, croaking out a sound like a wobbly old man. Garo giggled.

"I met with Miss Simona and Mr Robert today." She continued telling them. "They seem nice. Mr Robert looks greasy. Miss Simona... she kind of scares me. How quick she switches between nice and evil. It's like mom and dad."

Buddy finished eating and licked his lips. Garofița pushed him to the floor and rubbed his belly. He closed his eyes and tapped his tail against the old wood.

"I wonder what it's like to be mean and not feel bad about it. Some people can do it without a second thought. I feel like I'll die. And I wouldn't get away with it. Nothing really goes my way. Well, running away did... and meeting you all... and meeting Vitalis, and Roxi, and Mr Marius... But I don't wanna push my luck any further!"

Walker held Bezea close with his clawed hands and groomed the fur on her back, with a long and bruise-pink tongue.

"Ew." Garofița said, then smiled to herself. "I should try being evil! I got inspo."

She stood up to her feet and went into the storage room. Out of the plastic bottles she collected and recycled for 2-5 lei, she kept one 2-litre bottle to gather water.

"Who's coming with me to the spring?" She asked.

Buddy was at her heel as usual. Walker was still busy bathing Bezea and Bezea was busy smacking his nose. The spider was calmly weaving. To her surprise, she couldn't see the crow in its usual tree.

"Where did it go?" She thought out loud.

The forest was greying, its green dulled and quieted as it was overcome by autumnal colours. It was like the brightness was turned down on the whole world. Night would fall so quickly, it was annoying. If it was cloudy during the morning, there would be no light at all the whole day.

Garofița loved the quiet, though. The forest was so pretty, especially the path with the bench and the little altar, and the tunnel of bushes to the water spring. She felt like one of the characters in her books as she explored together with her Buddy.

There was nobody else at the spring and she could put her bottle underneath without trouble. Buddy lapped at the pool gathering at the bottom. Garo looked at him and noticed marks in the surrounding mud. They looked like... footprints. Bare feet. A set of them in front of the spring, and one foot skidding to the side. Did someone slip?

A twig snapped and Garofița's eyes shot up. It was the shepherd dog.

"Oh, uh, hello!" She said.

The dog puffed through his nose. Every time she saw him he looked more raggedy, with moss and even leaves growing in the matted coils of his fur.

"I'll go home after I get water. I won't stay long." Garofița said, feeling scolded despite the shepherd not saying anything. "Have you, uhm, have you seen the undead girl? Do you know about her?"

If he knew, he didn't answer. He licked the side of his long moustache.

Garofița reached out her fingers, hoping he'd sniff them and let her pet him. He didn't, he just turned around and disappeared into the trees.

"Oh, goodbye..."

She and Buddy returned home. As they got closer she heard noises again and felt dread, until she saw the crow sitting atop the plastic bag with plăcinte.

"YOU!" Garofița shouted.

The crow spun around. Garo ran towards it, holding the bottle like a medieval flail. It scrambled to fly into the tree.

"First my window, now my plăcinte! I'LL BEAT YOUR ASS!"

The next day when she went to the encampment, Garofița saw Simona walking in the same direction.

"Hello, dear!" She smiled.

"Uhm, hello!"

They walked together behind the buildings, Simo's nice shoes clacking against the battered alley until they reached the wet dirt and dust. Garo's old sneakers made suction sounds as she raised her feet.

"Are you coming from the town hall, Miss Simo?" She asked her, feeling like it was too quiet.

"Yeah!" Simona said. "Thank God."

"Do you have a lot of work to do?"

"Some days are quiet, some days are full to the brim. Still, can't stand that place."

"Oh..."

"Are you alright, Garo?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"You look nervous. You can tell me if something upsets you!"

"Sure..." She mumbled.

"You don't like me, Garo?"

"Wha-N-No! I like you!"

"Then what is it?"

"You, uh, uh, uhm... you... kinda scare me..."

Simona blinked a couple times, then burst into giggles. Garofița's face burnt.

"Sorry if I spooked you." Simo said. "I yell at my brother for acting out of pocket, but I'm not any better either."

"I-It's alright... I'm kind of curious how you do it, to be honest."

"Do what?"

"Like, I don't know... switch between how nice and, uhm, spooky you are."

"Ah, that's a skill like anything else." Simo sagely said. "I believe acting is a vital skill to have in life. Not everybody needs to know how you really feel about things. It's good that you're honest with us, Garo, but as you grow up, you learn when and where to show... let's call it your full self."

"Full self?"

"Yeah! You do that too, don't you? When you first meet someone you're on your best behaviour, then as time passes you show bits and pieces of the real you, and by the time they know everything it's too late to back out!"

"I guess..." She looked at the ground as she thought it over. With Vitalis, the Amante staff and people from the encampment, Garo was indeed on her proverbial best behaviour, while her pets got the full self. Vitalis and Denisa got glimpses.

"Us, as girls, gotta be sneaky in life." Simona winked. "We gotta be diplomatic. Strategic. Think whatever you want in your own head, then be careful what you say out loud."

"Vitalis told me something similar. To be polite and keep my head down so people are nice to me."

"Hahah, what teachers you got yourself!" Simona laughed.

Garofița decided to laugh too.

At the encampment she saw Adrian again, sitting together with the other youths. Laura was reading from a textbook, as she usually was lately, and Denisa was eating a large pretzel.

Adrian gave an imperceptibly quick glance at Garofița, then smiled when she sat between Denisa and Ștefan, directly in front of him. Garo remembered what she just talked with Simona and smiled back sweetly.

"Did your dogs like the plăcinte?" Deni asked.

"Oh, yes! They loved them!" Buddy ate one, Garo another, Bezea a corner and Walker almost 3 whole plăcinte! She begrudgingly gave some to the crow too, so it would stop coming to the window glass.

"You have dogs?" Adrian asked.

"Yes, two." Garo nodded. "And a kitty and a spider."

"A spider?"

"It weaves in my window!"

"Garo's spider is weird as fuck, but, well, there's a lot of weird stuff here." Laura said without looking up.

"Very many weird stuff?" Adrian asked.

"Where to start?" Ștefan chuckled.

Garofița held her mouth in a tight line. She came from far away and didn't know anything about Ferești, or most cryptids, until she got here. Adrian lived in the next town over. Văleni didn't have the forest, but still.

"There's a ghost in one of the manors." Filip counted on his fingers. "Another at the maternity ward. There's skin-walkers in the forest, small cryptids..."

"There's fairies too." Garofița added.

"Yeah!"

"And a shepherd dog."

"A shepherd dog?" Adrian furrowed his brows. "Like a stray?"

"Yes." Garofița dryly said. "There's also a fox that bangs its head against tree trunks while laughing."

Adrian's jaws looked very tense.

The group soon disbanded and each went to do their own thing. Garofița went with Denisa to her tent to help with French homework. Deni spoke excellent Romanian, English and German, yet French refused to stick to her brain.

"I don't think Adrian likes you." She began to gossip as soon as the zipper was drawn shut.

"Huh?" Garo turned to her. "Why not?"

"He thinks you're spooky." She giggled.

"Spooky? Me?"

"He says he saw a girl that looked like you in an empty building in Văleni, that he's pretty sure it was a skin-walker."

Garofița paled.

"You said you went to Văleni at one point, right?" Denisa continued.

"I-I-I did."

"Well, I told him, but that you said you ran away when you thought you saw the cult. Like you told me."

"R-Right."

"Yeah, so we assured him it was probably a coincidence, that you're not supernatural. Heheh, he's gonna freak the hell out when he hears the rumours about Mr Eduard. They say he has a pet skin-walker!"

"Uh-huh..."

Denisa kept talking, but Garofița stopped listening. Her sudden panic subdued, and she was left with clammy skin and a racing heart. Then she felt overcome with a different feeling.

"I gotta go to the bathroom real quick."

"Happy pissing!"

Garofița lived in Ferești for months without a problem, she kept Walker a secret and everything was going well. He never hurt anybody again. She loved her home and her friends and her forest, and here comes this random fucking boy accusing her of something she did do, yeah, but who the hell was he?! Running away from home while not knowing anything about anything, wanting to work for Mirabela of all people. Did he think anything through? Who did he think he was?! How dare he! How dare he!

Adrian was fixing the spikes of his tents and searching through his backpack. He stood with his back to Garofița, didn't even notice her coming closer.

"A mask of my own face"

back

back to menu