Wolfsong
Chapter Three
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Regina's Song, and I'm not making any money from this fic
Fimbrethil: Well, Twinkie isn't exactly 'normal' again... But then, what is normal?
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"So... What did you find out?" Erika asked us as soon as we walked through the front door from being at the Green Lantern Tavern.
"That it's exactly the same as the murders Renata committed," Charlie responded. "Bob said that there doesn't seem to be any differences."
"Do you think that Renata did it?" Sylvia asked me.
"Personally, no," I replied. "I don't think that Twinkie would have any reason to start killing people again. In her mind, at least, Regina's back with her." Or Renata's back with her, depending on which twin was actually killed, I added silently. I then looked at Trish. "What are the chances of a judge convicting Twinkie because of the murders being practically identicle to the ones she committed?" I questioned.
Trish shrugged a little. "It really depends on the lawyer," she answered. "But, chances are that Renata will be charged with the murder unless there is serious evidence found that she isn't the murderer."
"And considering the fact that she's escaped from the Sisters of Hope convent, it doesn't really look good," James put in.
"I know," I sighed. "Is there much to eat? I'm feeling quite hungry at the moment, for some reason."
"We'll fix something up," Erika told me. "You boys go and sit in the living room."
"I can fix something up myself," I objected halfheartedly.
"Living room. Now," Trish ordered.
"Yes, ma'am," I sighed.
"It's no use arguing with them," Charlie murmured to me as we made our way into the living room. "They're determined to mother us."
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"At least this room's big enough for two people," Bethany commented as she started putting her clothes away in some of the drawers.
"Yeah, I can't believe Mr. Raymond let you move into my room straight away," Lyra responded.
"It probably has something to do with the fact that you knocked on his door in the early hours of the morning," Renata said. "I think he only agreed so that he could get rid of you and go back to sleep."
"Whatever," Bethany replied with a grin. "I'm just glad he didn't ask any questions."
"What are we going to do about sleeping arrangements?" Lyra wanted to know. "One of us is going to have to sleep on the floor."
"Why don't we take it in turns?" Bethany suggested.
"But then we'd probably end up having to change the sheets every day," Renata pointed out. "I'll sleep on the floor."
"No, you won't," Bethany retorted. "You're a guest."
"You're both guests," Lyra said. "I'll sleep on the floor."
Bethany glared at her friend. "Oh no you won't," she responded. "You have nightmares."
Renata glanced curiously at Lyra. What kind of nightmares? she wondered.
"I'll sleep on the floor," Bethany added. "I insist."
"Fine, whatever," Lyra muttered. "But I claim first use of the bathroom!" And, with those words, Lyra grabbed her nightgown, and shot through the door leading into the adjoining room.
"Whew." Renata sat down on the bed she was going to be sleeping in, and looked at Bethany. "Is she always like this?"
"Not usually," Bethany answered, going over to one of the wardrobes. She opened it, and started trying to drag the mattress that was in there out. Renata came over to help.
"Thanks," Bethany smiled as they placed the mattress on the floor.
"No problem," Renata replied with a shrug. She settled back down on the bed, and looked curiously at Bethany. "So... You and Lyra don't live in this town?"
Bethany shook her head with a soft laugh. "Hardly," she responded. "All of us here are here because there are college courses near here that are relevant to the particular job we're doing, so we can get much better grades and do better work."
Renata tilted her head to one side. "What's the work that you do?" she asked.
"Fashion. Couldn't you tell?" Bethany struck a ridiculous pose which made Renata giggle. "Seriously, though," Bethany continued, unfolding her nightgown and laying it neatly on the bed before going over to the wardrobe to get a blanket. "I'm helping to design new clothes, but I'm not too good at expanding on my ideas. I'm hoping that this course will help me learn how to do that."
Renata slowly nodded. "Has it helped you so far?" she wanted to know.
"Hardly!" Bethany giggled. "I'm so hopeless that I probably won't pick up anything until the last day anyway."
"What about Lyra?" Renata questioned.
Bethany's smile suddenly vanished. "You should probably ask Lyra that yourself," she said flatly. "It's not really my place to explain anything. She is doing a major in English, though."
Renata suddenly perked up. "Is her lecturer Mark Austin?" she demanded excitedly.
Bethany blinked, and then nodded slowly. "I think so..." she answered. "Why?"
"Oh, I used to know him," Renata replied. "That's all." She then blinked, and suddenly started murmuring to herself in a different language that didn't sound familiar to Bethany at all.
Bethany drew back a little, feeling suddenly scared. She remembered seeing that court case about the murders Renata Greenleaf had committed... Hadn't the news mentioned something about there being an insanity hearing? That was why she had gone to that convent, after all, wasn't it?
Renata looked up, and flashed a smile at Bethany. "Sorry about that," she apologised. "Regina just wanted to know something, that's all."
Bethany went pale. "Who's Regina?" she asked a little unsteadily, glancing around and wondering just what was taking Lyra so long in the bathroom.
"My twin sister, of course," Renata replied brightly. "You can't see her, of course. No one can except for me."
Kind of like an imaginary friend, Bethany thought to herself. She began to tremble just a little bit. Should she call the police about Renata? Or shouldn't she? It wasn't like Renata had harmed anyone yet. Sure, she talked to herself... But Bethany had met loads of people who talked to themselves. That didn't necessarily make them dangerous. Of course, Renata had killed all of those people... But maybe she had a good reason for doing so?
"Would you like to listen to one of my favourite tapes?" Renata asked suddenly, dragging Bethany away from her thoughts.
Bethany tried to smile. "Um, sure," she replied.
"Great." Renata stood up, and walked over to her bag. She rifled through it, and then took out a tape. She then walked over to the cassette player that Lyra had plugged in in one corner of her room to help her get back to sleep if she had a particularly bad nightmare.
Bethany noticed that Renata's voice sounded a little different to how it usually was - it sounded much richer. She was idly wondering why that might be when the tape suddenly came on, and she jerked out of her seat at the sound.
It was the sound of wolves howling.
For just a moment, everything was quiet. Then, a piercing scream echoed from the bathroom.
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On Wednesday morning, I ended up oversleeping. I didn't wake up until James knocked on my bedroom door and told me that breakfast was nearly ready, and that I wouldn't have any if I didn't get up and get dressed immediately.
I got up and struggled into my clothes, yawning all the time. I had no idea why I was so tired. Maybe my body simply didn't want to function today. I had, after all, gone to bed quite late the night before.
I glanced quickly at my reflection in the mirror, and decided that I didn't really need to shave this morning. I could surely get away with not shaving just this once.
I managed to make it downstairs just as breakfast was being dished up. I drank some coffee, and immediately felt much better. Coffee was just the thing to keep people awake during the day when all they really wanted to do was sleep.
"Have a late night last night?" Erika asked me sweetly as she put a cooked breakfast in front of me.
"Mm." I attacked the food, feeling like I hadn't eaten in weeks. Finishing, I looked up to see that everyone else was still picking at their food. "Is something wrong?" I asked, frowning a little.
James looked at Charlie. "Do you want to tell him or should I?"
"I think that we should let one of the girls tell him," Charlie responded. "He's less likely to curse if they do."
I looked at each of them in turn, and felt a sinking feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. "Tell me what?" I asked warily.
Sylvia glared at James and Charlie. "Just like men," she muttered. "Trying to foist the responsibility off onto someone else."
"What they're trying not to tell you is that there's been another murder," Trish explained to me.
I dropped my knife and fork onto the remains of food that were still on my plate, suddenly feeling no longer hungry, and stared at Trish. "What?!"
"It was on the news while you were still in bed," Erika said. "It's not like the ones that Renata did, though. The press are talking about animals being responsible for the death."
"Then why are you talking about murder?" I felt confused. Maybe it was just because I was still so tired.
"Because the press also mentioned something about it being a possibility that a person trained an animal to kill someone," Charlie told me. "It could just be the press talking out of their butts. But..." He shrugged.
"You still think that we should go and see Bob this evening," I stated.
Charlie nodded.
"Well, at least it would be better than staying ignorant," I muttered, straightening up out of my chair.
"Mark, the dishes are going to need doing," Erika said sweetly.
"Yes, Erika," I sighed, having given up arguing the fact that I would be late for my classes if I washed up. The girls would just argue back that I should have gotten up earlier, and, on this occasion, they'd be right.
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I walked into the classroom with a sea of faces looking at me expectantly, most of them with assignments on the desks in front of them. I was surprised, and a little pleased, to tell the truth, to see that Lyra Wilson had an assignment on the desk in front of her, though she didn't look too happy about it.
I collected up the assignments, and listened to the usual excuses of why some of them had not got theirs with them, then got on with the lesson.
A few minutes before the end, one of the secretaries came in, and glanced quickly around the room before walking over to me. "Mr. Austin, I'm terribly sorry to disturb you," she said in a low voice. "But there's a phone call for a Miss. Lyra Wilson, and she's apparently in your class."
I nodded, and glanced around, then saw Lyra with her head bent over a piece of paper, scribbling furiously. I walked over to her. "Miss. Wilson, there's a phone call for you," I told her.
Lyra glanced up, her face registering surprise, then nodded and got out of her seat and left the classroom.
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Lyra gave the secretary a small smile, then picked up the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?"
Lyra had recovered quickly on Monday night after hearing the sound of wolves howling on that tape. Renata had apologised, and had promised not to play it again, at least in Lyra's hearing. It brought back too many bad memories for the young woman.
Now, it was just like a repeat of Monday night. Lyra could hear the sound of wolves howling, and her grip tightened on the receiver until her knuckles turned white. "Who is this?" she hissed.
Suddenly, the howling stopped, to be replaced by a soft sobbing noise along with a plea for help. Lyra silently gasped as she recognised Andrew's voice. But how could that be? Her friend was dead... This had to have been recorded from his last moments. There was no way that he could still be alive. It was impossible.
But what if it wasn't?
Suddenly, a whispery male voice came onto the phone. "It's starting all over again," came the cruel whisper.
Lyra gasped and dropped the receiver, then turned and ran from the building.
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