The Prior

POV: Max Jameson

I guess we jumped years, but I find myself alone in the woods. The spookiness of the silent woods sends a shiver down my spine. Who knows what’s out here. Wolves? Crazed hunters? The silence is interruped when from behind me, “Hello?” echoes.

I shout back. The voice sounds like Elliot. He finally appears from the density of the woods. The moment I see his face, I regret answering his call. Ick.

“Hey. Where’s everyone else?” he says.

“No clue,” I say, rolling my eyes. He frustrates me so much. Like look around dude, do you see anyone else? My mild annoyance is interrupted as a shrill scream echoes through the air. I glance at Elliot.

“Belle or Cassidy?” he asks.

“I don’t know. Where’d that come from?” I glance around us, in circles. Elliot does too. I nearly run into him as we both look around. My jaw tightens involuntarily in disgust. Why is he even here?

“Up here!” The voice shouts. Elliot looks up and points. I glance upwards. Cass is sitting on the end of a tree branch, at least 40 feet above us. I swallow the lump in my throat, just thinking about that height.

“It’s Cassidy,” Elliot says, as if I couldn’t see with my own eyes. Finally, I can pinpoint it. That’s what bothers me. Cass. He calls her Cassidy. That’s not her name.

“Why do you call her that?” I spit, almost accidentally. I don’t know how much I really meant to say that outloud.

“Cassidy?” he questions.

“Yeah, she goes by Cass,” I correct.

“I don’t know. She originally introduced herself as Cassidy and it, like, stuck. She hasn’t corrected me,” he explains. I have to restrain my eyes to keep from rolling them. What an idiot. He looks back up towards her.

“Can you climb down?” he shouts.

“I think so!” she says. I watch her carefully walk, one foot after another, to the trunk of the tree.

“There’s no way I can do this in a dress,” she calls back after a moment. I just stare at her.

Elliot looks over to me, “Well, one of us has to go get her.” hell, no. I am not going up there. My limbs are paralyzed in just the thought of climbing that tree.

“I’m afraid of heights,” I tell him. It’s my weakness. He looks up at the tree and shrugs. At least someone will go get her. I know sure-as-hell it won’t be me.

“So, I guess that’s me. Give me your shoes,” he says.

“What?” I blurt.

“I can’t grip the tree in these!” he says, pointing to his loafers. My shoes, for some reason, are boots. More traction than his.

I slip them off. He puts them on and ties the laces.

“Dude, your feet are huge,” he says. I snicker to myself, hiding a smile. I took enough science classes in undergrad to know that just means I have a bigger….

He walks over to the tree and climbs up to Cass. I’m getting queasy just watching them up there. Any second now, that branch might just fall. She gets on his back and I can just hear her laughter. I hope he didn’t tell her I was afraid of heights. He sets her on the ground and she smiles wide.

“Have you guys found Belle?” she asks me.

“Not yet, Cassie,” I say.

“Don’t call me that. Cass, please,” she says. Elliot looks straight at me, a cocky smile painted on his face. What is his problem? A shudder of annoyance ruffles through me. I hate him so much. We walk around looking for Belle, even glancing up at trees. Until finally, she just appears. Like, she physically just appears out of thin air.

“Hi?” she says. We all stare at her.

“What was up? That was the weirdest time change I’ve ever had,” she says. Cass laughs.

“I woke up on the top of that tree right over there,” Cass says. Belle joins her in laughter, which spreads to me eventually.

“How’d you get down?”

“Elliot climbed all the way up there and carried me down. I am not a ‘heights’ person,” she says.

“Me either, Cass!” I say. She smiles at me a little and turns back to Belle. Great. Another moment that I get to to overthink.

“So, does anyone know where we are?” Elliot pipes in.

“1817. And we have to prevent some dudes’ death,” Belle says, reading off her paper.

“Who is it?” Elliot asks.

“A seminole? I don’t have his name. Just this drawing,” she says before showing us a sketch of him.

“Oh, fun. So, where are we? And what’s a Seminole?” Cass asks, more amused than she should be. I really feed off her enthusiasm. I’m convinced that she makes me braver. Somehow.

“Seminoles are Native Americans who migrated to Florida,” Belle says.

“So, we’re in Florida? I thought it’d be warmer,” I joke. I give Cass a wink. She sighs. Add that to the overthinking list. Maybe I need to dial down a notch. Too obvious?

“It’s February. And in the evening,” Belle snarks. She’s annoying too. I really can’t deal with teenagers. Gross. I typically prefer to be alone anyway. I’ve always worked better alone, that’s why I’m in forensics and not another field. If only I could just be back in my lab, running tests, in the peace and quiet.

“Let’s just go to the town or whatever. We’re in Florida. I don’t want Malaria from all these mosquitoes,” Cass says. Her hair gets larger, curlier, from the humidity.

“How long until this guy’s supposed to die? Like, do we have an hour or seven?” Elliot asks.

“Three days,” Belle stutters.

“That’s a long ass time,” Cass says. I nod in agreement.

“I guess we’ll have to find somewhere to sleep,” I mutter.

“And soon,” Cass says, “It’s sunset.” I look up at the orange sky, the sun’s fading into the horizon. Cass talks about seeking shelter at the Spanish fort. It’s right in front of us.

“I’m exhausted,” Belle says.