Into Thin Air

Chapter 5

Hope knocked on the door, pushing it open before she got an answer.
"Sure, come on in." Dr. Saltzman leaned back in his chair, abandoning the paperwork on his desk.
Hope wasted no time on pleasantries or excuses. "I went out to that field last night."
"Hope, I told you -"
"There wasn't a trace!" Hope stared at him, jaw tense and eyes wide. It wasn't the first time they'd had this argument, and they both knew it wasn't going to be the last. "Not a thing!"
Dr. Saltzman pulled himself to his feet, crossing his arms sternly. "That's because there's nothing you need to investigate."
Hope rested her hands on top of his desk,  leveling her eyes with his, ready for her next punch, already turning her burning frustration into deadly calmness. "But you know it happened."
No answer.
"Because no one else seems to acknowledge that anything even happened except for you, me, and -" Hope stopped suddenly, choking before she could get out Penelope's name.  
Dr. Saltzman narrowed his eyes. "And who?"
"And no one."
"Hope," His voice is warning, "who went out to that field with you?"
"Nobody. I went alone." 
"Hope."
"It was just me and the rain and my boots destroyed by mud puddles!" Hope said loudly.
"What puddle?" 
Hope furrowed her eyebrows, leaning back. "What do you mean 'what puddle'? Rain puddles."
Dr. Saltzman crossed his office, opening the door. "Just stay away from that field." He gestures for Hope to leave. "And stay away from puddles."
Hope scowled at him on her way out. The scowl was still on her face when she rounded the corner by the bathrooms just as Penelope was coming out.
"Hey."
"It's not a good time." Hope tried to brush past her, but Penelope stopped her with her voice.
"I have something for you."
Hope sighed dramatically, turning back to look at her. "I'm really not in the mood, Penelope."
"It's about Jade."
Hope snapped her mouth shut, eyes locked onto Penelope with a sudden interest. She could barely breathe as she watched Penelope reach into her pocket and pull out a pen.
"I did a thing last Christmas," Penelope started slowly.
"What kind of thing?"
"A bad thing." Penelope's voice wavered. "I gave everyone one of these pens."
"Yeah." Hope smiled warmly as she took the pen and looked at it.
She remembered the pens very well. While the other students filled each other's stockings with presents every holiday season, Hope had never been a part of it. Her stocking had always hung empty over the grand fireplace every snowy morning, surrounded by her classmates' overflowing ones. The pen was the only Christmas present she had ever gotten at the Salvatore School, and it sent a warm flutter through her chest whenever she thought about it - even if Penelope had given everyone one. Hope had never brought herself to use it, afraid to somehow ruin it. "I remember you giving those out."
"It records everything you write with it."
Hope handed the pen back quickly, as if it could hurt her just by holding it in her hand.
"And now I'm glad I never used it."
"This book -" Penelope reaches into her bag. "- contains everything anyone's ever written with one of my pens."
"So what does this have to do with Jade?"
"Well she got a pen too." A proud smirk lights up Penelope's face. "And she used it."
Penelope handed over her sacred book, already opened to the marked page, and Hope took it greedily.
Jade's handwriting hadn't changed that much, Hope realized as she recognized the loopy letters and i's dotted with familiar open circles. 
"It's mostly normal - you know, homework, journaling, lists, same as everyone else - but there's one entry that stands out." Penelope reaches over to turn to the next marked passage. "I almost didn't recognize it as hers. Look at how messy her handwriting is."
Hope frowned down at the way the words seemed to deteriorate before her eyes. The circles above her i's had turned into hasty lines and the elegant loops into sharp ovals. 
"She talks about a puddle." Penelope's eyebrows drew together. "A black puddle of goo in the field where she disappeared."
"A puddle?" Hope's eyes snapped up, wide for just a moment before she looked back down at the book as if she'd never been startled in the first place. "I guess that explains Dr. Saltzman's cryptic warning about staying away from puddles."
"Dr. Saltzman knows?"
"He denies it, but he knows something."
"You think he has something to do with it?" Penelope's heart pounded in her chest.
"No." Hope shook her head quickly. "I think he's just hiding what he does know."