The Order of the Fox Tooth - Episode 3: THE BEACH
by Caroline Renee Mills
Holy shit, Emily.
We GOTTA call the police.
We can't.
Derek will know it was me who told.
How?
Derek and Sasha are the only other people with phones except for me.
Besides, we weren't at the lake with him and Celia.
He told everyone it was an accident.
The Order will vouch for him. They believe him.
And I can't prove it wasn't an accident.
Please, Andrea.
I'm afraid of him.
We gotta get more evidence against him before we talk to the cops.
We need proof.
OMG.
What about Kate?
What if Derek hurts her, too?!
I'm keeping an eye on Kate.
She's the only reason I'm not running for the hills.
She needs our help.
There's not much I can do about Celia now.
But I think she kept a diary during her vow of silence.
Are you gonna read it?
If I can find it in her stuff, yeah.
It might give us more clues about Derek.
Does Sasha believe him?
About Celia being an accident?
Looks like it.
I think she's all Regina now. Sasha's gone.
How could Derek totally change her like that?
She was my friend.
I have no clue.
But I gotta go.
It's almost lights out.
OK. Please keep Kate safe.
And come home soon, roomie.
Please.
I will. Goodnight.
The next morning.
Emily? Any news?
Hey. Yeah.
Sorry. I had to sneak to the bathroom again.
I got another note from Kate.
We have a BIG problem.
Why? What'd she say?
Her next test is The Confession, remember?
When she breaks her vow of silence.
Yeah. And?
She feels guilty for talking to me. For breaking her vow.
She said she can't write me any more notes.
OK. We'll find another way to get more information about The Order.
Wait.
She feels guilty about it, Andrea.
For talking to me after she left the cell.
For writing me notes.
Yeah, you said all that.
She wants to confess about it.
Tell the entire Order she talked to me.
WHOA.
If she confesses, they'll know you've been digging around.
Derek will get suspicious of you.
You can't let Kate confess.
I know. I gotta figure out how to keep her quiet.
I don't want Derek to get upset with me.
I'm scared.
I have an idea.
What?
You told me Kate thought she'd look good to Derek if she helped you join The Order, right?
Well, write her one more note saying that, because of her, you've decided to join.
Tell her you are officially signing up for The Breaking, so she knows you're serious about it.
That could actually work.
She might not feel guilty if she thinks her notes helped recruit me.
OK. I'll write her one more note.
I'll tell her that her dedication won me over and I told Derek I wanna join because of her.
She'll like that a lot.
OK. Good.
Let me know what happens. Be careful.
Will do.
3 hours and 43 minutes later.
OMG, Andrea.
I think Derek has been going through my stuff.
Huh? How do you know?
Because my Prada purse is like part of my body.
I keep it organized and I know when people have gone through my bag.
Like, the lip gloss is lined up in the pockets by color, but there's a pink tube in the red section now.
What the hell are you talking about, Emily?
Derek went through my things!
I think he's looking for my phone.
Why do you think that?
Because I had the charger rolled up and tucked into a zipped pocket.
It's gone now.
He must know I'm still using the phone even though he hasn't seen me with it out.
Luckily, I had it in my bra at the time he searched.
Your bra?!
I needed somewhere Derek wouldn't look.
He wouldn't look there?
NO. Don't tease me. Now's not the time.
He won't grope me. Not here.
But he does seem suspicious of me sneaking off.
I'm getting more and more worried.
Did you tell him you wanna do The Breaking?
Not yet.
But I hope it's enough to convince him.
I've got about 68% battery left on my cell.
I gotta conserve it carefully.
OK. Did you give the note to Kate?
Yeah. But I haven't heard anything back yet.
I'll keep you posted.
Good deal.
Oh, I know about the Fox Tooth thing.
Yeah?
The Fox is supposed to be clever and cunning.
Resourceful, intelligent, all that stuff.
The Order wears the tooth around their neck like a totem or something.
I guess they think it'll give them power to get through the End Times.
This is freaking insane.
I feel so useless sitting here on campus.
I should be there, too!
Can't you tell me something about where the house is?
I wasn't really paying attention when we drove here.
It's out in the woods.
Turn on your GPS.
That's gonna drain my battery.
Besides, what are you gonna do if you find the house?
Please, Em. I need to be there for Kate.
I'll help somehow.
Give me a general idea of where you are.
OK. Fine.
Hold on.
Looks like we are in the middle of nowhere.
It doesn't register on the GPS with an actual address.
But the map seems to show we're in the woods between the Hixson River and Old Odell Road.
That's a huge range, Emily!
I'll never find it.
I think there's an abandoned stone mill or something nearby.
A little south of here.
I see no other marked locations on the map.
I don't know what else to tell you.
Well, I'm coming to look for you guys.
That seems like a dumb idea.
It's too dangerous!
Look, I went to class. I got your notes.
And now I'm getting Kate out of there.
OK, Andrea. Be careful though.
I gotta turn off my phone to save battery.
I'm at 43% now. Damn GPS.
I'll text again soon.
4 hours and 11 minutes later.
Hey. I got a note back from Kate.
OMG. What does it say?!
It says she's excited I'm gonna join The Order.
And she's not gonna confess about the notes and stuff between us.
THANK GOD.
That would've been bad.
Uh, yeah. Disastrous.
And I talked to Derek, too.
I told him I wanna join.
Did he believe you?
I don't know. I think so?
I told him I'd seen Kate on campus before The Order, and she seemed so much better off here.
I said I wanted that, too.
And that I'm really scared of the End Times.
I basically regurgitated all the garbage they say here a lot.
I played the part, like I always do.
I'm glad you didn't get sucked into the cult, too.
After hearing about Kate, I was worried they could get anybody.
Well, I knew what to look out for, thanks to you.
But hey. I'm scheduled to start The Breaking next week.
I'm not going in that freaking cell, Andrea.
I know. I'm doing my best to find you.
Wait.
Are you actually out looking for the house?
Yeah. I'm hopelessly lost in the woods.
I had to take a bus to the river and obviously they don't go on these old dirt roads.
I've been wandering around on foot for about 2 hours.
OMG. I'm sorry.
I wish I could give you better directions.
I'm gonna need to turn off my battery again though.
I'll check on you soon.
OK. I'll be here.
3 hours and 22 minutes later.
Andrea?
You OK?
NO. I'm lost in the fucking dark, Emily!
Where have you been?!
I couldn't get away to text you.
But I found something.
What?
Celia's diary.
Yeah?! What does it say?
First tell me where the hell you are.
You can't stay alone in the woods all night.
I found the old stone mill.
I can't be too far from the house.
But I don't have anywhere to plug my phone in out here.
I don't wanna use up the battery on the flashlight.
So I'm gonna hide out in the mill for the night and get out looking again at dawn.
You're gonna sleep in a crumbling old building with no AC?
With no bed?!
Unlike you, I like the outdoors.
I don't need 1000 thread count sheets or whatever.
I'll be fine. I want to help.
Tell me about Celia's diary.
OK. Well, I found out about Sasha.
I know why she's here.
OMG. Why?!
Celia's diary says Sasha came to the house sometimes when she dated Derek.
She fell for his slick charm just like I did.
She thought he was perfect, too.
Then she officially joined The Order.
She went through The Breaking, The Confession, and The Cleansing.
But she still had doubts about staying permanently in the house with Derek.
I guess he told her after The Cleansing that they could only be friends.
He had to use his "ability to connect" to recruit, not to seduce her or whatever.
He said recruiting a skulk to survive the End Times is the top priority.
What the hell is a skulk?
It's a group of foxes.
Outsiders are called sheep.
Derek is The Shepherd who herds the flock to The Order, where the sheep become foxes.
You have the worst taste in men.
Yeah. I get that.
But I guess Sasha told Celia she felt betrayed by Derek, like their relationship had been a lie to recruit her.
Sasha believed in The Order and feared the End Times, but she was upset with Derek.
That's what Celia wrote.
Then why would she fake her death and change her name to Regina?
Why would she runaway with Derek?
She didn't.
WHAT?!
You said it was Sasha there with you!
It is Sasha. Hear me out.
Celia wrote in her diary that Derek took Sasha to the beach one night.
When they came back to the house, Derek announced to The Order that Sasha was The Herald.
The Herald?
He said she'd lost all her memory of her old life of sin and disease.
She had become Regina, which means "queen."
She was the queen of the cult.
But what's a herald?
Something that precedes or comes before.
Or someone.
Someone who comes before what?
The End Times.
I guess her amnesia would explain her disappearance.
Celia wrote that Sasha seemed to have no clue who she was before the beach.
The Order was forbidden to speak of it, according to the diary.
Derek said not to.
But how did Sasha get amnesia?
I don't know for certain.
But Celia had an idea.
It's in her diary.
She wrote that she saw a gash on the side of Sasha's head, hidden by her hair.
She was Sasha's roommate in the house, and she noticed the cut while Sasha was sleeping with her hair swept aside.
I don't get it.
The diary says that the beach Derek took Sasha to is rocky.
Celia believed that Sasha hit her head on the rocks, lost her memory, and Derek created a new identity for her.
She wrote that she was worried Derek had brought her to live at the house unwillingly, since Sasha had expressed doubts about moving before the beach.
What are you telling me, Emily?
That Sasha hit her head, forgot all about her previous life, and Derek lied to her to get her to the house?
Yeah. But I think there's more to the story.
Well, Celia thought so.
Huh?
Celia wrote that she didn't think Sasha fell on the rocks at the beach.
Wait. She didn't fall?
No.
Then how did she hit her head and lose her memory?
Derek pushed her.
OMG. No.
I think he tried to kill her, too.
What if I'm next?!
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