The chanting ended abruptly, and for a second I thought maybe I’d been discovered. I heard the rustle of brush off to my right. Two men approached and between them there was a slim, blindfolded woman with long, golden blonde hair.
The closer they came to the crowd, the more panicked the woman became, fighting against her captors. Her efforts were useless. The two men laughed and tightened their hold.
I barely breathed, too afraid they would see me as they came closer to my hiding spot, not even five feet away from where they passed by.
I tucked my hair inside my hood. That slight movement made a twig beneath me crunch and the men stopped. The blood roared in my ears. I closed my eyes, praying they would continue walking by.
“Come quickly,” a sharp voice said from the circle of onlookers. Everyone looked in my direction. The men pulled the woman along down the pathway, toward the certain doom that awaited her. I felt her anxiety, her confusion, and I wanted to step out, to save her…but I was helpless. Instead, I cowered in my hiding spot, watching.
A tall man stepped forward out of the group and the crowd made a circle around him. “Welcome, friends.”
For the next twenty minutes I didn’t move an inch while I listened to a sick ritual, spoken in a language I didn’t recognize. The group recited certain words the leader said. The blindfolded woman was pushed to her knees, her arms tied securely behind her.
The blindfold was removed and the woman’s wild gaze took everything in with a glance. Even from where I was, I could see the fear and terror in her eyes as she realized she was surrounded.
The tall man motioned one of the captors forward. The man produced a knife from within his robes. The girl put her hands up at the same time the man thrust. His blade made contact with her wrist, cutting deeply.
She cried out in pain. The crowd began to chant once again, this time in a more frenzied way. The girl was lifted up onto the altar, and I could see her trembling, no doubt in shock.
The tall man stepped forward and, taking the blade from the other man, sliced the victim’s other wrist in a slashing, brutal fashion. With a triumphant smile, he lifted her arm up and with great ceremony let the blood gush into the goblet. He brought the goblet to his lips and drank deeply, while the onlookers stood in god-like worship.
When he was finished, he handed the goblet to the person to his right. On and on the ritual went, until every last person drank. The leader motioned for someone to step forward from the crowd. I made out Laria, and the man at the center, the leader, was Randall Cummins. I felt like someone had hit me square in the gut. The leader of the coven was a servant in the MacKinnon household.
Laria seemed hesitant to drink, but with Randall’s nod, she did. When they were finished, his hand found hers, holding her tight.
I saw something pass between them. She looked at him with adulation, as did many of the followers. Randall was at least a decade older than she was, but what passed between them was a smoldering expression that couldn’t be misinterpreted.
Unable to stand the sight, my gaze shifted to the victim on the altar who seemed to have accepted her fate. She didn’t move at all. In fact, I wondered if she was already dead. Just then she shifted slightly. What must be going through her mind as her life slipped away? I wondered. From a distance she looked no older than me. No older than Laria. Her honey-colored hair was in disarray around her shoulders, arms flung out to her sides, blood dripping onto the ground.
Another thirty minutes ticked by, and finally, with the dying light of the fire and a few carefully chosen words by Randall, the group started to disperse and headed out of the woods. The two men who had dragged the victim here wrapped the girl up in the drape, and the stockier man flung her over his shoulder.
I stayed in my crouched position, too afraid to do anything except breathe short, shallow breaths. There were too many of them, and I couldn’t afford to be sighted, so I lowered my head, hoping I had managed to disappear completely into the landscape. The steps of the group grew heavier, close to me, and I was scared that someone would be able to hear my racing heart or discover me.
I didn’t move for a while after hearing the last person pass by. When I lifted my head, I sighed with relief. Everyone was gone, and the fire was extinguished. All that was left was the scent of smoke from the fire, and the stone where the makeshift altar had been placed.
“Who are you?”
I jumped, horrified I’d been discovered.
I lifted my head, and staring back at me was the girl who had been on the altar. I glanced at her wrists. There were no wounds.
I frowned. “I saw you being cut.”
“They killed me,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m dead…”
You didn’t stop them.
She didn’t say it, but I felt the accusation anyway. Felt guilt consume me.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, terrified that someone would hear us, despite the fact that the forest had grown quiet.
“I have something to show you,” she said, pointing toward the clearing, toward the moon just beyond in the sky. “Come.” She tugged on my sleeve, pulled me further into the woods. We walked in the opposite direction of the others, and at a slight incline.
When she abruptly stopped and turned, we were at the very top of the hillside, looking down over the valley, toward the castle. From this vantage point you could see everything. The small clearing where the ritual had taken place, and then beyond toward the river and the castle, directly southwest.
We were far enough away from the castle that no one would hear the group as they chanted and sacrificed people.
“The witch is buried there,” she said, pointing just over the hill, in the direction of thick brush overgrown with berry bushes, and the rugged stone that was the size of a basketball.
Someone had made sure to mark the grave.
“The witch? Who is the witch?”
“The one who haunts you.”
I swallowed hard. But I had just seen Laria…and she’d been alive.
“How do you know it’s her? She’s alive. I just saw her.”
“You’re dreaming, Riley,” she said with a soft smile. “Find her…and you find them all.”
I glanced down at her hand, which gripped my wrist tighter. I tried to pull away, but as I watched, the skin pulled away from her hand, leaving nothing but bone. Her face hollowed out before my eyes, her flesh turned to dust.
I blinked and she was gone.
***
I woke in the early morning with Cass spooning me on one side, and Megan facing me, her arm around my waist. I lifted my head slightly, looking for Cait. My heart skittered when I didn’t see her in the chair or on the floor.
It was safe to assume she was with Shane, especially since they’d been checking each other out all night. I needed to be sure, though…
I slid out from underneath Megan’s arm. Cass moaned and rolled over, where Megan didn’t move at all. I’d noticed last night after the Laria episode that Megan had been quiet, saying very little as she listened intently to Cass’s play-by-play. I could tell she wanted to ask me questions, but I think a part of her was terrified to find out the truth. I couldn’t blame her. Actually, I couldn’t blame any of them if they wanted to run for the hills.
I went straight to Shane’s room. I lifted my hand, ready to knock on the door, but I didn’t want to wake up Miss A or, God forbid, Dad. Before I could talk myself out of it, I pushed the door open, took two steps in, and quickly shut it behind me.
Shane was shirtless, his arm wrapped around Cait who, from what I could tell, had her jammies on. Relieved that at least I’d located her, I took a step toward the door.
“What’s up, Ri?” Shane asked, glancing at the clock on his nightstand with squinty eyes.
“Just looking for Cait.”
He looked completely innocent, but I knew guys, and my little brother loved women. “She said your bed looked a little full.”
True, my bed had been full with three of us squeezed onto a queen-size mattress. Given what had happened last night with Laria yanking me under the bed, I’m sure she wasn’t up to sleeping on the floor. I wouldn’t have been either, and what better excuse to cozy up with a guy you liked. If we’d been at Cait’s house, I guarantee I would have found a way to spend the night with Kade.
“No need to explain,” I said with a wink. “I’m heading back to bed, but tell Cait she might want to slip back into the room before Miss A or Dad wakes up. I don’t want either one having a meltdown and putting an end to any future slumber parties.”
“Got it,” he said.
Cait kept her eyes shut, but I had a feeling she heard every single word.
I went back to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking back over the dream. A million different questions raced in my mind. The woman I had seen—the one who had been killed at the witches’ hands—it’s like I felt her lingering presence. Had the dream been real, or just a figment of my imagination…a fear from my subconscious mind?
It bothered me about Randall and Laria. I didn’t get that look that had passed between them, especially since she’d been so crazy for Ian she had killed him.
Frustrated, I took a shower and just stood for a few minutes with my eyes closed. When I heard movement in my room, I shampooed my hair and washed it out. I reached for the conditioner. My breath caught in my throat. My wrists were slashed and blood drained from the wounds onto the shower floor and swirled down the drain.
In the reflection of the faucet, I saw a figure standing behind me. I swallowed a scream. Even though it was difficult to make out features in the distorted chrome, she resembled the blonde girl from the dream. The sacrificial lamb.
Her hand rested on my shoulder, and she squeezed lightly. “Find her and you find them all.”
Those were the exact same words she’d said in my dream. She was gone a second later. I looked down at my wrists. No cuts and no blood anywhere. The water at my feet was completely clear.
Fear rippled along my spine.
Why had I seen the blood and slashed wrists? Was the spirit warning me that Laria was going to kill me, or rather, one day I might go too far if I continued cutting?
“Sorry, gotta pee,” I heard Cass say, and I jumped. I hadn’t even heard the bathroom door open.
“I must say, Ri…I slept pretty good last night.”
“I’m glad,” I said, conditioning my hair. I was in a hurry to get out of the shower before any other spirit made an appearance.
“Cait came tiptoeing in about five minutes ago,” she said with a snort. “Busted.” She flushed the toilet before I could tell her not to. Cold water caught me full in the face, and I stepped back out of the spray.
“I bet your brother’s a great lay.”
“Eww, keep your thoughts to yourself, please,” I said, rinsing the conditioner from my hair and turning off the water.
“You and Cait banging each others’ brothers. Keeping it all in the family.”
“Stop it, already.”
She laughed, obviously enjoying my discomfort. “Hey, leave the water running. I’m getting a shower in before Megan. That bitch can run a water heater bone dry, let me tell you.”
I turned the faucet back on and grabbed my towel off the hook beside the shower. Cass was already naked. There were no modesty issues where she was concerned. She was brushing her hair and checking me out in the mirror. “Megan said you were meeting up with Kade today.”
I slid my robe on and towel-dried my hair. “Yeah, I’ll call him this afternoon.”
“You two belong together. I mean, you’re really good together, but I think you know that already.”
I felt that we were good together and it was nice to hear that other people thought we were as well. “Thanks.” I just didn’t know how he was going to take the truth about my life, about all that happened, and if he would still feel the same about me after he heard everything.
“He’s never been so into anyone. I mean, no one has had the effect you do on him. Honestly, it’s kind of fascinating to watch.”
I’d never been so into anyone either and I was excited to see Kade. I hated how things had been between us since the night of Tom’s party, and in a strange way going through so much made me realize just how much I loved him. He would have never knowingly hurt me.
Megan walked in. She glanced at Cass and shook her head. “Um, okay you exhibitionist. Please get in the shower before I go blind from staring at your pasty white ass.”
Cass flipped her off and made a production of ripping the shower curtain back.
“On that note, I’m gonna go get dressed,” I said, stepping into my room and shutting the bathroom door behind me.
Cait, who had been looking out the window, turned and smiled. “Morning.”
“How did you sleep?” I asked. “Good, and you?”
“Well, considering I was wedged between Cass and Megan, I’d say fair.”
The smile faded from her lips. “Ri, what are we going to do about Laria?”
***
Miss A pulled out all the stops with breakfast.
I sat at the table with my friends. We’d all taken showers and got cleaned up, but no one said much of anything now that we sat around the dining room table. Cass wolfed down her breakfast, Cait chewed on a piece of bacon, where Megan just managed to push her food around her plate as she kept glancing at Cait and Shane, who had joined us a few minutes ago.
Cait glanced toward the kitchen, where Miss A was cleaning up the dishes. “So, we need a plan of action.”
She definitely didn’t waste any time.
Cass set her fork down and wiped her mouth with the napkin. “I have to be honest here. I don’t know how much help I can be. I mean, I’m completely in over my head in this. Granted, I know I told you once that I had seen my granddad’s spirit and all, but this is some messed up shit.” She lowered her voice. “I won’t even watch any movies that deal with possession because they freak me out too much. And now there’s a possibility that some insane ghost can mess with me and my friends. Um, no thanks.”