The Underworld Crown (Series)

Chapter 3

In the darkness I heard others scramble to stand up.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!"

Following their lead, I stood up and fumbled for the phone in my dress pocket, turning on the camera's torch. At the same time mine turned on, so did Camilla's.

"Holy shit," she breathed, looking at me wide-eyed. "Let's get out of here."

I didn't need to be told twice. The others were already racing blindly back up the hill, in the vague direction of the party. I could see Camilla's dark ponytail bobbing ahead. Adrenaline pumped my legs and arms faster. I didn't dare look behind me, but the sound of someone's constant footfalls as they followed spurred me on faster.

The light from the party appeared up ahead, but I didn't dare slow down until I was all but on top of the dance floor. We all came to a stop, knocking into each other roughly. The music ebbed and died down. The other partygoers looked over us curiously, wondering what had made us so freaked out.

"Ghost! Run!" Dani yelled.

One of the football players at the party burst out in laughter, causing a few other chuckles. "Oooooh, I'm so scared!" he mocked.

My jaw dropped.

"I'm being serious," Dani growled. "We just did a séance, and all of our lanterns exploded."

"And there was crazy wind!" someone added.

"It felt like a cold hand was grabbing me!"

The jock continued to laugh. "Nice prank guys, you almost had me scared for a second." Then, turning to his mates at the speakers, he shouted, "Hey, turn up the music, will you?"

Their friend complied and increased the sound, muting all our complaints. Everyone resumed their dancing, laughter and drinking, blissfully unaware of what had happened.

It took me a moment to understand, but from a scan of the party it was clear nothing we'd experienced during the seance had moved uphill. All the Halloween decorations were perfectly in place, the lighting and atmosphere were the same as when we'd left. I wondered whether they'd sensed anything.

"They won't believe us," I mumbled, feeling the onset of a headache.

Camilla followed my gaze and shook her head, eyes wide. "I don't blame them either. It doesn't look like anything happened here."

Had it all been my imagination?

At my silence, she placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Serena, are you okay?"

No. Not at all. I was shivering uncontrollably and tried to calm myself by wrapping my arms around my torso, but to no avail. My thoughts raced at the speed of lightning, making it impossible to string together a couple of words.

"I–"

"Let's just get out of here now. We can debrief when we get to yours. Alright?"

Then, without saying goodbye to anyone else, Camilla grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the car. She was in damage-control mode. I was grateful for her taking the lead, I was too zoned out to even realise when we arrived at her car. Camilla opened the passenger door and shooed me in, then raced to her side of the car. After reversing out of her park, Camilla slammed the accelerator and drove us back through the valley, towards the town centre. The second we were out of the car park, the tension in Camilla's shoulders relaxed.

"Serena? Are you with me?"

I nodded numbly.

"I think you're in shock." She exhaled heavily. "I could kill Sarah. Pulling a prank like that? That was so, so sick. You don't deserve that."

Her words snapped me out of my silence. "You think it was a prank?" I asked weakly.

Her eyes darted to mine. "Of course. You don't think that was actually your mum, do you?"

I opened my mouth. Then closed it. "I don't know. I don't know anything."

"Well, try not to let it get to your head. Sarah would have planned it. She talked about doing a séance for hours. I wouldn't put it past her to have organised a prank like that."

I gazed out the side of the car, watching the forest as we sped through it. The trees became a blur, each one melding into another. I tried to focus long enough to see if I could see anything unusual, to see any sign that what had happened back at the séance had been real. But even if there were black masses slinking between the undergrowth, the night was too dark, and we were driving too fast to see.

"Yeah..."

She sighed. "Let's just both get home and back to reality, then you'll see what is and isn't real."