For two weeks didn't dare step near those woods, suggesting we give it a wide berth as we walked home with the others. The trees that once provided a tranquil sanctuary, now looked like twisted claws waiting to pounce and tear at their prey. Even the sight of the creek flowing beneath the beams that held the sunburnt road aloft nauseated me, as it reminded me all too much of the ominous cold that seeped through my clothes and pierced my skin. The ghost of my muscles burning like an icy flame haunted me. But I wore my feelings well, dismissing them upon our leftover bruises and gashes. This wasn't exactly a lie, as while Min had indeed stitched us up rather nicely, the soreness lingered like an unwanted companion.
Ariel had no problem with this unspoken preference of staying away from the now cursed trees; as the last experience near them had left her much quieter and more wary than usual. Whenever she heard the slightest snap of a twig, or the muffled grunt of a student sneezing, she jumped where she sat, eyes wide and face pale. I was the only one who noticed, or knew why. Our peers were much too absorbed with words and equations leaping out at them from the paperwork that now seemed insignificant. Many days I would see Ariel just sitting at her desk, vacantly staring at her work as if it may wield answers if she stared at it hard enough, deep in thought, but not present in mind.
Me, while the beast-- I think that strange boy in my dream called it a reaper-- nagged at me, my nightmares bothered me even more. They were constant now, slipping the through the blackness of slumber, and twisting my subconscious with almost the same visions every time. I could still see the dark red liquid spilling onto the black, charred earth, just before it swallowed the empty, lifeless puppets that I once called my friends whenever I closed my eyes. I could still hear the bellows and wails of my tormentors ringing in the back of my head. The smell of imminent, yet ancient death still lingered under my nose.
I had taken to sitting awake at night attempting to remain awake and keep my bloodshot eyes open, trying to evade the monsters in my head. Or at least I hoped they were in my head.The only thing that has not yet returned to my cast of disturbing dreams, is the sudden appearance of those oddly dressed teens. It was rather queer though. I could have sworn a couple times I saw the faintest trace of a shadow slipping away from the windowsill, or glimpsed the flicker of a dagger as I passed the woods on the way home from school. But whenever I sought to find what it was, there was nothing. I had almost dismissed it as a normal dream; a way my head let me have the slightest relief from relentless nightmares.
But nothing was normal anymore.
Finally Ariel said one day, "Tell me something, Bi. Are you the least bit interested in finding out what happened in the woods?" The question was out of the blue. We were in gym class, waiting for our turn to use the grimy set of bars the school had dragged out from the storage unit. It still had a thick layer of dust bestowed by the dark mustiness of the place. I didn't answer her, pretending to be captivated by the sight of Patrick Mulborrow trying very hard to pull his excessive chin fat above the bar, next to Felicia Wilson who was doing it flawlessly. Ariel snapped her fingers under my chin, the sharp crack forcing me to face her. She had an air of casualty, but her eyes remained incorrigibly curious, gears were very clearly spinning in her head. "I suppose... I guess I want to-- well I mean..." I trailed off. "it would be interesting to know what that thing was, if we were more prepared." I said cautiously, the reaper and the conversation between that group of teens flashing in front of my eyes. I still didn't exactly know whose side those kids were on, if they were even real, but after dealing with Ms. Violet and the reaper, I wasn't too keen on trusting just anybody.
Speaking of Ms. V, she's been missing for the past week. Not that I was complaining. I was sick of her attempts to give me that stupid, dilapidated book. I didn't even know why it was so important to her, or why she was acting so oddly around me; shooting murderous side glances at me when she thought I wasn't looking, or trying to corner me whenever she could. I even complained to the secretary in the office, trying to gain an appointment with the principal so that he could perhaps give a random class examination. But she replied in that glazed voice that so many adults possess when their true focus is elsewhere, telling me that she was sure I was overreacting and the 'Laura' was a fine teacher. Still....it troubled me. She was creeping me out.
With a loud thump, Patrick practically fell from the bar whilst Felicia dismounted gracefully, a smug, triumphant smile dominated her face as she ran off to join her giggling group of friends. Patrick got to his feet, shaking his head as he went cross-eyed for a moment. When his delirium cleared, he lumbered over to the bleachers to join his friend Damion Pyteryal, whose face was peeling and covered in acne. He twitched slightly and scratched at his bony arm, nervously glancing around the gym.
I turned my gaze towards at Ariel again. She was absentmindedly twiddling her long red ponytail . "I want to go back," she said finally. "We can't keep pretending what happened never happened. And that being a fact, I want to go there deliberately versus it catching up to us. So I think...we should go." She studied my expression intently, as if trying to assess how I would react. But I remained impassive. Inwardly, I was slightly shocked. Ariel was the last person I expected to say she wanted to return to the woods. However, I found it rather hard to stifle the rising feeling of excitement that bubbled up from my stomach. I realized suddenly that after the encounter with the reaper, I craved adventure.
I lusted for the swooping feeling in my stomach, masked by the waves of panic, as we ran from the creature. I coveted the courageousness that burst out from me when I chose to fight back. I longed for that immeasurable feeling of sheer power as that golden yellow glow that rose from me as it hurtled itself at the reaper, driving it away from us, protecting us for yet another day to come.
Ariel must have seen my answer in my face, because she smiled for the first time in two weeks. A real smile, that lit up her features, and highlighted her true nature once more. I shrugged in an attempt to seem nonchalant, "I guess so...why not? We just need to be more careful this time," I said slowly, a smile pulling at the corners of my mouth. She nodded vigorously, "Then it's settled. We leave tomorrow morning, since it's a Saturday and we'll be able to stay longer to search around."
At that moment Mr. Clyde called us for our turn for pull-ups in his reedy, faintly Irish voice. We rose to our feet, and jogged over to the adjoining bars. And with my unexpected elation for having a new adventure to preoccupy my thoughts, I was almost able to ignore the fact that these bars were probably covered in old gum.
.......................................
I paced the fringe of the parking lot anxiously. Ariel said she had to take care of something, and then she would meet me here at eleven. It was now 11:23, and I was panicking. What if she forgot? What if something happened to her?! Different scenarios frantically shuffled about in my head, each no preferable than the last.
It was a lovely day, mid 60s, and no bugs to be seen. I wore a thin blue jacket to ward off the cold. But I couldn't focus on how beautiful the sun looked as it reflected off the pale morning dew. All I could think about was my friend, and where she might be.
Then I saw the swish of red hair, and the ripple of a green windbreaker in the wind that caused the tension in my shoulders to ease and a breath to escape my lips. A blur of emotions seemed to be compressed in that single sigh, mostly consisting of relief, anger, and confusion. She dashed towards me, fumbling with the zipper of her decrepit brown bag that she held gingerly in front of her. When she finally reached me, she flopped her bag down, which emitted several angry clangs. She was so out of breath she could hardly speak.
"I....sorry," she said between gasps. "I.....had....to.....Louis....not....cooperating....necessary ......sorry." I stared at her in bewilderment. "Louis?" I asked. "Louis...Louis Mendal from Mr. Havenport's class? What were you doing with him?" She held up her finger, indicating me to let her catch her breath before answering. Once she regained the ability to talk in complete sentences, she replied, "I talked to Louis yesterday, saying I'd meet him at his house at 10:30 to collect what I asked him for," she panted slightly. "Turns out he was very insistent on a certain price, which was less than I had on me. So it took awhile to persuade him to accept anything else." I shook my head, still rather confuddled. "I don't understand, what were you 'collecting' from him?"
She reached into her bag and pulled out a lumpy object. She held it out proudly, "This," she said. My eyebrows furrowed, "Did you seriously run off to Louis's house for a kindergarten craft?" I said, irritation evident in my voice. She bent down again, rummaging through the bag's jumbled contents. Then she pulled out a box no bigger than a small toad. "These came with it," she explained. Then I realized it was a small matchbox. Wait-- a matchbox....and a misshapen homemade object.... Did Ariel honestly go out and buy---
"A bomb?" I asked incredulously. She nodded, a sly grin plastered on her face. I looked at the bomb, then back at her, then at the bomb, then at her again. "Wh--Why did you buy it? How did you buy it??" She shrugged, pushing the matches back into the bowels of her bag. "I figured, and don't take this as an offense Bi, but if you can't manage that crazy magic of yours again, we may need a backup plan. And seeing as that creature seems to be a thing of darkness, what better way to defeat it than light?" I wasn't offended whatsoever. In fact, I was beginning to marvel at Ariel's sheer brilliance.
"I remembered that Louis was a big science guy, and I reckoned he would be able to whip up something like that. So," she patted the side of the bomb, "This guy produces some kind of a flash bang. Not exactly a huge explosion, but a loud sound followed by a burst of light capable of permanently blinding a man at close range. It should help us in a tight spot. But anyway, I cornered him at the end of school and asked him about it. That's when he told me it wouldn't be cheap, since he had to buy the material to make it. So nicked some money from Agatha's purse while she was raging at poor Jess last night after she left her doll on the counter, along with this."
She said brandishing something from a pocket inside her jacket. "A can of Aggy's hairspray. You know, in case the bomb fails, I figured fire was the next best thing, and hairspray is quite flammable" I was grinning now; Ariel's cunning and preparedness making me forget why I was ever mad at her. "Ariel you're brilliant!" I exclaimed.
She grinned sarcastically and said, "Naturally. Where would you be without me?"
......................................
The woods were cool and quiet, save the seldom chirp of a robin hidden in the foliage above, desperate to share it's sweet song. Mist clung to the branches like a spiderweb glinting in the light. The dirt and dead leaves crunched underneath our feet as we walked, muscles tensed for any sign of oncoming danger. The sunlight hidden behind the clouds gave the trees an eerie look. As we went further in, the bird calls grew silent, and the hum of the crickets faded completely, until all was made of utter silence, minus the sound of me and Ariel's footsteps. But eventually those faded too, as the ground became wetter and muddier. I clutched the spare matchbox Ariel had given me tighter. This silence was deafening.
Finally we reached the clearing where it happened. As we surveyed our surroundings, I noticed that it seemed as though all life had been siphoned cleanly away during the attack. Even the trees seemed a shade darker, as though they were infected with some kind of slowly, gnawing illness. The creek rushed past us, looking almost as eager as I felt to get out of here. Ariel knelt by one particularly gnarled tree, and stroked one of the roots tenderly, where blackness was inching it's way upward like a snake. I looked around slowly. All the trees were dying.
All but one.
One tall pine tree stood jubilantly apart from the others. The bark was a hearty light brown, and the needles were a crisp, healthy green. Something else about it though..... it made my skin tingle. Like an electric shock. Why would it....of course! This particular tree had known magic. It was the same strong pine that the girl in my dream healed. With a crashing realization, I recognized that there was no denying it now. My visions---had all been real.
"That beast really did a number here huh?" Ariel's voice broke through the haze that allowed me to be alone with my thoughts. I nodded. "A reaper," I said quietly. Ariel's head whipped towards me. "What?" She asked sharply. I turned to face her. "It's called a reaper." Ariel's mouth opened, full of new questions, but I cut her off. "I saw it in a dream." Her mouth opened and shut abruptly.
"And when, exactly were you going to tell me this?" she demanded. "I don't know," I replied evenly. "I honestly didn't know it was actually real until now." Ariel's mouth hardened into a line of confusion. She looked down at the root she was touching, and shaking her head.
Suddenly she gasped. I rushed over, and she raised a trembling finger towards the root of the oak tree. A white light was rushing up it, leaving no trail behind it, erasing the black sickness the reaper had inflicted upon it. My mouth fell open. This was familiar.
"Ariel," I said, addressing the now terrified, shaking girl who sat next to me. "I've seen this before. A girl in my dream was able to do that." Ariel looked positively stunned. I continued, "That's how I knew it wasn't a dream. She healed that tree," I gestured towards the healthy pine. "She and these other boys--- they mentioned a place, some other world where they and the reaper came from. And..." I stopped, just now remembering a crucial detail I had forgotten to tell her. She gulped, "And what?" she asked hoarsely. I hesitated, then said, "They knew we were here."
All of a sudden, a twig snapped nearby. We jumped to our feet, matches and bomb held aloft. The fear in Ariel's eyes corresponded with my own. For several stretched moments, time stood still as we stood back to back, our eyes sweeping the clearing. Finally, after a couple minutes of this, we separated, but did not lower our weapons.
Then something caught my eye. I nudged Ariel. "Hey, look over there, on the ground," I whispered. She followed my gaze. Hidden in the rocky soil, at the foot of a magnificent elm, a piece of faded metal stuck out of the earth. We scooted over to it cautiously. Ariel handed me the bomb, and started brushing the soil aside. Suddenly a hinge appeared from out of the dirt, then two, until we saw strong wood peeking out from underneath it. I set the weapons down and eagerly swept the remains aside. When we finished, it was hard to believe our eyes.
We had unearthed a door.
It was old, that much was clear. Dark soil clung to an ornate handle of solid gold. Yet despite its aged appearance, it was rather clean for something so obviously neglected. The hinges still seemed to be in working order. Ariel stood and grasped the handle with slick, sweaty fingers. She braced her foot and grit her teeth, wrenching at it with all her might, but it would not budge.
"What do you suppose it is?" she asked after two more failed attempts at opening it. I shook my head, "Some old cellar?" Ariel shrugged. She brought her hand up to brush her bangs out of her eyes, accidentally knocking the bomb out of my hand. "Careful!" she said worriedly. I reached back for it. But when my hand drew near it, my wrist skimmed over something cool, like steel. Ariel seemed to notice it as well, because her eyes narrowed suspiciously. I glanced at her, pulling the explosive up to my chest. Then I used my jacket to wipe away the mud surrounding it. A glint of metal stared back at us from the dirt. I dug my fingers under it and tugged. It came free easily, chunks of dirt sliding onto the ground and crumbling into indiscernible flecks.
It was a dagger.
An all too familiar short, twisted dagger, covered in dried blood. I felt the color, slowly drain from my face. The dagger slipped through my shaking fingers and clattered onto the ground. Trembling, I turned my gaze towards Ariel. She was white as a sheet. Her rapid breath made clouds that billowed in the cold air. She recognized it as well. I swallowed hard, my heart pounding even though I was sitting down. "T-This was th-the reaper's--"
"Ah yes, I see you've found my dagger girls."
I froze, a chill creeping through the air that I was too well acquainted with. The air around us turning dark as night slithered through the biting air like a snake, coming to rest at the feet of someone I thought I knew.
Her hair was matted and greasy, full of twigs and dead leaves. Her hands were stained with the ghosts of substances I did not wish to guess at. Her eyes were scarlet and insane, fixated on me with a malicious triumph. She reeked of sickness combined with the stench of fresh blood. The leaves above her turned brown and tumbled to the ground, turning to ash by the serpents of darkness curled contentedly by her feet. She spoke in a voice that sounded like a thousand nails on a chalkboard, a voice that was not hers.
"Well Bianca, Ariel, may I have my blade back?" Ms. Violet said.
Hey guys, sorry about the late update!School has been ruthless, I don't even think it's legal to assign this much homework!! Anyway I was (finally) able to find some time to write this for you guys and I hope you enjoyed it! This was more of a filler, introducing stuff that will come later in the story. Also to keep you guys on edge (#soevil). If you did enjoy it, leave a comment and vote! :) ;)
All hail the glow cloud,
Sunshine712