Don't do it.
I have no choice.
You'll die.
Emily could die.
The words circle around my head until I wake up on a raft at sea. The ebony sea sways and sings. The lapping waves are a siren's song that demand that I go down.
I want to disappear into the darkness.
"Jason Hill?"
I blink. The porch. I'm on the porch and Michael is beside me.
"What's happening?" I mutter.
"Freddie went off to get the car. Some of our family are there." Michael hesitates. "You asked to go with us."
No.
"I did..." I slowly agree.
Michael nods. "It's for the best, Jason Hill. Especially if you don't desire the damage that has happened to the others that Freddie initiated."
"I don't want to hurt Emily," I say. "But...I'd rather just go to a hospital. I'm sure they could treat my condition..."
"No." Michael shakes his head. "They can do nothing about the poison in your system, Jason Hill. And it would end up much like what happened with Freddie the last time. I won't be responsible for that happening again. If you want to wander off to a hospital, that is your choice—not mine."
I sneered. "You're a saint."
"I am a follower of the Lost Way. That is my only concern." He leans against the front door. "I won't have Freddie or you endanger our work."
"And yet you sent her off to get the car?" I cock my head. "How do you know she isn't scampering off to fuck with other people who are stupid enough to help her?"
"I have to place my faith in Freddie's adherence to bringing you to the true path," Michael says and his face twitches. "Of course it's not ideal. None of this is ideal. But I can't very well lead you to the road while you're half out of your mind. I don't really want to chase you through the woods again."
I make a face. "Maybe if you hadn't been so creepy, I wouldn't have felt the need to go running into the woods."
"And I cannot very well leave you here with Freddie," Michael says, ignoring my complaint. "You have already seriously hurt her twice."
I cross my arms. "You're not worried that I'll kick your ass?"
"That will never happen, Jason Hill."
He is more plain annoying than intimidating at the moment. But I can't argue with him—not while everything is spinning. I slump down, desperately wishing that the whirling would stop.
If it stopped, maybe I would think clearly. And realize that going off to a cult was probably a terrible idea.
A noise breaks my daze and I look up. A creature is lurking in the distance with golden eyes. It is slowly approaching the house, a monster from nightmares. Bigger than a wolf, with a gaping mouth.
It's not real.
Are you sure it isn't real?
A loud roar erupted from its mouth and I leaped back. I glance at Michael who steps forward. He sees it—this is real.
But he waves to it.
"What the hell are you doing?" I hiss.
"It is time to leave, Jason Hill."
"What?" I look back at the beast. "No. Not with that thing out there!"
"The car?"
The fog fades and I see that the creature is simply the car—the glowing eyes are the headlights.
Michael grabs my arm and started pulling me down to the sea—the ground. "Come along, Jason Hill. Before you end up hurting yourself."
I shove him off—or at least try. He lets go before I even have contact with him. "Dick!" I snapped. "You don't need to push me around."
"Then keep up," Michael says without looking back. "I don't have time to waste."
'I'm sorry for inconveniencing your night!" I retort.
Anger is the only thing that chains my feet to the ground—otherwise the illusory roiling will rock me off my feet.
But the chains keep me frozen. I know this is the wrong choice. I look back desperately at my house, terrified that it may be the last time I ever see it.
Go back.
But I can't go back. Not when the skull man is on the porch. He doesn't move—still as death. Then he takes a step forward. And another. His eyeless gaze is focused on me and I know going back will be my death.
It will be Emily's death.
I turn back and walk as fast as possible. It's not fast enough. There is skittering behind me and something rough grazes my hand. A skeletal claw grips my hand, pulling me back towards death. Blinding pain flashes through me—the skull man is far stronger than his appearance suggests. It's like a lion biting in my arm, pulling desperately. I glance around, wishing there was anyone who could help me. But the only help is the gaping jaw of the beast in front of me.
The beast that will lead me to hell.
I rip my hand away from the grip of death and run into the mouth of the beast.
Car. I'm in a car.
I blink as familiar car scent washes over me and I take in my surroundings. A woman is in the front of the car and Michael sits in the passenger side. A man is next to me and Freddie is on the other side.
"...I told you this would happen, Michael," the woman is saying. "You might as well have left the poor bastard to his own death. He will never be able to handle the awakening."
"I cannot leave someone who asks to go with us." Michael stares out the window into the abyss of night. "That is against our ways."
The woman snorted. "Freddie likely left him no choice. In fact, his mind is so messed up that he probably didn't know what he was asking."
"He knew what he wanted, Rachel," Freddie says, a barbed quality to her normally fragile tone. "He had every chance to leave."
"I didn't want to go," I break in. "I have no choice. I don't...don't want to hurt Emily."
The woman—Rachel—exhales. "You coerced him, Freddie. He doesn't really want to experience an awakening. He just doesn't want to take an axe to someone's head and then lick off the stains."
Alarm jolts me. "Has that happened before?"
Rachel shakes her head. "No. Don't listen to me."
The man on my other side laughed. "We don't lie here, Rachel. You might as well tell this poor bastard what happened when Freddie tried to awaken her sister. At least we learned that awakening should never happen when someone is near an axe."
Chills creep up my skin, urging me to leap from the car. It doesn't help that spiders are crawling around the car, running all over my body.
They aren't here.
"What..." I clear my throat, trying to ignore the arachnid apparitions. Things swirl and I shake my head, futilely trying to clear things up. "What's going to happen to me."
"Don't jump ahead," Rachel advises as she keeps her eyes on the dark road ahead. "Focus on coming down."
She's right. The hellish hallucinations are distracting enough. But the unknown still eats away at me. There is a reason that I saw this car as a beast. I am allowing myself to be swallowed alive and I don't know what that means for me.
The other man snorts. "If he can even come down from Freddie's nightmare concoction."
"There's no reason that it won't happen," Rachel says tightly. "We will just keep him in a secure environment and—"
Thunder booms silencing her words. Except it isn't thunder—the man just clapped his hands together. "Won't change anything if he's completely lost his mind after the awakening."
"He won't lose his mind, Robert," Freddie argues. "He'll be awakened."
The argument continues, but the words no longer make sense to me. I gaze out the window and see a man on the side of the road. He is facing the road and gone in a blur before I can even make him out. My heart leaps, but that's less troubling than anything else that has happened.
A minute later we go by another man. Except it's not another man.
It's the same man.
Every minute, the car passes the same man and every time he shows up, I am able to make him out better. He is dressed all in white and his a decidedly inhuman visage. His mouth is turned up in a most unnatural grin.
But it's not just that he shows up every time. Every time, he's a bit closer. He moves into the street. Closer and closer. Relief only runs through me when he disappears.
Only a dark road remains and I am finally free of the uncanny sight.
Then he is right next to the car window. We speed past him, but his black eyes are staring. Darkness and then he is there again.
Drool is coming down his mouth.