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Be back in my house in Fargo, hang out and smoke. Watch the busy city in one direction or watch cows and the endless pastures in another direction.
I don't want to be here anymore.
Hazel's hand slams into the door, and it swings open, a blast of cold washing over us. The smell of the water from Superior reaches up the cliff and swirls in my nose. I can feel a rosiness instantly hit my cheeks from the cool wind.
I'm pulled to Hazel's car, and she releases me, popping her trunk and grabbing the familiar-looking black box from the back. Slamming the trunk closed, she adjusts the box in her arms and starts walking toward the woods.
"Where are we going?" I nearly dig my heels in. I don't like the woods here. They're eerie and creepy and there is so much unknown between the tall green pines jutting from the ground. They seem endless and extend in every direction I look.
The only times I’ve been in these woods, the guys have played me like a puppet. They’ve hunted me and left me for dead in an unknown cemetery.
I hate these woods.
"Can't have the sisters knowing what we're doing. We'd all be in The Room of Atonement for a week," Hazel huffs, hopping over an oversized branch laying on the ground.
She finds a small clearing, bending down and dropping her box to the ground. It feels like nighttime in the woods, and I can't see much of anything through the trees.
"I don't want to be weird, but you're kind of freaking me out." I laugh. But it feels off. Forced.
She looks up at me from unloading her box. "Do you know anything about possession, Vera?"
"LikeThe Exorcistshit?" My eyebrows furrow.
She smiles. "Exactly. OrParanormal Activity.The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Any of those work. Do you know how it begins?"
I shake my head. "It's different in every case." Horror movies are my jam. I’ve been watching them since I knew what movies were. The feeling of being terrified is awesome when you’re in the comfort of your own house.
But being scared as this shit actually happens to you is absolutelynotawesome.
She nods, setting out what looks to be like a deer skull. The teeth are still intact, browned with age. "What's happening to you is how it begins. This is a scary fucking road."
"How do you know?"
She looks up at Piper and Blaire before glancing back at me. "One of my family members was possessed. A distant cousin or something. She lived on the edge of town and went to Castle Pointe Academy. It was like… eerily similar to what’s happening to you. Small stuff here and there happened, then all the sudden, it latched."
My eyes widen. “Latched?”
She nods, her fingers tracing the outline of the skull. Small antlers extend from the top, sharp yet so smooth-looking. A chip sits in the left antler, giving away the age and death it must have succumbed to.
“Yeah. There are ghosts here, Vera, but what people don’t know is there are also demons that walk the earth. One latched on to my cousin. She became violent and manic. People thought it was schizophrenia at first, but when a voice broke from her chest and she started speaking of a life she’s never had, the priest was called in. It was a long road of trying to exorcise her.” She shakes her head, a sadness filling her eyes. “The demon won.”
“What happened?” I gnaw at my bottom lip, feeling the skin break away with each bite. I’m nervous. I don’t really know how to feel, but the life her cousin endured is not one I want for myself.
“The demon broke her body. Cracked every bone until she was irreparable. The worst part is, she didn’t die. The demon came forward and shattered her, then hit while my cousin screamed and cried in horror. There was no saving her, not with this demon.” She takes a deep breath. “My uncle killed her. It was the only way.”
Shaking her head clear, she lifts her fingers from the skull. “I’m going to do everything in my power to keep that from happening to you. And that starts with a protection spell.”
I shake my head. "So, what you're telling me is that I'm about to be possessed by a demon?"
Hazel reaches her hand out and grabs my arm, pulling me down to sit next to her. "What I'm telling you is that the shit you're going through isn't good, and since you're our new friend, I feel the need to warn you, and protect you. I have that ability. So let me try, because you showing me those three scratches on your back and me not even trying to help you would be a fucking disservice to you."
I look at her, at the legitimate fear and worry in her eyes. My chest deflates, and a shiver racks my spine. "Okay." I exhale, all my hesitations blowing into the forest. "Okay, let's do this."
She nods, and Piper and Blaire sit down around us. It reminds me of her basement, but this is much more solemn. Before, they wanted to protect me from the evil that is Malik. Now, they want to protect me from the evil that is the unknown.
Which one is worse?
Hazel grabs her thin blanket from the box. Unfolding it, she lays it out between us. She grabs the skull, setting it next to her. Reaching into the box, she grabs her candles, herbs, some liquid jars, a knife, a matchbook, a container of salt, and a bowl and wooden spoon.
