“They’re all waiting, Lydia,” she says again. And then she lunges for me, arms outstretched and mouth wide in a scream. I barely have enough room to dodge her, but she misses me by a hair, allowing for me to run past her.
That’s when my friends seem to rouse themselves enough to follow. The rain is coming down hard outside, but I don’t care. I rush for the front door, only to find Stephanie grabbing for my ankle and tripping me up. I go down hard, knees banging into the wood floor. My bones ache and I try to kick her off me.
But all of a sudden, Audrey comes in from the right, with that same dangerously vacant expression on her face.
“Oh, fuck! I’m out of here!” Faye screams, dashing past and pushing her way out the door.
Iris and McKenzie try to pull me up, but Audrey launches herself at them. She claws at them and scratches up McKenzie’s arms.
“What the fuck!” Iris yells, trying to grab Audrey’s arms, only to get smacked hard in the stomach.
I finally manage to kick off Stephanie’s grasp, but not without severe scratches to my leg. She clawed me hard enough that I’m bleeding. Limping, I struggle to drag myself out the open front door. But when I get to the front porch, I see Faye being held by a woman with long silver hair and a sneer curled on her thin black stained lips.
“Lydia! There you are darling. So nice to meet you. I hear good things about you. My name is Melinda,” she says with a mocking bow.
“What do you want?” I ask wanting to cut through whatever villain bullshit she’s trying to pull here.
There are several women surrounding her, two of which I notice two of which are holding scraps of fabric.
No, not fabric.
The fucking poppets we made, only I never completed mine. But Audrey and Stephanie did.
I realize that those women are using the poppets to control my friends and a blazing rage boils in my stomach.
I’ve always been the kind of person that doesn’t care too much if you mess with me. But mess with my friends and I become a whole problem.
Night is creeping in quickly, which means Maverick and Hendricks can help stop whatever this Melinda person is planning. I just have to keep her busy until then. Or maybe Jack is out in the woods and can come help.
I deduce she must be a witch of some sort if she’s using poppets, and plan to tread carefully. I don’t know what she’s capable of.
“I want you to come with me. And you will, won’t you? Because you wouldn’t want any harm to befall your friend here. Though, I don’t know how good of a friend she is seeing as she ran out leaving you all behind like she did.”
Faye’s shaking and crying in the witch’s grasp. Melinda has long coffin-shaped nails that are digging into Faye’s arms.
“And what do you plan to do to her if I don’t come?” I ask.
“Oh, that’s easy. I’ll just kill her.”
My veins turn to ice, and I see Faye mouth the word please at me between staggered inhales.
“And if I come with you, you’ll leave my friends alone?”
“For now,” she says.
I’m out of options and don’t know what else to do. I don’t possess magic, or brute strength, or a secret monster form. I have no idea where the three guys are that I met over this last week have gotten to and I’m drastically outnumbered.
“Let her go and I’ll come with you,” I say, taking a step forward off the porch and into the rain.
“Wonderful. I do love when they come willingly. It makes it so much easier. Though, I can’t promise you’ll enjoy this next bit much.” She lets Faye go and I see her blur of red hair speed past me and back into the cabin.
I descend down the stairs, feeling the wet wood beneath my bare feet. My clothes are already soaked through, and a chill works its way to my bones.
I leave behind my friends and follow Melinda and her hoard of witches into the woods with dread coiled deep in my gut.
They takeme to a clearing that has some sort of large circle etched into the muddy ground. And while the rain is still coming down, there are several torches that are set up around the circle, still ablaze even with the downpour.
Magic, I realize, must be why they’re not going out.
