If we’d been in any other situation, I might’ve thought it was cute.
Everson didn’t seem to notice them and droned on some more. “Most of the other recruits have returned home. Unfortunately, many were lost in each of the tasks. It was a risk they were prepared for and chose to take.”
Only the wind and the crackling of the fire sounded across the night.
What could be crueler than death?
“There is one final task,” Everson continued. “At Nightfall, only the most dedicated and determined students can join our society. If you have any doubt, this task will bring you to the end of your journey. There is only one way to enter The Summits at Nightfall—by trusting that this is the right path for you. You will understand if you make it to the end. Some of you will find this task the easiest, while others will find it the most difficult. Should you successfully pass, your admittance is final. If you still wish to proceed—follow me.”
He took one of the torches burning nearby and headed for the pine forest. We followed him beneath the starlit sky where the aurora still shimmered above. As we climbed to the peak, snow started to fall. The glow of light ahead set off a murmur as we trailed behind Everson, the mist thickening as the forest grew denser.
“It’s getting hard to see,” I whispered, glancing at Isabella. “I can’t see Everson anymore.”
“Me either,” she muttered.
Everson’s words echoed in my mind.
By trusting that this is the right path for you.
“What do you think he meant by all that?” I whispered.
The mist was denser now and I couldn’t see the other recruits. I glanced at Isabella when she didn’t answer and halted my steps immediately.
She was gone.
I looked around for Cody, who’d been right next to us, and he was gone too.
“Cody? Isabella?” I called.
The mist had formed into an ominous shroud so thick I couldn’t see my feet. What was this? Trepidation crawled across my skin like hundreds of spiderlings scattering in their first moments of life.
I crossed my arms tightly across my chest, a shiver working through my body. I couldn’t see anything. Every noise conjured nightmares in my mind’s eye. A bird cawing in the night, its beak filled with fangs and talons sharpened like scythes. What was happening to me? Was I hallucinating? Was this fog drug-laced?
I tried to breathe but only mustered short, rapid breaths, and my vision, already useless, was becoming fuzzy. My heart was thundering in my ears, and I was running, terrified and desperate to catch my breath. Then, the fog moved.
It swirled rapidly, clearing briefly before me, and reformed into something I couldn’t believe I was seeing.
It was Katie.
“Anna, this is exactly why I didn’t want you to go,” she said, her ghostly body before me as if she were truly here. Looking at me, her expression was worried.
“Please, turn back. I’m putting in an application to App State. Justin asked me to talk you into going with us,” she said, her voice hollow like the wind that howled around us.
The mist swirled, and her presence dissipated as the fog enclosed me again. I sank to the ground, drawing my knees to my forehead and wrapping my arms around my legs. There’d been a path for me there, a future I might have had—the future my mom had wanted for me.
The anxiety I felt earlier was back in full force, but now it was twisting through my body like corkscrews being driven under my skin.
Why did I come here?It was a mistake. I could feel it.
The mist swirled again, and Susan appeared before me in an ethereal form that emitted a blue glow. What was happening? I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe.
This wasn’t real, right?
“You understand that my sister never came home, right?” she asked.
My lids stung, and the screaming in my head crescendoed, making me bolt from my tightly coiled position, desperate for it to stop. I ran, unsure where I was going or wanted to end up. I just wanted this torture to end.
I wanted the truth.
