First Project

by Jennifer Rose McMahon

  "No," Shane spat. "It's not time for those rules yet. Brynn's right. Rule number one, don't run."

  I glanced at him and nodded in agreement.

  Poorva threw her hands up in exasperation. "Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "We're fucked."

  "Yeah, maybe," Shane said. "But we're fucked either way."

  "How so?" Poorva barked.

  "If we do nothing... if we walk away now, we have to live with knowing we didn't do anything. How's that going to feel every day? Knowing we're special. Knowing we had the power to do something but didn't use it." He glared at her. "I don't know about you, but I couldn't live with myself if I turned a blind eye and walked away now."

  Poorva grimaced and turned to the wheel. She pulled out into traffic and drove in silence.

  My phone buzzed in my backpack, and I grabbed it.

  Dom's name lit up.

  Whats the plan

  I turned to Shane and caught him staring at my phone. His lifted eyebrow exposed his snooping.

  "Tell him we're meeting at the woods tomorrow. Seven o'clock."

  Poorva kept her foot heavy on the gas and drove without a flinch.

  Okay.

  So we were meeting at the woods tomorrow at seven o'clock. Having a concrete plan for the start of the final stage of the project kept my eyes wide and my mind racing.

  The safety of my bedroom, as I counted the minutes to morning, didn’t have its typical secure feeling. Poorva had dropped me off after we drove the afternoon away, while Shane and I talked her off the ledge, and now I was left to stew in my own thoughts.

  Tomorrow would be the moment of truth—the time that we would face our fears and use our powers to break apart a curse that had plagued the town for years.

  Holy shit.

  I was scared.

  And now with Poorva’s wavering loyalty, I worried about our ability to even do this. I prayed she would come back to us. Fully.

  I supposed I couldn’t blame her, though. Our last visit to the woods had resulted in a near annihilation from the local witch, as well as a complete mindfuck that made us think Tommy was still alive. And here we were, planning our next visit to the lovely town woods.

  My entire body trembled in spastic quakes, and I clung to my pillow for security.

  I laid on my bed, glad that Poorva had dropped me off before anyone could change their minds about our plan.

  Shane had seemed adamant about the meeting time, and Poorva didn't challenge it. She'd already made her reservations clear—her personal stakes, which included her entire future in the medical profession. If she lost her chances at Stanford, in her mind, she was finished.

  But the stakes went even higher than that.

  We each had our own cost in this project, some worse than others. Losing the trust of a parent, or losing social status in school were the surface issues. Losing one's mind to tortured pain that was only present in the psyche, that was a big one. But the worst in my mind was Shane's. He'd be losing the opportunity to save his friend. To rescue the Kelly's only son. His stakes were enormous.

  But the more I thought about it, the price of our collective mission was beyond any measure. It was bigger than any of us could fathom.

  Saving Tommy.

  How could that even be measured? There was no argument that could stand up to what we knew we needed to do.

  And finding the witch—exposing her, before anyone else could be harmed by her eternal curse—it left no room for argument. If we weren't able to end her evil presence, then we might as well hand-feed more children to her and accept the damnable fate of this town.

  My hands clenched into fists as I resolved to end her.

  To end the craziness that had lured me here.

  Lured me?

  It was true.

  I'd known I was different my entire life. Something had been preparing me for this day, training me to be able to face this supernatural occurrence. Every experience of my life had strengthened me in some way for this. And I was ready.

  Ready to face the challenge of my life.

  With my friends by my side.

  And with every ounce of my strange quirkiness that made me who I was.

  But how?

  I had never fit in anywhere before, so what was it that made me fit into this? There had to be a connection... to something.

  And I was afraid I was about to find out.

  Chapter 22

  Our cryptic text messaging made it clear when and how we should meet at the woods.

  Communication had to remain at a minimum, particularly now that the police were involved. Who knew what they were able to track and trace. And not only that, but Laney and her mother had seemed to figure out too much about our group, and we had no idea where they got their information. So, we did our best to keep everything as secret as possible.

  The time had finally come.

  We were ready to carry out the final step of our project—the ultimate conclusion.

  My muscles twitched with nervous excitement as I prepared for the showdown, and I struggled with even the most mundane tasks. Fumbling through my preparation, it felt like I blinked, and then it all began.

  We rendezvoused at the school as planned, leaving our vehicles parked out of sight to avoid any suspicion of our gathering. That way, we wouldn't have to park at the trail opening of the woods, drawing unwanted attention to our mission.

  "Let's break into our teams now," Shane said. "We'll be less conspicuous in smaller groups." He waved for Poorva and Blake to join him. "If any cars drive by, try to dip behind a bush before you're seen. We don't need any unwanted attention before we even get there."

  We grabbed our gear, each with a small pack of supplies, and Dom and Courtney waited with me as Shane's team headed out first.

  "Once we get to the woods, we can regroup with them," I confirmed to my team, as much for my own sake as theirs.

  Courtney gave a quick nod.

  Dom stared at me, breathing heavily as if he'd just run a 5K.

  "Are you okay?" I watched him through narrowed eyes.

  He was either experiencing the start of a panic attack or was about to throw up.

  "Yeah, I'm good," he panted. "Let's go. I need to use some of my energy before I jump out of my skin." He shifted his weight back and forth.

  Courtney glared at him as if he had no idea what it meant to endure discomfort. The steel-lock that clamped across her face showed the level of control she exerted over her own internal pain. Her restrained shaking caused Dom to hesitate, and he dropped his eyes to the ground.

  "Sorry," he said. "I got this."

  He balled his fists and paced back and forth like a caged animal.

  I approached Courtney and reached for her. Just before touching her arm, I stopped, afraid to either hurt her or harm myself. I'd channeled her pain once before and never, ever, wanted to know that feeling of torturous burning again. I had no idea how she'd endured it for so long. It was no wonder she could hardly speak. Ever.

  Several minutes later, I turned in the direction of the woods. "Okay. Let's go."

  It didn't take long to walk beyond the residential area and enter the more remote section of the road. Five minutes into the walk, we were half-way there, and the sound of a car rumbled behind us. We hopped into the shelter of the trees and waited for it to pass. Music blasted out of the car, and a moment later, the smell of weed wafted past us.

  "We're not the only ones headed to the woods tonight," Dom huffed. "They'll be gone by dark, I'm sure. No one has the balls to stick around here too late."

  I hoped he was right. The last thing we needed was distraction or interference of any kind.

  Up ahead, I saw the turn-in for the parking area for the trail. The others would be waiting for us there.

  As we got closer, I noticed the car that had passed us earlier. It had pulled into a small alcove at the side of the road.

  "Quiet," I whispered as we passed it.

  The windows had already fog
ged up, and quiet giggles traveled out to us.

  "Oh, how cute," Dom teased.

  I exhaled in relief, knowing their intensions were unrelated to ours.

  I kept my focus forward, heading straight for the lot.

  As we turned into it, I glanced around, looking for our friends.

  Nothing.

  They weren't there.

  "Where are they?" I said aloud. "They're supposed to wait for us right here."

  A nervous twang twisted my gut. The plan was already falling apart.

  Dom squared his shoulders. "They probably want to win," he said.

  I shook my head. "No, they wouldn't do that." A twinge of suspicion ran through me, and I glared at Dom for even suggesting it. "Something must have happened." I looked around the area for any clues. "Maybe they went farther up the road."

  "No, this is the only entry point on this side of the forest. They'd have to travel for miles to get to the next point." He glanced into the opening of the trail. "I think they went in without us."

  I rubbed my eyes, straining to come up with a new plan.

  Then, I saw something. Like the flash of a memory, only not from the past.

  In my mind's eyes, I saw them running frantically, yelling and screaming. They were in trouble, and their powers were tangled, leaving them defenseless.

  "They're in there," I cried out. "I can see them.”

  Something was blocking their skills making it impossible for them to work together. Instead, they were struggling to hold onto their own sanity, fighting an unseen, insidious villain.

  I gasped in horror. “Something's wrong. They need our help!"

  Dom reached for me. “Wait.” He held me back for a moment, tipping his head toward the trail opening.

  He lifted his face into the air and breathed in deeply. "You’re right. They were here," he said. "I smell them."

  He twitched and tilted his head.

  "I hear them, too," he said. "Their voices fill the space in the meadow."

  I listened and heard nothing.

  "Are you sure?" I begged.

  His head tipped again as he listened harder. "Yes. Positive. There’s an open gate to the spirit world. I smell it. And I hear it.” He shook his head in an attempt to make it stop. His face crunched in a tight grimace as he fought his next words. “They're screaming Tommy's name."

  With that, we tore down the trail into the darkness of the woods. The gray blanket of dusk turned to immediate black as the thick trees blocked the light of the rising moon.

  Before long, we reached the gate that blocked the trail. Using the light from my phone, I scrambled over the rails while Courtney and Dom climbed over at the same time. The rattling of the metal gate made my hair stand on end, scared to death that we'd be heard.

  Once over it, we hurried along the trail toward the clearing. Noticing the underbrush becoming sparser, it was clear we were getting closer. Once all overgrowth between the high trees was gone, leaving only dirt forest floor among the thick trunks, I knew we were almost there.

  It was like a bomb had gone off at some point in the past, leveling all living things, leaving only the strongest trees in its wake. Then I realized, the clearing was likely the point of detonation.

  Something big had occurred there once, leveling everything around it to dust.

  And we were headed straight for it.

  We continued to move at a quick pace until the opening at the end of the trail came into view. Dom's breathing was all I could hear, and the extreme heat radiating off him made sweat bead on my brow.

  Whimpers escaped Courtney's throat as she quaked with spasms of rising pain.

  My panic rose as I watched my friends reacting in heightened discomfort to the proximity to our target.

  As we burst into the opening of the meadow, my inward sight opened up to visions of Shane, Poorva, and Blake, trapped and struggling to escape from a terrifying void.

  I searched across the vast clearing for any sign of them. They were nowhere to be seen. Vanished without a trace.

  Then a strange ripple vibrated near the far side of the open meadow. It was like a subtle wobble that shook the dark colors around it.

  "Did you see that?" I pointed.

  Courtney and Dom followed my gaze. Then the shimmer happened again.

  "What the fuck is that?" Dom said.

  He'd seen it too, and relief whooshed out of me.

  "Come on!" I tore across the clearing, tripping on the uneven terrain. "It's got to be them!"

  By the time we reached the far side, the rippling glow had dissipated. I searched frantically, reaching my hands all around in front of me in hopes of feeling something.

  Dom and Courtney moved up behind me, searching into the darkness for any sign of it too.

  With a gasp, Courtney pointed to the edge of the trees. Her hand trembled in quaking spasms.

  "What the fuck is that?" Dom groaned again.

  I stared into the trees, and my eyes focused on a tall wooden structure. Its triangular shape rose sharply toward the height of the trees, and at its base was a dark opening.

  My breath stopped short as I recognized the strange dwelling. It was exactly as Shane had described it to me. He'd seen this structure before, when he was a kid... with Tommy.

  But I was sure it wasn't here last time. We would have noticed its shadow looming at the edge of the clearing.

  Then a flash of memory widened my eyes. When we saw Tommy on the trail the last time we were here, I had seen a similar structure hidden in the trees behind him. I gasped from the flood of the memory and knew it had to be the same hut.

  I stared at its ominous presence, terrified to move any closer. Its rotted wooden planks fell away from the sides in jagged disrepair, but it still stood firm. A strange fog billowed at the base and swirled away from the dark opening as if encouraging us to enter.

  "It's a trap," I whispered. "Luring us in." My air whooshed out of me, leaving me breathless. Terror rose in my throat as my next words struggled to come out. "They're in there."

  As soon as the words left my mouth, we heard it.

  Their cries for help.

  Their voices echoed from deep within the darkness, as if trapped in a vast abyss. Sounds of pain and terror mixed in a torturous assault on our senses. I covered my ears and squeezed my eyes shut as Dom and Courtney did the same.

  But it wouldn’t stop.

  "Let's go," Dom shouted, ready to run straight into it. "We need to get to them."

  Just as we prepared to enter the ominous opening, their voices gained strength and commanded us. "Stay out!"

  We reeled back in terror and stared into the darkness of the hut.

  Then their voices churned again and blasted, "You'll be trapped forever!"

  We lurched back, for fear of being sucked into the haunting structure.

  "There has to be another way to get them out," I cried, looking around for anything that could help.

  Courtney stepped back into the open space of the clearing.

  "We need to lure her out," she said.

  My head jerked to her. "What? Who?"

  "The Dark Witch," she stated with confidence.

  Her gaze went blank as she shifted in her new decision.

  Dom moved closer to her.

  "Courtney?" His voice trailed out of him. "What are you going to do?"

  His tone proved he knew she was about to do something radical. Something unplanned.

  "Courtney?" I pressed, following the two of them.

  She moved closer to the middle of the open space and stood on the same spot she'd collapsed on last time.

  "I don't care anymore,” she cried out. "I'm not afraid of her. I just want it to stop."

  She dropped her head back and lifted her arms out to the sides.

  "Wait, Courtney," I screamed. "Stop!"

  Her head tipped in my direction. "It's okay, Brynn. This is what was meant to be."

  And in that instant, she burst into flames.
<
br />   The blast of heat shot Dom and me back, leaving us panting. We stared at Courtney as fire engulfed her, lapping in every direction off her arms and hair.

  As we stared in disbelief, a scream came from the direction of the trail.

  "No!" the voice cried. "Stop!"

  Racing from the woods, two figures barreled into the clearing.

  Within seconds, they were upon us, and one of them went straight for Courtney. She reached right into the flames and shoved her. Courtney tumbled back but steadied herself again, resuming her sacrificial position within the fire.

  The woman shoved at her again, this time reeling back from the intensity of the heat.

  Frustrated, the two of them shot their razor-sharp attention to us.

  As they moved closer, Dom and I cried out the same name.

  "Laney?"

  She bombed toward us with her mother on her heels.

  "Make her stop!" she screamed. "She's killing her!"

  I froze, staring into Laney's face.

  The shock of seeing her there had blown my mind to bits. But then the fact that she made demands like she knew what was going on, that blew the rest of the pieces into oblivion.

  Before I could ask questions, Laney's mom let out a blood-curdling cry of pain and dropped to her knees.

  "Stop her," Laney screamed, turning to Courtney. "Please! She's hurting my mother."

  With my eyes nearly bulging out of my head, I stared at Dom in panic. "What do we do?" I pleaded.

  His breathing had hit an unnatural level, and he gave no response to anything around him. It was as if he was struggling to hold himself together and could focus only on that.

  "Laney, tell me what's going on," I screamed. "It's the only way I can help."

  She stared at her crouched mother in terror and then back to me.

  "You have to stop her!" She pointed to Courtney. "That bitch is going to kill my mother!"

  Courtney was in a trance of some form. The fire burned all over her, but she remained unharmed within it. The tranquil look on her face made her appear to be at peace. It was the first time I'd ever seen her that way, and relief washed through me.

  "What are you talking about?" I shouted at Laney. "What does any of this have to do with you or your mother?"