“He got sick, tried to jump someone. The bartender shot him,” she replied as she slowly came around the bar.
“Let’s find the others and get out of here,” Logan said.
Miss Beatrice nodded. “This way,” she said, leading us from the bar toward a back hallway.
We headed down the narrow hallway where the offices were located. In the distance, we heard a loud clatter.
“Maddie! Run!” Nate’s voice echoed from somewhere ahead of us.
Miss Beatrice led us forward and pushed open the door to the men’s locker room. Inside, two men were feasting on the remains of a third man. They barely looked up at us when we entered.
Miss Beatrice dropped her knife. It fell to the floor with a clatter. “Allen?” she whispered.
I looked at the men. I vaguely recognized the man who must have been her boyfriend. I’d seen their photo together in the newspaper once before. The paper had done a write-up on his golfing success. Both men looked away from us and turned back to the bloody corpse, gorging on the flesh once more.
“Allen?”
Slowly, we stepped back.
“Come away,” Logan said softly to Miss Beatrice, taking her gently by the arm.
“Allen?” she whispered again, but it was clear from the expression on her face that she realized Allen was gone.
In the distance, we heard a scream.
“That was Madison,” Brianna said.
“This way,” Brian said, moving toward an exit sign. At the end of the hall, he pushed open a door that led back to the reception area. Nate and Madison rushed down the hallway toward us.
“Fuck,” Nate yelled. “Our parents are all fucked up. My mom bit Maddie. Maddie, you okay? Maddie? We need to get out of here!”
We raced across the room and pushed open the door. Standing right outside was a hulking man wearing golfing pants and a bloody polo shirt. He turned and looked at us.
“Go,” Zoey said. “Get to the van!” She then lifted her gun and fired. The man’s body rocked as he took bullet after bullet to the chest, but still he kept coming.
“He’s not stopping!” Zoey said.
The man reached out for us, but Brian moved in and swung hard, cracking the man on the side of the head with the baseball bat. He went down.
“Go, let’s go,” Brian said, and we all rushed toward the van.
Zoey jumped into the driver’s seat. Miss Beatrice crawled into the passenger seat alongside her. I slipped into the back and slid the door shut. I stared out the window in disbelief. The world was falling apart. The darkness in the world was consuming us, and now we were consuming one another.
Chapter 11
“Ahh,” Madison screamed. “It hurts!”
Zoey flipped open the center console and pushed a medicine kit at me.
“Here,” Miss Beatrice said, taking Maddie’s hand. She opened up a bottled water and dumped it over the wound, revealing the bite mark.
I opened the kit. Inside, I found medical gloves which I pulled on. Healer or no, I was still my mother’s daughter. No way in hell I was going to touch some weird contaminant.
The bite looked bad. I ripped open the small bottle of hydrogen peroxide and dumped it on the wound.
Madison screamed.
“Hold still,” Nate yelled at her.
“I’m so sorry, Madison. Please, let me clean it and bandage it up. I’m so sorry, but we need to get the germs out,” I told her.
Madison cried, shaking her head, but didn’t answer.
I pulled out an alcohol wipe and worked the wound while trying to see the injury in more ways than one. The aura all around Madison’s arm was confused. It was like a tornado of blackness was sweeping across her, dimming the yellow light that made the halo around the rest of her body.
I quickly applied the cream and started bandaging her up as Zoey sped away from the country club and out of town.
Two police cars whipped past, sirens blasting.
“Madison, be still for just a minute,” I told her then rested her arm gently on my leg.
I rubbed my hands together, envisioning them surrounded with a rainbow of light, then went after the darkness that was slowly creeping up her arm.
“What are you doing?” Nate asked in an accusatory tone.
“I’m trying to heal her. Shut up so I can focus,” I replied.
“Witchcraft? Don’t use witchcraft on my sister!”
Madison groaned.
“Be quiet,” I scolded him. I pulled at the black energy that snaked around her arm and up her body, but I couldn’t get it off. It was stuck to her with long tendrils, just like Mom’s headache. The moment I snatched at the dark light, it snapped back. “Dammit,” I whispered. “It’s not working.”
“Where are we going?” Miss Beatrice asked.
“Witch Wood Estate,” Zoey answered.
I pulled my hands back and smiled softly at Madison. “Just try to relax,” I told her. “We’ll get you some help.”
Even as I said the words, I could feel something was wrong. The black energy was swirling like a tornado around her, swallowing up her light.
Zoey’s van sped down the dirt road through the woods. We rode in silence as Madison groaned in pain. After a while, however, she became really quiet.
“Maddie?” Nate whispered. “Amelia, I think she’s unconscious,” he said aghast.
I put my still-gloved finger against her throat. I felt a pulse. “She has a pulse. Pain must have been too much,” I said.
“Amelia, where is the gate? Aren’t we close?” Zoey called.
I looked out the front window. Thick mist had covered the road. It made it nearly impossible to see where we were. I eyed the tree line. I couldn’t even see the rowan trees.
Before we could figure out how close we were, however, Zoey jammed the brakes. A second later, there was a loud thump as the van hit…something.
We all tumbled forward, Madison slumping over onto the floor.
“What the hell?” Brian called.
“I hit something. Someone. I hit someone,” Zoey exclaimed then put the van into reverse. She pulled back far enough to reveal a body lying on the road. She put the van in park.
“Mister Sanders. He’s Madame Knightly’s neighbor,” I said. I opened the door and got out, Logan following behind me.
“Mister Sanders?” I called, but he didn’t move.
“Jesus, did I kill him? Amelia? He isn’t dead, is he?”
Zoey got out, Miss Beatrice following her.
“Mister Sanders?” I called, crossing the road to stand near him. He wasn’t moving, and his arm was jutting out at a weird angle.
I bent low, mindful that he might be sick, and reached out with a gloved hand to shake his shoulder.
He groaned.
“Thank God,” Zoey said then pulled out her phone. After a moment, she cursed. “No signal. What do we do?”
“We can’t move him. His neck might be broken,” Miss Beatrice said, then we all stilled as Mister Sanders’ legs twitched.
“Mister Sanders? Sir, you’ve been in an accident,” I said. “Don’t try to get up.”
Mister Sanders sat up slowly, and a moment later he turned and looked at us. His eyes were milky white.
At the same moment, I heard Brianna shout.
“Maddie! No,” Brian cried.
Nate screamed a blood-curdling yell.
The back of Zoey’s van opened and Brianna and Brian jumped out.
Inside the van, I saw Nate pushing his sister away as he tried to back out of the van. The dark aura had taken over her.
A gunshot startled me, and I turned back to see Zoey standing, legs astride, with her pistol in her hand. I looked down at Mister Sanders whose outstretched arm was reaching for me. She’d shot him in the head. He wasn’t moving anymore.
Nate fell out of the van, Maddie jumping on top of him.
“No,” Brian screamed, then kicked her off. But it was too late. Nate already had a massive wou
nd on his shoulder.
“Maddie,” Nate screamed. “Maddie! What in the hell did you do?”
The mist around the van swirled, a thick fog rolling in all around us. I could see the dense air moving, twisting between them and us.
I turned and looked at the tree line again. The grandfather oak that sat at the entrance to Witch Wood was just down the road, but the mist had completely enshrouded the property. The mansion wasn’t visible through the fog.
“Brian,” Brianna yelled as Madison moved toward him. Rushing forward, Brianna pushed Brian out of the way, half-stumbling as she slipped out of Madison’s grasp.
“Zoey! Your gun,” Brian screamed as he and Brianna ran toward us, Madison following quickly behind them.
Zoey raised her gun to shoot, but the trigger clicked. “Out of ammo!”
Logan, moving quickly, grabbed a large tree branch from the side of the road and swung it at Madison, but it only slowed her for a moment.
“Where’s the gate, Amelia? Are we close?” Zoey asked.
“This way,” I said, leading Zoey, Miss Beatrice, and the others toward the old oak. I found the tree easily enough, but the gate and the driveway were…gone.
“What the hell?” I whispered. I stood staring at the space where the gate should have been, but it wasn’t there. And it wasn’t just lost in the thick mist. It simply wasn’t there.
“How far?” Zoey asked, looking down the road ahead of us.
I looked at the old tree. “It’s here. It…it should be here. By the tree.”
“What do you mean?” Zoey asked.
I glanced back at the others. The fog had enshrouded everything, confusing Madison who stumbled around like she was listening for us.
“Maddie! Maddie, why did you do this to me?” Nate whined weakly then groaned in pain. I couldn’t even see him through the thickening fog.
Looking back toward the place where the gate and fence should have been, I closed my eyes and concentrated, trying to see the gate with my mind’s eye. I exhaled deeply, then felt for the gate. It was still there. I could feel it, I just couldn’t see it. I took a couple of steps forward.
“Amelia?” a soft voice called from the fog.
“Madame Knightly?”
“Amelia,” a soft voice called again. “Come.”
I opened my eyes then squinted, focusing hard. A moment later, I could see the gate. It was vibrating in and out of view, but it was there.
“Hey, where’d she go?” I heard Zoey ask. “Amelia?”
“Amelia,” I heard Madame Knightly call from the other side of the gate.
“Amelia? Zoey? Where are you?” Brian called. “I can’t see anything.” His voice sounded so far away.
I stepped toward the gate, focusing hard.
“Goddess, Mother, guide my hands.
Protect the innocent.
Bring them to shelter.
In peace and with thanks, I pray thee.”
I reached out, and my hand connected with metal.
“Zoey,” I called. “It’s here.”
“Amelia? Where are you? I can’t see you anywhere!”
I could just make out her silhouette through the thick mist. “Walk forward,” I called to her. The moment she was near, I leaned and grabbed her with one hand, not letting go of the gate with the other.
“What the…what the hell?” Zoey said as she eyed the gate. “How did we miss it?”
“The fog,” I lied. Magic was at work here. The air all around us was alive with it.
“Logan? Miss Beatrice? Can you hear me? B. and B.?” I called.
“Amelia?” Miss Beatrice called back. She sounded close, but I couldn’t see her. The fog was too dense.
“Amelia, come inside,” Madame Knightly called from the other side of the gate.
“Guys, come toward my voice,” I called. “Brianna? Where are you? Brian?”
Neither of the twins replied.
A moment later, Logan stepped out of the fog. He was leading Miss Beatrice. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Brian? Brianna?” I called, but there was no answer.
“Can you open the gate?” Logan asked me.
I nodded and pushed the gate open. It released just enough to let us in, no more.
“Go ahead,” I told him, motioning for him and Miss Beatrice, who looked pale and shaken, to enter.
Logan nodded then led her inside.
“Amelia?” Brian called, but his voice sounded so thin. It was like he was miles away.
“Brian? Bri?” Zoey called back. “I can’t see them,” she told me.
I shook my head and gazed all around. The fog was thick and charged with magic. It chilled my skin to goosebumps. We were in the midst of an enchantment. “Me either,” I whispered.
“Amelia,” I heard Madame Knightly call again. “Come inside. Close the gate.”
“We should go back for them,” Zoey said.
Everything in my heart agreed with her. They were my friends. I would never leave them behind, but my instincts urged the truth. There was no use. They were…gone. Or, perhaps more accurately, we were gone. “Madison is out there. And we can’t see two feet in front of us,” I said, but even I didn’t buy the excuse.
“Brian! Brianna,” Zoey screamed.
There was no reply.
“They’re lost,” Zoey said.
“Amelia, come inside. Close the gate,” Madame Knightly called once more.
My heart slammed in my chest. “Brian?”
He didn’t answer.
“Where did they go?” Zoey asked. “It’s like they disappeared.”
The mist had grown so dense that I couldn’t see more than two feet in front of me. The fog swirled, moving like a living thing. My hair stood on edge as I felt the magical charge. Wherever Brian and Brianna were, there was no way we could find them now. “We need to go in,” I whispered.
“You sure?” Zoey said, looking surprised.
I gazed out at the fog then realized, felt, what had happened. Witch Wood had protected itself, protected us. Brian and Brianna were lost to us. I just didn’t know how to explain that to Zoey.
“We’ll wait until the fog clears,” I lied, hating myself for it, hating even more that my friends were out there, somewhere, and alone.
“Okay,” Zoey said then went in through the gate.
I followed behind her, pushing the gate shut after I entered. When I turned to look at the others, I was surprised—and not so surprised—at what I saw.
Inside the gate, the sun was shining. There wasn’t even a hint of mist in the air. The weather was calm, the rowan trees swaying in a soft breeze, their red berries hanging like ornaments amongst the green leaves. In the distance, I saw the familiar outline of the manor.
“Amelia,” Zoey whispered, her eyes wide.
Miss Beatrice was wearing a similar shocked expression.
Logan, however, was wearing the oddest smile.
While I had expected to find Madame Knightly inside the gate, the only one waiting for me was Bastet who looked up with her twinkling green eyes and meowed.
Epilogue
Spring
I pushed the wheelbarrow past the hedge maze for what felt like the hundredth time that day. And just like the other times, I heard…something. Voices? Wind? I wasn’t sure what. I stopped and adjusted my cloth hairband, mopping the sweat off my brow.
“Done already?” Miss Beatrice, who we’d all taken to calling Bea, asked. She was carrying a large tray of seedlings from the greenhouse toward the field.
“Almost. It will be dark soon anyway,” I said. “Just came up for more lime.”
She smiled at me. “Zoey has dinner ready. Better hurry up,” she said then headed toward the south field where we’d been busy all day planting crops. Wheat, corn, potatoes, beets, tomatoes…we were growing it all. I only hoped that the crops would make it. We’d just about finished off the last of the supplies, and none of us had planned to head to town…at least not anytime
soon.
I glanced inside the hedge maze. The foliage cast long shadows. Mist swirled on the ground, blue light flickering off the leaves. I tilted my head to listen. I swore I could hear voices.
What had me even more on edge, however, was how odd Madame Knightly had been acting. It was like she was readying us for something. What? Why in the world were we spring cleaning every room in the house?
“Too much dust,” she told us. “You’ll all develop asthma.”
Who were we to argue? Witch Wood had saved us and kept us safe all winter. None of us ever questioned how. We’d seen what had happened. We just didn’t know how to explain it. What we did know, however, was that Witch Wood was safe…and we owed Madame Knightly.
I sighed then headed to the shed. Inside, I pulled the gas mask off the wall. It was the one Brian had left behind. The one and only time I’d gone outside the gate since the day the world ended, I’d gone out only briefly with Zoey to retrieve her van and my belongings.
What we found broke our hearts: Nate’s mostly-eaten remains and Mister Sanders’ decayed body. Zoey’s battery had died so we’d pushed the van through the mist onto the property. There was no sign of Brianna, Brian, or Madison. They were just…gone. I prayed that wherever they were, Brian and Brianna were safe. And no matter how much I prayed, guilt still wracked me every time I thought of them.
Otherwise, for the past eight months, we’d neither seen nor heard anything. There was no TV, phone, radio, nothing. It was like the world had just stopped. So many times we’d discussed leaving Witch Wood to go looking for others, but we never left. We simply stayed put. Safe. After all, everyone we loved was gone: Logan’s and Zoey’s families. My mom. Bea’s boyfriend. There was nothing outside the wall except death. And no one ever came looking for us…as far as we knew.
I pushed my shovel into the large bin of lime, adjusting the gas mask once more. The lime always made my nose itch and eyes water. Thankfully, the gas mask took the edge off.
I filled up the wheelbarrow and headed back across the lawn. It was dark now, but my eyes had adjusted to the light, and the moon was bright. It was too late to lime the field, but I could leave the wheelbarrow in the greenhouse and pick up where I’d left off in the morning.
Witch Wood: The Harvesting Series Book 4 Page 7
