Through the Woods

by Rowan Thalia

  "What do you want, Demon?" I call up to him, not bothering to hide the anger in my tone. His lips widen in a show of pointy teeth, and I curse myself under my breath for giving him a reaction.

  "You. Always you," his voice drapes around my shoulders like a thin film of slime. I feel his power trying to breach my mind and I take off running, only to fall and hit my head. The pain in my head throbs as I hear him ambling closer, only for the world to swirl away, leaving only empty darkness.

  7

  Jun

  I wake up gasping for air. Fucking hell. I’m used to the darkness. Scary dreams and shit like that have been my normal for as long as I can remember. I’m not prepared for this asshole to be my new normal. How do we get rid of him? I sigh and dig deeper into Dex’s arms. Counting my breaths, I close my eyes. A twig snaps loudly, then another. Fuck no. My heart races and I hold my breath, gripping Dex’s shoulder.

  Thump, thump, thump.

  Heavy steps fall and soft chanting filters through the night air… like you hear in the movies about Native Americans. The tension in the air is different, angry yes - but not … demonic. My senses are on high alert, but I can’t tell what this new presence is - yet. What is going on? The drums continue to beat, and shadows flicker across the tent walls. I shiver, bite my lip, and shake Dex. He mumbles in his sleep, tightens his grip on me, but doesn’t wake. There’s nothing that would make me peek my head out of the tent right now. Instead, I squeeze my eyes shut and wish it away.

  No matter how hard I try to ignore it, the drumming only seems to get louder. It’s so deep and thundering that it's practically vibrating the ground we're sleeping on. I try to shake Dex again, but it's as if he can't hear me or the drums. Wake up please! Maybe it’s another dream? Am I in an Inception-level spook fest? A swamping feeling of isolation hits me. Thoughts I can't control swirl through my mind.

  The guys are going to leave you. Your creep level is obnoxious.

  You’re a beacon of doom.

  This will be the last straw. Kiss this life goodbye. You’ll be all alone.

  I curl into a ball and sing one of my favorite songs, screaming at the top of my lungs since apparently nobody can hear me. I don't know how long I lay like that, but eventually darkness takes me.

  “Rise and shine!” Alex calls from the tent opening. Wincing at the light and letting out a groan, I pull the blanket up over my head. I must have fallen asleep waiting for the spooky shit to stop.

  “I’m up, don’t talk so loud,” I grumble.

  “Awe, Purple, do you have a hangover? You didn’t even drink that much,” he softens his voice.

  “Nah, I had a nightmare ... then I woke up, or I think I woke up. Shit I don’t know. Can we talk about it later?” I take a deep breath, and Dexter closes his arms around me.

  “Why didn’t you wake me?” he whispers into my neck.

  “I tried,” my voice catches, and a tear wrestles it’s way down my cheek. Alex wiggles his upper body in the tent and sandwiches me in. His arm props his head up and his other hand cups my chin.

  “Spill it,” his eyes plead, and he sets his mouth in a firm line.

  I take a deep breath, then recount the dream and noises outside. The demon, the drums, everything. My body trembles, and a chill breaks out over my scalp. One of these days all the spook and darkness is going to be too much, and these men will leave me, I just know it. Another tear escapes my eye, and I try to hide it by burying my head into Dex’s arm.

  “Juniper, we're here for you. I know I gave you a hard time about your darkness… and it still freaks me the fuck out, but I love you. I’m not going anywhere. There are answers for all of this, we just need to look harder,” Alex says with a frown.

  “He’s right, babe. We’ll get through this. I’ve been with you since Sam, your first ghost, and I won’t leave now,” Dexter kisses the back of my neck.

  “How did you know what I was thinking?” I squeak.

  “I’m still getting to know you, but I’ve realized you only cry if it has to do with us. The scary shit never makes you cry, it’s how WE will react to the scary shit that bothers you the most,” Alex smiles and kisses my cheek. “See, I’m an asshole but I pay attention.”

  “Let’s sic Specs back on information gathering,” Dex suggests as he rubs my back. I groan and nod. “Great, then let’s get up. We have to man our posts today, and we need to keep our jobs to spend the summer together!”

  “Right you are, my other brother,” Alex sighs. “Duty calls!”

  He backs out of the tent army style, squats down, and lends me a hand. Once I scoot out, he lifts me into his arms and twirls me around. It’s rare for Alex to get all lovey, so I soak it in, lifting my legs at the knees and laughing. When he puts me down, he places a kiss on my forehead before walking back to his pack and throwing it on his back. He, Ash, and Sterling have obviously been up for a while, the camp is all packed up.

  “Why don’t you walk back with Ash and Alex? Dex and I can pack up the last tent. It's already seven,” Sterling offers while handing me a thermos of coffee.

  I grin and pull him into a hug. “Thanks, Specs.”

  Ash fist bumps Sterling, then we walk toward the campground together. I’m not really in the mood for arts and crafts, or Wendy, but the guys are right. This is our job. When we walk through the edge of the tree line, it's not camp we step into, but the clearing we just left.

  "Are you guys fucking with me?" I ask, looking over my shoulder to take in two identical stunned faces. That's enough of an answer for me.

  "Where are Sterling and Dex?" Asher asks, as we all freeze to listen for any sign of them.

  "Calling our names,” I state, before starting off toward their voices. The deeper we walk into the woods, the further the others seem to get. Just as I'm getting frustrated, we exit the thick of the trees, stepping back in the clearing again.

  The yells from the others seem just as far away as they were moments ago. It feels like we're stuck in some weird limbo, unable to leave and stuck in a continuous loop no matter which direction we go.

  "He's here, look for the demon," I hiss, scanning my eyes over our surroundings. It's the only explanation that makes sense. The son of a bitch is keeping us trapped here... but why?

  When nothing happens in the clearing, I step into the treeline again. Each step further causes a creaking of limbs above me. I keep my ears strained as I lumber through the foliage, refusing to let him get a rise out of me. Though, internally I'm freaking out and angry at the same time. I've had enough of this shit. All I wanted was to go back to camp and eat some waffles, before I suffer through another day of working with Wendy.

  "Jun!" Asher yells as something heavy smacks into my back, sending me flying out of the way. I try to cry out at the impact, but the air is knocked from my lungs, leaving me gasping instead. The moment I'm airborne, a loud thud is followed by a shower of splintered wood. When Asher rolls off of me, I realize it was him that flew into me, stopping a falling branch from landing on my head. When I look above us, I see the same demon who stalked me in our suite, the red eyes even more dim now in the daylight. His low growl fills the air and makes my skin crawl.

  "Leave. Us. Alone," I scream up at him, which only causes the growl to grow louder.

  "Juniper?!" Sterling screams out my name as they burst through the tree line. They see Asher and I lying on the ground, covered in bark and leaves and run forward.

  "Stop!" My voice echoes through the trees, causing them to stop in their tracks. They follow our gaze up to our demon, cursing when they spot it.

  "Why won’t you leave us alone?" I ask, staring into the dim, red eyes.

  "Your blood," he says simply, the dry rasp of his voice sending shivers down my spine. I try not to show how he affects me, instead I stand on my shaking legs and face him with a hard gaze.

  "It's not yours to take and you can’t have it. We will sever this connection while you’re weak," I grit through my teeth, causing him to hiss and scra
mble down the tree. By the time he reaches the bottom, his form flickers, and he disappears.

  The amount of tension that leaves the air with him is astounding. We all let out a breath, but nobody speaks for a second. Our eyes just remain fixed on the spot where the demon disappeared. My heart is about to hammer its way out of my body, but I’m glad that my boasting worked. I had a feeling he would react and be too weak to attack us.

  "Uh, please tell me that you knew that would happen," Asher's voice is shaking. I turn to face him, and gasp. His face is drained of color, and his lips are almost blue.

  "I had a suspicion. His eyes were dull, and he wasn't moving much, but what demon can resist an angry outburst," I say with a shrug. "Shall we get out of these damn woods now? I need waffles."

  "Yes, though I don't know that you deserve waffles after that shit," Dexter says, pulling me close and grunting in annoyance. Leave it to Dex to lighten the mood with a joke. It better be a joke anyway - I need some mother fucking waffles right now.

  When he pulls away, we all walk out of the woods, our moods much more somber than before. We know the demon is back, but he's weak. That's at least one thing on our side.

  As soon as we step into the main part of camp, I grab Sterling's arm and check his watch. It only reads seven, which is impossible. He told me it was seven before we packed up.

  "Sterling, did your watch stop?" I ask, confused.

  "What the hell? It said seven before we left," he mutters, tapping his finger on the screen.

  "It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen to us," Asher says with a shrug.

  "That means waffle time, Purple," Alex says with a grin.

  "Not until I take a shower, I feel gross as fuck after sleeping outside. “Plus I want to brush my teeth," I explain. I try to keep a positive face on while we walk back, not wanting them to worry anymore. We split ways as soon as we hit our cabin, though I make a beeline for the shower, before anyone else can claim it.

  By the time everyone gets out of the shower and we're all dressed, we have no choice but to head to work, which means no food for me yet. Fucking hell. The moment I step through the door, I already know it will be a bad day. Wendy is sitting at her desk, popping her gum and glaring at the door.

  "We should finish planning the joint banner project, it's all I have left in the lesson planning," she says, her voice more timid than usual as she picks up on my hangry mood.

  "Okay, yeah. Give me a few minutes," I mumble, walking over to my desk and flopping down. After a few minutes of me trying to collect myself before I let my mouth get me fired, I grab my binder and walk over.

  "So, do you want to just set up supply stations for them? Like paint on one table, markers on another?" she asks, trailing off at the end while I glare down at her.

  "I guess that would work, but we need to monitor it so a few people don't hog an entire section," I counter, looking around at the table.

  "Coffee and donuts!" The most beautiful words I've ever heard, come from none other than Asher. He looks proud of himself as he walks in, two coffee cups in hand and a box of donuts.

  "My prince!" I yell, giving him a cheesy smile as I cross the room. The donut with sprinkles calls my name, so I snatch it along with my coffee. Asher chuckles, and I give him a sprinkle crumbed peck on the cheek for his gallantry. Any of my guys who bring me food automatically becomes top on my dick sucking list - for real.

  "I brought this one for you, Wendy," Asher says nicely, though a lot less enthusiastically. Which my petty ass appreciates. She gives him a shy smile, complete with eyelash batting and everything.

  "How did you manage to get donuts?" she asks as she walks back to her seat.

  "I caught Bobby as he was coming back from town, apparently he has a sweet tooth, so he gave me some to take out to everyone," he replies with a grin, taking a bite of a glazed donut and throwing me a wink. "See you at lunch!"

  "Okay, how about we set up the tables today, so we can get an idea on how to work this?" I offer, giving her a much nicer smile than before I had food.

  "Works for me," she says, arranging the tables. "Glitter here, it'll be easier to sweep up."

  Nodding my understanding, I head for the shelves of supplies. The glitter is on the top shelf, since it's light, but unfortunately I'm not that tall. I try my best to scoot the bin closer, and end up sending them toppling on my head. I hear Wendy running over as I land on my ass. My head stings where the box hit me, but it’s not bad.

  "Oh my god! You're bleeding, are you okay?" she asks, sounding concerned. "You should head to the infirmary and get it checked out."

  When I look up to argue, something in her face stops me. Her eyes are wide, and her cheeks sucked in, like someone about to slip into a bad memory. What’s up with these girls and seeing blood? Do they never get hurt? With a grunt I stand up. My head throbs for a second, it’s enough for me to realize she might be right. I sigh and give in. Besides, it’s a free visit to my favorite glasses wearing hero.

  "Alright, sorry to leave you hanging. I'll go get it checked out," I concede, and she lets out a long breath.

  "It's okay, I've got this," she says, walking me outside and down the road to the infirmary. Thankfully none of the guys are around, because they'd all freak out. I'm not in the mood for pampering, I feel fine.

  When I walk in the doors, Wendy waves and heads back. My eyes fall on Sterling pushing Karen's hand away from his arm. She moons at him, giggles, then leans almost into his lap. The amount of blatant flirting is appalling. When the door slams shut, she jumps away like she was electrocuted, and Sterling rushes for me.

  "I'm fine, it was just a bin that fell. Wendy was panicking and wanted me to get it checked. Just clean up the blood, please," I say, holding my hands up and explaining quickly before he flips.

  He leads me over to the exam table and I hop up. Carefully dabbing with a gauze, he cleans the cut and bandages it. Instead of throwing away the bloody materials, he tucks it into a bag and slyly slips the bag into his pocket.

  "We should probably be safe and burn that later," he whispers, kissing me.

  "Come back to the cabin and play hooky with me?" I ask, kissing him back. He sighs, his face relaxing with relief, and leads me out.

  "I'm going to take her back to the cabin and make sure she doesn't fall asleep, we should look at concussions, no matter how slight," he says in a serious tone. Karen just nods with wide eyes and watches us leave. I give Sterling a smack on the ass, before throwing her a glare over my shoulder. Back off, Bitch. He's mine.

  8

  Dexter

  After the scare in the woods with Juniper, I’m jumpy as all hell. I take a hot minute to get my brain in gear, and plan the activities for wilderness training. For a nerdy guy, Brian isn’t bad as a sidekick. His scout knowledge has come in handy. He’s kinda like Sterling, without a high IQ and not as hot, so I get along with him pretty well. We’ve already got the first two activities done, and now we’re working on setup for the camp fire starting challenge.

  “Dude, we should have stations set up to make them create a bow, shoot a paper target with the bow and then use the bow to start a fire. The last step can be to make a shelter!” Brian smiles wide.

  “Hell yes! They can use the fire to boil water too as a bonus!”

  “Sweet, let’s record the materials needed for each item. Then we can use these big plastic tubs, and put all the materials inside,” he grabs a big blue tub from one shelf.

  “I like that. Then all we have to do is haul them out on the day we have the challenge. Anything we can put together ahead of time will save our sanity,” I rub my neck remembering what a hard time I gave some counselors. Man, those were the good days. I miss being a kid sometimes.

  “Did you go to camp as a kid?” I ask him as I make a list of the items I think we need. He looks up from his pad of paper and nods.

  “Yeah, I went with the scouts, and I also went to band camp, tuba. Then I was a counselor here during high school summ
ers,” he shrugs. “You?”

  “Yeah. Jun, Sterling, and I came here for two years in a row when we were in middle school. The three of us had been friends since we were kids, but camp is when I fell in love with Jun,” I trail off as I remember the first time I saw Jun’s competitive streak. It was during the rowing challenge. She was in the boat next to me and determined to whip me at something. She got her team so riled up that they blew right past us. That combined with her sexy body and a mouth full of snark had me hook, line, and sinker. My heart warms with the memory.

  “That’s cool. So, uh, just for clarity…”

  “Yes, we are all in a relationship together,” I say with a stern look, hoping to cut his questioning short. We haven’t even ironed out all the details of what that looks like, so I don’t want to hash through it with a stranger. Suffice to say, Sterling and my history plus the chemistry between Jun and the twins, made an impossible choice easy for us all. Somehow we all mesh, and not just because we all fuck Jun. We get along as a team, a family. Sterling and Jun are still my best friends, and now I have two more. I realize that I probably love the guys too, in a different and less romantic way. Well, except for Sterling...

  “Yeah, sorry,” Brian breaks in on my thought. “Wendy said as much, but I didn’t want to take her word for anything. As sexy as her mouth is… it’s big,” he puckers his lips, and we both laugh.

  “Well, I won’t argue with that. I don’t think my Jun likes her very much. Are you into Wendy?”