“Did it work?” He quirks an eyebrow. And then I hear him: “I don’t think it worked… Oh shit. She’s smirking. It’s working.” He groans, and I cackle, rubbing my hands together.
“Do I even want to know why Serena looks like the cat who ate the canary?” Rory asks, hesitating at the front door before shuffling around me to his beanbag on the floor.
“Serena can curse people; it’s her power,” Declan answers.
A sense of utter dismay reaches me, and I place a hand on Dane’s knee, patting once. “It’s not fun having your thoughts and feelings used against you, is it Dane?” I raise my eyebrow, and he frowns as his mind flicks through ideas to shut me out.
I remove my hand from his knee. “Sorry, buddy. There’s no way to shut me out once I’ve cursed you. But there is an escape clause.”
His eyes widen as they flick over my face. “Escape clause? Thank fuck.” His eyes widen. “I mean… Damn. Fuck. Damn, Serena!”
“Promise you won’t try to read my feelings again, and I’ll lift it.”
He nods, and I search his thoughts, sensing the truth in his words. So, I place my hand flush against his chest and pull at my power inside him. He flinches as the bond breaks, and my magic flows from his chest and back into my hand.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, Dane leans back and remains silent before twisting to look at me. I shake my head. “If you were trying to speak to me, I couldn’t hear you. I told you, I can set the curse and then break it. Most times.” I grin and watch as he sputters.
“So, Dane, care to tell me what your powers are and what you’re not going to be doing from now on?” I sing as I lean back against the couch, and the guys laugh at the dark look he sends me, then them.
A small semblance of peace settles inside me at the comradery we’ve grown to share, or that they’ve included me in.
It’s nice.
Too bad it can’t last.
Chapter 8
My feet pound the Forest floor as I rush from the starting line. I sprint as far as I can manage before I stop for the first time. My entire body is shaking with adrenaline and fear as I stare around me, ensuring I’m not being followed before moving on. Why is he doing this? Why can’t he just choose one of us to go?
A crack behind me.
I take off again, ducking under branches and smacking into the tree branches as I escape deeper into the Forest. Tormented screams ring out behind me, following my every turn. Darkness creeps in around me and the scent of moss fills my nose, but I can barely breathe over the tightness in my throat.
It’s a fucking game to him. He’s toying with us.
I push myself to keep going, my legs and chest burning.
I won’t kill my friends. I won’t do it.
But their faces at the starting line flash in my mind, with grins malicious and hungry, and my eyes fill with unshed tears. They would kill me. All of them, if it meant they came out alive.
A scream echoes out from directly ahead, causing me to freeze. My eyes dart around my surroundings, but I can’t see anything through the suffocating darkness. At the sound of a rustle, I turn on my heel and flit between two broad trunks, only to trip on a root and land in a puddle.
I spit mud from my mouth, and scramble to my feet, hoping nobody heard me. I place my hand down to push myself up, but it touches something warm and wet. My eyes whip to the area, and I clamp that same damp hand to my mouth to muffle the scream that wants to rip from my throat.
I wretch when the stench of blood hits me, and I push up, slamming into a tree behind me. I turn my back on the corpse, sucking in the decaying air to clear my senses only to shudder at the lifelessness in it. I can’t keep running like this. I need…
Light calls to me from between the trees. I head straight for it and sigh with relief when I reach the small open area bathed in moonlight. Thank the gods. My feet lead me toward the center of the field where one large tree resides, its branches and the moon creating a halo around it.
Coming to a stop under its leafy canopy, I lean against the trunk as my chest heaves, trying to draw air to my aching lungs, but it never feels like enough. My legs wobble beneath me, and I collapse to the ground.
My eyes close as I rest against the bark, huddling into the sanctuary its thick roots give me. I focus on my breathing and my pounding heart, trying and drown out the screams around me.
I don’t know how much time has passed or how long I’ve been sitting against the tree, but the sounds of my friend’s screams no longer greet my ears. And for the first time, I’m thankful for them to be gone, that there is nobody left to kill.
I’m a fucking terrible person.
“There you are, Serena. Why don’t you come and play with us?”
I flinch from the voice calling from ahead. Eli swaggers toward me, the rest following closely behind him, emerging like demons from the shadows that make up the Forest: Eli, Micah, Rosie, and Cassidy—my best friends. The ones who were meant to be by my side through thick and thin. Also, the ones to turn on me first in this little game of kill or be killed.
“Yeah, Serena. Think you’re too good for us? Come and play!” Cassidy cackles as she skips toward me. Her hands are dark, dripping with something that shines in what little light there is.
Rosie steps into the ring of moonlight I sit in, but lets out a cry and jumps back as her skin sizzles
