Quickly, Katie returns to her group. Only five of them remain at the pools and she is relieved to see others are hurrying up the path towards the bus parking lot. A newlywed couple is swimming around each other, splashing, teasing and enjoying the moment. Two young males, obviously hikers are preparing their gear for a night in the Black mountains, and another female Katie’s age is taking photographs.
“The light is perfect!” Excitement fills the young woman’s voice as she climbs up to the top of the moss covered hill and takes more pictures. Katie has never seen anything this beautiful before. A soft mist has begun to cover the path and the others are beginning to feel the threat of oncoming rain.
“You sure you won’t come up the mountain with us, pretty Katie? We promise to make it a night you’ll never forget,” one of the men teases her.
Fear strikes Kathleen’s heart at the moniker. All color fades from her face and she quickly shakes her head.
“No, thank you. That’s a little too adventurous for my taste,” she attempts to smile but fails miserably. “I’ll just be heading back to the bus. Be careful.” Katie turns and quickly begins to make her way up the slippery, rocky path. The rain drops are getting heavier by the second. It is a twenty-five minute hike back to the bus and the rivers can swell quickly here. The men’s taunting laughter causes her head to pound once more. Running feet and the sound of sticks cracking has her spinning around in terror.
“Wait up, Daniel!” Sarah calls. They were married a week ago and this is the last day on their honeymoon before they fly home to New Jersey tomorrow. Katie sighs in relief as Sarah joins her.
Daniel runs past and laughs, “Last one back has to rub my feet!”
Sarah’s smile fades as she looks at Katie. “Oh, hell no. Not after this hike!” She tears off down the hill laughing. Katie can’t help but laugh, they are so cute together. Katie picks up her pace and follows in the same direction.
“Help!” A scream rings through the darkening sky from the falls behind her.
Katie recognizes the voice as Bailey’s, the photographer from her group. She breaks into a run back towards the falls. A fat drop of rain strikes Katie’s cheek, a sure sign that she needs to hurry. The path is slippery as the rain begins to coat the rocks, and she is forced to run alongside the path, splashing through mud and water. Bailey was headed to a fall higher up behind the one they were visiting, so Katie heads towards it.
This is the crown jewel of the Faerie Pools. A large six foot waterfall flows into a pool of turquoise water, which looks as though it was carved into the black rock of mountains. It creates a private nook, where the water flows from the falls to the very pool Daniel and Sarah swam in earlier.
“Bailey!” Katie calls, no response. The rain begins to pick up now and she decides to climb the hill the fall is carved into. Bailey was setting up her photographic equipment up there earlier. It is a difficult climb because of the rain, so Katie grabs a large stick that will work as a climbing staff to help her up the hill. She is worried that the rain will swell the rivers and trap them on the mountain.
At the top, she stops to catch her breath and doesn’t see any sign of Bailey. Katie walks over to the edge of the falls, hoping the vantage point will permit her to see further. Still no sign of Bailey. The view is breathtaking and looking down, Katie can see that behind the falls, there seems to be a small cavern with water flowing from the main pool. “It must supply the falls below.” A crack of lightning has her jumping in fear.
“Time to go, Katie.” She turns and a can just make out a figure walking towards her through the combined mists of rain and waterfalls.
“Bailey, I was worried when I heard you scream…” her voice fades as a creature steps forth with silver hair, dark gray skin, and black eyes. Memories flash through Katie’s mind, jumbled images of being attacked in her grandmother’s home by a creature like this one. Pain explodes as her memory returns.
The blood-stained white robe tells Katie all she needs to know. Poor Bailey! This creature is a dark Fae, just as Colin was! The creature laughs.
“Poor, pretty, Katie, let me help you ease your pain,” with a hiss she leaps through the air at Katie.
Katie’s natural instinct is to swing her walking stick like a baseball bat. The force of the blow sends the dark creature screaming back onto the muddy earth, and flings Katie backwards over the waterfall and into the pool below. Katie struggles beneath the black water to find her direction. When she does manage to break through the surface of the water, she is coughing. Treading in the water, she swipes at her eyes and coughs again. A white blur of movement catches her eye.
“Oh, God!” The creature comes flying down the hill with unnatural swiftness. Katie swims away from it and realizes she is trapped! The vertically cut of the walls provide the perfect snare with no exit for
