OKAY SO I JUST WANT TO SAY SORRY FOR BEING A LITTLE BIT LATE ON UPLOADING THIS STORY. ONLY A FEW NEW PEOPLE ARE IN THIS CHAPTER. THE REST WILL BE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. AND TODAYS LUCKY PICTURE OF THE DAY IS...MATT.

Chapter 8

"I don't know Shelly. We barely know WHAT we are." I say as i fidget with my bracelets. It's something I do when I'm nervous.

"Okay well, what do you want to know?" Shelly says as she drives out of the parking lot and drives out of the parking lot and into a busy road.

"Why are we marked?" says Abby as she scoots closer to hear better.

"We were chosen by our goddess named Nyx. From what our high priestess in training Chelsea tells us, she chooses us because either we aren't having a life we deserve or we need saving of a bad moment. But we all have at least one thing in common though."

"Which is?" Britney says carelessly as she stares out the window.

"Wanting to be free and accepted..." Will says quietly, almost a whisper.

We all drive in silent as the traffic slowly disappears. Soon, we're heading down a highway. I try to concentrate on the road but my thoughts keep wandering to what Shelly said about why we're marked. It's not adding up. I'm living a good life. Aunt Lola is like my lovable mother. She doesn't treat me bad. I'm not a bad girl. I get like A's and B's at school. I don't party or drink much. Plus, I got Stephanie, Matt, and now Abby. There's no reason Nyz wou-"

"Shelly, where are we going?" Will and Justin says together, almost simultaneously. I snap back to reality and look out the window and noticed that the sun is already going down. The cement road that we were driving on has now turned into a dusty dirt road. I look around and notice that there are trees everywhere.

Matt looks at Will and Justin confused. "Isn't this where the House of Night is?"

"I'm taking a shortcut to get there." Shelly says.

Justin hesitates but settles back in his seat again. I look at Will who just looks pissed and annoyed. We all sit in silence for a couple of minutes even though it felt like hours, until all of a sudden, Shelly slams on the brakes unexpectedly and everyone in the back jolts forward. Everyone except Shelly and Gaby.

"Fuck! My head!" Abby says loudly as she rubs her forehead.

"Why'd we stop?" Will says as he opens the door and gets out followed by everyone else.

"I almost crashed into a piles of logs." Shelly says as she points to a pile of logs that are blocking the path. "Can you and Justin move them Will?"

Will studies her for a second but then gives up and heads toward the logs followed by Justin. I look up and see the sun being slowly swallowed by the hills and mountains. Shelly and Gaby quietly walk towards the trees and down a secret path. They turn around and motion us to come. I look at Abby, Matt, and Britney. Matt and Abby smile thinking they're about to do something fun. Britney eyes Gaby and Shelly. But that's just how she is so I just ignore her. Matt was the first one to make a move and follow them as the rest of us tag along, leaving Justin and Will behind. We walk through some bushes and shrubs until I realized I didn't see The two girls ahead of us.

"Wait, where'd Gaby and Shelly go?"

Matt stops and looks around. "They were just in front of us a minute ago."

Abby looks around frantically and starts yelling, "Gaby! Shelly! Where are you?!"

"Oh my gawd, guys just leave them. Let's just go back and just leave. Ugh, this is so ghetto." Britney says as she starts walking back from where we came from.

"Britn-oh just forget it. Abby, can you please follow her and make sure she doesn't get lost?" I ask with pleading eyes. "I don't wanna deal with Satan's daughter."

Abby laughs as she starts walking towards Britney's direction. "We should let her get lost but sadly, knowing her she'd probably find her way back."

Matt and I then turn around and star looking for Gaby and Shelly. As I look behind trees and in bushes, I remember something that I barely remember: When was the last time Matt had a girlfriend? That would be like...2..maybe 3 years ago. And his ex was a slutty druggy. Me and aunt Lola never really liked her. Oh My Gawd! It would be soo cool if I hook up Matt and Abby! That would be soo cute. They'd make a really adorable couple. Besides, Abby could maybe lead Matt down a good road instead of the one he was taking before he moved. That'll be my mission. As we're still looking, I feel my rhythmic feet, almost gliding, across the ground. I laugh as Matt looks at me and smiles.

"Member when we were little kids and you tried teaching me how to do the spongebob but I never hand the hang of it?" Matt says as he laughs a little, lost in his memory. I laugh to and lightly punch his shoulder. "Yeah that was really funny. Especially how you used to have like, two left feet. Hey, remember how we would wrestle in the living room and you would teach me some moves from your kick boxing classes and I kicked you so hard you started crying?" I laugh some more as Matt just stares at me. "Wait, I didn't cry. You took the air out of me Mel, you wished I did though." I watch him as he remembers. This is my chance.

"So, what do you think about Abby..? Pretty cute right?" I slightly nudge his arm. Matt chuckles and looks at the path Abby went before she left. "Yeah..she's really cute. So what?"

I just shrug. I walk away and slightly turn around."She's single, just saying." He raises an eyebrow at me. We both look for the girls a couple more minutes until we hear someone yell very high-pitched. I look at Matt quickly. He looks at the air, and like someone kicked him in the face, he starts running back where we came from. "That's Britney." Without thinking, I join him and immediately, I'm running the same distance as Matt. We rush through shrubs and bushes as tree branches scratch my arms and legs. We reach where we first got off only to find that the van had disappear. "Shit! Where's Justin and Will?" Matt says as he looks around. I walk at the ground to see tire tracks leading back into the direction we came on. "Shit! They left without us!" I say as I kick the dirt up. "What do we do Mel? Gone or not, what's with the scream?"

"I don't know..Maybe Abby and Britney left with them."

"And if something bad happened...?"

I look up at the sky and take in a deep icy breath. What the hell? Did they really leave us or did something bad actually happened? Why did Britney scream?

"Shelly...Knife...Blood...Britney...Abby...Ritual. ..Night...Dangerous..." I look at Matt and glare at him. "Stop Matt. I'm trying to concentrate."

"I'm not saying anything Mel."

"Just...shut up..." I keep hearing this for another minute. As I think about what the voice is saying, I start realizing the details. It's a female voice. Her voice is panicky. It's a warning. Instantly, the voice evaporates. I look at Matt and motion him to follow me.

"I know where they are. They're by a river further in that direction.." I point north of our direction.

"How do you know?"

I hesitate, "A ugh, a little bird told me..."

Matt raises an eyebrow suspiciously, "Who..."

I didn't say anything but like on cue, a 17-year-old looking girl with platinum hair with sky blue edges walks out of some bushes followed by 2 guys. Ones a tall tan hot guy with medium brown hair and looks like 18. He looks fit and his eyes sparkle a very unique shade of green that I can't describe in words. The other guy is almost identical to the first guy except, this guy looks like he works out more and is serious. I look at them surprise. "Who the hell are you guys?"

The girl takes a few steps closer as she pulls out a fencing knife from a case strapped around her waist, followed by the first guy juggling what looks miniature grenades and the other guy has a battle-ax in his hand. "My name is Ashley Adonis. I'm one of the leaders of the House of Night. These are my co-workers, Danny Frost," She motions to the guy with the grenades, "and Trevor Knight," she motions to the guy with the battle ax, "We're here on an assignment given to us by our caption, Will Chamberson. We are looking for Shelly Herd and Gaby Shimmer. Where are they?" She raises her sword and lightly aims it to the sky. "Wait, what? Will? He was with us just half an hour ago! And we don't know where they are. We're just trying to get back into the bus." I say a little aggravated.

"Will and Justin went back to the House of Night to recruit more of our members. So far, we were the closest ones to this area so he sended us to capture them. For what? I don't know. But hey, I don't question the caption or his orders.

I look at them suspiciously, I believe they're telling the truth so I just spit it out, "They're by a river further north." Ashley quickly glares at me, "How do you know?"

"Ugh...A voice in my head told me."

She thinks for a couple of seconds and replies, "Was the voice a female, panicky voice?"

I nod.

She sighs and looks at Danny. "Dawn better be right about this..."

"You think she'll be able to get much info from dead people? She's the closest thing we got to as a mind whisperer."

"I know..."

We all walk towards north. Without us realizing what we are walking ourselves into, The Battle Of Our Lives Begin.