Heaven's Star Chapter 27, a total drama series fanfic

Chapter 27

"Okay, back up some more!"

"Okay, okay!" Cody stepped back, holding up the large camera as he focused on Courtney's face.

Team Amazon was assembled in a cabin on the beach

"Hello, I am Courtney, celebrity of the world famous reality show Total Drama and today I will be leading-WAH!"

"You are leading squat!" Heather pushed her out of the way. "Hi, I'm Heather, the real celebrity and we'll be going to some stupid island to learn about a stupid witch!"

Courtney pushed her out of the way. "Do you have any sense of professionalism in you?! We're trying to make a document and you just ruined it!"

"Hey, got the introductions out of the way." Cody moved the camera to show Duncan relaxing at the table..

"It ruined the introduction and who said you could point the camera somewhere else?!" Courtney grabbed the camera and pointed it back at her. "As I was saying, today we will be exploring the legend of the Departed Witch's Island."

"Beautiful!" Elliot clapped. "Encore! Encore!"

"Shut up and help me." Courtney picked up some books lying on the table. "Okay, we keep that camera rolling at all times so we don't miss anything."

"It's just an island; it's not like this the first time we've been on an island with one Chris's stupid challenge." Heather scoffed. "That idiot's probably got a whole bunch of traps set up over there."

"We need those bonus points if we want to keep winning!" Courtney retorted.

"Like you can actually win something for us." Elliot shook her head. "Can we go now?"

"Hold on, I'm still check the food Chris gave us." Dawn zipped the duffel bag.

"What do we got?" Gwen asked.

"It's mainly just soup with some bread, beans, and some corn." Dawn lifted the bag.

"That's it?" Duncan stood up. "That's all?"

"We're going camping, Mr. Sloppy Joe!" Elliot teased. "Last I checked there's no fast food restaurant out there!"

"I'm just saying a little more wouldn't kill Chris." Duncan shrugged.

"If Chris starts acting nice to us I'll dye my hair pink and wear a tutu while running around shouting the world's ending." Gwen snorted.

Xxx

Confessional: Chris

"Not a bad idea! A perfect way to mess with these losers!"

End Confessional

Xxx

The team was now on the beach with the camera pointing at the island while Courtney started another dialogue.

"A small island, completely empty but full of mysteries surrounding the legend of the so called Departed Witch. Today, me and my teammates will journey there to determine the truth of this myth and prove beyond a doubt that there is no witch."

'Don't be so sure.' Gwen heard Andromeda whisper.

Tam Amazon walked onto the dock with Chef waiting by the boat.

"Come on, come on, get in. I ain't got all day." Chef grumbled.

"Chef Hatchet, what is your opinion on the Departed Witch?" Courtney asked, directing the camera at Chef.

"I ain't interested in talking about no witch." Chef glared at the camera.

"But Chris wanted us to make a documentary, how can we do that without some people giving their opinion?" Courtney asked.

"Fine, you want to know what I think? It's a load of baloney, there was a woman, she died, end of story. There ain't no witch on that island. Can we go now?" Chef asked, pushing Courtney onto the boat.

The others walked onto the boat with Chef being the last as he untied the ropes and turned on the motor.

"Next stop, dead lady island." Chef announced.

"The least he could have done is offer something more." Courtney scowled.

"Look who's talking? Your milking this." Duncan snorted.

"I'm just trying to be a professional unlike you, Mr. Lazy!"

"Oh, Mr. Lazy? You couldn't come up with something worse to insult me with?" Duncan raised an eyebrow.

"I'm guessing you don't care at this point what I do because I'm about to slam my foot in the..."

"Guys! Come on!" Cody interrupted. "Let's just try and calm down here! It's a long and crazy day and Chris is sending us out here, so we should set up camp have some early dinner and get some sleep, all right?"

"Fine by me." Duncan walked to the other side of the boat.

Gwen sighed and walked to the front of the boat to get a better view of the island.

"I don't know what I ever saw in him." Courtney leaned on the railing while Cody handed the camera to Dawn.

Cody thought he saw tears coming out of her eyes. "Yeah, I don't like him that much either."

"Yeah, like no one saw that coming?" Courtney snorted. "You've been all nervous any time he goes near Gothy, much to her happiness I bet."

"How come you think Gwen's crushing on Duncan anyway? She said she had no feelings for him and so far she's never said or done anything to suggest that." Cody commented.

"Come on, you don't see it? I mean, she was with that guitar idiot and even he could see how much they liked hanging out with each other. It's obvious she likes him."

"Gwen likes hanging out with all her friends, there's nothing wrong with that." Cody pointed out.

"Yeah well, I can tell when there are times when Duncan preferred to hang out with her rather than me." Courtney looked down at the water with a scowl. "He smiled whenever she walked by and she smiled and waved back not to mention she makes him laugh more so than he ever did around me and he sticks by her and helped more than he helped me. If that's not a sign that he's not crushing on her then I don't know what is."

Cody was silent as he pondered this and Courtney was not wrong. Duncan, from what everyone had seen had no qualms about flirting with other girls even when he had a girlfriend. Does that mean he was flirting with Gwen when she was in a relationship with Trent?

'No way.' Cody shook his head.

Gwen wasn't the type to cheat like that. Sure, she might like someone but she'd never do that, he was sure of that. Even if the way she and Trent broke up was a little messy but she never meant to hurt him, it was just a huge misunderstanding. He was positive that Gwen wouldn't be interested in breaking a couple up, not that Duncan and Courtney were a couple anymore so maybe she might be tempted. He looked at Gwen who stood at the front of the boat, watching the small island grow bigger as they came closer.

He had watched her since they had first met on the island a year ago and he knew she emotionally distanced herself because she was cautious about who she let into her life. She opened herself up slowly until she even considered him, the guy who asked her if he could borrow her bra for a bet, a friend. She was a little shaken up when she was kicked off the second season but she recovered but for a little while he noticed that she had distanced herself again. Except for the blog show no one heard from her much, she even refused an invitation by Celebrity Manhunt when they wanted to comment on her and Heather's quarrel and almost left when they tried to chase after Total Drama Dirtbags, only coming with them when that nutcase Carlos nabbed her and dragged her along.

He noticed how Gwen sit away from everyone, usually only hanging out with Dawn and Elliot most of the time but she like to sneak out with her friends on the other teams. He couldn't help but feel that Gwen was hiding something from everyone, being more silent than before and remaining in the background unless she needed to step up and help her team. He wondered if Gwen's breakup with Trent made her more hesitant to open up to everyone even though everyone had decided to forgive her for the accident.

"That's not something Gwen would do." Cody stated.

"How do you know? You've had a crush on her forever and she's still not interested in you." Courtney retorted.

"I know she wouldn't break a couple up on purpose. You can't judge her just because Duncan flirted with her, he's done that to every girl. Well, except Dawn and Elliot." Cody admitted. "You don't even know her, this is the first season both of you are on the same time. So how can you be so sure she's out to steal your boyfriend when Duncan's never been exactly loyal? The dude kissed Heather and I didn't see you after her."

"That was different!" Courtney gripped the railing. "It was part of the challenge. Plus he didn't like it."

"He still enjoyed flirting with her several times. Technically if a girl's out to steal your boyfriend I'd think Heather would be ahead, not that she's interested." Cody pointed out. "Plus remember on the aftermath with the truth or anvil thing, Gwen said she had no feelings for Duncan and the anvil didn't fall on her."

Courtney growled, making Cody wonder if he should run or not. It was obvious Courtney had a lot of pride and admitting that she was wrong might be too hard for her to even try.

"I'm just saying, maybe Gwen's not to blame here." Cody relented, deciding to give up while he had the chance.

He turned and walked towards the front of the boat, watching as they were nearing a beach.

"Wait..." Cody turned around as Courtney looked at him. "Maybe your right, maybe I jumped the gun a bit. All I know is that Duncan doesn't like me anymore and he sticks closer to Gwen of all people...I just..."

Cody was surprised because he thought he saw real tears coming down Courtney's face.

"I just don't have any friends with me."

"Oh well...I can help." Cody offered weakly.

"Really?" Courtney looked hopeful.

"Sure why not?" Cody asked with a smile.

"Thanks." Cody was caught off guard by the smile Courtney was giving him, he never seen her smile a whole lot before.

"No problem." Cody said before walking off.

Courtney looked down at the water with a grin. 'Those acting lessons sure paid off...'

"Here we are!" Chef announced. "Dead Woman Island!"

Xxx

Team Amazon walked off the boat and into a dock that led down to the beach. The dock looked old and poorly maintained but still strong enough to support the teens as they walked down towards the end and into the island. Just as soon they walked onto the dock Chef left on the boat, saying he'd be back in a few days.

As they walked off the dock they stopped in front of a large sign that had jagged writing and said:

YOU WILL DIE HORRIBLY! GET OFF THIS ISLAND NOW!

"Wow...not something I recommend for the tourists." Cody commented, pointing the camera at the sign.

"Maybe some kids wrote it, hoping to be funny." Courtney suggested.

"More like a stupid hoax." Heather scoffed as she walked past the sign.

It was a small island with a dark forest with no mountains or hills and so far they couldn't see any kind of animals at all, not even small crabs on the beach.

"All right, let's go." Courtney stepped of the dock.

"Where to?" Gwen asked, following her.

"I did a little reading and there's a rumor that there was a cabin Elizabeth Darke lived in somewhere on this island. It was spotted by a group of kids who came and camped here one night." Courtney pointed at the forest up ahead. "It's somewhere in there."

"And why are we going to some stupid cabin?" Heather crossed her arms.

"Documentary, stupid." Courtney huffed. "You want to earn some points you have to find out everything you need to know. We go to the cabin, do some filming and then we go back!"

"Do we even have an idea of how long it'll take us to find this cabin? It's getting pretty late and we'll have to set up camp soon." Dawn pointed out, shivering. "This island reeks of unfriendliness."

Gwen glanced at Dawn, feeling a jolt of concern. If Dawn felt something was wrong did that mean there was rogue spirit activity happening on this island?

"She's actually right; I am not spending the whole night looking for this cabin." Heather replied.

"Fine! We'll set up camp but when the sun comes up we're looking for that cabin!" Courtney scowled, annoyed that everyone was fighting with her.

With that said the group started putting up the tent for the night while building a fire to keep warm and cook the food they had brought. Cody was about to turn off the camera and put it down to help out but he felt someone or something was watching him. Turning around he saw what looked like the back of a woman with long wild dark hair down at the beach, looking at the sea.

"Hello?" Cody called out.

"What are you doing?" Heather turned around.

"There 's a...huh?" Cody had looked away for a second but when he looked at the beach again the woman was gone.

"What's up?" Elliot asked.

"I thought I saw a lady down at the beach." Cody replied.

"Give it up, dweeb; no one falls for that old trick anymore." Duncan chuckled.

"No seriously I thought I did." Cody exclaimed.

"Shut up and help us set up camp." Heather pulled out her sleeping bag.

Gwen, Dawn, and Elliot shared a look with each other, each wondering if something was about to happen tonight. Night settled over the island and the teams were now in the two tents.

"So, what kind of games can we play?" Elliot asked, holding a flash light up to her face.

"Can we just go to bed now?" Heather pulled the covers over her head.

"You want to sleep you should have bunked with Courtney."

They had two tents but no one wanted to sleep in the same tent as Courtney because of her attitude and she was fine sleeping alone in the other tent.

"We can tell scary stories." Gwen suggested with a grin.

"Come on, Gwen. Must it always be scary stories?" Dawn sighed.

"Why not? It's the perfect spot, camped out on a haunted island, completely dark, with a scary witch out there." Duncan grinned mischievously.

"Could we please not go there?" Cody asked.

"Thank you; at least we have a few people in this tent that have common sense." Heather sighed in relief.

"Come on, we can't sleep now. We got to stay up late and tell stories and see if we can catch the witch on tape." Elliot rambled.

'She can't be this excited.' Gwen commented.

'I wouldn't be so sure.' Andromeda replied.

"Can we just go to..." Heather started but was cut off by something.

STOMP!

"What the?!" Cody jumped up. "What was that?!"

"Relax, it's probably Chris. Remember how he and Chef faked the whole psycho killer with the chainsaw and a hook?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah and remember how a real killed nearly sliced me in half?" Gwen retorted.

STOMP!

"Will you guys keep it down over there?! I'm trying to sleep!" Courtney shouted from her tent.

"It's not us!" Cody called back.

STOMP!

"Well, might as well play the stupid game. Someone grab the camera." Duncan opened the tent up and shined his flash light into the jungle. "Okay, I'm playing the role of the scared guy who goes out to see what's going on."

Cody came out carrying the camera as Duncan pointed the flash light straight into the dark forest.

"Hello? Hello?" Duncan called out.

STOMP!

"I've seen this move before!" Duncan retorted, not impressed by Chris's dumb attempt to scare them.

That was when something let out a huge roar from somewhere in the jungle, the roar didn't sound like any animal or person. It was high pitched and loud enough to knock Duncan off his feet and make Cody step back in sheer fright.

"Whoa!" Duncan commented,

"What was that?!" Courtney came out of her tent.

"No idea but whoever came up with that sound is good!" Duncan stood back up.

STOMP!

"It's getting louder." Cody gulped.

"Oh come on! It's just another trick!" Heather came out of the tent and walked out in front of everyone, in view of the camera. "Can you hear me Chris?! I'm onto you and your stupid idea to lure us out here and scare us to death and I am not falling for it! So come out and let's get this over with!"

'Not good idea!' Gwen thought.

If there was a rogue spirit out there than agitating them was the last thing anyone should. Anger them and they become more aggressive, especially an Onyro. After a few minutes of silence Heather turned back to the group with her smiling face being filmed on camera.

"See, I told you it was just a-AAAAAHHHHHH!" Heather fell forward like something tripped her and after she fell she was suddenly dragged away from the camp by something they couldn't see.

"HELP ME!"

"HEATHER!" Cody shouted in pure shock, running after her.

"CODY, WAIT!" Gwen jumped out of the tent and ran after both of them.

"Wait for us!" Elliot called out.

Cody managed to grab one of Heather's flailing arms and tried to pull her back before she was pulled into the darkness. Gwen ran up and grabbed Heather's other arm and helped to try and pull her back but whatever it was that was dragging her had a strong grip. Heather was screaming for help as Dawn and Elliot ran up and started to help Gwen and Cody try to pull Heather free. Finally the strange force let go of Heather's leg and they quickly pulled her back.

Heather got back and ran back into the tent, crying in shock and fear from the experience.

"What the hell was that?!" Courtney shouted as Heather vanished into the tent.

"You got me, must have been an invisible rope that got tangled around her leg." Duncan shrugged. "I'd like to know what sound effects they went through to make that roar."

"You can go out and find out! I'm not coming out!" Heather shouted from inside the tent.

"It's a bad idea to go out there, Duncan. You want to see what else can happen?" Gwen asked as the rest of the group walked back to the tents.

"Relax sunshine." Duncan smiled. "This is just part of another one of Chris's tricks, there's no ghost, demon, or witch out there."

'He's going to most likely agitate whatever's out there.' Andromeda whispered.

'I know.' Gwen mentally replied grimly.

Luckily nothing happened for the rest of the night but almost no one slept. Heather was shivering, terrified of what had happened. She tried to be strong but the truth when that thing grabbed her leg she had been overwhelmed by fear when she had been dragged out into the jungle and was too scared to even think of what would have happened to her if the others hadn't saved her. Anymore thoughts were frozen in time along with everyone except the Avatars as Dawn cast a Dimension Seal Method. The three Avatars sat up, careful not to move their frozen campers so they wouldn't think something weird was happening when the Method was dispelled.

"Well, I guess this proves there something on this island." Gwen looked down at the camera. "But whatever it was that attacked Heather kept itself hidden, even from our ability to see spirits."

"A Method that hides a spirit from even a Spirit Avatar's eyes, hmmm?" Lancelot commented. "Is that possible?"

"There was something there, holding that girl's leg. It seemed to be ...a living shadow." Luna spoke up.

"Shadow?" Dawn asked. "What kind of spirit takes the form of a shadow?"

"One that has not taken form but still remains powerful and in this case is guided by feelings of anger and hate." Luna replied.

"Is this anything like an Onyro?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, but if this was an Onyro it would have taken shape of the person who had died. This is something similar but different." Andromeda replied.

Xxx

Morning finally came as the sun rose up but no one was feeling as safe or as confident as they were when they arrived. One by one the teens emerged from their tents to stretch their limbs with Cody holding the camera.

"Guys?" He asked, pointing the camera down.

"What now?" Heather sighed as she came out. "I just want to get off this stupid island."

"Who piled all these beans here?" Cody asked, pointing the camera down at a pile of beans.

"Those are the beans from the cans! That's almost all our food!" Duncan pointed at the pile. "Who did this?!"

"Not us." Gwen replied, raising both hands. "We were all in the tents."

"Not all of us." Duncan looked at Courtney.

"What? You think I did this?!" Courtney exclaimed. "Why would I do that?!"

"I don't know, to mess with us." Duncan glared at her. "It's kind of what you like to do."

"In case you haven't notice that most of the food was in your tent! Why would do this when I would starve with the rest of you?" Courtney growled.

"She's got a point, Duncan. How could she have snuck into the tent with all of us inside and steal the food and pile it up out here?" Dawn reasoned.

Duncan seemed to stop with the accusations but he kept on throwing suspicious glances at everyone.

"Okay," Courtney pulled out the map. "Let's find that cabin."

"You're kidding, right?" Heather asked incredulous. "You want to keep on looking after what happened last night?!"

"It was a just a hoax set up by Chris, nothing more." Courtney retorted. "We can't get off this island until we do this stupid challenge so let's move!"

Courtney was not taking no for answer and she was right for the most part, unless they did the challenge Chris would not let them off the island. Too bad she considered it just another one of Chris's tricks.

"The map says that the cabin should be this way." Courtney pointed deep into the jungle. "Let's go."

They left the tent up, not planning on camping deeper in the forest and hopefully not have to use it for another night.

"It should be over...it should be right...we should be there in an hour." Courtney said.

"That's what you said two hours ago." Heather groaned.

"It should be right over there." Courtney pointed up ahead.

"Can we please take a break? My feet hurt." Heather complained.

"Ha! That's what you get for wearing high heels on a hiking trip!" Courtney laughed.

Cody was pointing the camera at both of them as they argued.

"At least I know I can get any guy to fall for me!" Heather retorted.

"Yeah right, the tube top, the short shorts, you'd be a hit at the local brothel!" Courtney said.

"Excuse me? Well look who's trying to take the moral high ground and without a PDA or a boyfriend for you to mooch off of." Heather laughed. "Bravo. If only we were one live TV I'm sure half the world would fall over in shock!"

"I have morals!" Courtney retorted.

"Like how you seduced Justin while in a relationship with Duncan last season? Ha! And you actually think I'm the hussy?" Heather chuckled.

"You watch your mouth!" Courtney growled as the two stood inches apart with their faces consorted with anger and hate.

"Do we even have time for this?" Cody asked.

"Let them fight it out." Duncan shrugged. "We got better things to do, like finding that stupid cabin. Where's the map?"

"I got it!" Courtney turned away from Heather. "I am the only trustworthy person with thi-HEY!"

Heather snatched the map while Courtney was distracted. "Let's just a get a second opinion!"

She unfolded the map and looked at it. "How can you even tell where we're going?! It's just a dotted line and an X!" She dropped the map. "Forget this! I'm out of here!"

Heather stomped past everyone, walking back down the path they had been on for last two hours. Gwen turned to Elliot who walked after Heather. It was a bad idea to wander off alone especially on an island like this.

"Shouldn't we all stay together?" Cody asked.

"Let her get lost." Courtney picked up the map. "We're better off without her anyway!"

'You have no idea where we're going either, Courtney.' Gwen sighed.

As they walked down the path for another hour Courtney believed she would find the cabin easily. But what happened next proved her wrong.

"Hey look!" Gwen pointed down at the ground. "Footprints!"

Looking down at the ground the group saw a large trail of foot prints in front of them.

"Ha! So there are people on this island!" Courtney grinned. "Told you it was a hoax!"

"Courtney...these are our footprints." Dawn remarked sadly.

"Huh?" Duncan and Cody looked at her.

"See the prints?" Dawn pointed at one of the smaller prints. "These were made by my shoes and I can see Heather's along with Courtney's show prints."

"And these prints match my boots." Gwen pointed at one of the prints in front of her.

"No, you're wrong! These are not our prints!" Courtney exclaimed as she spun and walked forward out of the bushes...

Only to walk back into the very same camp they had set up the previous night with Heather and Elliot sitting at the tent.

"So you guys gave up too?" Heather looked up with a grouchy look.

"It's impossible! I followed the map!" Courtney was almost beside herself with denial.

"Way to go." Duncan mumbled as he walked past her. "We went in a complete circle."

"Not cool!" Elliot pouted.

"Who has the map?" Courtney looked around at everyone. "Duncan?"

"I gave it back to you ten minutes ago." Duncan retorted.

"I distinctly remember giving you the map!" Courtney argued.

"And I gave it back!" Duncan wasn't about to take the blame for this. "I'm not taking the fall for this!"

"Well then somebody give me the map!" Courtney shouted.

"I burned it." Gwen spoke up, earning everyone's attention. "It wasn't leading us anywhere so I burned it."

"You burned it?" Courtney asked, glaring at her.

"It was useless anyway Courtney and before you jump on me for that let me point out that you spent half the day leading us around with it. We didn't find the cabin, we didn't find the beach where the boat would be waiting for us, and we can't even find the way out of this forest." Gwen explained. "We don't have a lot of food or water left so let's just give up on this stupid challenge, find the beach and wait until they send the boat back.

"She's got a point." Duncan pointed out.

"For once I actually agree with her." Heather nodded.

"Fine but if we lose I'm voting you off!" Courtney pointed at Gwen.

'Like you were considering voting anyone else off.' Gwen rolled her eyes.

The sun went down really fast this time leaving the team in the dark and they still had not found a way out of the forest.

"Great, this is great." Heather turned to face the group with her arms crossed. "No food, no water, I haven't showered in two days!"

STOMP!

"Oh no." Cody looked around, shining the light on the camera. "There it is again."

"They are not getting away this time." Duncan walked forward. "Come on out, Chris!"

Another loud roar echoed from the woods, seemingly coming from all around them. Heather yelped in fright as she took off running.

"Heather wait!" Gwen called out, chasing after her. "Heather come back!"

Gwen finally caught up to Heather when she tripped over a branch. She sat up cradling her right hand which had a scratch on it.

"I just want to get off this stupid island!" Heather cried out.

Gwen helped Heather stand up. "Come on, we can't leave the others alone."

"We're right here!" Gwen turned to see Dawn leading the others towards her and Heather.

"It's official, we're not wanted here." Gwen spoke. "So we either try to catch some sleep or we look for a way off this island."

"Hey guys...Look at these!" Duncan pointed at the trees.

All over the trees were strange red markings that looked they had been painted onto the wood.

"Whoa..." Cody walked up to the nearest tree to get a closer look at the markings. "These markings are strange. I've never seen anything like them before."

'Those are runes!' Andromeda exclaimed inside Gwen's mind. 'You need to get them out those woods now! Don't let them touch or disturb the runes!'

Duncan reached out to touch one of the runes.

"Duncan, wait!" Gwen shouted.

It was too late as Duncan touched the rune and something happened. All around them the runes on the trees pulsed with angry red energy lights.

"What the?!" Cody looked around, catching everything on camera.

"RUN!" Gwen shouted, reaching out to pull everyone back.

Only for everyone except her, Dawn, and Elliot to vanished right before their eyes.

"Wha...Where did they go?!" Elliot looked around.

"Duncan you idiot! Can you for once just listen?!" Gwen punched the ground. "He touched the runes, any idea what has happened?"

"These runes, I sense dark, Negative Spirit Energy pulsing through them." Dawn looked over the trees. "The energy feels so cold...I cannot tell what has happened."

'Runes can conjure almost any kind of Method, ones that labelled impossible to create even by our standards.' Luna spoke up.

"So why didn't we disappear with them?" Elliot asked.

"Probably because of our abilities." Gwen looked down at her Star Necklace. "We're Spirit Avatars, can block the power of a Method unless it is really powerful."

'Our powers protected you all from vanishing with them.' Andromeda agreed. 'But that does not answer where they have vanished to.'

"Okay..." Gwen closed her eyes. "We're on an island that is said to be haunted by the spirit of a woman who was persecuted as a witch a long time ago. They believed she conjured images of dead people, meaning illusions. Maybe that's why we couldn't find our way back to the beach. Think about, this island's not that big, it's impossible to get lost on yet we seemed to go around in circles after traveling straight for a whole day."

"We were led back to the camp because of a Method, perhaps activated by these runes had led us around in circles but making us believe we had gone down a single path." Dawn caught on. "That meant the sounds we heard might have been fake like Duncan believed but it was not Chris's doing."

"And we were led right here." Elliot gestured to their surroundings. "But why? It's like whoever's doing this wanted us to...touch the runes!"

'Indeed. The runes painted on the trees, they are painted in blood.' Lancelot spoke up. 'They needed a human touch to activate them.'

'Since they disappeared it's obvious a form of dimension travel. The runes function as the doors or keys but they need to be physically touched in order for it to work.' Andromeda continued. 'This could explain the disappearances and why previous Avatars never found anything. Very few spirits are this discreet in covering their tracks.'

"So...Elizabeth Darke, the Departed Witch is not so much a myth after all." Gwen finished. "And we just walked right into her trap."

"What do we do?" Elliot asked.

"We follow the others." Gwen walked up to nearest tree with runes all over it. "We can't let them get killed by whatever's waiting for them."

'Gwen, you should also remember that there is no guarantee that you and the others will come back from this. Dimensional Methods are difficult, even for us.' Andromeda spoke, a hint of concern in her voice.

"But we have no choice. We leave then they all die and not to mention what this could do to everyone else on this show, not including Chris. Their families will be destroyed by this." Gwen replied.

"She's right. We don't have time to call for help, even if there are other Avatars in the province. We should go after them now." Dawn nodded.

'Very well, I offer all my support.' Luna said.

'As do I." Lancelot agreed.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Elliot asked, looking exited. "Let's do it!"

Gwen nodded, tapping her Omni Glove and in a flash of light her sword appeared. "Never thought I'd have to deal with rescuing Heather and Courtney again."

She reached and touched a single rune, watching as the bloody marking glowed red. This time the spirits allowed their avatars to be touched by the negative energy and transported to wherever it was the runes were meant to take them.