Chapter 6
Another Night in the Woods
The morning is still early and dim, but Lilly has risen with the sun to tend to her indoor garden. As she tends to each and every plant, going about her usual routine, all seems right with the world-
Until she gets to her hibiscus. Yesterday, they were alive and well, bright and colorful.
Today, they're wilted and half rotten, even the basket they were planted in seeming to wither away.
Her hands tremble as the implications sink in, and she quickly offers a prayer to the earth. "Evil is here this day. Something horrible-" Her eyes widen with a gasp, and she rushes to her bone collection, as well as an ornate and wide wooden bowl. A few ground herbs and spices offered, a short incantation mumbled in a panic, and a toss of the bones offers here more grim warnings. "It's already found it's next target. The predator circles it's prey, and they are none the wiser. I have to warn them!"
She gets up from her table and reaches for her keys but freezes at the sight of a man standing in her doorway. His old, weathered beak and green plumage are all too familiar. It's been an age since he's been graced by the spirit of healing's presence, but it's far from comforting now. He looks so tired, so weakened, in the presence of this vast evil.
"I wouldn't get involved. Trust the kids, Lilly. It's their turn now." He sighs and looks out the window. "You're too sensitive to this. If you go, you won't survive. And we both know you're not ready for that step yet."
"… I… I suppose you're right. But what about you? If this… thing… is what I think it is, you and your siblings are in terrible danger being anywhere near here."
"Oh, I know. I feel her, eating away at me. If I stay near here for more than an hour, I'll be little more than a mortal. I should leave in a moment. But, I had to come stop an old friend from being foolish first." He rolls his eyes. "Let the kids handle it, Lilly. If we're lucky, this'll all be over soon."
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Bea wanders the halls of her library, reorganizing misplaced books in silence. In late autumn on a weekday, it couldn't be quieter or calmer here, but there's still a tension in the air. She's felt it building for almost a week now, ever since the night of their last show at Gregg's bar.
It reminds her all too much of what she felt in Possum Springs on the long walk through the woods into that old mine.
As tense as it's left her, it's no surprise that she's become more attentive and critical, taking in every possible detail in anticipation of whatever horrors may be around the corner.
That also means she's far from surprised when she finds that the strange spellbook she discovered under a shelf weeks ago is now missing.
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Law sits at his desk, forgoing his online classwork meant to finish up the rest of the year before transferring to a local school. No, schoolwork can wait, this old leatherbound book has too many incredible secrets to uncover. It would make for a phenomenal prop, but the rituals and designs within are inspiring beyond words, the horrors he could create with the knowledge within, the incredible plot points for his films- he could build his entire career off the contents of this one book!
He types and studies feverishly, losing himself in the trance of enjoyable research, and unable to notice the second, less innocuous trance he's succumbing to. The contents of the book are transferred verbatim, bit by bit, slowly memorized, as he types away and recreates spell circles and ritual table diagrams.
All the while, the gem within the skull sitting on the shelf to his left emits a faint, unearthly glow as predator stalks prey from afar.
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Mae sits at home, working on writing more songs for the band, and maybe one or two for the game. At least, she's trying, but it's not coming along very well.
For the past week, her eyes have been messing with her. She sees shapes more often again, like her medication's stopped working, or even making it worse- but, it's never gotten bad enough to make her freak out, either. It's usually just something in her peripherals, or objects that seem out of place, sometimes things that remind her of Possum Springs, and the horrors she witnessed there.
Otherwise, she's remained completely lucid. It's confusing, a bit disturbing, and feels like an omen.
So when her pencil snaps in the middle of writing, despite being intact and pristine just a moment ago, it puts her on high alert.
The windows feel like an enemy, but a necessary evil to approach after she inspects the entire apartment. Looking out through them, she finds nothing, but her vision blurs as everything becomes defined shapes, almost like the world's been pixelated, but something moving in the distance, coming from the west, spreads an aura of clarity.
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Gregg has the day off from the bar, and so, he decided to head out and do some shopping. He's felt that building anxiety, but somehow, it's motivated him to do something he feels has been a long time coming.
He managed to reach his destination and find exactly what he was looking for, but another omen strikes as he's preparing to leave. One of the glass cases in the store cracks and splits right next to him, leaving a gash through his head in his reflection.
He picks up his pace on his way home, and starts texting the others to see if anyone else has noticed anything.
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Law ignores their phone going off. There's simply too much here to learn, they've almost gotten through the whole thing!
But a knock on his door knocks Law out of his trance, just enough to scramble to the door and answer it. On the other side, they find the withered and gray-furred face of Sherry leaning against the hallway wall. Her eyes are sunken slightly, and the gray in her fur is far more pronounced. Her left horn is chipped, and she appears to have lost some weight.
But Law notices none of this.
"Hey, you alright, kid? Your phone's blowin' up. Your dad wanted me to come check on you, cuz he's workin late. Wants me to come bring ya to my place for now. I can drop ya off there, and then I can head back out for your sister."
".. O-oh, uh… yeah, just… just a minute. I need to get a few things."
"Yeah, take your time, pack anything ya need. Just don't wait too long, I've got plans for us. Tonight's gonna be awesome."
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Angus' eyes narrow as he takes in his boyfriend's panicked texts in the group chat. Mae and Bea's responses aren't very comforting, either. Although he's never been a superstitious person, he's experienced enough of the supernatural side of the world to know something's up by now, as little as he may want to admit it.
And that sinking revelation brings his attention back to the world around him. He's been chilling at home for a while now, and the apartment is as quiet as is usually is in Gregg's absence.
At least, it seems as such at first.
But in a complex like this, you can always hear something. Noisy neighbors, water running through pipes, ventilation, and this time of year, birds flying south.
He takes one look out the window and clearly sees that there's a flock flying by, yet he still can't hear a damn thing outside his apartment's walls.
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Selma's already back on the road, returning to her friends' apartments. Her white-knuckle grip on the wheel is just enough to keep her focused on the road instead of what kind of supernatural shit could be going down now.
Part of her always felt kind of left out with the whole Black Goat experience, but now that something supernatural is happening again and she's involved, she can't help but regret that envy. It would have been great for her poetry and song writing, but she knows all too well it was traumatizing, and whatever's coming now is gonna be just as bad.
She cringes as the train passing by on the tracks ahead blares it's horn, and keeps tapping away at the wheel as she waits for it to pass-
Only to jump as someone knocks on her window.
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Sherry leads Law across the street, headed further into the suburban end of town bordering the woods. Law's got a sizable bag in tow, and seems to be in a bit of a daze. The sun is getting low, and traffic in the area is particularly low.
Mae happens to spot them out the window, and that Sherry is dispersing into shapes rather quickly, while everything else remains in focus, for the most-part… save for Law's head.
She bursts out the door and races down, knocking on Angus and Gregg's door as she passes. Angus is out just after her, having been panicking over the unnatural silence and needing to escape his apartment.
By the time they reach the bottom of the steps, Gregg is just getting to them. "Y-Yo, what the hell's going on?"
Mae doesn't even look back, though she does peek uphill to where she sees Bea's car approaching, followed by Selma's. "After them!" She points to Sherry and Law, as Sherry peeks back with a smirk just before turning a corner.
Bea and Selma turn to head that way and cut them off, as Mae breaks into a sprint. Angus has trouble keeping up sadly, and Gregg stick by his side just in case.
When Mae cuts around that corner, she can see Sherry and Law have gotten much further than they should have when running, when just walking at a casual pace. Dark magic is afoot, and she's already certain who's responsible.
With a feral yowl, she returns to her sprint and leaps onto the roof of Bea's car as she comes to a stop at a sign there. "FLOOR IT!"
Normally, Bea would question her girlfriend doing such a thing, but with her little brother at risk, she gives absolutely no fucks about the law. A moment later, they're tearing down the road after them, catching up just as they turn another corner- and flicker ahead again while out of sight.
They've nearly reached the woods, and the sun's setting soon.
As they catch up at the woods, watching them wander through the trees, Mea leaps off and gives chase. Bea hops out of her car, and peeks back just in time to see Selma's car skid to a stop behind her for Angus and Gregg to hop out, as well as one surprising new addition to the crew.
The woods are oppressively dark, but the deeper Mae wanders in, the more of the eerie blue glow of the astral world she sees in her dreams bleeds into it. Her vision swims as the trees break down into shapes, and the patterns on birch bark all feel like they're watching her struggle.
Eventually, she finds a clearing. Law is gone, but Sherry stands here, waiting, hands in her pockets and a gentle smile on her withered, tired face. But no matter how kind that smile, there's a piercing, predatory animosity in her eyes.
Mae huffs as she peeks around for any signs of Law. "Where… w-where the hell did you take him?"
"Oh, I'm sure you'd love to know, but that'd be such a terrible idea, for both of us." She chuckles. "But you should probably know, it's far too late, dear. You've been chasing an illusion, and the child's been with me for a couple hours already. You're not even speaking to me in the flesh now." She starts to laugh. A high-pitched, raspy cackle.
"What the FUCK do you want with Law?!" Mae bares her claws, barely registering the sounds of her friends stepping up behind her. Sherry doesn't answer, but she does appear amused by someone behind Mae.
"She wants Law to be her next vessel."
Mae's eyes widen, and she peeks back just as Germ steps up and past her, toting a tattered black backpack.
"This woman isn't who you think she is. It's worse… so, so much worse."
Sherry starts to laugh once more. "So the newest generation of the bird's seers comes to call, hm? I've been wanting a good excuse to kill a godspawn." Her figure distorts as she speaks, voice becoming layered as her fingers grow gnarled, and her spine… hunched. "It's been SO long since I've killed a god."
Bea's jaw drops as the horror before them sinks in. Wind begins to whip through the clearing, and fallen leaves blow past the shimmering form of the ancient monstrosity projected before them.
"Keep looking if you want, but that body will be mine, and I don't mind killing a few upstarts for fresh meat once I've taken it. See you soon, children…"
The Huncher's laughter echoes through forest as she fades from view, leaving the young adults from Possum Springs with plenty of answers, but also the hardest questions of all.
What do we do now?