I struggled through twisting briar patches, the thorns sinking into my sleeves, trying in vain to hold me back, but I couldn’t stop. The clouds parted, and a sharp ray of sun burst through the canopy, beaming directly into my eyes. For a moment, I saw nothing but blinding white light. As my vision returned, degree by painstaking degree, glowing dots danced before everything I saw.
Or were they eyes?
A set of dots, impossibly bright and low to the ground, stayed stationary, refusing to move as the other sun spots did.
The mutated wolves.
Sam’s monsters.
Ephraim’s Dark Watchers.
I couldn’t make out the figure’s shape, just the eyes, silver and hypnotic, enticing and entreating me to come to them. I felt pulled forward even as my mind rebelled against my feet’s treachery.
And then suddenly the eyes were moving, directly toward me, and it didn’t matter what creature they belonged to. I bolted away, leaping over tree roots poking from the ground like gnarled hands, reaching for me and seeking to do harm.
I could hear the creature’s breath, panting with bloodlust, eager to rip and tear. It spurred me on, on when I wanted to stop, when my legs were on fire and every gulp of air seemed tinged with acid and the coppery taste of blood.
I kept running, panic choking my throat, burning a stitch into my side, until I spied a break in the trees, a clearing ahead, and then him.
Whitaker.
He was there.
I’d found him!
“Ellerie?” he shouted out, searching for me. I raced across the clearing as he turned, and I pressed myself into his safety.
Without hesitation, his arms opened and closed around me, holding me close, stilling my ragged gasps. His palms were warm at the side of my neck, and his fingers curved into my mess of a braid. His chin rested on the top of my head, and I could feel his heartbeat pulsing in the hollow of his throat.
“Where did you go?” he murmured, tightening his embrace. “You were right beside me, and then—”
I wanted to stay there, buried away in the security of his chest, but I forced myself to look over my shoulder. “We have to run.”
“From what?”
The creature should have burst into the clearing by now. It had not been far behind me.
But there was nothing. No monster. No silver eyes. Just weak sunlight illuminating the tree break, slipping behind the mountains as twilight stole over the land.
“It was…it was right there.”
“A Dark Watcher?”
“I don’t know.” I took deep breaths, my sternum aching. “It must have been. It was so fast.”
He traced his fingers down my braid appraisingly. “Are you all right? Where were you?”
“Me?” I blinked. “You were the one who left.”
Whitaker shook his head. “I’ve been here all along. I heard something behind us, and then you were just…gone.”
I glanced around the clearing, noting its peculiarities. It did seem familiar. Had I really just run in an enormous circle, and ended up right where I’d started?
“How is that possible?”
Behind us came a snap. A twig breaking.
“It’s back.” I shuddered. I could almost see its unnatural shadows prowling low in the undergrowth.
Whitaker shifted, keeping himself between me and the thing.
“Who’s there?” he shouted, his voice booming with power. He puffed his chest and threw his arms out, making himself look as formidable as possible, like he was facing down a bear. “Who’s there?”
Pine needles quivered as a shape rustled through them.
But it was not a monster that emerged from the wood’s grasp.
It was something much smaller.
A flash of calico.
Blond braids.
“Sadie!” I exclaimed, racing forward to catch my little sister as she swooned out of consciousness.
“Ellerie?” Sadie’s eyes fluttered open and stared blearily at the ceiling as they struggled to focus. “Where am I?”
“It’s all right,” I promised, stroking the soft curve of her cheek. On the other side of her, Merry snuggled close. “We’re home. You’re out of the pines. You’re safe.”
She tried pushing herself from the bed but fell back into the mattress, pressing a hand to her head. “I don’t feel very good.”
“You gave everyone quite a fright.” Matthias Dodson watched from the doorway of the loft. The Elders and Parson Briard had been at the farm since our return, along with Dr. Ambrose. He’d treated Sadie’s injuries—mostly light scratches, but one along her arm had been deep enough to warrant stitches.
“How did I get here? We were at the picnic, and then…” She trailed off. “I don’t…I don’t remember….Could I have some water, please?”
I sprang into motion, pouring a glass from the pitcher at the washbasin.
Merry helped shift Sadie into a more comfortable position before holding the cup to her lips. “Ellerie and Whitaker found you.”
“You found us, actually,” I said. “We brought you back.”
It had been a hellish journey. Whitaker had carried Sadie’s prostrate form over his shoulder while I’d navigated us around boulders and brambles, feeling everything with my hands. Though Sadie had remained mostly unconscious, her sleep had occasionally been punctuated by panicked nightmares so strong that she’d kick and lash out, striking Whitaker.
I wasn’t sure if it was our collection of luck or my whispered prayers for protection, but the Dark Watchers had stayed away while we’d stumbled through the pines. Once, I thought I saw the telltale glimmer of their silver eyes high above us, but it had only been starlight tangled through the trees. Twilight had come and gone while we were in the darkened forest.
Just as I had begun to fear that we were staggering about in circles, an orange glow had grown through the forest, warming the night and showing us the path home.
The Our Ladies had been lit.
We’d gone toward them, drawn to their flickering flames. I understood now why our town’s founders had built the towering structures as protection against the dark creatures of the woods. Seen through the maze of trees, the burning beacons were terrifying.
By the time we’d broken free of the pines, falling into the arms of Amity Falls, I’d been sobbing with relief.
“Do you remember anything?” Leland asked Sadie now. “Anything from the woods?”