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With a whoosh a powerful wind burst into them, knocking her to the ground. Landing with a grunt on her stomach, she tucked her chin as the wind howled sharply. A sixth sense whispered deep inside her to not move, to not look up, to keep her eyes downcast as leaves and debris swirled around them like a small tornado. The air howled as they slapped against her body but she stayed down, feeling the eyes of someone else on her.

The air became a screeching cry, different than the first, as the wind moved past them with a mind of its own. Malevolence like a hand held her down. It danced along her spine. Someone was there.

A shiver threatened to rock through her body but she forced it down, forced everything down under threat of what remained behind the unnatural wind that pushed ahead into the night, the sound of disturbed leaves giving away its fading location. The air around them settled as quickly as it was disturbed.

The forest fell silent but it was forced. Like a blanket smothered the natural cadence of life between the bark and leaves.

Teddi was near hyperventilating, her breaths short, choppy sounds threatening the silence. Fear swam heavily through her like venom.

Don’t look. Don’t speak. Don’t move. Let it pass, her mind repeated.

As if she never truly learned to listen to its song, she tilted her chin towards her shoulder as slowly as possible. Centimeter by centimeter, her eyes reached for the darkness. For the thing she knew lingered on the tail of the whirlwind.

A hiss.

She went rigid.

It was too late. She caught the shape of it. A pale blur in the moonlit dark. The edge of it was like a silk nightgown on a waif-thin body. But it was wrong. Too soft, lacking hard angles and definition like a body should. The gray translucent light around it moved like a leaf on water, ebbing and flowing on an unseen tide.

Curiosity bit at her, that base instinct to survive became a secondary thought as she tried to see more, to bring whatever it was into focus.

Just a centimeter more and she could see.

Another burst of wind surged down on her, pushing her to the ground. The force burst the air out of her lungs. She rounded her shoulders instinctively as a keening screech shattered the air.

Fast as a whip, something sharp struck her face with a vexed hiss.

Waves of cold coursed through her, taking her strength with it. The warmth of blood slid down her cheek but she made no move to touch it. Squeezing her eyes shut, she waited for another blow.

When it didn't come she lifted her eyes as the sounds of life exploded around her once more. Whatever it was had gone. Its pale, ethereal body was no longer visible. It disappeared as quickly as it arrived on the back of that perverse wind.

Whatever it was, whatever touched her was real. Human or otherwise, she saw it. At least partly. Is that what Vera saw in the woods? Was that what the Grennan's neighbor had spoken of when she said it was best to not know what lurked within?

“Please tell me you felt that too.” Teddi jumped, having forgotten Sam. Bound hands clutched to her chest, she turned to find her uncurling herself from a ball.

“I don’t know what I felt but whatever it was, I think it was… alive somehow.”

“You’re bleeding.” An unsteady finger pointed at Teddi’s face. Lifting her hand to it, she flinched at the sharp sting of open skin. The tips of her fingers were covered with the unmistakable shine of liquid. It cut her.

A warning for looking. The cost of seeing.

“I’ll be fine.” She clenched her hand around the blood and dirt. Strange forest creatures or hauntings weren’t her problems. Not right now at least. Later, though. Later when she had more time to think about what she saw, what her brain couldn’t make sense of. She pushed the image of the ghoulish shape to the back of her mind where it couldn’t touch her. “We need to find Vera.”

The air split with another guttural scream before it was cut off prematurely.

“We’re leaving. Now.”

Chapter 41

Teddi

It took multiple tries before Teddi cut through the bindings at her ankles and hands with a jagged rock. Sweat sprinkled her hairline at the effort it required. The pounding of her heart flooded her ears as she worked on the ropes around Sam’s hands.

The sound of the scream echoed around her head like a song. A horrific, tortured song on a loop. The only comfort she found was in knowing it was a man, the tone too deep to be Vera’s.

“Who was that?” Sam asked, shaking.

Vera was ok. Vera was safe. She repeated the words under her breath.