Page 102 of Daman

Sensing a presence to my right, I turned to see an older woman approaching our group from the small hill. My hand went to my sword on impulse. She looked harmless, but one could never be too careful.

“You Americans?” she asked, bundled in a down coat and knitted gloves.

“What gave you that idea?” Castor faced her, standing a little in front of Kyo.

“Your swords.” She motioned to our weapons. “Many Americans bring swords to fight the spirits in the forest. They watch too many movies.”

“Something like that,” Bellamy said. “We came to see if the stories are true.”

The woman came closer. She stood at five foot nothing, with graying black hair and wrinkles around her eyes that implied she’d smiled a lot in her life. “You may not like what you find. The forest can be unkind to those who visit it. This land is cursed, you know, the soil darkened by all the horrors committed. Anyone who walks in never walks out quite the same.”

“Then why are you here?” I asked.

“Oh, I never step inside. This is as close as I go. Powers converge here, both good and evil. Can’t you feel it? The restless spirits speak through the trees, their voices carried on the wind, rustling the leaves. I like to come and listen.”

“Well, that’s not creepy at all,” Ivan said under his breath.

“Vanya,” Efrem chided him, bumping his brother’s shoulder.

“A word of caution, if I may,” she said. “I feel a great darkness coming. The other locals sense it too. I suggest you not be in those trees when it reaches us.”

Without another word, she turned and walked down the hill, humming as she went.

“Let’s go,” Daman said before stepping into the forest.

Misshapen trees greeted us, some growing in a zigzag pattern and others in spirals. The trunks bent in the center, and the skeletal branches twisted up and entwined with others. A strange emptiness hung over the wood. Fog hovered above the treetops, as if the forest was encapsulated in its own vortex of energy.

“So. Um.” Castor surveyed the area. “You know in horror movies when the dumbass hikers go into the haunted forest despite the locals warning them not to? And then they get slaughtered one by one? Either by ghosts or inbred motherfuckers with machetes?”

“Shut up, Red.” Kyo walked closer to his side. “Don’t make me strangle you.”

“I like when you get kinky with me.” Castor put an arm around Kyo’s waist.

“I miss Simon,” Gray said, walking sluggishly between me and Castor. “He’d be so scared if he was here. Is this really how it was when you lived here, Daman?”

“Yeah.” Daman smoothed his hand along a twisted tree trunk, expression gentle. “Even back then, people feared the forest. They feared me too because I lived in it. But it never scared me. I felt safe in these woods. It was always like this in the winter. Cold. Quiet. But in summer, it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.”

“You know, it makes sense now.” Bellamy nodded.

“What does?” Daman asked.

“Why you’re such a moody bitch. You find places like this calming.”

Daman shoved Bellamy’s shoulder. “Fuck off.”

Kyo pulled out his phone again and opened the article from earlier. “Some people start feeling nauseous while they’re here. Headaches and anxiety. The feeling of being watched.”

“Probably because they are,” Gray said, his eyes widening. “Shadow people live in the trees watching your every move.”

Daman faintly smiled. “The spirits won’t hurt you unless you give them reason to.”

“Shit.” Kyo tapped his phone screen. “It froze on me. I read that this spooky-ass place screws up electronic devices. Guess it’s true.”

“Good,” Bellamy said. “Now you can stop with the ghost talk.”

“You don’t believe in spirits?” I asked him.

“I believe in them. That’s the point.”