Page 100 of Serpent In White

A chirping voice calls to me, breaking through the whispers urging me closer and closer.

No, Abdiel! Don’t do it!

Tearing my gaze away from the rock, I gape up into the trees. The baby ravens are there, chirping. Their squeaks and squawks grow frantic, their little bird voices crying out as loud as they can.

Don’t go in there!

My heart is thumping so hard inside me, I can barely breathe. Stumbling back in the direction I came, I fumble over my steps until the clearing is farther away and I can breathe better.

I lean up against a tree, clutching its bark while I catch my breath.

What the fuck…

What is that?? What’s going on up here??

Pulling in air and holding it, I exhale slowly, propping my head against the tree behind me. I don’t know what’s happening, but I was in some sort of trance walking toward that rock.

It wascallingto me… beckoning to my curiosity. And I’m not fully convinced it wanted to harm me, but the raven chicks seem to think it did.

When I glance back up at the tree branches, they’re gone.

I’m going fucking insane.

Dropping my backpack onto the ground for a moment, I take out a bottle of water, chugging half of it in two large gulps. My hands are shaking.

My thoughts are stuck on the clearing… that rock. Did it have something to do with my parents? Is that where I’ll find answers?

Or is that what Darian and Drake warned me about?

I scoff.Their warning without a warning.I wish they could have just been specific about what danger I need to watch out for. Like animals or a fucking mysterious rock that wants to kill me.

Inhaling deep once more, I peer around the trees toward the clearing. My stomach drops into the dirt…

It’s gone.

The rock… has vanished.

Motherfucking fuck. What the damn hell is going on up here?

This would be the perfect place to end my life.

I startle at my thoughts as they chill me to the bone.Why the fuck would I ever think something like that??

They didn’t feel like my own thoughts, though they were in my head. They mirrored my voice, and it’s terrifying me.Why the fuck would I think that?

No one would even notice, I’m sure…

My heart pumps hard behind my ribs as I look around. The thoughts are inside me, but they don’t feel like they’re comingfromme.

There has to be someone else around.

Picking up my bag, I creep through the trees, following the feeling until I see her.

A girl with strawberry blonde hair fluttering around her face in the breeze, sitting on the floor of the forest. And she’s crying.

This would be the best place to kill myself.

And no one would ever find me.