Page 7 of Voices in the Stars (The Lost Witch #1)

Orange leaves were a canopy above my head.

The thinnest rays of moonlight cast long shadows across the leaf covered ground.

It was just bright enough that I could see around me.

Everything further away was lost in the dark.

Chills ran down my spine leaves crunched under my bare feet.

Springy mushrooms poked out of the ground and decorated the nearby trees like little shelves. How did all of this hide from me?

I turned around, expecting to be facing the hedges I had just run through.

Only there was nothing. Just the endless forest. Bile rose up in my throat as a cold sweat trickled down my back.

This wasn’t right. They couldn’t just vanish into thin air.

My hand shook as it reached out. I gasped as it stopped on something I couldn’t see.

An invisible wall? My arm trembled as I pressed harder, praying it would give.

There was a slight shimmer where I was trying to force my hand back through.

My eyes widened as the same rainbow shimmer from this morning rippled up from my hand, traveling along the wall until it disappeared into the sky.

I ripped my hand away. None of this could be happening. Towns don’t vanish. They certainly don’t disappear inside bubbles. No, I was dreaming. I had to be.

My gaze caught on something darting between the trees next to me.

I held my breath as I watched dark figures move around me.

Slowly turning in a circle, I was surrounded.

Part of me hoped that it was the child. Maybe there was some mystery group of children that lured women to this place to kill them.

My mind wasn’t that creative. One of the creatures moved to a closer tree; all I would’ve had to do was reach out, and my fingers would brush against it.

A twig snapped as I took a step back. My mind went blank as they followed me.

Their bodies were wispy, twisting along the ground like a shadow-made cape.

The ray of silver light it stepped into shone straight through it, like the creature didn’t even exist. Maybe it didn’t, and this was some twisted figment of my imagination.

The only solid part of their body was the head that looked like they had a black sheet pulled too tight around them.

Their faces were sunken in with bones that looked like they were going to tear through their own skin.

My breath came out in gasps as the color drained from my face. One tilted its head as I took another small step back. There were no eyes. Just empty pits in their head that followed my every move. It was impossible, but I felt their gazes like sharp claws tracing over my skin.

Another stepped into the light, head tilting as it stared at the first creature.

The wisps of their bodies reached out to each other.

The shadowy capes twisted together until all that stood in front of me was a deformed mass of pulsating darkness.

The other creatures popped out of their hiding places, leaping into the darkness.

My breath caught in my throat as I watched it twist in front of me, growing larger.

All the light seemed to vanish as I couldn’t look away from it.

My muscles were locked as I stood frozen. I hadn’t felt fear like this in years. Not since Josi and I had been chased by a snarling dog. It only left after our father scared it away with a stick. There was no beating of sticks to scare this monster away.

Something large pushed out of the moving mass. Its claws dug into the dirt as it pulled itself out of the darkness. A paw. Red eyes glowed from the center of the dark as another paw stepped out. The mass kept twisting and turning until I was looking at a giant, black wolf.

Each leg was thicker than the trees surrounding us, its back brushing the top leaves. Black and gray fur puffed out around its body as black smoke rose from the beast. The head was lowered as its red eyes were trained on me. Its lips peeled back in a snarl, flashing sharp fangs.

A growl rumbled from deep within its body, shaking the trees closest to us. I stumbled back as the sound vibrated throughout my chest, stealing my breath away. A hot breath puffed against my face, fanning my hair. Its breath was what I imagined death would smell like. Hot and rancid.

My mouth was agape as it took a step toward me. The ground shook as the paw pressed into the dirt. I was finally able to move, jumping back right as the jaw snapped where my head had been moments ago. There was a rush of air as their teeth snapped together.

I turned from the creature and ran. My feet flew over stones and leaves, twisting and turning through the dense forest. The ground below me shook with each pounding step from the wolf.

It let out a piercing howl that sounded way too close for comfort.

My breath came out in short gasps as I pushed through the burning in my thighs.

Any misstep now, and the breathing on my neck would become sharp teeth.

My feet throbbed as they caught on twigs and sharp rocks that cut away at the bottoms. I was sure they were bleeding, leaving a bright trail for the wolf to follow even if I could lose it.

A yelp left me as a tree came flying from behind me. It crashed in front of me, splintering into pieces as it collided with other trees. Leaves and wood splinters flew into the air. More came cascading down in an orange, red, and brown waterfall as the others trees trembled from impact.

The path in front of me was blocked. There was a small chance I could scramble over the fallen tree. A very small chance. One that would slow me down.

I glanced at the sides. My thoughts were coming slowly, trying to break through the thick fog of needing to survive.

My father taught me about fight or flight responses after the dog.

I was sure he would be ecstatic to know that now, with my heartbeat pounding in my ears, I was fully in flight mode.

My heel slid as I made a quick turn. The creature was much larger than me. If I could take enough sharp turns, it might be enough to gain some distance between us. At least, that was my plan.

One moment, I was running, and the next, my shoulder was crashing into the dirt.

My body twisted and turned as I bounced across the ground.

Twigs shredded my dress. My side burned as I slid across sharp rocks, straight toward the fallen tree.

I threw one of my hands up, hoping I could stop myself before I broke something.

I squeezed my eyes shut, muscles tense as I waited for the hard impact.

When nothing happened, I slowly opened my eyes. The fallen tree was a few inches from the tip of my nose. My arm fell back to my side as I let out a heavy sigh, flopping onto my back.

Heavy steps crunched the leaves in front of me. Another deep growl left the creature. The hairs along my arms stood on end as I moved so I was sitting, back leaning against the tree.

This was going to be it. Even if this wasn’t real, though a larger part of me was screaming this wasn’t a dream, I didn’t want to go out this way.

I was never going to see my family again.

Tears trickled down my face. I could accept never seeing anyone else again.

I just wanted to be able to say goodbye to Josi.

How long it would take them to notice I was gone.

Josi would be the first to notice. She would try to bring me breakfast just to find my bed still perfectly made, having never slept in it.

A loud whine echoed from the creature as it slowed its pace.

Black smoke dripped from its side. Every slow step left behind a puddle of darkness.

The paws shook with effort every time they were lifted.

Pain twisted its face as it glowered down at me.

With another step, it collapsed. The ground tremored as leaves puffed out from underneath it.

The dark body heaved with heavy breathing.

I squinted. Something about it was changing as the shadows shifted. As the shadows kept trailing off it, it was shrinking until it was nothing compared to the goliath that chased me. It didn’t stop until I was staring at my sister.

“Cece.”

My chest clenched at the voice that came from the creature. I bit my lip against a whimper. Shaking my head, I squeezed my eyes shut. I must not have heard right. My sister was at home sleeping. Not walking out of the shadow mass into the forest with me.

“Why did you leave me?”

As I listened, her voice sounded wrong. Like there were hundreds of women trying to impersonate Josi.

I dug my hands into the soft dirt, burying it deep underneath my nails.

My chest heaved as I tried to calm my breathing.

That was pointless as I cried out when small claws grabbed my shoulder, gouging the exposed skin.

“I cared about you, and you just left.” The last part broke halfway through into a deep growl.

This wasn’t Josi. The different voices helped ground my thoughts.

No one besides Adrian knew I’d snuck out of the house, and he looked nothing like my sister.

Not even their voices were similar. His voice was much deeper than the light, airy voice speaking to me now.

She couldn’t have seen me running through the hedges.

None of this was possible. I would have seen her at some point if she had followed me.

“You aren’t Josi,” I said with confidence I didn’t know I could possess at this moment.

It was toying with me as it played with its food. That’s what I was at that moment: these creatures’ next meal. They were like fucked up cats just playing with a mouse before snapping its neck.

The creature followed my thoughts. Its hand left my shoulder, grabbing my throat instead.

Gasping, I tore at its fingers, my eyes opening as I was lifted off the ground.

Josi still stood in front of me. They looked exactly like her.

Her hair was twisted up the same way it was earlier.

She even had the same dress on. The only difference was her eyes.

They were glassy with a faraway look as her mouth twisted into a smile, showing off rows of fangs.

Breaths rattled out of me as the monster squeezed tighter.

Everything around me started to blur, a dark ring around the edge of my vision started to close in on me. My heart pounded in my chest. I still tried to fight back, kicking at her as I swung my arms, trying to catch them off guard.

Nothing was working. My arms felt heavy as I kept swinging them.

I moved to clawing at its hands again, hoping to find a weakness that wasn’t there before as I felt everything going dark around me, until all I could feel was the anger burning in my chest. I had been fighting for my freedom just to die a captive. This wasn’t going to be how I went out.

The burning in my chest moved through my arms and legs, heating my entire body like boiling water was poured over it. Any screams were trapped in my mind, leaving me gasping as my body refused to answer anything I asked of it.

A scream ripped through the silence as the hold on my throat loosened. My body heaved as it sucked down as much air as it could, ears ringing as the world came back into focus. Something cracked and sizzled in front of me. The creatures cried out again as I was dropped to the ground.

Fire. Everything was on fire.

The creature twisted away from me as it was swallowed by flames.

Josi’s face was torn apart as the creatures separated back into the eyeless beings as they tore at their flame covered bodies.

The oozing shadows along their clawed hands acted like fuel for flames as it blazed up their bodies.

With several more screams, the creatures started fleeing back into the dark forest.

I dropped back to the ground as my knees gave out, leaning back against the tree.

Everything started hurting at once. With the danger gone, I felt every bump and scrape as exhaustion crashed down on me like a boulder.

It pulled at my eyelids as the flames started to engulf the forest. The flaming creatures left a trail of destruction in their wake as sparks jumped through the piles of leaves, burning through them until the trees were engulfed.

Soft footsteps broke through the chaos around me.

A small figure was running toward me. Their lips moved as they pointed at the burning forest before pointing at me.

I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

They wanted me to do something but all I could do was smile as I took in their little blue suit.

My body felt like it was slowly sinking into the ground.

They waved their hands in front of my face, kneeling in front of me.

I tried to wave back, but my limbs refused to move as I was dragged into unconsciousness. At least I finally found the missing child.