CHAPTER FIVE: THE DARKNESS 2

Jessa POV

I wasn’t going to cry. I wasn’t going to cry.

My hands clenched, my breathing coming in quick gasps as I fought to control my emotions. I’d come near the dark woods a few times before.

The spirits that lived here were twisted, ugly creatures that fed on strong emotion. They scared people just to devour their screams. I’d seen it before, when the spirits in the forest told me about a cruel prank the middle school students had played on an Omega. I’d arrived just in time to see a dark spirit with glowing red eyes start to drag the girl into the dark woods.

I’d managed to stop it, but when the girl told her parents what happened, the blame was laid at my feet. How could I have known what was happening, unless I was in league with the spirits? That was the beginning of the end. The town’s treatment of me had only gotten worse from that time.

Now, here I was. Everyone, no matter their place in the town, avoided this place. Even the shifters. Even the Alphas! The cold crowded in around me, sending goosebumps up along my arms. The twisted branches were so dense and thick, I’d already lost my way. I had hoped to just go in a few feet, then wait for the Alphas to leave so I could make my escape. But the dark woods had well and truly swallowed me.

Throughout my life, I’d always been alone. My family never thought much of me. My mother, a raging narcissist, had decided Joe was her golden boy, and I was less than scum beneath her shoes. How many times had she told me that she wished she’d aborted me? I was used to being alone, but this was something else entirely.

Was I just wandering around in circles? I sank onto a fallen tree, wrapping my arms around myself. Taking a deep breath, I shoved my tears aside and focused. I often had to block out the spirits, but now I let my vision slide into focus. Even as dark as this place was, they were there, shedding light around me. Dozens of them, ranging from the size of chickadees to a housecat, gathered around. They peered through the branches and hovered in the air, watching me.

“Can you help me get out?” I asked, looking around at them. “I’m lost, and it’s so cold.”

One, shaped vaguely like a raccoon but utterly hairless, scampered closer. It had snake-like eyes, and a long, forked tongue flickered out, moistening the eyeballs. “It’s too late. The darkness is coming.”

“The darkness?” I repeated, the chill settling into my bones. “What are you talking about?”

“The darkness,” the spirit repeated. “Run while you can, but you can’t run fast enough. It has chosen you. I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. There’s nothing you could have done.”

Something moved in the deeper dark just beyond the little clearing I was in. The spirits fled, shooting away like fish escaping a shark. I surged to my feet, my heart hammering in my chest.

The cold reached out like a physical thing, caressing my face and arms. Something whispered, sounding like mice skittering through the leaves. I was frozen, my breath puffing out in white mist in front of me. It suddenly occurred to me that the dark forest was perfectly visible. I glanced upward, finding the swollen, heavy moon shining down on me. But it was the night of the lunar eclipse. It should be even darker here than normal.

A slithering sound came from behind me, followed by a low, deep chuckle. Warm breath wafted across the back of my neck.

I ran. I raced through the trees, their branches cracking against me as I passed through them. My legs pumped, and my breath came in quick gasps as I pushed myself harder than I had ever pushed myself before.

There was no sound around me, but I felt it, slinking after me, never more than a few feet away. I sensed its malicious pleasure at my fear. The way it savored my desperate attempts to escape. The moon shone brighter, bathing the twisted trees in silver light.

Eyes appeared under every leaf, mutated mouths full of teeth on every trunk. They gnashed and howled as I passed. The trees bent, clawing at me with their grasping twigs.

Something lashed out at my feet, knocking me down. I hit the ground hard, the air driven from my lungs. I pushed myself up, and something heavy slammed into my back, throwing me back down. I flipped over, my hands groping the ground in search of a weapon.

The spirit melted through the darkness, stepping into the light. It was humanoid, at least at first. Its skin was scaly and dark, like an alligator. Its head was tapered, smooth, and ended with a mouth of sharp teeth, and its lizard-like eyes glowed. A long tail swept back and forth as it approached, and its long, lean legs ended in hand-like feet tipped with sickle-shaped claws. Its arms were muscular, the most human part of it, with grasping hands that ended in blunt claws.

My heart stopped beating. I stared up at the spirit and knew this was it. I’d never seen anything like it before. It wavered at the edges, exuding darkness rather than glowing bright like the other spirits. The sheer malicious pleasure in its cold eyes was unmistakable. It crept toward me slowly, weaving back and forth like it wanted me to run again.