Anathema (Causal Enchantment #1)(10)
I finally accepted that I had to seek out help. I stepped hesitantly forward, my feet barely registering the cold from the ground anymore. I wandered into the mass of bushes and ferns surrounding the clearing where the statue stood, my face periodically caressed by a stray leaf as I pushed branches out of my path. I kept moving, stumbling over roots as the darkness deepened within the dense thicket, beginning to feel as if I were being swallowed whole.
“I’m from Maine and I have zero basic survival skills,” I admitted sourly to myself. “That will change. As soon as I get back, I’m signing up for the first Wilderness for Dummies class I can find.” And a psychiatrist.
My ears caught a faint and distant sound. I held my breath, listening intently. Laughter? It was so far away, and barely audible … It couldn’t be. My mind must be playing tricks on me. I took several more steps then froze, praying I wasn’t hallucinating. Seconds ticked by. There! This time, I heard a clear howl of mirth in the distance. People!
I took off like an arrow, abandoning my usual caution, tearing recklessly through the thick undergrowth toward the sound. Branches and leaves whipped against my body but I barely noticed, too busy holding my breath. Do I shout out to them? Let them know I’m coming? I opted for keeping silent, concentrating on not running headfirst into any of the mammoth tree trunks. I figured they’d see the glow from my necklace anyway, now blazing with brilliant light like a beacon in a thick fog.
I finally broke free of the bushes to find a moonlit river, maybe twenty feet wide, stretching out in front of me. I had to grab the trunk of a small tree growing at its edge to stop myself from tumbling in. Momentary panic clenched my stomach. How am I going to cross this? It wasn’t a huge river but it was October. The water would be icy cold.
Boisterous male laughter rang out. I turned toward it and saw, maybe a hundred feet away on the other side of the river, my soon–to–be rescuers standing with their backs to me. I exhaled and then breathed in slowly, sweet relief filling my lungs. I was going to be okay.
There were three of them and they were keenly focused on a large object at their feet. Something was extremely funny because they were practically doubled over in laughter. They obviously hadn’t noticed me yet—astonishing, given the noise I had surely generated while streaking through the forest like a wild boar.
I opened my mouth to holler but a sound other than laughter clamped my mouth shut, the short hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. It had come from a female, and it wasn’t laughter. All three men crouched down around whatever was by their feet. What are they doing? I squinted, concentrating hard on the object.
It moved.
A chill of realization slid down my spine. It wasn’t an object. It was a person.
“I’ll visit, I promise,” I heard a male voice bellow as one of them hoisted the person’s body up and tossed it toward the center of the river. A large rectangular object followed closely after, entering the river with a big splash.
The blood coursing through my veins turned icy as I stood there, my eyes wide with terror. I waited for the body to resurface, a kick or a splash—some sign of life, some clue that this was a prank.
It finally sank in. I was witnessing murder. Someone was drowning right before my eyes. These people weren’t going to save me. Once they noticed I was here, they’d hunt me down and toss me in to join their first victim, to hide all evidence. All they had to do was turn around.
My hand flew to my pendant, trying to mask the pulsating glow. I dropped noiselessly to the ground and slithered commando style into a thick mass of ferns until I was adequately concealed but still able to observe the killers. They loitered on the edge of the river, chattering and laughing like a bunch of teenagers while their victim drowned.
Feeling marginally safe for the moment, I turned my attention to the person in the water. It had to be the female. Was she alive when she was tossed in? She hadn’t struggled or even uttered a sound. If she was alive, surely she could only hold her breath for three, four minutes, tops, if I had learned anything from high school Biology class. One … two … three … I began counting seconds in my head but couldn’t get past five. The sound of my pounding heart kept making me lose count. The more I focused on slowing it, the more furious the beating became.
The group’s casual chatter died down and they turned and began scanning the forest. My chest tightened in alarm as three pairs of eyes landed on the very bush I was hiding under. Oh God, they can see me. They’re going to drown me too. My body went rigid. Would they go through the trouble of crossing the river to get to me? Of course they would. I was a witness to their evil crime.
I waited for splashes, for that menacing laugh, for a hand to wrench me from my hiding spot. I gritted my teeth as the burn of my pendant intensified, certain that it was searing my skin. Thankfully it was buried under my body, otherwise there’d be a bright red flare to guide the murderers over.
Leave! Leave! an insistent voice screamed inside my head.
My palms were damp, my knuckles had turned white, and a full–scale panic attack was imminent when the group dismissed whatever had caught their attention and disappeared into the woods in the opposite direction. I allowed myself the smallest sigh of relief, afraid anything louder would echo across the water.
As soon as I judged they were out of earshot, I crept out from under my bush and darted toward the riverbank. I silently waded into the water, now too fueled with adrenaline to notice its chill. I was sure I was too late. I was sure I was swimming out to find only death—if I could even find her in the river’s murk—but I swam out anyway.