Unexpected Foe

Unexpected Foe

Evangeline P.O.V.

I sat on the ground for what felt like hours. I could hear people shouting at each other over what to do. It seemed like Susan put many others in the same trance, but luckily a majority had been pulled out of them.

I looked around. Richards sat on the ground on the other side of the tree line, his own tears trailing down his cheeks. Finley was standing in the same place Susan told him to stay.

My mind reeled through options of what we were going to do. These mind tricks could take many of us out at a time, and who knows what else Susan and her sister can actually do.

Lily crouched down beside me, a bow in one hand while the other rested on my shoulder.

"You shot it?" I was surprised. When we left her cottage, I was the one with the bow. I should've made the connection that she would know how to use one if she went to Maybury and was in class with Finley.

"We're in this together, remember? Are you okay? Richards came out of his trance a little messed up, so I wanted to check on you. I also hate to rush you, but Susan and her supposed sister ran off somewhere after everyone went into their own worlds. Most everyone is back, but we need to move before Susan gets too far, or worse, gets out of the woods."

"Why would she run? Her running puts her at more risk that we will find a way out and tell someone. What does she really want?"

Lily shrugged and held her out her hands to me, lifting me off the ground.

"Evangeline!" Finley was running towards me, sweat dripping down his forehead.

He ran into me, almost tackling me to the ground and squeezed my whole body tightly.

"Are you okay? I was so scared, you started walking away from everyone and I called out for you so many times." He examined me from head to toe.

"I'm fine. What about you? Something threw you around like a ragdoll. I'm not too sure how you're standing."

"I'm okay. A little sore. When I was brought in here, I found a woman and she scared the hell out of me. I tripped over a damn tree root and landed on my back. But other than that I'm okay."

I gave him a small nod. As much as I would love to relish in Finley's embrace, we still had too many things we needed to cover.

The three of us turned around and joined the group on our side of the fallen trees.

"Since Susan's sister is gone, do you think we can get over the trees now? Become one big group again and then we can start looking for the two of them?" Lily asked.

"Worth a shot." I walked over to the fallen trees and put my hand where the invisible wall started the last time we found it. My hand reached over the trees and onto the other side. Lily was right.

I waved everyone over, one by one everyone was climbing over the trees. Some of the students on the other side were still crouched on their knees, clutching their heads. Even though they were out of the trance, the struggle between the dream and reality was still gnawing at their minds.

I looked around, counting everyone, then recounting. My brows furrowed together. Someone was missing.

"We came in with 22 people, didn't we? I'm only counting 21. Did someone get lost?"

Lily stood beside me on my right, while Finley was on my left.

"No, some of us didn't go into a dream, or have anything pop up out of the ground like you or Richards. I'm assuming those who didn't speak around the fire had nothing for Susan to use against them in the forest." Lily's answer hit me like a brick.

That was the only thing that could've made the most logical sense. Susan knew that at least one person would walk away from the fire and go into the woods, so getting us to tell her those things allowed her to use them against us when we came in.

"Lainey is missing. All of the other students are still here, even Serenity." Finley spoke beside me.

"No way she walked off with Susan. Susan exposed her in front of everyone!" My mind was racing with every possibility.

"Or maybe this was all a part of some bigger plan. You heard Susan, Lainey has always known. They've worked together for years; surely she's had one drunken truth come out." Lily was starting to become the most logical person of our group.

"This is crazy. And way bigger than what I thought we would face in here. Maybe we should just leave, surely someone would believe our story, all of our stories." I motioned to the group around us.

"You know we can't leave until we release whatever veil that thing has on the forest. We only got out because we hurt it and it must've given up a bit of its power to heal itself or something." Again, Lily with the logic.

I sighed. Looking around, some of the students were rocking back and forth on the ground, some holding their heads. Richards stood off to the side, looking out into the forest. We had one interaction with Susan and her sister, and look at us. But Lily was right.

"Did anyone see which way they went?" I asked.

"In the midst of it all, I thought I saw them go in that direction-" Lily pointed towards an area further in the forest. God only knows which direction it is; hell, they could screw with that too.

"Then let's get to it."