The Devil’s Tramping Ground: Excerpt 1/?
My foot caught on a root. I twisted to avoid falling, looking down at the ground. There was a moment of disconnect. Roots weren’t supposed to be creeping from the floorboards. The floorboards shouldn’t have been earth. Unless I wasn’t where I thought I was?
My eyes flew open, a gasp putting me back in my body. Ina. I was Ina again. I pressed a hand to my chest, the air much too clear for the house. Bug song filled the night. I looked around. The woods. I was in the woods. Barefoot, walking down a trail. Down, towards...
The visage of the well stood out in the middle of the field. I was a mere 50 feet away.
My skin felt clammy in the warm summer air. My toes curled into the dirt, and I turned to run, kicking up soil. The forest rebelled. Shadows breathed down my neck and branches pulled at my clothes. There wasn’t any way to tell what was nature and what was strange. A humming trembled through the forest, traveling up my legs, and I stumbled. The message rang clear through my bones, even as I stood. Come. Come back. Crawl back into the well, cradle a corpse, and wait for the gas lamp eyes to return.
In a breath, I was there. Moss and leaves cushioned my feet. Beneath them, dozens of grinning skeletons creaked. I gazed up at an empty void, unable to tell where the well met the sky. My fingers scraped at smooth, unforgiving, stones. A shriek echoed up and around me, but whose voice was that? Where was the water; where was the earth?
Where was my knife?
Where was Mary?
I rammed against the well wall, putting all my force into my shoulder. I punched and kicked, bleeding and screaming until the illusion cracked. Though two broken stones, I could see trees. And, beyond them, Allison’s shack. I grabbed at the rocks, pulling them out one by one. Shrill voices beat at my ears and unseen claws raked down my back, but I kept at it. I made a hole big enough to crawl through, got to my feet, and ran.
I tripped over the lip of a shallow grave.
In the darkness, it was tough to see, but I could smell it. The rich, thick, scent of fresh earth surrounded me. Clumps of it fell from my hair as I sat up. My hands stung from their injuries, shaking as they supported my weight. Teetering on my feet, enough moonlight slanted through the trees that I got good look at the ground. The hole was big enough for a human. The perfect size for myself. Like it was made for me.
My attention turned to something massive shifting at the end of the path. Somewhere, covered in the night, was a shadow a touch darker than black. I kept still, waiting for it to move again, or for my brain to dismiss it. Only my breathing filled the void; even the air had stilled.
As I was about to give up, white eyes revealed themselves, not ten feet in front of me. I gasped and jumped away, the scent of blood replacing the earth. A weight struck my back, bitter cold and pitching me forward. Freezing hands steadied me, with fingers that lengthened into sharp talons. I shivered as the cool air of an open crypt hit my ear, and Eric’s voice echoed in my head.
“She won’t be able to save you.”
I didn’t need to hear that.
“She doesn’t care about you. She left you here, of all places.”
I didn’t need to hear it. I already knew it.
But Mary was still worth it. And Eric couldn’t stop me. Not him, nor his ghost.
I shook him off and turned, stomping away. With every footfall, I imagined I was crushing the shadows. The brush parted, taking me where I needed to go. The moon hung heavy and bright, guiding my way. The path was clear. I wasn’t the victim of monsters. I wasn’t trapped. The woman wanted me to find something important, and I needed to help her.
Mary had brought me to Hinden for a selfish reason. But now, Hinden was my choice. I was strong enough to see it through.
For the first time since the night of the ritual, I stepped foot on the library stairs. I walked forward, closing my eyes at the ruined threshold. In the records room, Katherine’s hands--my hands--tucked a bundle behind a trick panel in the cabinets. Even after everything that had happened, this town still had more secrets to give.
I opened my eyes. It was time to tear the skeletons from the closet and give them a proper burial.
(Start from the beginning.)