"If you're going, I'm coming," Selene said, her voice calm but absolute, making it clear this was not a request and certainly not open for debate.
Enid swallowed hard, clearly terrified, but still raised her hand like she was volunteering for group project doom.
Ethan stared at them.
He really didn't want this.
The Book of the Dead wasn't some back-alley vampire with an ego problem. It was ancient, unpredictable, and very much the type of thing that turned rescue missions into "tragic cautionary tales." Taking them along meant extra variables.
"Absolutely not," he said.
Wednesday folded her arms. "We weren't asking."
Ethan looked between the three of them, realized he was completely surrounded, and sighed.
"…This is mutiny," he muttered.
"You lost three to one," Wednesday replied calmly.
He rubbed his face. "I hate democracy."
But he was outvoted.
There wasn't much he could do about it. He couldn't read the spell himself—Wednesday was the only one who understood the language—and forcing them to stay behind would only waste time and start a fight he wouldn't win. In the end, the decision was simple. They were all going.
With that settled, they began preparing the Book of the Dead.
Wednesday stepped forward and carefully read the passage that restored the curse to the book, her voice controlled and precise as the ancient words slipped back into place.
Ethan took her hand. His other hand caught Selene's. Selene grabbed Enid before the pull could separate them.
He opened the book.
The ceiling twisted. A spiral tore open above them, dragging air upward in a violent rush. Furniture scraped across the floor. Loose objects lifted and spun. The pressure increased until their feet left the ground.
They were pulled up together, hands locked as the vortex tightened.
Then it swallowed them.
The book snapped shut.
The portal collapsed.
***
Ethan hit the ground face-first into dry leaves.
Selene dropped onto his back a second later, forcing him flat again. Enid crashed onto Selene in a tangle of limbs. Wednesday landed last, directly on top of Enid, her balance breaking for once.
They stayed like that for a moment, stacked and stunned.
"Is everyone alive?" Ethan's voice came muffled from the ground.
"I think so," Enid muttered.
Selene pushed herself up first and rolled off him, pulling Enid with her. Wednesday stepped aside and brushed leaves from her coat.
Ethan stood and scanned the forest carefully. Darkness pressed in from every direction, trees packed tightly together, their branches weaving a ceiling that blocked most of the light.
The ground was uneven under thick layers of leaves, and the air carried constant movement — rustling, distant snapping, something shifting just out of sight.
Enid immediately clung to his arm. The bravado she carried in safer places was gone. This was different. She had no idea what lived in woods like this, and that uncertainty showed.
"Enid," Ethan said quietly, still watching the trees, "this is why I didn't want you to come."
She swallowed but didn't let go. "Yeah. I'm aware."
Wednesday reached into her coat and pulled out a small flashlight. Of course she had one. She clicked it on and paused, head tilting slightly.
"There's blood," she said.
Selene caught the scent a moment later. Ethan followed as Wednesday walked toward a nearby tree.
Something was slumped against the trunk.
The beam steadied.
A corpse.
It had been torn apart, but not scattered. Deep gashes across the torso. Arms twisted. Clothes shredded. Nothing missing.
Wednesday crouched without hesitation.
"Hm."
Enid saw it clearly and nearly gagged, forcing the reaction down before stepping behind Ethan, using him as a shield from the view.
Ethan studied the wounds. "Animal?"
"Zero percent," Wednesday replied.
She picked up a stick and lifted the corpse's arm slightly, examining the depth of the cuts and the tearing pattern.
"The force is concentrated and directional. If this were an animal attack, tissue would be missing. Something would have fed." She let the arm drop. "Everything is still here."
Selene's eyes narrowed. "So whatever did this wasn't hunting."
"No," Wednesday said calmly.
The ground shifted beneath them.
Without warning, a hand shot up through the leaves and locked around Enid's ankle.
Soil split as a rotten arm forced its way out, skin dark and torn, dirt packed into exposed flesh. The grip tightened.
Enid looked down.
In the dim, broken light filtering through the trees, she saw it clearly — a decayed hand wrapped around her leg.
She screamed.
"AHH—Ethan!"
She kicked hard, tearing herself free, then stumbled backward and jumped straight onto him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, legs locking around his waist as she climbed him like the forest floor had turned lethal.
"Something grabbed me!"
They all looked down.
The hand was still there, clawing at the surface, trying to pull the rest of itself out of the soil. Rotting skin hung loose from bone. The smell confirmed what the sight already had.
"It's a dead body's hand," Wednesday said calmly, clearly able to see the rotten skin peeling from the shriveled fingers.
The fingers tightened again, scraping through leaves.
Ethan shifted Enid slightly higher on his back to steady her.
"Off you go."
Red energy gathered around his foot, faint at first, then dense and concentrated. He brought his heel down hard.
The impact crushed the hand back into the ground.
The soil cracked outward from the force, a shallow shockwave rippling through the forest floor. Leaves burst into the air. The arm disappeared beneath the dirt.
For a brief second, everything went still.
Then the trees shifted.
Branches trembled. Movement spread in widening circles around them. Sounds rose from every direction — scraping, dragging.
*****
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