Forest of the Forbidden

by W. J. May

  “Oh, sweetie.” Her mom sighed. Her voice firmed. “I don’t think it’s safe for you there. I want you to come home.”

  “I can’t leave.” Sophie spoke quickly. “Lilli’s here.”

  “Lilli can come with you.”

  Sophie knew, deep down, that leaving would be the worst thing to do. The group needed to be together, or at least near each other. They had to stick together. “Mom, I’m staying here. There’s more security now and we have a curfew. We can’t walk anywhere unless its in groups of three.”

  Her mother exhaled loudly, then changed the subject. “Well, your coming home for Thanksgiving.”

  “Of course, Mom. You know it’s like committing murder to miss a family dinner.” Sophie did smile at the thought of the commotion it would cause.

  Her mother’s soft chuckle took some of the edge off of her panic. “Todd’s here. Do you want to talk to him?”

  “Sure.” Sophie could tell her mom was worried and didn’t want to give up the phone but wanted the siblings to talk. Her mom may not share the psychic gift but she had her maternal instinct. She knew Sophie would have an easier time talking to Todd.

  She heard her mom set the phone down and call to Todd. In the silence, she could hear the water running in the shower down the hall. Lilli must’ve had a hard time focusing on her biology book.

  A few seconds later Todd’s voice came on the line. “Hey, sis.” He was silent for a moment and Sophie knew he gave their mom time to walk away. While she knew about Sophie’s gift she didn’t know that sometimes Sophie used it to track down bad guys. “Did another student go missing?”

  “Yes.” Sophie fought tears again. “It was someone I knew.”

  “The police haven’t done anything with your letters?”

  Sophie wanted to hit a wall. “It’s like they don’t care. I don’t think they’ve even glanced at the letters.”

  “I’m sure they’re trying.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. They would’ve done something about it.” Sophie realized how sharp her voice was and made an effort to soften it. She couldn’t treat Todd like that. “Look, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  “Meet any guys?”

  Tristan’s face bloomed in her mind. She blushed. “No.”

  “You hesitated. There is a guy, isn’t there?” Todd smiled on his end. “Bring him home so I can meet him.”

  Sophie desperately wanted to tell him about everything. About Tristan’s gifts, the others, how she and Lilli weren’t as alone as she thought they were. But she couldn’t. It wasn’t her gift to share. “Todd, there isn’t a guy!”

  “I’ll come visit you since your too embarrassed to bring him home.”

  Sudden panic engulfed her. He couldn’t come anywhere near the creatures and the kidnappings. If anything happened to him...she couldn’t even think about it. “Guys aren’t interested in your little sister. I didn’t get the looks you did or your easy going personality. I got a gift that ruins relationships.”

  “Are you still upset over Roman?” Todd bit out. “That little...”

  “It was bound to happen. It was my fault, anyway.” Sophie ignored the ache in her heart.

  “Shut up, Sophie.”

  Sophie’s mouth snapped shut at the tone in his voice.

  “Roman’s a boy who tried to look good in front of his friends. He isn’t worthy of you.”

  “That’s sweet, but you’re my brother. You’re supposed to say stuff like that.”

  Todd grunted. “Most brothers aren’t as nice as I am.”

  Sophie laughed and it surprised both of them. “That’s true. I’m beat, brother of mine, so I think I’m going to bed. If I happen to meet a boy, I promise to call.”

  “You better.”

  ***

  It was dark. Sophie looked up and saw there were several stars sprinkling the sky like run away freckles. She was in a dream again, but this one felt different. Calm and peaceful. Trusting.

  Her head turned and she studied the forest surrounding her. Giant willow trees reached their branches down to caress the tall blades of grass. The moss that blanketed the branches and trunks glowed softly, coating the forest in an ethereal light.

  There was a soft whoo and she glanced up. A snow white owl winded its way through the trees. A moment later it landed in front of her and cocked its head to the side.

  Large black eyes watched her silently. Then, in a show of majestic beauty, the owl spread its wings out and brought them up and down; lifting itself into the air. The underside of the wings glowed silver in the pale pink moonlight. It hooted a few times more as it circled around her.

  Sophie gazed at it before realizing that it wanted her to follow. She moved forward and felt the grass tickle her bare feet and the skirt of her white nightgown brush her ankles. There was such a feeling of rightness when she walked this path.

  It ended with the forest. Sophie gaped at the beauty of the scene before her.

  A grassy plain spread out and skimmed along the edges of a crystal blue lake. Deer and fawn loped across, having no fear of the field.

  Darkness teased the back of her neck and fingertips. Her eyes darted back and forth across the field and lake before settling on where it originated.

  There, on the other side of the lake sat an abandoned farm house. The darkness reached around it and it seemed to call to Sophie, to want her.

  The owl hooted again. She jumped, startled. Her every nerve ending was electrified.

  She followed the owl around the lake and into the stretched claws of darkness. Here the moonlight was sinister and morose.

  The farmhouse looked like it barely stood on its foundations. Shingles hung from the roof and the windows fogged. Small hand prints seemed frozen on the panes of glass. Sophie shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

  The barn stood out starkly, its aura the birth of the darkness. The tremor moved through her body and she tried desperately to stop it.

  The owl circled the building before it landed on Sophie’s shoulder. When she didn’t move toward the barn, it pierced her with its talons.

  “Ouch!” Sophie cried out at the sharp pain in her arm. Her body leaped forward. The closer she came to the barn, the more it felt like the darkness swallowed her.

  The doors opened when she approached them. She could see the uneven light of torches. They bounced of the walls and across the hay filled ground.

  The owl flew to the top of the barn and watched her enter.

  “Coward.” Sophie whispered even though she trembled with fear. She walked further and further inside. The dark aura swallowed her.

  Intense pressure squeezed her body like a vise and more than once she thought about running.

  Through the torchlight she saw the main beam of the barn. A dark figure huddled up against it. Still and silent.

  Sophie’s breath ripped through her lungs. The darkness clutched her.

  The figure shuddered and moaned.

  Sophie stifled a scream. Whispers rose out of the darkness and swirled around her.

  She knew in her mind that normally she wouldn’t approach this dark, huddled figure but something about it haunted her. Pulled at her. So, she stepped closer.

  The form shuddered again and chains rattled.

  Sophie was close enough to touch it now. Her heart beat so hard she heard it in her ears.

  The figure shot forward, shrieking.

  Sophie cried out and fell backward. She crawled away on her elbows until she hit a bale of hay.

  “Help me!” Katie’s voice erupted from the prisoner. Her face was cut and torn, the flesh hanging in small slices. Bloodshot eyes locked on Sophie. “She’s going to kill me!”

  * * *

  Chapter Nine

  Sophie paced through the Symbol room, ignoring the fact that Demetri’s gaze followed her movements. It unnerved her, but since she didn’t think he could help it she didn’t snap at him like she wanted.

  He just stood there, silent.
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  Aidan and Lilli already sat at the table. Aidan drummed his fingers on the surface, Lilli watched his fingers with a blank stare.

  She couldn’t sit. The vision thrummed through her veins. Adrenaline raced through her blood. She had to do something with it.

  Like help Katie.

  This time, instead of going to the police, she’d called on Ruth and Demetri. If anyone was going to help save Katie, it was them. They’d suggested the group get together here and that’s what they’d done.

  Just thinking of that vision made her heart hurt. Katie didn’t deserve to be captured and tortured by whatever it was that did this.

  Demetri said demons. Sophie wasn’t so sure he was wrong anymore. She’d never seen an aura that dark. Or that hungry.

  The door to the Symbol room opened and Tristan strode in, wearing a navy blue, long sleeved shirt and jeans. He looked so good that her lungs constricted.

  She tried to ignore it and instead asked, “Did you talk to Morgan? Is she coming?”

  He nodded and stepped aside. Jackson followed him in, holding the door open for a few seconds.

  Morgan solidified next to the table. She smoothed the skirt of her black sweater dress over her leggings. Her hair settled around her.

  Last came Ruth, who shut the door behind her.

  “Why am I here?” Morgan asked. She sat down next to Lilli. “I thought we didn’t believe what they were saying.”

  “We don’t so far.” Aidan said. “But our resident psychic has had a vision of Katie Moore.”

  Morgan refused to meet Sophie’s gaze.

  “Tell us what you saw. We may be able to help her.” Ruth settled a hip against the table.

  Sophie took a deep breath and repeated every detail of the vision. “She was asking us to help her.” She glanced at each of them. “They’re going to kill her.”

  Her friends shifted in their chairs.

  “You can prevent that from happening.” Demetri held eye contact with each of them one by one. “You can save her. Now. Tonight.”

  “That thing almost killed us last time!” Morgan stood, her chair lurched backward.

  Her panic hit Sophie’s skin like bee stings.

  “This time,” Demetri pinned Morgan with a look that had her pulling her chair back and sitting, “you’ll have backup and be prepared.”

  “I’ll do it.” Sophie couldn’t wait on the cops to save Katie.

  Lilli smiled weakly at Sophie after her surprise passed. “Me, too. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she died because of me.”

  Tristan leaned forward. His eyes swirled from gray to yellow. “I’m in.”

  “We have classes tomorrow.” Morgan protested.

  “Yeah, I‘m in.” Aidan grinned.

  “Someone might see us!” Morgan huffed.

  Jackson watched Lilli but nodded his agreement.

  “Morgan, no one will know it was you.” Aidan pressed. “Do you really want to live with that on your conscience?”

  “Shut up, Aidan!” Morgan covered her face and sighed.

  Sophie opened her mouth to argue that Morgan didn’t have a conscience to speak of when she felt the girl’s emotions change.

  “Fine.” Morgan mumbled. “I’ll help.”

  Then again, maybe Morgan did.

  Ruth and Demetri shared a look. Ruth said, “Then we need to get started. We need to find an abandoned farmhouse next to a lake. What was the lake shaped like?”

  Sophie closed her eyes and willed the vision back. The lake appeared. The light breeze caressed her skin. “It’s a circular lake. Nothing out of the ordinary. This is crazy. We’re never going to find her.”

  “The vision was sent to you for a reason. We’ll find her.” Tristan assured her.

  “Where are we going to start?” Jackson asked.

  “We are going to look it up on the internet. This is a historical town and there are bound to be pictures of the farmhouses around here. Maybe something will tip Sophie off.” Ruth told him.

  “Would they show abandoned ones?” Morgan’s eyes widened when the words left her mouth. Like she didn’t expect to care.

  “Wait!” Aidan sat forward. “On T.V.!”

  “Spit it out!” Morgan slapped him on the arm. “What about it?”

  “There was a show this summer about haunted places in this area. They showed that wooden bridge out by the edge of town, remember it?” At their stares, he continued sheepishly. “One was about an abandoned farmhouse and it was so creepy that I had nightmares that night. It could be where they’re holding Katie.”

  The hair on the back of Sophie’s neck stood up. The looks on the boys’ faces intensified.

  “We’ll look it up. They’ll have something on the network’s website.” Lilli stood. “I know the library isn’t a good memory for us but we can search there.”

  “There’s no need for that, Lilli.” Ruth reached around her neck and unclasped her necklace. She pulled it off and held it up. A small, silver key dangled from it. “We have all we need in that room right there.” She pointed to the other door, the one they hadn’t gone through yet. “It’s about time you went in there anyway.”

  Demetri frowned but remained silent. In that moment, Sophie could read a little off of him. He didn’t want to deny something that gave Ruth happiness even if it went against his own.

  Interesting.

  Ruth unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Ready?”

  When Sophie got her first look of the room she smiled wryly. Here was the room that looked like it belonged to a secret organization. Gun racks lined the walls, stainless steel tables gleamed in the center of the room, and to her relief, a row of computers sat in a corner.

  At one of the tables a man wearing clerical black cleaned a large gun. His white collar was undone, leaving the first button at his throat open. His movements were precise and maneuvered as he worked.

  “Who is that?” Aidan asked as they all entered the room.

  Ruth glanced over her shoulder at the man. “Oh, that’s Father Kent. He’s a member of our team. You’ll meet him another time. For now, we have to focus on finding Katie.”

  Sophie remembered the sense of urgency from her dream and agreed.

  “This room must span the entire basement.” Jackson said. They followed Ruth to the computers.

  “Don’t get used to it, these are for the use of our team. You haven’t joined it yet.” Demetri leaned over and turned the computers on.

  Sophie met Tristan’s glance with raised eyebrows.

  “Here, take this one.” Ruth steered Sophie toward a computer. “You may see something.”

  Sophie sat down, wiggled the mouse, and clicked on the internet. Tristan leaned over her shoulder, his arms resting on the back of her chair. The heat from his body made her nerve ending shoot to life. When he turned his head to look at her, gray eyes shot through with bits of yellow, she absolutely forgot to breathe.

  This connection she had with him was so strong it scared her, but she couldn’t deny its pull.

  The corners of his lips turned up.

  “Okay, I found the website for the farmhouse haunting.” Aidan piped up. Sophie snapped her head to look at him, grateful for the distraction. “I’ll look here.”

  Morgan stood over him, staying well out of his way. Jackson and Lilli had the last computer. They didn’t look at all uncomfortable with the closeness they shared.

  Sophie pulled up a search engine and typed in what they were looking for.

  “Here.” Tristan pointed on the screen to a promising website. She clicked on it. Immediately, pictures began to pop up. She scrolled through them but nothing reminded her of the vision.

  “I’m getting nothing.” She sighed and rubbed her forehead. Tristan placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

  “Look at these.” Aidan called her over. Morgan moved to stand next to Tristan.

  When Sophie reached him, he scrolled through the pictures. Nothing brought the dre
am to mind.

  Until the one.

  Her stomach dropped. Her hands shook as she pointed to the picture. “It’s that one. Oh my God.” She’d had this gift her entire life and she was sure she’d never get used to the feeling it gave her.

  “Listen to this! Recently it’s had rumored supernatural activity!” Aidan’s voice rose. “No one has been able to actually step foot on the land for three months. Before that people allegedly disappeared on the property and never returned.”

  “No one investigated it because they thought it was a hoax. We have reason to believe it’s a den for a nest of vampires.” Demetri said. “Print out the address and we’ll put it in the navigation.”

  “Vampires?” Morgan’s voice was faint.

  “As in Dracula? Or Edward?” Aidan asked.

  Ruth shook her head at Aidan. “You’ll wish these vampires glittered. Okay, go home and put on some old clothes, nothing you’d want to stay clean. Meet us back here in an hour.”

  Lilli glanced at Sophie when they left and said, “At least we won’t get lost this time.”

  Sophie sighed and nodded, not wanting to think of that time when they were younger. They were a step closer to getting Katie back and didn’t need that diversion.

  About half an hour later they were back on the bus and on the way to meet Demetri and Ruth. Sophie sat next to Tristan and stared out the window because looking at him was becoming too intense. It was cliché, but she felt that he could see into her soul and that terrified her.

  When he finally spoke, she jumped in her seat.

  “What did you mean when Lilli said you won’t get lost this time? I thought this was all new to you.”

  Sophie resisted the urge to wince at his slightly accusing tone. She forced herself to look at him. He was dressed in a slightly hole-y pair of jeans and a simple black tee. How could he manage to look so good in something so ordinary? There was no way she looked half as good in her own jeans and dark green tee. “What we did had nothing to do with demons or vampires. We went in search of a missing girl when we were in junior high.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her. “What happened?”

  “Lilli and I were at my house. We’d planned to go out but the weather was so bad that we changed our minds and decided to stay in. We were passing the living room where my parents were watching the local news.”