“Oh my god.” There were footsteps behind Audrey and she turned around to see Auntie standing over her. She looked at Brandon who was slowly sitting up then back to Audrey.
“You saw the book, didn’t you? You opened the book and read what was in it?” Audrey stared in horror up at the woman and when neither of them answered she all but snarled at them like a crazed animal.
“Did you open the book!?” Audrey shrank back and Brandon finally spoke.
“I did. Audrey didn’t want to see what was in it. I opened it though.” There was no hesitation in his voice, nor was there in Aunties response.
“Kill him.” The boy in the helmet turned back to Brandon and pulled one of his blades out, pointing it at Brandon’s chest. Too dizzy and weak to even move, Brandon fell back onto the ground, he lay on his back and groaned in pain.
“No! Stop!” Audrey pushed herself to her feet and shoved herself between the two boys, arms outstretched and heart beating madly in her chest. She swallowed her fear and stared the boy down, determined to be the protector for once.
“You can’t! He can’t defend himself! Besides, he can’t even read Latin!” Suddenly Audrey felt very stupid. She had let it slip that she did read the book and that she was just as guilty as her boyfriend. Auntie’s eyes stretched wide as she realized the same thing.
“And you can? That’s a shame. I really liked you Audrey. I don’t want to have to do this.” Panic struck the young girl and she felt as if the whole world dropped out from under her feet.
“Kill her, too.” Without a single moment of hesitation the boy raised his blade, the sharp tip inches from her throat. At first she was almost too scared to move but then a thought struck her. How does he know where to aim? She took a hesitant step back and held her hand up to the blade, then she slowly moved it to her left. The boy moved his sword so that it closely followed every movement that her hand made and Audrey couldn’t help but stare in wonder at him. There was no way he could see her through the helmet, yet he knew every move she made.
“How are you doing that?” Audrey took a step towards the boy and he suddenly, yet gracefully jumped back, keeping her a blade's length away. Audrey found herself staring up at the stranger, unable to move her legs as he prepared to cut her down, yet all her fear had melted away and was replaced with confusion. She wondered briefly if this was her way of coping with shock.
“Audrey, run!” Maggie’s voice cut into the ghastly silence, tearing the girl out of her daydreams. Slowly backing up, she stepped over Brandon, who had passed out again, then turned and ran as hard as she could. I’m sorry Brandon. She bit back the tears that stung her eyes and continued to run, shame flooding her for abandoning him so easily. What a terrible girlfriend I am. He never would have run if it were me laying there. Now was not the time to think of that, though. Right now Audrey needed to escape. Or at least draw him away from everyone else. The maze had been blown to pieces when the lightning struck so there was a straight shot from where she was to where the gate to the fence sat, wide open and inviting. Without looking back, Audrey hurtled over fallen people and objects, refusing to slow down as she rapidly gained ground. This time she could hear the heavy boots on the ground, though they were much quieter than she would have expected. Audrey flew through the gate and continued to speed towards town. Where am I going to hide? She couldn’t help feeling a jolt of fear when she realized that she might get caught when suddenly an idea hit her. The corn fields! I know my way through there like the back of my hand. I can lose him in there. Audrey veered Northward and ran as hard as she could. As she crested the hill outside of the school grounds, she spotted the tall, green rows of corn below her. Hope reignited inside of her.
“I can make it. I know I can.” Suddenly something caught her feet up and she hit the ground hard. Something forced her to roll onto her back and she realized that it was the kid with the helmet. He pushed his knee into her chest so she couldn’t get away and pulled out a smaller knife from his boot. His knee pushed painfully into her collar as she fought to break free.
“Get off!” Audrey tried to wiggle free from him but it was no use. The boy was beyond stronger than she was and she was about to give in when the boy’s weight suddenly lifted off of her. He crashed to the ground with another, even taller boy on top of him.
“P-Preston?”
“Why are you just sitting there?” Preston growled as he continued to wrestle with the stranger. His tanned skin seemed to glow in the afternoon light and his eyes burned with a fire she had never seen before. Though he didn’t say it out loud she knew he was actually enjoying the chaos that was unfolding in his town. Audrey knew she had to get up before the young boy was overpowered. She got to her feet and broke out in a dead sprint. She ran so fast that when the ground began to slope downwards her feet almost tangled and fell out from under her. She found herself floating down the hill, barely touching the ground, before crashing rather violently into the leafy stalks of corn. She hit the dusty ground and panted hard, trying desperately to catch her breath. Slowly rising to her feet and as silently as she could, Audrey wove through the field, hoping that she could lose him before her stamina ran out. Suddenly, in the direction that she had come from, there was another loud rustling of someone else entering the fields. Holding her breath, the young girl started moving faster, keeping as low to the ground as she could. She came out on the other side of the first field and silently snuck up the hill in the second, where she perched at the crest and peeked through the stalks to watch. She strained her ears for the slightest noise but everything around her was silent save the birds and the insects lazily buzzing about. There was no breeze and not a single stalk of corn shivered below her, though if the boy was still in there they had to as he brushed past them. Seconds seem to crawl by as she waited, when finally the young boy came out less than a minute later and looked around slowly. Not daring to move, she watched as the young boy tipped his head to one side, as if he was listening to something and she realized he was listening for her. Audrey stopped breathing, scared that he could hear her pounding heart as it tried to break through her ribs. The boy’s head turned as he tried to locate his victim and Audrey held in a terrified gasp as his head turned to look right at her. She knew he couldn’t see her but it still chilled her to the bone that he looked right in her direction as if he knew she was there. After a few heartbeats the young boy marched off, giving up on the hunt. Audrey slowly let her breath go, still too scared to move. She waited almost three solid minutes before daring to stand up and slowly walk down the hill. Her legs barked in pain from crouching for so long and her knees were dirty and scraped from the fall earlier. She dusted them off as she cautiously made her way to a little dirt trail that ran between the two fields of neatly planted crops. Suddenly something grabbed her by her upper arm and jerked her backwards.
“Thought you were tricky, didn't you?” The boy had come around behind her, making sure he wasn’t heard. Audrey grimly thought to herself that he did a good job of staying silent.
“Guess I’m not as good as I thought. Let go of me.” When the boy didn’t release her she tried to yank her arm free but only succeeded in wrenching her shoulder. Without another word the boy dragged her back through the corn field effortlessly and stopped once back out in the open, though her tired body was too sore to put up much of a fight. Auntie was standing at the edge of the field, waiting for both of them. Nobody else was around and Audrey felt fear prickle at the base of her neck. She didn't want to be alone with theses two. In the distance she could hear the sirens wailing and she could just barely see the red and blue lights of three cop cars bouncing off of walls. They’re probably sending everyone home and taking the injured ones to the hospital in the next town. Audrey thought to herself. Good.
“It’s really a shame that I have to do this. But Anyone who reads that book must be killed. Unless you want to join the coven. Then I could let you live.” Audrey raised her head, looking the woman in her eyes.
“I can’t believe that you’re some loon in a cult. I really thought you were better than that. And to think I trusted you with my secrets. And how did you even find out that we read the book? You weren’t there!” Auntie gave the young girl a cold stare before moving closer.
“I wasn’t there. But he was.” Auntie looked to the tall boy in the helmet and suddenly it all made sense. He was the reason she had felt like she was being watched. Aunties hot breath jerked Audrey out of her thoughts and she scrunched her nose as she looked back to the old woman.
“If you won’t join me then my boy here will have to kill you. There’s no other choice. That’s the rules of the coven Audrey.” She put emphasis in the last word, as if correcting Audreys earlier outburst.
“Kill me? Like a sacrifice?”
“More like, no witnesses.” The blood in her veins seemed to chill and a dark, empty feeling threatened to swallow her whole as she took in what the old woman was saying.Calm down girl, you need to stay level headed or else you might not make it out of here. Think of something, quick. Think, think! An idea suddenly hit Audrey and she couldn’t help but give the old woman a smug grin.
“Well if that’s the case then you have to wait for the new moon.”The boy's grip on her arm tightened and she spun herself to face him. She watched as he raised a hand to unlatch his helmet and pull it off. Audrey could feel her eyes widen as she stared at the boy in front of her. He had feather soft hair that was the colour of ash. it fell in his face as if he didn’t care that it was in his eyes. But then she remembered that he couldn’t see and she couldn’t help but shake her head at herself. Remembered? How can she remember something she never even knew? His eyes were a charcoal colour and they had a soft, foreign shape to them, but somehow she already knew they were blind. His jaw however, was anything but soft. He had the facial structure of a Greek god, like in the mythology books she read in school, with elegant curves in his cheekbones and a nose that complimented his strong features quite nicely. Audrey was almost knocked breathless by how attractive he was up close. But she shook her head and regained her poise before she shot back at him coyly.
“Or do you want to kill me now and break the rules of your stupid cult?” The boy answered in a plain tone, unmoved by her words.
“I’m not in the coven.”
“So you want to kill me just for shits and giggles?” The boy's eyes turned to Audrey, giving away no hints as to what he was thinking. She swore that for a couple of seconds he really could see her.
“I’m bound to Auntie to do whatever she bids me. If I have to kill you then I will.” Audrey glared at the boy defiantly, wishing he could see the amount of hate she held in her eyes.
“I guess the question should then be do you want to? Because if you do then you’re no different than them.” The boy went quiet, his head tipping slightly to one side as if her question had thrown him through a loop. Ignoring the thoughtful look on his face she turned back to face Auntie.
“I may not have read your stupid book but I did, at least, see the first two rules. And the very first one is that all rituals are supposed to be on the night of the new moon. And the new moon isn’t for another five days. So looks like I’m not dying yet. so fu-” Suddenly the boy jerked her so hard she was whipped around and thrown into his chest, her words cut off from the impact. She looked up at him and cursed herself for blushing as she pushed herself off his chest and rubbed her nose.
“If you really read the first two rules then you’d know that the second rule stated to kill anyone outside of the coven who opened the book. No exceptions.” The young girl realized that the boy had an accent. Irish maybe? or was it British? She wasn’t really good with that kind of stuff. When Audrey opened her mouth he interrupted her again.
“If Auntie wants you dead then you’ll be dead before sunset. And oh would you look at that. It’s nearly sunset.” Audrey felt a heat rising up from inside her and natural fight or flight instincts started to kick in. She shoved herself into the boy and threw him to the ground where they both rolled in the grass, fighting for control. All the fear and pain she had been pushing down started to bubble up and tears stung the back of her eyes. Her whole world was falling apart around her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She fought harder but knew it was completely in vain. He’d gain control of the situation and she’d be trapped like a caged bird again.When he had her on her back and arms pinned under his knees she couldn’t help choking out the next words.
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