An excited scream came from the house that was then followed by loud laughter and greetings. Delilah wandered over to an empty bench and sat down, Kacey followed and I found my feet dragging me in the same direction. Coming to the party sounded like a good idea at the time, but now I just felt out of my element.

A couple walked past us, snuggling into each other and disappearing into the darkness.

“Where are they going?” I asked Kacey.

“I don’t know and I don’t care.” Delilah replied and kicked at the dirt.

“Somewhere dark and quiet,” Kacey said as she glanced over her shoulder.

“Uh, Delilah?” My voice shook as I said the words. I silently cursed to myself. There was probably a better time to do this, like three hours ago, or weeks ago when it actually happened. But I hadn’t had a chance to tell Delilah that her kidnapping was my fault, that I was sorry.

“It’s fine, Terra,” Delilah sighed, “I know it wasn’t your fault. How were you supposed to know a demon would kidnap me five minutes after we met.”

I gripped the edge of the bench and stared at the dirt. “That doesn’t make me any less sorry about it. You didn’t deserve it, and we should have realised what the demon meant.”

“Well, to be fair, I’m Kacey’s cousin and… We. Had. Just. Met.” Delilah kicked the dirt again. “I wouldn’t say we were friends at that point. Just two people who happened to know Kacey.”

“Are you saying this is my fault?” Kacey gently teased.

“Yes Kacey, how dare you introduce me to new people. What a crime!” Delilah sarcastically retorted.

Did Delilah just smile? I think that is the first time I have ever seen Delilah smile.

Kacey bumped shoulders with Delilah as the two girls giggled. I couldn’t help but smile at them.

“So… should we go and pester the elders.” Kacey nodded towards the party.

“I think I like it better over here,” Delilah said.

“Agreed,” I breathed as we watched the party from a distance. “So, Delilah-“

“Call me Lila, I only get called Delilah when I’m in trouble.”

“Uh, right, Lila. What is the book your reading about?” I ask curiously.

For the next hour Delilah and Kacey talked about the books they were reading, and what their favourite books were. Kacey started typing a list of books I should read into her phone, then she can remember which ones to pick up for me at the library. Listening to the fantastic tales of young girls in far away universes made me hopeful. Despite their struggles, they made it.

But they had their memories. They knew where they came from.

I grit my teeth together as Lila and Kacey debated about which series I should read first.

“Are you okay, T?” Kacey asked.

“Huh, oh yea, just the whole having no memories thing is… a bit of a pain.”

“Yea, that would totally be a drag. Which is why you should totally read books.” Delilah argued, leaning forward so she could look at me. “Sure you can’t remember your past life, but you can live a hundred lives through reading.”

“Yea!” Kacey cheered. “They can give you secondhand experience!”

“Secondhand experience? That’s actually not a bad idea,” I chuckled and tapped my toes on the earth.

“Read whatever you feel drawn to,” Lila said with a soft shrug and a sweet smile.

“Read whatever I feel drawn to, huh?” I scoffed and thought about her comment. “I feel drawn to stories about someone who wakes up to a strange world where fairies are chasing her.”

“We,” Kacey begins, “have a great series for you to read.”

“Oh? Do tell,” I replied with as much sass as I could muster. The girls giggled and then Kacey began typing into her phone again as Delilah listed the books series and the author.

A couple came up to us and asked, “hey, have you seen Jenna and Callum?”

“Who?” Kacey replied.

“Our friends came this way like over an hour ago and they aren’t back yet?” The guy explained.

“They’re probably busy still,” Kacey said with a shrug.

“We’ve been messaging them for a while and they haven’t replied. Did you see anyone pass you while you were sitting here?” Then guy queried and pointed in the direction the last couple had walked.

“Yea, like a really long time ago though,” I replied and looked at the girls.

“As I said, they probably just got busy.” Kacey gave an exaggerated shrug.

“Alright little girl-“ the guy leaned towards Kacey.

“Jed,” the girl said as she tried to hold him back, “stop, they’re just kids.”

“A couple passed us like, over an hour ago and they headed back that way,” I motioned toward the back off the property.

“Let’s just go look for them,” the girl said, and the guy stumbled along as she led him towards the back paddock.

“What a loser,” Kacey muttered with distaste and stared at the party longingly.

As I followed her gaze I realised that Dinah and Claude were walking towards us. Dinah stumbles down a step, but Claude catches her with lightning speed. Far behind them I recognised Sadie talking to a nice looking guy.

“Have you guys seen Jenna and Callum?” Dinah hollers as she stumbles over the pavement towards us.

“Those two drunkards were looking for them too. Is something wrong?” Kacey asked as she looked for the previous couple.

“Sex doesn’t usually take this long, little sister.” Dinah sneered and then looked into the darkness. “Where the hell are they?”

“I’ll go and look for them, you stay here with your sister.” Claude said as he marched off into the darkness.

“I swear to god, if he gets kidnapped by a demon or a fairy, I’m gonna be so pissed.” Dinah growled as she watched the third guy for the night wander into the darkness.

“Why don’t we all go.” With a heavy sigh I stand and walked in the same direction as the previous people. The more people that went looking for them the faster we should be able to find them.

“T! Wait up!” Kacey stammered as I heard her feet stomp after me.

“What are you idiots doing?” Lila called as she ran into the field after us.

“I agree, what are you idiots doing. You’re too young to bare witness to people having sex.” Dinah called after us, as she fell into the field.

I turned to see Delilah help Dinah to her feet and lead her through the field. “Do you want to find out where you friends went or not, Dinah?”

“Of course I do,” Dinah grumbled as she latched onto Delilah.

“Then let’s go find them, best case scenario we find them,” I replied with a shrug and lead them through the darkness.

Worse case scenario we find their corpses.

In the distance I can see the back of Claude’s shirt. We follow him down the paddock and into a stand of trees. I tried my best to keep him in sight, but Dinah’s stumbling makes us fall behind. She was drunk and we should have left her at the party.

I stopped in the middle of the bush and the girls stopped in turn. We all concentrated on listening, only to hear nothing.

“What are we doing?” Dinah slurred with annoyance.

“Shh!” I snapped and strained my ears. Claude had barely been ten metres in front of us before, where the hell did he disappear to.

A slight breeze rustled the leaves above us, and then the wind settled into silence. The crickets chirped and the frogs croaked in the distance, but I couldn’t detect any movement.

“Hey Dinah, where do you think you friends might be?” I asked curiously as I stared into the darkness.

“Straight ahead, maybe,” Dinah slurred as she staggered across the ground, “there is a really nice spot along the river.”

“Nice to know where you lost your virginity,” Kacey spat and stormed past Dinah.

“Actually, I didn’t lose my virginity here, it was-“

“Don’t finish that sentence, I don’t want to know,” Delilah interrupted Dinah.

I followed after Kacey, glancing back to see Delilah dragging Dinah along. We stomped through the bush, into the darkness, with no clear destination. Straining my ears, I could hear the sound of water and stumbled through the shrubbery. We reached the rivers edge, but no one was here.

“Jenna!” Dinah shouts and then staggered.

The leaves rustle gently in the summer night breeze. Among the rustling leaves I hear a twig snap and turned. A shift in the darkness caused me to stiffen. Dinah muttered something under her breath as Delilah noticed my hesitation, and my fixation on one place.

“T?” Delilah murmured.

I hold up my hand and cautiously walk towards the darkness. Narrowing my eyes, I see a figure between the trees.

Am I just imaging it, or is there someone out there?

“Hello?” I called into the black.

A loud thud snaps my attention to see Kacey collapsed on the ground. A dark figure behind her.

“Kace!” Dinah shouted.

Delilah and Dinah collapse to the floor as something hits my in the arm.

A dart?

I’m falling.