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It didn’t shake its head or nod, only pointed toward the opening in the ground.
“Is this a trick?” Sadie asked, somehow able to remain calm, but something felt strange inside her, and she couldn’t draw an answer as to what it was exactly.
The creature only bowed its head at her, then nudged her toward the opening. It didn’t follow her as she stopped along the edge, where a stone staircase led farther down. Sadie glanced back, and the other creatures now stood there, waiting for her to descend the steps. Her throat grew dry, in desperate need of water. But she forced down the lump in her throat and took the first step onto a stone stair—she would risk whatever she came upon.
As she slowly ventured down the steps, the air smelled of freshly-dug earth. She held up the flashlight, the soft light guiding her through the darkness. Glistening white stones covered the walls with strange markings etched in. She skated her fingers across the swirling patterns while going down the path that led to a wall.
Sadie reached the bottom, studying the massive wall before her, carved with bird and eye symbols and what looked to be a man and woman standing by a bonfire in the center. Skulls and lifeless bodies surrounded them. Another staircase curving downward rested to Sadie’s left, a soft orangish light flickering from its depths.
The air shifted, the earthiness becoming less heavy, and a new scent took shape. Sadie inhaled, breathing in honey and sandalwood. She silently begged any entity above to hear her prayers, let this curving staircase lead to her husband. But she didn’t know if the steps would only bring her to another staircase, to more otherworldly creatures, or maybe even the spirits of the ones who’d died in these woods, or something else … insidious.
At the end of the stairs was a short foyer or passage covered in more symbols, these triangular with eyes circling each one. The passage opened to a small square area where, at the center of the room, stood a man, facing away from her, his dark hair brushing his nape. He wore a black T-shirt and jeans, dark boots covering his feet, just like the day he’d died... Only, in his right hand rested a glistening, obsidian dagger.
His body stood still, frozen, and it had to be him. It had to be. Yet a part of her was too afraid to look in case it wasn’t.
Sadie trembled as she inched forward. The room held six doors with lanterns hanging from each one, different insect symbols carved above them.
“River?” she whispered, her gaze never leaving the dagger in his fist as she pressed her hand to his shoulder.
The figure inhaled, the dagger crashing to the floor, and he started to turn. Before Sadie caught sight of his face, she was no longer in the room but somewhere else surrounded by dirt. Her eyes adjusted to the morning light spilling into the hole she’d dug.
It had been a dream. Following mystical lanterns through the woods, the mysterious creatures who’d led her to a man whose face she hadn’t gotten to see. But Sadie knew, without a doubt, it was River. The scent, his build, his hair color. The only thing that had been different was the black dagger in his hand.
But maybe, just maybe…
Sadie ignored the burn in her arms as she hoisted herself out from below ground and ran down the path where she’d gone in her sleep. The branches… The trees… They were all how they’d been in her dream—only they weren’t moving or whispering. Instead of wind carrying music or creatures luring her in through the darkness, quiet filled the air, and shadows swarmed like bees along the ground, folding around her.
Her eyes widened as she stood before a curtain of vines hanging from a long, curving branch. And when she pushed them aside, the trees still formed a closed-in circle, yet there were no hanging lanterns, no fire, and no entrance in the ground that could lead to her husband.
Chapter Ten
“Sometimes you have to wake.”
As Sadie stared at the weed-covered dirt, it should’ve come as no surprise that an underground pathway wasn’t there, that she’d been dreaming after all. But it was more than a fantasy—everything that led her to this spot in the woods had been the same as in her dream, only the hole and the fire from the bare logs were missing. She hadn’t been out in these parts of the woods in months, and she didn’t remember there ever being trees aligned in a circle, hidden behind lush vines.
Temptation barreled through Sadie, urging her to collect the shovel and dig once more. No matter that her arms ached or that hunger stirred within her. Sadie needed to quell her curiosities and find out exactly what was happening. When she’d pressed her hand to the figure’s shoulder in her dream, she had felt him. Had felt the muscle and bone that she knew belonged to River.
Sadie retrieved her shovel and hurried back to the place of her dreams. Tucking a lock of greasy hair behind her ear, she buried the shovel into the ground as the shadows formed around her, not leaving her side.
She dug for an hour, second-guessing herself as she uncovered only dirt. “Something is down there,” she whispered to the shadows. “You being here is proof of that, so why won’t you let me see it?”
None of the silhouettes answered her, and she needed to be doing something different.... Maybe she needed something more powerful to open this gateway—she thought about Coral, how she’d mentioned the metaphysical shop. Taking out her phone from her back pocket, she called Skyler.
“Sorry I didn’t message you back yesterday,” Sadie said after he answered. “Are you still off work today?”
“I am. Why?” he asked slowly. “You have that sound in your voice.”
“If you’re referring to the time I dragged you to the abandoned movie theater and you broke your arm, it’s not like that. Anyway, remember when we first met, and you told me your house was haunted after I did an essay on ghosts?”
“I lied.”
She snorted. “I know this because you made that confession the same day. But before the admission, you showed me the dowsing rods that supposedly detect spirits.”
“Right.” He chuckled. “And if you recall, they moved zero, so I ended up saying fuck it, then told you I lied and didn’t believe in ghosts.”
“Your parents wouldn’t still have them, would they?” She hadn’t been to his parents’ home in years since Skyler moved out right after high school.
“No, they never worked for them either, so they got rid of them.”
