Chapter Twenty-Five

Lucianne's running slowed to a stop. She stood in the middle of Glacier Forest, the sun now down the horizon. She was breathing hard, and foggy darkness surrounded her everywhere. She blinked, her mind racing.

There was no Hex Beast. Ghosts did not exist, neither did demons or any of those murderous creatures. But the campus murderer was a human who was still on the loose.

How could she go back to Ravenspire now? She had to investigate further.

Turning around, she backtracked to the tree stump, dug up the dirt again to get to the camera. Holding it in her hand, she ventured further into the forest. She knew where she wanted to go. She wanted to return to the meadow where she had seen her trio of friends having a ritual at. Maybe there were more clues there that told her where Abbie was. Nobody disappeared for no reason.

She trekked for a considerable amount of time until the soles of her feet grew sore. But she did not stop. The path in the forest narrowed and opened up before narrowing again. She had to duck several times and manoeuvre a few tricky terrain but eventually, the forest revealed the meadow.

She stood at the edge of the meadow, her eyes scanning the area. It was basked in moonlight, and she thought that they had chosen a good spot for whatever cult they were in. They could hold rituals both in the day and in the night well.

Walking further into the meadow, she stopped before the remains of the bonfire. The firewood was stacked on top of one another, its bark white from heat. She pried the firewood apart, throwing them to the side one by one. Maybe there was something hidden at the bottom of the bonfire.

When the firewood was fully removed, all that stared back at her was an empty patch of ground, devoid of grass. It was blackened with soot and when she touched it, it felt hard. It was eroded soil, and there was no way she was getting past that. She sighed in disappointment before she got to her feet again to walk away.

Her feet caught at a protrusion on the ground, and she fell backwards onto her butt.

She sat up in shock, her hand brushing her hair away from her face. She rubbed her face lightly and when her hand parted from her face, she saw that it was stained with dirt marks. She groaned, sure that her face was most probably smeared with dirt. She rubbed her hands against her skirt, trying to get the dirt off but when she tried to get back to her feet, she couldn't help but decide to press her hands to the dirt again to get herself up.

Her hands connected with the grass, but instead of feeling sand, she felt a hard, pointed object. Jumping in surprise, her hand jerked away and she looked down on the ground to see what it was.

It was white, stained with grey.

She touched the object and held it. Bringing it up to her face, she inspected it closer. It was a thin rod, white and bulbous at the ends. The sides were marked with soot and… and…

She threw the rod from herself as she kicked back in shock. It was bone! Cold sweat covered her skin and she gasped. Was it… human bone? It seemed like it came from a finger joint. She neared the bone again, picking it up to look closer at it. It was charred, and she lacked the knowledge to tell whether it was human or not. So she placed it back down.

What the fuck were they doing here?!

She stood up, looking around the area that circled the bonfire. More white bones registered in her vision, covered in ashes that stuck to the bone. She began to piece clues together.

What if the three of them were a cult that sacrificed humans to some god, some demon. Genevieve? She remembered seeing Abbie holding the long machete in her hand which was dripping with blood. When Genevieve was involved, blood would also inevitably be involved.

But if they sacrificed humans, that also meant that there would be bodies. Bodies that they burned to remove any traces? It made sense. She paced about the bonfire, thinking hard.

The Hex Beast was not one, but three.