We entered the Ripper Woods through an old logging trail, long abandoned and reclaimed by nature. Tall grass snatched at my ankles, and pine trees crowded the path, blotting out the grey sky.
The silence was absolute. No birds. No insects. Just the crunch of our footsteps and the erratic thumping of my heart.
"Where are they?" I whispered after twenty minutes of walking. The darkness here was unnatural, thick and suffocating.
I stopped and turned to Charmaine.
She was standing ten feet behind me. The terror that had gripped her in the car was gone. Her face was blank, her eyes cold and calculating.
A chill ran down my spine. "Charmaine?"
She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She reached up and pulled the elastic from her hair, letting her long brown locks fall. As she did, she ti
