Kiss Of Death (Are You Afraid Of The Dark)

24

Besides the occasional giggling coming from Seth, everyone was absolutely silent as they walked through the forest in the Land of Scary Stories. It seemed like they all kept going in circles through the trees and brush because they were trying to escape from the forest before they got lost. But Rachel thought they were already lost here. She swore she had seen that tree that looked like a knotted mess three times already. She didn't say anything, though. She didn't want to break the spell that was hanging over them. 

Time seemed to go extra slow as they traipsed through the forest. Rachel wasn't sure how long time had passed since she was sucked into the Land of Scary Stories. It felt like forever to her, but her friends had been trapped here much longer than she had. That meant that it was only a short amount of time since she came here. But how long was that? She wasn't exactly sure. That wasn't a pleasant thought to have at all, and it sent a shiver down her spine. 

Rachel watched as Seth tried to walk away from the group, and Hanna grabbed onto his arm, pulling him back toward them. Being in the middle of the traveling group was weird because she felt safe since her friends were all around her, but she would feel horrible if one of them got hurt because they were on the outside. So far, though, they hadn't encountered any evil person besides that vampire that had pretended to be Akiko. That had to be good, right? Probably not because they were all building up to destroy them.

As they were walking through the forest, Rachel heard twigs breaking a little farther from them than what was near their group. Her guard went up quickly, and her skin prickled uncomfortably. She didn't know when it had gotten this easy to put her guard up, but it was easy. This didn't sound good at all. She knew that someone was approaching their group, someone who walked so delicately and tentatively. Around her friends, she could see a woman appear in the shallow light breaking through the tops of the trees.

"Oh my," the woman said. She sounded so relieved as the brightest smile Rachel had ever seen formed on her face. Her blonde hair was a matted mess, like she had spent a lot more time in these woods than they had, though her face was perfectly made up like she had access to makeup. "Oh my. Real people are standing in front of me." She stared at Rachel and her friends like they were mirages in the desert. "Wait. You kids are real, right?"

"Yeah," Rachel said with a frown on her face. She couldn't be sure that this woman was good even though she sounded so happy that they had found her in the woods. She wasn't sure if she should trust anything in this place. "Are you not real?"

"I'm very much real, thank you," the lady snapped, her face falling into a snarl. Terror ran through her veins at the sight. Just as quickly as the woman got angry, she shook her head, the pleasant smile returning to her face. That gave Rachel bad vibes. "You guys look horrible." 

"I think we could say the same thing about you," Akiko said sourly. She had her arms cross over her chest and asked, "Have you been trapped in the Land of Scary Stories, too?"

"Yes," the woman breathed out. She wrapped her arms closer around her torso, like she was cold. Rachel hadn't felt the cold in a while, which could have been a good or a bad thing. "I've been stuck here for years, and you guys are the first real people I've seen. Ever since I got here, I've been hunted by a woman who has given into vanity."

"Wait, are you part of the Midnight Society?" Rachel asked her.

"Yes!" The woman nodded energetically. There was something in her eyes that made Rachel trust her. It seemed like she truly knew what the Midnight Society was. So, did that mean that more people from different Midnight Societies were going missing, too? Was it not just her group and the Shadow Bay group? She had no idea. "I am part of the Midnight Society, and that's where I disappeared."

Rachel glanced back at her friends. She couldn't really read their faces because of the shadows behind her. She wasn't sure if they trusted this woman or not, but it seemed like they nominated her as their unofficial leader. She had to make a decision on whether to stick with this woman or try to get away safely. Against her better judgement, she said, "We're in the Midnight Society, too, and we're trying to find the rest of our friends to get out of this place. Do you want to join us?"

"That would be great," the woman said warmly. "I'm Ms. Valenti."

"I'm Rachel."

"Here, you can use my mirror to check the woods behind us as we move forward," Ms. Valenti said, handing Rachel a rustic looking mirror. Much of the glass was dirty and smudged with mud, but Rachel could see just enough out of it. "I know it's very dark outside, but it's the best we can do right now with that monster on the loose."

When Rachel glanced into the mirror behind her, her eyes got caught on her own reflection instead of the area around her. There was a strange light in her eyes, one that made her see her own beauty that she really hadn't ever seen before. There was a tug at her heart when she looked at herself in the mirror. She had never seen herself as beautiful before, but her reflection told her otherwise. 

She was entranced with what she was seeing. Her brown eyes sparkled against her shiny cream skin. What she thought was an ugly nose actually accentuated her narrow eyebrows. Was that what Gavin always saw when he was looking at her? Because he never said that she was as beautiful as what she truly was. He never complimented her on her looks, and she deserved to be showered with accolades for how truly beautiful she was.

However, all those thoughts were quieted when the mirror fell out of her hand after Hanna ran into her. Rachel's vision cleared up, and she could see Ms. Valenti standing in front of her with a small smile on her face. Hanna had picked up the mirror by now, and she was staring into it with wide eyes. Her moves were more sluggish than what they had been before as they started walking through the forest again, making Rachel frown. What in the world had happened to her when she was looking in that mirror?

"I hear her coming," Ms. Valenti whispered suddenly. She reached out and grabbed Rachel's wrist, her nails nearly digging into her skin. "The monster has found me again."

Rachel couldn't hear anything. She glanced at her friends to find them all with frowns on their faces, besides Hanna. Hanna wasn't even close to them, though; she was a few feet behind them, staring into the mirror intently. That startled Rachel. Why wasn't Hanna with them? Why was she far back still? Rachel was about to go to her when Ms. Valenti gripped her wrist tighter, keeping her next to her. 

"We can't move," Ms. Valenti whispered so softly that Rachel could barely hear her. "She'll find us."

Unfortunately for Ms. Valenti, Seth took that time to laugh as loudly as he could, his shrill voice echoing around them in the forest. Blue liquid dripped down his chin as he stared blankly at a spot somewhere deep in the forest, an unhinged look on his face. Ms. Valenti's face morphed into something that chilled Rachel to the bone. Just beyond her left shoulder, she could see a figure approaching them with a veil wrapped around her face, leaving just her eyes showing. 

"We have them now," the new woman said, her voice breathy. "We can gain our looks back and get new lives."

"Only two girls have looked through my mirror," Ms. Valenti snapped at her. "We can't do it just yet. And now you have spilled our plan to them."

Rachel felt one of her friends grab her other wrist and try to pull her away from the two evil women standing in front of her. However, Ms. Valenti's grip was much stronger than that, like she had the strength of a thousand men. Her appearance slowly shifted in front of Rachel to show an old wrinkly woman, probably hundreds of years old. This was not good at all. She was trapped in the nightmares of people that made up these stories.