Beyond the Border | ✔

36 | rule 12

RULE 12: BE SUSPICIOUS OF EVERYONE AROUND YOU — REPORT ANY ODD HAPPENINGS. WE CAN NOT RISK A BREACH IN OUR WAY OF LIFE.

✷ C H A P T E R      T H I R T Y - S I X ✷

"Did you see their eyes?" Heath was still panting, his determination locked in on the road. Through the reflection of the mirror, I was able to see Heath squint his eyes, the corners of his lips twitching. The car revved up, zooming out of the parking lot, saying goodbye with a shrill screech.

"Yeah," Mina seemed in a daze as her words lacked her usual perky enthusiasm. "They were purple."

"They were under the spell of a witch," Heath mused while he slammed on the gas again, even harder this time which caused my body to lurch forward. The car zipped past countless small, abandoned-looking buildings. "We must be getting close."

The town of Mystaria seemed to be a desolate place. No one walked on the sidewalk. No lights were on in any of the buildings. There were no signs of life. Only a couple haphazardly painted signs marked the streets, signaling someone had been here at some time even if it was years ago.

There were no signs of wildlife anywhere. No birds in the sky. No squirrels or rabbits scouring about. There was not even a fly to swat away. Nothing.

However, a thin layer of fog fell upon us – the town's greeting call.

"Heath, someone is tailing us," Mina said, horror laced in her voice. Her head turned to look out the back window. At her words, I too took a look behind me. A giant, black vehicle, similar to the one we were in, was trailing behind us.

The lights on the car behind illuminated the street, disrupting the serene vibes that once floated through the air. The other car was picking up speed, getting closer to us with each second. From our distance, I couldn't see who was behind the wheel, but I had an inkling that it was connected to the man who had attacked us just minutes earlier.

"Are we supposed to be here?" I asked, my eyes not moving from the car that was only a couple car lengths away from us now. My body tensed up as if to brace itself. I tried to fight the instinct to lean forward and compact my body — the memory of my recent car crash fresh on my mind.

While my body had mended itself quite well, I still had a cast on one hand and a lingering headache. My broken ribs no longer made me wince with each step, but if I even breathed too deeply, I would be jabbed with a reminder I was almost knocking at death's door not too long ago.

"This is exactly where we're supposed to be," Theo said like he was digesting the situation while his words left his mouth. His voice was comforting and steady, seemingly unaffected by the high-stress situation we found ourselves in. "It seems Vanessa has taken over this town to deter people from finding her. I imagine if we fail to find her, we'll end up like those men who tried to attack us: under her spell."

My mouth dried as words failed to leave my lips, the gravity of the situation sinking in. Fighting against my body, I mechanically turned to see the car was now nipping at our rear end. I could see the person who was on the driver's side now; upon further inspection, I would hesitate to call the driver a person.

His skin looked to be sunken in, dark shadows under his eyes. He was wearing the same shirt the men back at the gas station were clad in, but his shirt looked more tattered, fraying at the edges. My body shivered at the sight of him – he gave the phrase ghost town a whole new meaning. It appeared as if this town was occupied; it was just occupied by ghostly beings.

Lost in analyzing the strange driver, I had not noticed he was only inches away from our car. Theo and Mina were both hollering at Heath to speed up, to turn, to do anything but get hit, but Heath – even with his supernatural reflexes – could not dodge the car scraping against the side of our car.