The Witches (Book #1)

𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨 ℌ𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔨

I study the map of the house's location.

"It's definitely in those woods. I'm telling you," Sehun says.

I frown at the large trees, not willing to accept that truth. I'm not an off-roader. "I didn't bring a flashlight."

He laughs. "It's the middle of the afternoon."

Woods always make me nervous. I grew up on concrete.

"If your map's right, then I know the house you're talking about . . . know of, anyway. It's one of those things that everyone dares each other to find on Halloween. There's an old tale about it."

"Oh, that makes me feel much better."

"It's just a bunch of ghost stories. Nothing to worry about. None of it's true."

He doesn't know it, but that's the worst thing he could have said. "What if we get lost?"

"We won't. I have a compass on my phone."

Cell phones. That's right. At least there's that. "Okay, but who lives in the middle of the woods? It doesn't seem natural."

I walk reluctantly. The moment we hit the shade of the trees, I shiver.

"It looks like there's an old trail headed in the right direction. See how the growth is younger over there?" Sehun points ahead and to the right at some short brush. "Also, I'm sure it wasn't weird to live this way when the house was built. It's not like they had paved roads then."

The idea of no paved roads only makes me feel more out of control. A bird caws, and I grab Sehun's arm. He slips his hand into mine, and I'm too consumed with nerves to analyze my feelings about it.

He stops to look at the ground around us. "If your map's right, I think it's up this hill."

"You're paying attention to which way we walked, right?"

"You know, it's pretty cute the way you're ready to punch Kai out in the middle of a hallway like it's nothing, but trees scare you."

"I'm not scared." Neither of us believes me.

"Then maybe I should tell you the story about this place."

My stomach twists. "Wouldn't bother me at all."

He puts on the dramatic voice he used to tell me that someone was pressed to death. "Legend has it, an old woman lived out here for hundreds of years. She wasn't ugly like in storybooks, but she had mean eyes. And she could kill you just by looking at you. She ate birds, and her house was filled with their dead bodies. Most of all, she hated people who were in love. Once in a while a young couple would wander too far out and would never be seen again."

Strangely, that made me feel better. "That's ridiculous."

"Yup. Told you it was."

"People actually believe that crap?"

"People believe a lot of weird stuff in Manyeo."

Through the trees ahead of us, a rundown two-story black hanok becomes visible. The windows are made up of tiny panes, half of which are broken. The trees press close to the sides and vines overgrow parts of the walls.

Every instinct I have tells me to turn around and go home. "You guys really like your black houses here."

"Yeah." Sehun scratches his neck with his free hand. "That's weird. It's not more than a mile into the forest."

"Why is that weird?"

"I've just never heard of anyone actually seeing it before, I mean, if it's only a mile in, it should be totally findable. I considered telling you before we started that it was most likely made up. But I didn't want to ruin the adventure of searching for it."