19. Emma

NINETEEN

Emma

Huddled together at the bottom of the pit, we watched Beth's fingers move deftly in the dim light of our phones, tracing symbols in the air that glowed faintly before dissipating. Her face was laser-focused, her blonde hair tied back and out of the way as she muttered under her breath, the words too soft for any of us to catch.

"Anything yet?" I asked.

"Shh," Beth hissed without looking up, a small frown creasing her forehead.

Time dragged on. My legs cramped from standing still for too long. The phones’ flashlight beams flickered against the soil and roots above us, shadows dancing ominously as if mocking our predicament.

"Come on, Beth." Wade shifted restlessly beside me. "You've got this."

Beth didn't respond, just continued her silent recitation.

I swear hours were passing, but they were probably just minutes. Daniel ran his hands along my arms, which I appreciated. Although I was wearing a sweater, it was cold. He couldn’t do anything about the dark, but his magic hands certainly chased away some of the chill. Still, I was miserable, uncomfortable, and ready to go home.

"Can't you speed it up?" I nudged, feeling like a cranky child.

"Magic takes time," Beth replied curtly, not breaking her concentration. "And quiet."

I bit back another retort and exchanged a worried look with Daniel. We settled back, waiting for Beth to work her magic, literally. And I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t bother her again, no matter how long we were down here.

More time passed and my thoughts started to change. How was it that the unicorn’s scent led us here? Wouldn’t the unicorn have been trapped in this hole too? And why was it concealed? There was more going on here than what meets the eye.

I shuffled closer to Wade, peering into the dimness. "Who do you think dug this thing?" I whispered.

"Beats me," he muttered back, scratching his head. "But it wasn't nature."

No, it wasn’t. Which made me nervous. We probably needed to get out of this pit as soon as possible, before meeting whoever set this up.

Beth continued her work, her hands steady despite the desperation of our predicament.

Or maybe I was overreacting. Maybe it really was as simple as it seemed.

"Was it for the unicorn?"

Wade shot me a skeptical look. "A pit? For a unicorn?"

"Could be," I said, not convinced myself.

"Unicorns are smarter than that," Beth interjected, not pausing in her spellcasting.

"Then for who?" I pressed, my mind racing through possibilities.

Wade shrugged. "We'll figure it out when we're not in a hole in the ground."

"Focus on the positive," Daniel said. "We're finding out new and exciting ways people want to trap us."

"Yay," I deadpanned.

"Keep talking to each other," she said, in a serious voice. "It helps me concentrate."

"Right." Wade rolled his eyes. "Because who doesn't find our banter absolutely enchanting?"

"Talk, both of you," I said. "The witch is working."

I shuffled my feet, uneasy on the cold dirt floor. "We've been caught before, but not like this."

Daniel paced as much as he could in the confined space, his boots crunching softly. "Maybe it was for something else?"

"Like what?" My palm itched at the thought of unknown dangers. I rubbed the scar without thinking.

"Remember the bodies we found last week?" Wade chimed in, flashlight beam dancing across the pit's walls as he spoke. "They were in a pit, too."

"Graves," Beth corrected, her fingers deftly sorting through her bag. "But this doesn't look dug for the dead. It’s not as big as that one was, for starters. And it might be even deeper."

"Then what?" I eyed the steep sides.

"Us. Alive." Daniel's words hung heavy, a silent accusation against the shadows around us.

"Great." The weight in my chest grew heavier. Daniel reached out, brushing my hand with his own, a silent plea for comfort that I returned with a squeeze.

"We might be in deeper trouble than we thought."

The beam of my phone’s flashlight quivered as I aimed it at the walls, searching for a way out. Beth's fingers danced through her spell components, each movement deliberate and tense. "Talk,” she said.

I sighed and grabbed the first subject that came to mind. Obviously, about the unicorns. "So, someone is using unicorns to cure werewolves."

Wade turned his head, considering the question, his dark blue eyes contemplative under the furrowed arch of his brows. "Yeah." He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Unicorn horns are known to heal a wide range of ailments, including that one."

"I didn’t know that." I said. All this mess, all this danger, because of some twisted form of medicine?

"Indeed," Wade replied, his tone matter of fact. "Been used for centuries in various forms. Potent stuff." He shifted his weight, the sound of dirt shifting underfoot.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. Unicorns, werewolves, spells, this was fast becoming too much to take in. But Wade seemed unfazed, like he'd seen it all before. And maybe he had.

"Do you think it really works? For werewolves?" I asked.

"Probably," Daniel replied, his flashlight beam dancing over Beth's hunched figure. "A whole horn could probably do it, wipe the curse clean."

"Completely?" The word hung in the air like a tangible thing.

Wade nodded slowly. "And even just part of a horn, I’d bet it can stave off the transformation for a while."

"Wow." It wasn't just about trapping some mythical creature; it was someone's desperate grasp at normalcy, or so it seemed. "But curses too?"

"Yep. Unicorn horn does have the power to break those, given the right spell."

"Amazing," I murmured. My mind raced with possibilities, with questions. Who would do this? Why?

"Are you done yet?" My voice was more of a whine than I intended, the tension knotting tighter in my stomach.

"Shh," Beth hissed without looking up. She emptied her bag with swift movements, an assortment of jars and sachets tumbling out onto the dirt floor like a magician's endless handkerchief trick.

"Sorry." I rubbed my neck as Beth's fingers danced over her collection of oddities: a feather here, a stone there, all illuminated in the jittery beams.

"Almost," she murmured. She was focused, scanning her makeshift inventory with the seriousness of a general at war.

"Got it!" Beth stood abruptly, triumph written across her face. "These should work." She thrust her hand toward each of us, and in her palm rested a piece of gum that looked like it had rolled through a witch's pantry. Dried herbs and what I hoped were just colorful stones protruded from the sticky mass.

"Uh, what?" I eyed the offered piece suspiciously. "We're chewing our way out of here?"

"Exactly," she said as if this was everyday advice. "Chew them; they'll get us out of the pit."

"Seriously?" I turned the gum over in my fingers, the bits and bobs jutting out uncomfortably. "This isn't going to turn me into a frog or something, right?"

"Trust me," Beth insisted, popping her own piece into her mouth. "It's perfectly safe."

"Okay." I gave in. The gum looked like a science experiment gone wrong, but we didn't have options. "If this turns me into a Jack Russell Terrier, it's on you."

"Deal," Beth replied with a grin, already chewing.

I hesitated as Wade and Daniel did the same. My piece of gum was gritty between my fingers, the odd bits tickling my palm. Shrugging off the dread, I shoved it into my mouth. It tasted like mint laced with dirt. Blech.

"Chew," Beth instructed, her words muffled by her own gum.

Then, she knelt back down and put everything back on her bag, chewing rapidly the entire time. When she was done, the bag was back on her arm, and she looked like she was ready to be beamed up by aliens. Which was unsettling. Were aliens real too?

I winced, chewing with complete disgust. The texture of the gum was bizarre, crunching and squishing all at once. I chewed faster, waiting for something, anything, to happen. Suddenly, my feet lifted from the ground. I gasped, flailing as the pit's walls receded beneath me.

"Whoa!" Daniel's laugh boomed through the air. "This is wild."

"Keep chewing!" Beth called up to us.

Wade was next to me, his eyes wide with exhilaration. He reached out, trying to stabilize himself, but only succeeded in spinning a bit.

"Look at us go." he exclaimed.

We were rising higher, and laughter bubbled up within me, infectious and freeing. I looked over at Daniel, who was doing somersaults in the air, and couldn't help but join in the fun.

"Never thought I'd be flying tonight," I called out, my worry temporarily forgotten.

"Tell me about it." Daniel chuckled.

Beth hovered above us, clearly pleased with herself. "Told you it would work."

"Any idea how we stop?" I asked, noticing the treetops were getting closer.

"Chew slower, " Beth ordered from above me. Her command was punctuated by a thud as Daniel collided with a tree trunk and let out a grunt.

"Slower? Isn't that gonna make us rise more?" Wade asked as he dodged a low-hanging limb.

"No, it's counterintuitive. It'll slow the ascent. Trust me." Beth's tone left no room for argument.

I gingerly chewed once, twice, trying to temper my pace. The branches became a blur of dark shapes, and the cool night air brushed against my skin as our climb gradually eased.

"Is anyone else seeing this?" Daniel's voice trembled with urgency.

I squinted into the distance. There, shrouded in moonlight, stood the hooded figure again, motionless, watching us. A chill ran down my spine, and the laughter died in my throat.

"Can we get down from here?" Wade followed my gaze.

"Working on it," Beth snapped, her brows knit in concentration.

"Great, 'cause I'd really like to not be a sitting duck up here," I muttered.

"Keep chewing, just slowly," Beth repeated. "We need to control our buoyancy."

"Feels like a bad carnival ride," Daniel mumbled.

"Focus, guys," Beth said. "We need to concentrate if we're going to get out of this."

Only, we kept rising. Higher and higher. I rose through tree branches, being smacked ungracefully in the face as I spit out pine needles and flailed my arms, trying to help myself.

"Even slower!” Beth told me.

I obeyed. One chew. Then, none. One chew. Then, none. I stopped rising. I seemed to hover in the air, the wind whistling around me. The hooded figure not far away.

"I’ve stopped, but I’m not going down,” I said.

"Even slower,” Beth said. "Just don’t stop chewing entirely.”

The others were just below me, but I slowly began to sink. So slowly that it was almost painful. I sank below them, then reminded myself to chew again. It slowed my descent.

"We need to reach him before he disappears again,” I whispered.

Everyone was slowly floating down now, but it was too slow. The hooded figure was doing something, I wasn’t sure what, but he hadn’t seen us yet. He was just a short distance from where we were in the woods. Close enough to catch, if we were only on the ground.

I groaned in frustration. "We have to do this faster.”

"Just stick to chewing slowly,” Beth warned me.

And then what? Let the man go? Then, the unicorns will continue being killed, and we’ll never learn who was behind this. I had to do something. And fast.