2. Sebastian

2

Sebastian

"She didn't see you, did she?" My friend Jesse jostled my side with his elbow as we trudged down the winding forest trail. "That cult girl you spotted earlier, I mean."

I shook my head. "Nah, she didn't see anything. Don't worry."

I was playing it cool, but heat was rushing through me as I remembered the girl I'd spied from behind the bushes when I went to take a leak mid-hike.

She was quite far off in the distance at the time, but I could hear her sweet voice, drawing me in like a siren with its haunting song. I'd crept closer and closer, suddenly desperate to catch a glimpse of a Covenant woman.

I was half-expecting a wizened old crone with a pointy hat, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a gorgeous young woman with wide eyes, delicate features, and delicious curves instead. She was plucking berries off shrubs and dropping them in a wicker basket like she belonged in a bucolic painting.

Despite her blissfully innocent, harmless appearance, I knew she was anything but innocent. Lurking under that sweet-faced fa?ade was a malevolent little witch. Literally. These fucking Covenant freaks had lived off this land for centuries, worshipping ‘dark lords' and trying to summon demons with their murderous rituals and blood-soaked altars hidden all over the forest.

Given my family's history with them, I wanted nothing more than to whisk that girl right over the fence and take out every last bit of my rage on her lithe body. I would defile it, break it, destroy it. Destroy her , along with every last member of her sick, twisted sect.

Jesse glanced up at the rapidly darkening sky. He had absolutely no idea about the sick thoughts simmering in my head, and I planned to keep it that way. "You know where we're going, right?" he said, brows knitted with concern. "I don't want to be stuck out here after dark."

I dipped my chin in a brief nod, pointing at the humming fence on our left. "It's a straight shot down to the end of this fence. Forty minutes, maybe. That's the southwest corner of the Covenant's land. We parked right near it."

"Are you sure? This doesn't look familiar."

I chuckled. "Trust me. I've been wandering around these woods since I was a kid. This is the same way we came in," I said. "It just looks different at this time of day."

As the sun began to set, the dying light cast long shadows across the forest floor, and the green foliage around us shifted to a deeper, almost-black hue. At the same time, the towering tree branches seemed to close in over our heads, giving the eerie impression that we were slowly getting caught in a trap.

Others found this land frightening after dark—Jesse included, city boy that he was—but I found it thrilling. The wilderness, though vast and wild, felt alive with a quiet, almost reverent energy. It was no wonder the Covenant cultists had set up home here all those years ago.

"Well, I'm glad you know the way," Jesse grumbled, feet crunching over a pile of dead leaves. "If I was here alone, I'd probably wind up getting eaten by a fucking bear."

The path narrowed up ahead, and I took the lead, brushing past yet another talisman those Covenant fuckers had strung up around the woods to scare outsiders. It rattled loudly, the echoes reverberating in the cool air around us.

Some of the handcrafted talismans were made from sticks bound together with string, while others were made from animal bones. All were crudely fashioned into humanoid shapes and hung ominously from branches or from the top of thick sticks driven into the damp earth, suggesting an ancient, malevolent presence in the woods. The creepy-looking things often freaked out even the most seasoned hikers.

But not me. No, they made me angry instead. Fucking furious.

My hands curled into fists by my sides, fingernails digging deeply into my palms. I wanted to tear every single one of the talismans down. Douse them in gasoline and set them on fire.

For years, I'd been tempted to light up the Covenant's land and kill every single one of those demented freaks. But that was a bad idea for several reasons. Firstly, it wouldn't even be possible to set such a huge fire, as they owned so many thousands of acres in the vast mountain wilderness. Secondly, it would do untold damage to the ecosystems there, and that was an issue my mother had deeply cared about when she was alive—all the flora and fauna in the High Peaks. Thirdly and most importantly, if all the cultists were dead, I'd never get justice for all the shit that went down sixteen years ago. I'd never get answers, either, and I needed those answers like I needed oxygen in my lungs.

As if summoned by my thoughts of vengeful pyromania, fireflies began to emerge all around us, their tiny lights flickering like stars brought down to earth. At the same time, the wilderness sounds grew louder—the distant croak of frogs by an unseen pond, the rustle of small creatures in the underbrush, and the soft whisper of the wind through the trees.

"Please tell me we're almost at the car," Jesse said, zipping his jacket high around his throat. "I honestly feel like I'm in one of those found footage horror movies."

"Five more minutes."

We arrived at the road precisely five minutes later. Jesse anxiously glanced over his shoulder at the dark, foreboding tree line behind us as we trudged over to my car. "Are you sure that girl didn't see you?" he asked.

"She definitely didn't," I replied, clicking the key fob. "And why would it even matter if she did? The cultists know the outside world exists. They even trade with outsiders sometimes."

"I know, but I worry about you sometimes, man," Jesse replied as he slid into the passenger side. "I mean, those freaks went after your mother. I'd hate for them to go after you too."

"They didn't just go after her," I muttered bitterly, pushing the handbrake down. "They fucking murdered her."

Dark images raced through my head as I spoke. A ceremony in the deep woods. Chanting men and women holding flaming torches. My mother, dressed in a flowing white gown, screaming as dirty hands tied her down on a sacrificial stone altar. Those fucking talismans everywhere. And blood.

So much blood…

I gritted my teeth, shaking off the awful thoughts.

"I know. I just didn't want to say—" Jesse abruptly cut himself off. "Look, I just worry they'll do the same to you if they find out what you want to do."

The two of us were currently in law school together, and he'd always had an interest in the most bizarre criminal cases. That was how I'd roped him into this trip to the High Peaks—an offer to let him help me with my mission to find the truth and get some justice for my mother, who he'd actually known as a kid through his friendship with me. Her murder case had been open and cold for sixteen years, even though everyone with half a brain cell knew exactly what happened to her and who was responsible.

I just didn't know why. No one else knew, either. All we knew for sure was that my mother got on the wrong side of the Covenant and wound up paying the price for it. And those motherfuckers got away with it, too. Not a single charge laid in the end.

But they wouldn't get away with it forever. No way. Not as long as I was alive.

"I get it, man," I said, pulling out onto the dark road. The sun had set all the way now, and the fireflies glowed in the darkness of the mountainous woods surrounding us. It made me feel like the woods themselves had eyes, always fixed on me. "But they have no way of recognizing me. I was only eight when it happened."

"I know. But you know me." Jesse grinned. "I overthink everything. Then I freak the fuck out over it all."

I snorted. "No shit. I've seen you at exam time."

He cast a side-eyed glance at me. "So… what's Plan B?" he asked. "Now that we know all those rumors are bullshit."

Our hiking expedition today had been a sort of reconnaissance mission to figure out if a local legend had any truth to it. The story stated that a group of hikers had found a secret tunnel leading below the electric fence, right into the Covenant's secluded village.

Alderwood.

Everyone seemed to have their own different version of what exactly happened to those hikers. Some said they all disappeared except one, who made it home to tell the tunnel story. In other versions, two or three made it home alive while the others were caught by the cultists and strung up on the fence with strange symbols carved into their bare flesh. Others said they all made it back safe and sound. Others even claimed to be one of the hikers themselves.

The one thing that every story had in common was the supposed location of the tunnel—a one hour hike along the southwest border fence, to the right of an enormous tree. Apparently, the tree trunk had a series of carvings left by some horny teenage campers decades ago. Shit like ‘A+ F' inside a heart, along with several crude depictions of tits and dicks.

Jesse and I found the tree today, but that was all we found. There was no tunnel anywhere nearby. We checked everywhere within a half-mile radius and still came up empty. That meant the only way into Alderwood was through the guarded front gate… if they allowed it. And those freaks almost never allowed anyone in.

But there were always exceptions. Like Mom.

"I'll make it somehow," I said, brows dipping in a frown. "I guess I just have to figure out a way to convince them to let me in."

"Are you fucking kidding me? You think that would even be remotely safe?" Jesse tilted his head to one side, hazel eyes wide. His voice had risen an octave. "I mean, if they find out who you really are—"

I bluntly cut him off. "I can take care of myself. The real issue is getting answers out of those pricks. You know how they stonewalled the cops."

"If an entire police department, and then later the FBI, weren't able to prove anything, then what makes you think you can?" he asked. He immediately put his palms up. "Just sayin', man. Not trying to be a dick."

"I know what you're saying," I replied, tightening my grip on the steering wheel. "But like I said, I'll figure it out. I always figure it out."

The Covenant girl was in my head again, haunting me with that lilting tune she'd sung as she gathered berries. She was beautiful, but there was something else about her that caught my attention as well. Something strangely familiar that I couldn't quite put my finger on. But that didn't make sense. I'd never been to Alderwood before, and my mother was never allowed to take photos during her time there. I couldn't possibly have seen this girl before.

Her plump red lips flashed in my mind's eye again, along with the sight of her wide-eyed gaze as she cast it around the woods, searching for the source of the sound I'd made with my boots. The seeds of a dark plan were slowly beginning to take root in my head. It would take a long time to figure out the details and make it all happen. Months, maybe even years. But in the end, it might be the only way for me to get real answers from the Covenant.

My lips curved into a thin smile. Jesse noticed and sat up straight. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking right now?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

"Depends on what you're thinking."

"You're going to go back tomorrow to try and talk to that girl you saw, aren't you?"

I nodded slowly. Talk? Not so much. Other shit? Sure. But Jesse didn't need to know the finer details.

"Yup," I said, staring straight ahead at the road. "I'm going back."