Page 33 of Hunters and Prey

"Aaron!" I screamed, my heart pounding against my chest in fear and frustration.

"Alice! Are you okay?!" Aaron shouted back.

"Yes, but I'm stuck! I can't get out!" I retorted.

"Just stay still. Um...I'll think of something!"

"Okay," I replied.

Alright. Don't panic, Alice. Everything is going to work out. The weather’s just messing with you.

I glanced back up to the moon, trying to calm my rapid breathing. The wind was only growing stronger, and my body was growing warmer and warmer with each passing second.

The world felt like it was spinning, following the same movement as the spiraling tornado around me. My breaths were shallow and my knees buckled, my body collapsing to the ground.

Lifting my hands up, I stared at them in shock, noticing how they glowed a vibrant orange, starting from my fingertips and moving upward. Symbols that reminded me of those in Father’s magic books appeared upon my flesh, moving up my arms. I turned my hands upward, staring at my bare palms that had similar symbols in gold, blue, and orange.

"Aaron!" I shrieked in panic.

"Alice, calm down! Just breathe!"

"How am I supposed to calm down when I'm fucking glowing!" I snapped back, tears forming in my eyes.

"Glowing?!" Aaron shouted.

"There's weird symbols on my skin, Aaron! That's normal, right? Oh god, am I being possessed? Like in those horror movies? I'm a goner."

"Stop panicking, Alice," Aaron shouted.

"You stop telling me not to panic! You're not stuck in a tornado and becoming a fucking highlighter!" I screamed.

"Kill her!"

I froze, holding my breath as I looked around me. "Hello?" I questioned.

"Alice?! Alice? Talk to me, Alice!" Aaron's frantic calls faded while the foreign, chanting crowd began to swarm around me.

"Kill her. Kill her. Crucify!"

"I have to be crazy. I'm going crazy. Yup. I've lost it," I told myself, through whimpers, my tears rolling down my cheeks as I placed my hands over my ears.

"Kill her! Crucify! Kill her! Crucify! Rid us of the witch. Destroy her."

I screamed in agony, feeling as though my body was burning from the inside out. I shut my eyes and leaned down to the ground, trying to catch as much air as I could. It felt like I was suffocating, and no matter how much air I tried to breathe in, it wasn't enough.

"I can't die. No, no, no. Don't kill me," I cried, unsure what was going on. I lifted my head to see if I was still in the spiraling tornado, but my scenery had changed completely.

Sitting in the middle of a magic circle, I looked at the five men circled around me. I looked at each of them until my eyes landed on Aaron. Or at least it looked like him.

He was much older, like he was in his forties, and his green eyes were filled with tears as he stared at me.

"We failed her," he whispered.

"Failed her? Failed who?" I questioned back, but my voice never reached his ears.

"We did," a guy with red hair answered.

"We have no hope in this life," a man with long blond hair stated.

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