Page 99 of Mystery in the Mountains

This could not be happening again.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

4 YEARS AGO ~ SUNNY

The rain streamed down the window as Sunny wrote her note.

She tried to explain herself, tried to explain why she was leaving. She would be back but just needed space. The visions of the brutal accident that had killed her mother had taken over. She was powerless to stop them.

Whatever had caused the accident and caused her father’s madness was turning on her. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t rest.

While Asher would be mad, he would understand. She was just getting out of town for a few days to clear her head.

Tucking the letter in her jacket, she dashed through the rain to her van.

She’d bought this camper van a few months before her mom died. Abe and Asher had helped her to get it running. Once it was running, Asher painted the outside with beautiful sunflowers, and she had decorated the inside. They’d had plans of camping and exploring the world together before they eventually settled on the mountain. That was the plan.

It was like everywhere she turned, she felt the madness that had just driven her father to an early grave.

The wipers waved quickly, trying to keep her windshield clear in the downpour as she drove to Asher’s. She rolled up to the mailbox and shoved the letter inside before running back around to the driver’s seat.

As she rolled away, she could feel the bond pulling her to Asher, but if she went and told him, he wouldn’t let her leave. What good would that do? It wouldn’t protect her from the madness closing in.

Nothing would protect her.

She needed to get away. She needed to find a place where she could breathe, a place where the memories of her parents weren’t around every corner. Once the visions stopped, she would come back.

Asher would understand.

She wiped the tears streaming down her face with the back of her hand as she passed the Thank You for Visiting Hecate’s Hollow sign. This was only for the night, maybe two, but she would be back.

As she crossed the state lines, Asher was on her mind like he’d been this whole time. Yet, as she pulled over for gas in Kentucky, she couldn’t feel him. It was the first time she hadn’t been able to feel the bond since she was a teenager. She didn’t care for the feeling one bit. Even as she was running away from all her problems, she knew her heart was Asher’s—it always would be. There was no way around it.

While something deep inside of her told her this was the wrong decision, it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the fear that had been blaring in her ears since the death of her father.

The smell of gasoline filled the air as she pulled over to fill up. The sun was starting to crest on the horizon. After filling up, she made her way over to the pay phone and dropped a quarter into the slot and dial his number.

“I’m sorry. You do not have the correct amount to make that phone call,” said an automated voice.

She put the phone back in the cradle as she blew out a breath. He would understand, right?

Slowly, she made her way back to her van and started driving again with no destination in mind, just the thought of getting away from the mountain, the visions, and the ghost of her father.

Chapter

Thirty-Four

SUNNY

The sun was getting lower in the sky, and Sunny was about fifteen miles outside of Hecate’s Hollow. She was almost there.

But then her engine groaned, and her van lurched.

“No, no, no,” she said.

This could not be happening. While she was close to the Hollow, she didn’t want to walk home in the dark.

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