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Mara tried to shove the boy in front of her, but her hands waved right through him, and she toppled to the ground. The boy, on the other hand, had no problem touching her. He stomped one foot hard onto her back, forcing her front side to smear into the mud below her. She struggled to free herself, but nothing worked. "Let me go!" She cried helplessly, wrenching her face up out of the sucking grip of the mud. The boy let out a maniacal giggle and kept his foot firmly in place as she squirmed. Mara could see Chailyn running farther away from her, and closer to the thing behind the trees. "No!" she screamed. "Chailyn, no!" But the girl didn't hear her, no matter how loud she shouted. "Let me go!" she yelled, mud squelching between her fingers as she grasped and regrasped at the ground around her, searching for something to pull herself up. Far off, she heard Chailyn scream. "No!" she cried again, "leave her alone!" Mara kicked and jerked, but made no progress. Her muscles began to ache, and finally, to throb until she could move them no more. "Don't hurt her," she sobbed with desperation. "Please don't hurt her." Above her, the boy giggled again, and she felt him lean down until he was so close that she could feel his breath on her ear,
"You know better than that," he whispered, "of course we'll hurt her." Mara screamed, every bit of energy she had left tearing through her body. And still she could not move. Slowly, the forest around her began to fade again, and the warning chants vibrated around her. Go back, go back, go back, they pleaded. But one voice called a little louder than the others. Please, it yelled, help. Mara gasped, but before she could call back to explain that she couldn't help, before she could even let out her breath, she was opening her eyes to bright whiteness and staring through tears into the face of her mother. |
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