At midnight, I got a group text from Zoe and Maya.
Zoe
Hey, are you guys awake?
Zoe
Have you heard from Abby?
Kiara
Not since yesterday. Why?
Zoe
I haven’t heard from her all day.
Maya
I haven’t either. But I’m sure she’s fine.
Zoe
Idk. I want to go to her house and check.
Maya
Can’t. My mom and I had to go to Atlanta.
Zoe
Ki, will you come with me?
Kiara
I already snuck out.
Zoe
Oh my gosh, thanks. Where are you?
Kiara
I’m almost at the bus stop.
Maya
The shuttle to the city doesn’t run after eleven, idiot.
Zoe
Wait, she’s not going to the shuttle.
Zoe
You’re up to something, aren’t you, Ki?
Kiara
When we were coming back from downtown today, I saw the same boot prints along the side of the road down a dirt path.
Zoe
Seriously? The prints you think your boyfriend’s been leaving?
Kiara
He’s not my boyfriend.
Zoe
Oh my gosh, that’s so creepy. Where would he go?
Zoe
All that’s out there is forest and swamp.
Maya
There’s actually an old plantation house out there.
Maya
But no one’s lived in it for over fifty years.
Zoe
That sounds creepy—I’m going with you.
Kiara
Go check on Abby like you wanted to.
Zoe
We’ll do that—together—on the way back.
Zoe
I’m not letting you go into the swamp alone.
Zoe
I didn’t even know about this plantation.
Zoe
It’s gonna be hard for you to find it on your own.
Kiara
I can follow the boot prints.
Zoe
You’ll never track him in the dark, Ki.
Kiara
Fine. I’ll wait at the bus stop for you.
Maya
Um… You DO realize this is a horrible idea, right?
Maya
Kiara’s already told us all her friends disappear…
Maya
And now you -- her friend -- are going into a swamp with her AT NIGHT to look for some guy who mugged us yesterday?
Zoe
I don’t know what you want me to say.
Zoe
I guess it’s a good thing you’re not here, Maya.
Maya
Yeah, because it means I won’t die.
Zoe
Look, you should probably just leave this to us.
Zoe
We’ll text you if we find anything.
Ten minutes later, we headed on into the darkness...
Kiara
What are you afraid of, ghosts?
Zoe
Alligators, actually.
Zoe
There’s no shortage of ghosts in Georgia…
Zoe
But I’ve never heard of anyone being carried off by one.
Zoe
Gators, on the other hand…
Zoe
What about you? Do you believe in that stuff?
Zoe
In ghosts and… whatever?
Kiara
But Miss Maria said something the other day…
Kiara
She said that what we know about this world couldn’t fill a thimble compared to what’s really out there.
Kiara
I got the sense it was about ghosts… and whatever.
Kiara
Probably more about the ‘whatever.’
Kiara
And I guess I’m believing that stuff more and more lately.
Kiara
Hang on. We need to go this way.
We headed down an overgrown dirt drive.
The dim light of the moon was blocked out
By the branches of the ancient oak trees lining the way, dripping with Spanish moss.
Zoe stooped down and shined the light from her phone on the ground.
Kiara
What are you doing?
Zoe
Trying to see if those worn out Doc Martin footprints came this way.
Kiara
They did. Trust me.
Zoe
Are you saying you can see that boy’s footprints in the dark?
Zoe
You’re not joking, are you?
Kiara
I wouldn’t joke about this.
Kiara
Do you remember when you said that there was more to our little mystery game than simple deduction?
Kiara
Sometimes I just know things.
Zoe
I told you, Ki, you don’t have to explain yourself to me.
Kiara
I know we’ve only known each other for a few months…
Kiara
But you’re by far the most reliable person I’ve ever hung out with.
Zoe
We’re best friends, Ki. You can say it.
Zoe
Nothing bad is gonna happen to me if you do.
Kiara
I don’t know about that.
Kiara
Strange shit has been happening to me over the last year.
Kiara
Stranger than usual. It’s like, in the way I…
Kiara
No, I literally mean the way my senses work.
Kiara
Everything has been in hyper-drive.
Kiara
Like the other day at the mall…I heard Hat Guy’s wife say to the kids, ‘Daddy’s going back for napkins.’
Zoe
They were like a hundred feet away…
Kiara
I know. But I heard her, clear as a bell.
Zoe
So… you have super hearing now?
Kiara
Not just hearing. It’s all my senses—sights, sounds…
Suddenly, we were standing before a wide, round clearing.
In its center stood an old fountain covered in a tangle of vines.
Beyond that, a two-hundred-year-old Gothic mansion towered above us.
It was unimaginably eerie.
