(TW: this chapter will contain suicide, drug abuse, and violence. Please be aware!!)
Everyone will die.
Including the person who wrote this sentence.
As well as the person who is now reading it.
*******
20 YEARS AGO,
OCTOBER 31ST, 1859.
A young girl was sad that no one attended her sixteenth birthday.
People said the day of October 31st was cursed since the same day in 1859 due to the tragic events of what happened.
The day the Hybrids of Willow's Peak came to light.
The witches.
Oh how that girl just wanted someone to be there...a friend if anything...just for no one to arrive?
Her parents drops her off at the venue, and left to get party snacks from the local restaurant.
They never came back.
She figured she would be fine by herself for a few minutes, but it was more than that.
A few hours past it.
She thought about getting up and leaving when she heard a voice.
"Audra..."
A soft voice.
A female voice.
Drifting from one ear to the other like a faint echo.
"Who's there?"
Audra moves her head around, her eyes catching on a figure in the distance.
Near the table where her presents would've been put.
She stands up, and against all better judgement decides to go over to it.
It because they don't look human.
Maybe it's the fact that they seem to be eight feet tall, or maybe it's the fact that their eyes are red. And glowing.
"Are you sad, child?"
Audra doesn't want to admit it.
"Yes..."
"It's your birthday, right, sweetie? Why is no one here?"
"I don't know. My mom and dad left and never came back."
"Does it make you...angry that no one is here?"
Audra nods softly.
"I'd say so. I'm quite upset."
"I can give you a present...you're turning sixteen, right?"
"Yeah. I'm sixteen now. Who are you?"
"Hmm...let's just say...a friend. You can call me Esmeray."
"Okay, Esmeray, what is my gift?"
The figure shakes their head slightly.
"Oh no, dear! You have to work for what you get. Go through the trials."
"Yes! Have you heard of the Salem Witch Trials?"
"Yes...where people were accused of being witches...what does that have to do with anything?"
"A lot, actually, child. But I won't bore you with the details...you will have to do sixteen tasks in order to get your gift. Do you agree?"
"Okay."
"Great...I have the first one for you. Go and get one of those napkins."
Audra walks back over to the table, picking up a napkin before going back to the woman.
"What do I do with this?"
"Just keep it with you. It'll be useful. Next task is for you to go home, okay?"
"Okay. Where are you going?"
The woman pauses.
"Back home too."
"But how am I—"
"We share the same home, sweetheart."
Audra's face pales.
How does she live with them?!
Her mind goes blank before she nods.
"Okay."
She goes back home as normal, completely forgetting about her birthday party.
No one showed up anyways.
She should be fine.
As soon as Audra gets back home she goes back up to her room, where she sees the woman waiting.
"Hello, Audra."
"H-Hi, Esmeray. How do you know my name?"
Esmeray doesn't answer.
"Your next task is to go to your bathroom."
Audra goes to her bathroom and sees three bottles.
All three full of pills.
"Pick a bottle and take all of them."
"But—"
"Only one bottle is filled with pills that will kill you instantly. The others won't be bad."
She switches her eyes from one to the next.
Prescription pills.
Antidepressants.
She picks up the one on the right, looking back at the woman.
"All of them?"
"All of them."
Audra takes all of the pills.
Seemingly nothing happens.
"Good job. Now, go to bed. I'm sure you are sleepy."
As soon as Esmeray says it her eyes get droopy.
"And stay asleep. Do not get out of bed until ten in the morning. No matter what you hear or what you see. Goodnight, Audra."
"Oh umm...goodnight."
*******
THE NEXT NIGHT...
11:59 PM.
Audra's last task.
"You've done all fifteen tasks so far, Audra. The last one is simple."
Audra, beaten up and sick looks up at the woman.
She wants to die.
"You see this noose? Kill yourself."
"Why?"
"That is your last task. Then you will get your gift."
Audra frowns.
She does want that gift. Perhaps the pain of everyone simply forgetting her and her existence will go away.
Audra decides to do it.
"Okay."
She walks over to the noose, and as soon as she tightens it and steps off the platform, everything goes black.
*******
She wakes up, a pain in her body.
Did she not just die?
She does not feel sick anymore, and is now surrounded by four women and five men.
"Hello, Audra."
Her eyes switch to a woman with bright red ones.
She's familiar.
"Esmeray?"
She grins.
"Oh goodie...you remember me!"
This time she can see her face.
"I-I thought I died!"
"Those pills I made you take...those pills were filled with one of my potions..."
"Potions?!"
"Yes!"
They all smile at Audra and she frowns.
"How?!"
"I'm a witch, silly! All the way from the Salem Witch Trials...they did catch one witch."
"You're from 1692?!"
"Yes...do I still look young?"
"Who are you guys?! And where's my gift?!"
Esmeray grins.
"Silly little greedy child...there was no gift! We're the Hybrids of Willow's Peak."
"H-Hybrids?"
"Why of course! I'm part witch and part demon. And my name is Esmeray."
A girl with bright pink eyes turns to look at Audra.
"I'm Chimera. Vampire and werewolf."
Then a boy with pale gray eyes.
"Griffin. What the name says. I'm a griffin and an elf."
A tough looking guy moves his almost pitch black eyes to hers.
"Chaos. I am both a dragon and a human."
"Circe! I'm also a witch but a siren as well."
A seemingly bored guy does the same.
"Balor. Cyclops and centaur. I can just take form of a human."
A girl with long blue hair smiles.
"Isolde. A nymph and gorgon."
A guy with a small crescent shape on his forehead gazes at Audra.
"Moon. I am the son of Selene the moon goddess."
"Shadow. Personification of death and otherwise a vampire."
A very gentle looking woman with violet eyes, and silver and black hair looks at her.
"I am a werewolf and a vixen. So basically part wolf and part fox."
Her eyes sparkle.
"My name is Astrid."
******
(ASTRID'S POV)
"What?! Witches?! Young man, you must be joking."
I wheeze, holding onto my stomach and knee to support myself before looking up.
"I-It's true. G-Gale is telling the truth."
I grimace, letting out a whimper of pain when my skin peels back, bleeding.
I try to stand up straighter, only to collapse backwards into Gale again.
He lifts me upright and frowns.
"Miss Astrid, are you okay?"
"I-I'll be fine...thank you for your concern."
My eyebrows furrow.
"Gale...I feel the presence, I feel the spirits...they're calling out...the chosen one is near..."
My head starts to spin, and I stagger forwards again, before falling backwards onto the floor with a sickening thud.
"I don't feel too good..."
Through my droopy eyes I see Gale's face, and then Wisty's.
"Oh no! Someone help!"
As my vision blurs even more, I see a dark shadow come up behind the announcer man and slit his throat.
I lift my hand up shakily, pointing to the empty spot before blacking out.
*******
(GALE'S POV)
"Is Miss Astrid okay, Lawton?"
Lawton moves his eyes to mine from Astrid's bed.
"I believe so."
He fully turns around to face me.
"Young one, you are aware that the claims you are making are very odd?"
"I am. But believe me...something's wrong. Astrid told me herself."
I move my eyes from his to Astrid laying still behind him.
"She said she felt the presence, the spirits. She said they were calling out, and that the chosen one is near."
Lawton makes a face.
"That surely is odd, Gale. Do you have any clue on who the "chosen one" could be?"
"No. Not at all."
"You're new friend seems to have a connection with the supernatural...is there something you're not telling me?"
I blink.
"Well...you know that she's not necessarily human...and I can make trees?"
"What?"
Lawton stares at me as if I'm crazy.
"I can make trees. And read minds. And according to Miss Astrid I'm an elf. I didn't want to seem creepy."
He rubs his eyes.
"Oh dear. Gale...do you know how odd that is?"
"I do, sir."
"Good. I'd be concerned if you didn't. Wait...if you can read minds...can you read hers?! Go into hers? I need to have a valid reason to my suspicions of her."
"Isn't that invasion of privacy?"
"You are too nice. You will be fine."
I stand up and approach Astrid laying flat on the bed with her eyes shut, a frown stained on her face.
She even flinches every now and then.
Perhaps Miss Astrid is having a nightmare.
Poor girl.
Lawton watches silently as I take both of her hands, and shut my eyes, seeing the dark purple of her mind.
Normal people's minds are red on the inside...
My eyes jolt open at what her voice is telling me.
How do I tell him?
How do I tell him I'm one of them?
"She's one of them, Lawton!"
"What do you mean one of them, Gale?"
"A hybrid. Astrid's one of the Hybrids of Willow's Peak."
*******
(IVY'S POV)
"It's here...? What do you mean?"
She teleports next to me, holding out her mangled hand.
The slit mouthed woman smiles.
"Come with me...you cannot trust them..."
"But—they said not to trust anyone else!"
"A clear distraction...come with me..."
I look down at her hand, feeling compelled to take it.
"Okay..."
I take her hand and let out a small screech when we disappear.
Bonnie and the man look behind them, and she hisses at him.
"How did we let her go that fast?! We almost had her killed...her heart...the thing we need to start the apocalypse."
*******
I appear back in a dark, open field of the forest, and I look around.
"Hello? Where did you go?"
"I'm here..."
I snap my head around, seeing her sitting in the grass, almost invisible in it.
"Who exactly are you?! And what is it?!"
"It. The demon. The monster that made me this way."
She looks back at me, and I grimace.
"My name is Coralia Aries. Cora for short. I died in 1873."
I frown.
"Someone killed you?"
"I killed myself."
"Does that mean—?"
She looks back up at me with an insane smile, and I realize I made a huge mistake.
"That I'm it? Yes. It's here. I'm here. And you're going to die the same way I did..."
********
(ORABELLE'S POV)
As soon as I go down the left path by myself I get a feeling of unease.
Something is here.
And the crying that just seems to get louder and louder is proving it.
I walk closer to the source despite myself, seeing someone huddled against the tree trunk in a heap of sobs.
I think it's a trap...I know it's a trap...but what if it isn't?
I go with my gut feeling and approach them, crouching down slightly.
"Why...why...why?!"
The person jerks their head up and grabs onto my shoulders tightly, shaking me.
"Why?! Why did she have to die?!"
My eyes widen in fear as tears of literal blood fall from his eyes, and he continues to sob.
"Who?"
"My Cora..."
"Cora?"
He lets go of me and I stumble back, before going closer again.
"Sir...may I ask what your name is?"
Through choked sobs he looks back up at me.
"Florian. My name's Florian Trinity."
********
(SPENCER'S POV)
"I feel like this is a really bad idea."
I turn my head to Cecily.
"Leaving Ora all by herself? I feel like it was too."
"Probably was."
We both look at Emmett who doesn't seem fazed at all.
"What are we meant to do now?"
Emmett points ahead.
"Guys? I think we have a bigger problem."
Cecily gasps.
"Are those—"
I grimace.
"Werewolves."
*******
(LAWTON'S POV)
"How do you know?!"
I look at Gale wide eyed and he starts to slightly panic.
"She said it in her mind! We have to wake her up! What if she knows something?!"
"She probably does, Gale! Get Wisty!"
I watch as he scrambled out the door, and I stare at Astrid.
What does she know?
*******
Gale soon comes back with Wisty who comes over to the bed quickly.
"Perhaps we just need to shock her?"
Gale looks at her like she's crazy.
"She was just burned, Wist! That would hurt her even more!"
"Gosh darn it, Gale! Stop being such a sweetheart for once and just help! Most likely since she's not human, if we try and do something she'll freak out. So you both hold her down while I shock her. It'll get her up...but it might her her as well. We'll see."
Gale hesitates before gently holding her left side down while I hold her right.
"Jesus Christ, Gale! Just hold her down! It's not going to do any harm!"
Gale sighs before holding her down more firmly, and Wisty takes her little shocking devices and puts them on Astrid's stomach, pressing the button.
She cringes when she jolts up with a loud scream, flailing around.
Wisty pulls the things off and backs away.
"Are you okay...?"
"Ow! Bloody hell!"
She looks at Gale then me, and growls.
"Get off of me!"
We both back away as well and she winced, before huddling back in the corner.
"Why are you all looking at me?! Stop it!"
Gale hesitantly steps forward.
"We just needed to get you up, Astrid. We believe you know something."
"Know what?!"
As she looks between us she frowns.
"Oh. You think I'm part of this, don't you?"
"Well—"
I hold out my hand to Gale before sitting on the bed in front of her.
"Listen, Astrid, we don't think you're a part of this, we know you are. I asked Gale to go in your mind, and you were saying: how do I tell him I'm a part of them? Which logically thinking, is that you're a part of this group of witches. And you know what happens to witches, Astrid?"
She stares at me.
"They get hanged. And I wouldn't want that to happen to you. If you tell us the truth, we won't hurt you."
Astrid shakes her head slightly.
"You guys are insane! You think I'm part of a group of witches?! That's—that's crazy!"
"Tell us the truth. I mean it. I won't hesitate to get the guards to execute you right now."
She glares at me for a moment, her violet eyes twinkling with malevolence.
Her palms glow a bright purple when she grabs me by the throat, her hands searing marks in the delicate skin of my neck.
Wisty let's put a small scream and Gale panics, yelling all sorts of things.
"Astrid! Astrid get off of him! You'll kill him!"
But Astrid doesn't let go, and I grab tightly onto both of her wrists, prying her hands from my neck before pinning her down on the mattress, panting.
"Astrid, what're you doing?!"
She looks at her hands then my face, her eyes sparking before dimming back down.
"I'm sorry."
Her lips dip down in a frown as her eyes focus on the burn marks on my neck.
"I didn't even know I could do that...I-I'm sorry."
"You're way more dangerous then I thought..."
I gently let go of her, and she slowly shrinks back into the corner again.
"Who actually are you, Astrid? Tell us."
She releases a breath.
"My name is Astrid Mara Dolores. I come from a vixen, Leila Mercer, and a werewolf Thorne Dolores. When I was sixteen I was approached by Esmeray, who I now know is a wicked witch. She and Balor lead a group called the Hybrids of Willow's Peak. Every year they sacrifice a member to get a new one. And while they do that they take over every little place they can and make its people their little minions."
Astrid sighs.
"I fell prey to her because when my mom died and my dad left I was just a little wolf girl that didn't know what to do. That soon led to my downfall because before you know it she tried to sacrifice me to Quillon, or their little cult leader. He says that if you sacrifice a member every year for one hundred years, that he will come down to Willow's Peak and grant you your biggest desire. They've been going on for thirty years at this point. I managed to escape, and now have been living in fear that they'll find me and kill me. Earlier today, I swear to you, I saw one of them. She killed that announcer man."
We all stare at her.
"That's crazy. I can't believe that happened to you." Wisty says, her eyes wide in surprise.
Gale opens his mouth to say something when we hear laughter.
Female laughter.
What the—?
We all stand up, and Gale draws back the curtains to see a group of ten people at the ground floor, with glowing eyes.
Astrid backs away as one makes eye contact with us, grinning.
"Oh no...oh no, no, no."
We all turn back to her and Gale shuts the curtains.
"What is it?!"
"T-That's them! Those are the Hybrids of Willow's Peak! I-Isolde—"
We hear more giggles, and Astrid lets out a scream as someone drags me back with a large blade to my throat.
"Did someone say my name?"