Days since her confrontation with Silas were tense, filled with an on-growing sense of unease that Lilly couldn't get rid of. The closer she was getting to the roots of the Grey family and their dark rituals, the more restless the spirits in West Wood Cemetery seemed to grow. It was as if the closer she came to the truth, the more the cemetery itself shrugged back, trying to keep its secrets buried.
Lilly continued to frequent the cemetery, but now the job of grave cleaner almost felt like a cover-up for the real work she was doing-unraveling the mystery surrounding Silas' death and the darkness tied to West Wood. But every time she stepped through the gates, the atmosphere felt heavier, more oppressive. The spirits that haunted quietly now seemed agitated, their whispers loud, forms flickering in and out of sight more often.
As she walked along the rows upon rows of gravestones now upon which a familiar pathway softly shone in the moonlight, the temperature fell sharply that night. The air felt thick like it pressed down upon her chest from all sides, and breathing became a chore. She could feel the presence of spirits-very strong-spirited tonight for the first time, she sensed something else. Something darker, something malevolent.
Her footsteps slowed as she approached the part of the cemetery where older graves lay, their headstones cracked and worn with age. There was a silence so unsettling it made Lilly think she was being watched.
Then, in an instant, there was a shadow across the corner of her sight. Lilly's heart leaped to her throat as she spun around, the beam of her flashlight cutting through the darkness. But there was nothing. Just empty gravestones, standing like silent sentinels in the mist.
She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. She had seen shadows in the cemetery before, but this was different. The presence she sensed just wasn't a ghost but something else, something darker.
Lilly kept walking, her flashlight sputtering as she wove between gravestones. Whispers started soft-it was just a little hum back in her brain-but with each step louder and louder, it was as if the air itself was alive with screaming, talking dead, and all of them speaking in one voice, overlapping into a roaring cacophony which spun her head.
She stopped abruptly, her breath catching in her throat as she realized what the voices were saying. They were warning her.
Leave. Leave this place. You don't have any right to be here.
Lilly's heart was racing in her chest, her hands shaking down to the grip she had on this flashlight. She had received warnings from the spirits before, but never like this; urgent, desperate.
The air grew cold around her, the darkness weighing in from every direction. Lilly took a step back, her pulse quickening as the whispers grew louder, more insistent. She knew she should leave, knew that whatever was happening in the cemetery was beyond her control. But she couldn't turn back now. Too deep in, too close to the truth.
As she did so, there appeared before her a figure that coalesced out of the mist. Lilly's breath caught suddenly in her throat as she realized in an instant what the form was - the spirit from the night before who had warned her to stay away. Its eyes shone dimly in the dark and there was a feeling of malevolent hostility emanating from it.
You, the spirit hissed in a low and malignant tone, you don't belong here.
Lilly swallowed hard, with her heart racing. "I'm not leaving," she said strictly in tone, though the gorge rose in her stomach. "I need to know what happened here.
The spirit's eyes narrowed, its form flickering in and out of sight. "You won't survive," it snarled. "The darkness will consume you, just like it did the others."
Lilly's skin prickled with fear, but she refused to back down. "What darkness?" she demanded. "What are you talking about?
It came closer, its features twisted in rage. To the Greys, their power is still here. You cannot stop it. It will destroy you.
It sprang at Lilly, its contorted shape falling toward her with such a velocity that leaped her heart to her throat. She sprang backward, the flashlight flying from her grasp as she braced for impact. But just as this sound came opposite to her, it smelt away into nothing and left behind the chill stifling stillness of the graveyard. Lilly was frozen in her step, shallow gasps catching her breath as the darkness closed in around her. The spirits weren't restless- angry was more like and whatever happened at West Wood Cemetery was still alive, still waiting to rise.