Lilly froze, stock-still, in the middle of the apartment as her heart still raced too fast from the conversation with Layla. She hadn't meant to snap, hadn't meant to push her best friend away, but this pressure of keeping her supernatural life a secret was suffocating her. She'd wanted to be honest, to tell Layla everything about the ghosts that were following her and the entity and the ritual at West Wood Cemetery. But how could she explain this stuff when it didn't even feel real to her?
Her phone buzzed on the kitchen counter, pulling her attention away from the gnawing guilt in her chest. She picked it up, hoping for a distraction, but her stomach twisted at the notification.
Group Chat: Sociology Project
The whole chat was full of her class messages, all of them trying to determine where she had been and why she hadn't contributed a thing to their project. The messages had built up over the last few days, but she'd altogether been far too distracted by the supernatural mayhem that she'd barely taken any notice.
One message did stand out from the rest, though, which made her stomach drop.
Where's Lilly? She's been MIA for days now, and she's going to tank the whole project if she doesn't get her part done.
Lilly's chest was bursting, staring down at the message, its weight settling into her gut like one of those heavy stones. She had utterly forgotten about the sociology project. Between midnight journeys to West Wood Cemetery and battles day and night to keep the entity at bay, the school fell to the backseat: her grades were slipping, her assignments were piling up, and now she was dragging her group down with her.
She typed out a quick, shaking response:
Lilly: Sorry, I've been dealing with some stuff. I'll get my part done tonight.
She knew that was a lie. The furthest thing from her mind would be in-depth concentration on schoolwork when she had to return to the cemetery and try to figure out how to stop an ancient entity from breaking through the veil between living and dead. Yet, she said something just couldn't afford to lose her scholarship, not when her life was already in a tailspin.
Lilly stared at the screen, hands shaking as everything piled on top of her. Her friendships were fraying, her academic life was unraveling, and the supernatural world was swallowing her whole. She'd be able to keep this charade up only for so much more. The line had blurred almost completely her normal life and to the world of ghosts and ancient rituals-and, it wasn't very far ahead when it was to fall right down.
She let out an irritated sigh and tossed the phone onto the counter, hauling her backpack off of the floor. School and friends just weren't an option right now. Whatever was at West Wood Cemetery was growing in power, and she needed to find a way to stop it before it got too late.
As she hurried, Lilly felt the familiar weight of guilt settles over her. She knew she was pushing them all away—Layla, her classmates, her professors—but what should she do? The supernal world had its claws in her and there was simply no escaping it. She was barely holding on, and the thought of dragging anyone else into the mess terrified her.
She picked up some stuff from her room flashlight, a bottle of water, and lastly, the piece of artifact taken from the mausoleum. All these she pressed into her backpack; her shaking hands struggled hard for the zipping as thoughts of what was supposed to go down tonight whirred in her mind. It had been waiting for her, and with each passing day, it was getting stronger. Unless she did something and soon, it wasn't just her life that would be in danger, but everybody's.
She slung the backpack over her shoulder and ran toward the front door, a maelstrom of fear and anxiety going through her mind. She couldn't let herself think about Layla or the other girls from her class anymore. She needed to keep her focus ahead. The ritual had to be done, and the entity had to be stopped.
Lilly cast a final look behind her at the closed door to Layla's bedroom, then opened the front door and stepped out into the cool morning air. It hit her like a ton of brick, yet she didn't stop. She couldn't. There was no turning back now.