Chapter 1
envenomate
verb: (of a snake, scorpion, spider, or insect) to poison by biting or stinging
The girl panted and panted but received no breath.
She fled and hid, until no place was left.
There was no day when her eyes were dry.
She lived in fear until the day she died.
Some say her soul roams these woods, looking for an innocent to devour and take her place.
Others say it is the man who remains, or at least, his spirit.
Such a man as that, they say, had no soul.
Me? I would say, let us go and find out.
“Are you serious?” Sadie groaned, tilting her head back to make sure she did not spill her mouthful of chip and salsa while she spoke.
“Sadie, close your mouth when you have food in there. That’s disgusting,” Caroline’s feminine voice reprimanded softly.
Sadie rolled her large, olive-green eyes. “Yes, Mom,” her strong, full voice bit back as her hands reached for another chip, going for the guacamole this time. She ignored the soft chuckles and amused smile of some other girls. “Is that the whole reason we are out here? To investigate some lame old legend?” she asked Tabitha, bringing the conversation back to the original topic.
Tabitha sighed, rolling onto her stomach on the floor. Her light lavender tank top slid up to expose her gently tanned midsection. “C’mon, Sadie, I thought you would be able to enjoy a little adventure. We’re here to get to know one another. School started two months ago, and none of you have been present to any of the floor, dorm, or school activities. I thought this would be a great retreat for Fall Break since you all stayed behind. College is the time to make friends and memories. You can’t do that when you stay hidden away from everyone.”
“Yeah, like going on a weekend retreat to a cabin, without cell phone coverage or cable, is totally going to rock my world,” Sadie sighed. Standing up from the wooden floor, she brushed crumbs off her satin pink night gown. “I’m taking a shower. “I think wiping this humid grunge off myself will be the most excitement I get to experience.”
Caroline pursed her nude-colored lips, not impressed with her floor mate’s rude behavior. “I appreciate that you want to get us involved,” she directed toward Tabitha, “But I think making this trip a requirement was a little much. I have homework I need to do, and my relationship with my boyfriend is the relationship I want to focus on. I don’t want friends to get in the way with that.”
Tabitha’s light green eyes widened almost comically. “Is your boyfriend that much work? ’Cos, if that’s true, then, girl, I don’t think it’s working.”
Caroline’s eyes showed a lack of amusement at her honey-skinned acquaintance. Not wishing to comment further on the matter, she turned her attention to the final girls remaining in the room.
One stood at the window with her back to the group and hands placed against the small, worn frame. Striking up a conversation with her did not seem like a good idea. The other one sat cross-legged on the edge of one of the beds, watching the interaction of the others. She would have to do.
“What’s your name again?” Caroline asked softly.
The girls had carpooled for the thirty-minute ride from Fayetteville to Devil’s Den State Park. They had unpacked about an hour and a half ago, and Caroline had yet to hear a peep out of the skinny, white, brown-haired girl.
A small, pink blushed formed on the girl’s cheeks. She opened her mouth to speak, when a loud scream filled the air.
“AHHH!” Sadie ran into the room with a yellow towel barely covering her smooth and creamy, caramel skin. “SPIDER!” she screeched as she dove behind Tabitha. “Mama bear, go kill it!” she shouted as she ducked her head in and out from Tabitha’s back, as if doing so would allow her to see into the bathroom.
This time Caroline had to roll her eyes. That girl was ridiculous.
Laughing in good nature, Tabitha headed into the bathroom with a rolled-up newspaper. Ten seconds and a loud whack later, she walked back out.
“All clear. You can go take your shower now.”
Sadie fell onto her back exasperatedly. “Oh no,” she sighed. “I think I’m just going to rest here a while. Let my heart rate calm down. Damn, I think that was the hardest workout I’ve put my heart through since outrunning Jimmy the animal balloon guy at the College Day Fair.”
“Sadie! Shut up! This trip is not all about you! Now,” Caroline shouted before turning back to the small girl on the bed. “What was your name, sweetie?”
“Adina,” the brunette said softly, her fingers gently twirling her collarbone length hair.
“I’m sorry. Did you say something? I couldn’t hear you?” Sadie said cheekily. “Ow,” she replied a moment later, after Caroline threw a pillow in her face.
“Adina?” Caroline asked to confirm what she heard. Adina nodded with a polite, sweet smile. “That’s pretty. I like it. Adina, Adina, Adina.”
Adina’s smile brightened as she watched the intimidatingly beautiful woman say her name. Caroline’s skin was the softest shade of light brown Adina had ever seen, and she found herself jealous of Caroline’s black hair that was styled into perfect waves. To say she was nervous was an understatement, but with Caroline’s nice words, Adina felt herself begin to loosen up.
Naturally shy and reserved, Adina preferred others to take the first step in making friendships. After growing up home-schooled in Montana, to say her first year at the University of Arkansas was a huge environmental shock was an understatement. She normally only had to put up with her mother and younger brother. College was vastly different, which left her dorm room as the lone place where she felt comfortable and relaxed. Even small gatherings like this made her uneasy.
Very much the wallflower, Adina was content to sit back and watch rather than get involved.
“So, Adina, what do you think of our crazy dorm assistant’s idea to drag us to the middle of nowhere for ghost hunting?” Sadie asked, smacking gum loudly while staring up at the wooden ceiling.
Tabitha laughed, not at all offended by the young girl’s tone or words.
A low growl filled the air before Becky, the only other white girl in the room, tore away from the window. She had literally been plastered there for forty minutes, give or take. All the other girls watched as she immediately walked out the cabin door, letting the screen slam shut.
Sadie muttered an ill-mannered curse under her breath, causing Adina’s pale blue eyes to widen.
“Sadie!” Caroline shouted angrily. How could one use such language?
“What?” Sadie asked innocently. “She is! That girl is the most stuck up and snobbish girl I have ever been stuck in a room with but not met. Her aura just screams, ‘Stay away from me. I hate you.’ Well, shoot, I hate Miss Blonde, ain’t-got-no-booty too.”
Tabitha’s eyebrows narrowed with thought as she continued to look at where the tall, strong built woman had walked off.
At twenty-three years old, Becky was a strange one. A senior transfer, the girl seemed to take no pleasure in anything but the two young men she occasionally conversed with. Upon a little sleuthing into Becky’s family history, Tabitha discovered the elusive males were her brothers and lone remaining family. Their parents had died at a young age from, get this, snake bites.
Tabitha used to feel put off by Becky’s nature, but after finding out the girl had witnessed both of her parents getting bitten by cobras when she was just eight years old and unable to do anything, well, Tabitha found it hard to judge her after that.
Pulling her long, curly brown-black hair into a ponytail, she smoothed the strays with a long exhale. “Don’t worry about her, girls. I’m sure it’s not personal.”
“Humph,” Sadie scoffed. “Speak for yourself.”
A small cough filled the air, causing three pairs of eyes to immediately rest on Adina, who was nervously adjusting her light blue and white striped cotton pajamas.
Biting her lips, she braced herself to speak confidentially. “Are we really supposed to go in the woods tomorrow?” Her heart had been pounding in her throat, but she thought she spoke okay. She did not know if the other girls were affected by the ghost tale Tabitha told, but she felt uneasy after hearing it.
Given the name of the state park, Devil’s Den, Adina was already worried. The tale tipped her over into rattled.
Tabitha nodded with a wide grin as she walked over to her small cot. “Yup. Don’t worry though. The sun will be up when we first explore tomorrow. And the trails are well marked. We’ll be together, and trust me, you have nothing to worry about.”
