SUNNYVALE

(34) SOMEONE IS IN PRETTY DEEP SHIT

Tierna was truly in survival mode ever since she walked in on Sam and Abby kissing - or at least it seemed like it. 

But she needed to focus on a much greater problem: she had received a text from Crystal with the indication to meet her as soon as possible to The Circle - Westside's secret students bar that served as a meeting point and partying point as well. So, when Tierna got there, she found out Tobin was already there... as well as Crystal, Sam and... Abby, who didn't even dare looking at her or Sam at the moment. 

When she gets closer to the group of friends, Crystal debriefs them regarding what happened to Christen: how she was abducted by a doctor named Dr Naeher who seemingly knew all about their condition, and was looking for them. Then, she went on explaining to her friends what Christen went through - the tests, the torture, everything... only to find nothing - except the fact that she was sort of a psychokinesis: she could literally move matter with her mind alone. 

Once her account was over, Crystal just informed the girls that Christen was currently at her parents' house, explaining to them that a doctor illegally took her in without the consent of her parents - since she was minor. Sighing in relief, the girls were starting to smile again, only for Tierna to break it down all over again when she says:

"Well, guys, I did some researches, and what I found isn't... great."

"What do you mean?" Tobin immediately asks, raising her eyebrows. 

Ever since Megan died, Tobin seemed even angrier at this whole situation that anyone else - to the point that Tierna was actually quite worried about what her sister would do if she actually could fight shadows. 

Either way, Tierna explains herself, concentrated:

"Thanks to Becky, actually, who was spot on about witches and stuff, I did some digging into the book Christen's grandmother gave us: there is an entire section dedicated to the history of Melas - Sunnyvale's old name, Salem spelt backwards - and it's quite interesting. For instance: although old Sunnyvale wasn't known at all - I mean, there were about 20 inhabitants - it's like the town is Salem's little sister, which explains the two towns' similar names..."

"Enough with boring old cities history" Tobin interferes, setting her jaw, "get to the point, please."

Quite angry at her sister for her intervention, Tierna nevertheless continues: 

"Precisely, this 'boring old cities history' is highly important for us right now: around 1692 through 1693, when the Salem Witch Trials happened, a lot of the alleged witches fled Massachusetts where Salem was located, in order to find unknown cities to establish themselves and their families in."

"How is this related to-" Sam starts, but Tierna ignores her. 

"This is when it gets interesting: in 1693, the inhabitants of Old Sunnyvale counted a new member amongst them." she instead goes on, staring toward Crystal and Tobin rather than toward the two other girls. She takes the book out of her bag, before opening it where the page was folded, only to continue: "The witch hunt occurred in many villages in Northern America, but nobody thought about checking small villages in neighbouring states, such as Melas. Therefore, when the newcomer arrived in town, nobody suspected anything, until a series of murders occurred with the exact same methods than those of the shadows: bodies drained from their blood, so that the witch could bathe into bathtubs full of blood."

"Why would someone even do that?" Crystal asks, dramatically disgusted.

"Cause, according to this book, it brought witches strength and immortality."

"Let me get this straight" Tobin interrupts her once again, frowning. "You're telling me that, 1) an immortal witch might still live here and haunt us, 2) that-"

"No, I'm not saying that: the witch eventually died, and she is buried in the Black Forest, right in between East and West-sides."

Abby loses her breath.

"Right where some of the bathtubs and bodies were found..." she whispers.

"What was her name?" Sam jumps in, frowning. After a while, she adds, shrugging: "I mean, one of us come across from it in other books while we research..."

Tierna looks at this old book's pages for a while longer, before turning it around in order to show it to the other girls: in a red ink - maybe blood regarding its consistency - there was written two surnames and one last name, that just prevented everyone from breathing:

OPHELIA MOLLIS ZORA

***

Kristie Mewis is walking through the Black Forest, guided by an invisible force.

It has been this way for a few weeks now: during the night, she would just sleepwalk to the dark forest, before waking up in the middle of it, with no memories or clues whatsoever of how she got there and what she did. There is only one thing that keeps happening every night that she remembers: she had, each time, a deep cut on the palm of her hand, that is sliced every night to the same depth. 

Tonight, something seemed different: once Kristie's palm got cut by an invisible force, and that the shadows surround her to lift her up from the ground, thunderstorm start breaking the heavy silence, as a violent, almost tropical, rain starts falling down on the Earth. Falling on the ground, Kristie suddenly gets up, still not totally conscious, just like she does every night. However, as she felt before, something about that night was different. 

Everything was so cold. 

Kristie... We need more blood... For the Queen has to rise, we need more blood.

"No, please" Kristie cries, before she notices Alanna Kennedy, also kneeling next to her. 

Around them, the rain keeps on falling pretty hard, as Kristie's sobs are the only sounds that could be heard above the raindrops falling on the ground.

Shadowy forces then appear much clearer in front of them: all the victims that had been drained of their blood appeared before Kristie, who held a scream back - their eyes were all red, filled with blood, as they only were shadows now, only wearing floating black veils.

As Kristie sets her jaw, she feels Alanna's hand on her shoulder, whispering to her, visibly still possessed:

"Stop fighting, Kristie: we were chosen to bring her back to life, and we must do our duty, or die."

Kristie's eyes suddenly change when a faceless shadow - quite brighter and bigger than the others - touch the middle of her forehead.

Quite after, she just whispers:

"Yes, my queen..."

And, on the whitest rock one could ever see on Earth, that did not suffer time or erosion, another name gets engraved out of the blue, announcing the next victim.