traitor | Ziggy x Nick

10: motion sickness

I hate you for what you did
But I miss you like a little kid
-
phoebe bridgers
>>>

"You know, I was expecting creepy devil shit but this is just plain...underwhelming."

"It was definitely neater the last time I visited," Nick tells me as he prods around the stone and fallen cabinets.

"Is that good or bad?"

"Your choice," he says as he pushes a cabinet out the way, revealing small opening. "but like you said, underwhelming," he grins at me.

"Holy shit now this is what I'm talking about," I stare in awe. "Lead the way then Goode."

Nick bends down and shines his flashlight through the dusty air and cautiously walks in, and I quickly follow behind him, passing through the space after a minute. As I stand and exit the tunnel my eyes widen and my pupils dilate at the fiery glow in front of me.

"What the..."

Etched into the ground is a circle patterned with lines and a triangle in the centre, however the most prominent feature is the flame burning bright in the centre of the circle, illuminating the dim space. Kneeling down, I dip my finger into the hole and when I pull it out it's covered in the familiar black blood. I cast a glance to Nick who is scratching the back of his head, watching me.

"The witch's mark..." I whisper. He turns to me, question in his eyes. "Nurse Lane...just before she tried to kill Tommy. I saw it in her journal. Ever since Ruby died she'd spent all her extra time trying to figure out what happened to her daughter. She thought it was Fier. She found this place just like Cindy and Alice and saw the next sacrifice. That's why she tried to kill Tommy." I look up at the wall across the cavern and walk around to it. "She saw his name. But what...what is this Nick?"

Nick walks over to me and sits down so I fall down next to him.

"You seem to know it as the witches mark. And I guess it is. To everyone else it's been Sarah Fier. But this...this is the work of Solomon. Back in 1666, Solomon and Sarah Fier were friends."

I turn my head in surprise, but he only shakes his own.

"It's dumb really. In the night of the full moon party Solomon made his deal with the devil. The next day things in the Union started going to shit. Sarah got caught in the middle for loving another woman."

"Who was she?"

"She was the daughter of Cyrus Millor."

"The first Shadyside Killer," I turn to the wall behind me and see his name.

"Sarah found out about Solomon before the girl - Hannah - was to be hung. She was the only person to ever find out about his secret. Has been to only person to know since I told you. But power got to his head and he turned on her. Just as she and Hannah were to be hanged, Sarah confessed that she alone summoned the devil to the Union. She took all the blame when she was innocent. She was hanged and buried under the hanging tree."

"But her body isn't there. Cindy and I never found it."

"I don't know what happened to it. Maybe it's completely gone."

We stay quiet for a while before I motion to the pattern in the ground with question.

"Solomon, he took the book of witchcraft from the widow and summoned the devil. The mark was etched into the ground and to be filled with the blood of the sacrificed's victims. My ancestors have had to give one name every few years for the devil to take over..."

"And in return you get any wish you want," I finish and lean my head back into the stone wall.

I close my eyes. Sarah wasn't a witch. She was friends with Solomon and he betrayed her - what an appropriate beginning for Shadyside vs Sunnyvale.