Wiccan Act One: Occult

13 | Wildfire

Dedicated to lamiwrites

Christian

XIII

Hazel's password was child's play.

Time and time again, both he and Cyrus watched her type it in, unaware of wandering eyes. He never had to use that information until now, but luckily, he remembered.

K-I-T-T-E-N-1-0-3-1

The car sped its way down the street, heading towards the town's entrance, Christian making out the 'Welcome to Oakwood' sign in his peripherals.

"Veronica, take the next left." Cyrus said, continuing to drip sweat on the seat.

"What? The deal was I take you two home." She questioned him, confusion ringing in her voice.

Christian barely paid attention, focusing solely on the mass of missed calls folding Hazel's phone. Most from her brother, then her father, Cyrus, fellow cheerleaders and even himself. He opened her gallery in search of anything that might give away what happened.

"Just take the left please Veronica." Cyrus sounded stern, a step away from his usual.

She sighed in response, her chilly breath causing the hairs on Christian's skin to stand up as the car turned to head down a different path.

Nothing in Hazel's gallery interested him, until he noticed a drawing she did, dating back to the night she got taken.

After the week he had, he began to hate spirals. The drawing was messy, most likely one done with her finger, made entirely out of black, something the police would look over, believing it to be irrelevant. For him, it brought his eyes to the time at the top of the screen.

7:08 pm.

Day three is almost over.

He sighed, continuing to push through more and more rows of selfies until he found something else that piqued his interest.

"Take the next left." Cyrus told Veronica.

Most of the picture was a light periwinkle, the same colour of Hazel's bedroom walls. Some of the paint scraped and peeled, revealing the naked cement behind. To no one's surprise, the scratches rotated around each other, forming another spiral.

"Now a right." Cyrus continued to direct blankly.

He mentioned to Christian that Hazel said she'd seen the spiral somewhere and had been doodling in class as if in a trance. Rowan had also stopped himself before telling him where he had seen it before. Did Rowan find the symbol in her room? Did she get possessed?

"Left."

No, that wouldn't make sense. Heading out of town terrified her. If she had been possessed, why would she want to leave so quickly? Maybe the spiral marked down who the monster should take. Does that mean the guy they found in the dumpster also saw one? Was Cyrus right about the creature coming for him next?

"Head straight."

"But Cyrus, that's taking us out of town again," Veronica questioned.

"Please." His voice sounded distant, almost disconnected from his body. "Keep going."

"Okay weirdo."

Maybe all of this needed to be looked at from a different angle. From the date, Hazel saw that spiral the day before she got taken. Why not have the monster kidnap her then and there? Why leave a mark that could inform her she was in danger. Unless it wasn't a marker. But a warning. The claw marks on Cyrus's car looked similar. They had the same ferocity and width. Was the monster marking people on its own? That also made little sense.