What hides in the woods of Camp Ravenwood after dark?
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In the last week of summer at Camp Ravenwood and after a series of disappearances, a motley group of campers and counsellors set out to investigate-except they might be the next ones to disap...
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Chapter 020: The Dark Truths Of Camp Ravenwood
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JULY 24TH, 1987
As they walked down the tunnel and the light at the end grew closer, Peggy's dread grew with each step. She kept a tight grip on Marcus' and Jude's hands, refusing to let them go as they walked through the darkness. Something about it had Peggy tighten her grip on their hands, had them tighten their grips on hers, the darkness pressing in against them like a physical force, slithering and rippling around Peggy, its touch leaving shivers erupting throughout her body, as something whispered in the shadows, full of malevolence. But more than anything, she'd felt like something was watching her, watching all of them, that if it could, it would reach out and tear them to pieces, but it didn't, waiting.
Waiting until the right moment to devour them.
That chilled Peggy to her core.
The light grew stronger, until it broached the thick darkness and Peggy could see the outlines of her friends and the campers, seeing Dylan, Carter and Maeve at the lead. See the symbols scratched into the walls, and the words Dylan had been speaking when he reappeared and other words, scratched into the surface over and over again in an almost frenzied way. Peggy stopped to look at a scrawled phrase, almost compelled to do so.
THE BEAST RISES FROM THE SHADOWS EVERY TWENTY YEARS WHO WILL IT DEVOUR WHO WILL IT CHOOSE TEN TO DIE AND ONE TO KILL TO SEAL AND TO FREE TEN RAVENS TO FALL AT THE AXE AND DEVOURED BY THE BEAST AND TO FEED THE LAND FOR TWENTY YEARS TO COME WHO WILL IT FEED ON WHO WILL BE ITS SACRIFICE—
A tug came on her arm and Peggy turned to see Marcus and Jude looking at her, light flickering on their faces as Marcus gave her a concerned look. Peggy gave a nod of her head before she walked forward, Marcus and Jude following her. Trying to push down the dread rising in her, infecting every part of her as they saw the light came from a cave beyond the tunnel. Dylan, Maeve and Carter were crouched before it, and Dylan turned to them, pressing a finger to his lips.
Peggy listened, crouching down as she kept quiet, as Marcus, Jude, Heather, Reese, Logan, Carrie, Betty, Sam and Luisa did the same, keeping as silent as possible.
Because there was a monster nearby.
At seeing they were now quiet, Dylan pointed to the cave as he peered around the edge. Peggy did so, barely hearing Maeve smother a gasp or feel Marcus and Jude turn to stone beside her—not when she herself became paralysed with horror.
The cave beyond the tunnel was something out of a nightmare.
A stone altar was in the centre of the cave, appearing to almost have grown from the rock, stained a dark red-black from blood, fresh stains gleaming on it. More symbols were on the walls, along with drawings of the Beast, towering over a masked figure holding an axe, ten figures around it, drops of blood gushing down from gory wounds on their bodies. Another tunnel opening was on the other side, and there were ten pillars on the walls, and candles burning on the floor. And on the pillars...
