The Book of The Mist

...You're sure of a big surprise!

   Isabella

I turned in my blankets, the bunk creaking under me. In the 7 hours I've been in bed I must have woken up at least 6 times. Not for long periods of time but enough to break my sleep up into un-refreshing chucks. With every disturbance, there is a new nightmare. My friend's dead, my family hates me, being alone and being hunted. Foot fall after foot fall running past trees snagging at my jacket and hair something running behind me reaching out for me and my body would jolt waking me. I want to wash my brain with cold water, chill the whole thing out of my head. There is a tenseness to my muscles the makes me more like a mannequin on a soft mattress then some women of flesh and blood. My brain is a violent whirl wind of stupidity trying to organise the chaos of my life. I turned and looked over the side of my bed Ester slept below me her head was plastered with red hair as she turned her head mumbling in her sleep. I crawled down the ladder and shook her shoulders gentle as her blue eyes shot open and she screamed, I looked at her "what was that" I whispered to her "Ffion" she shook slightly with the words "nightmares something was calling to me calling me by that name I'm not going to sleep ever again" though shaken she smiled with the sarcasm she always used when scared. We got up and sneaked out the door trying not to wake the others. I grabbed the cups out of the sink and dried them making fresh cups of hot chocolate for the both for us. The house now seemed cold and frightened just like us "Isa have you still got that book" Ester looked at me over pale hands grasping the cup I gave her a look "yes I bought it with me don't know why" I placed the cup on the side and lent against it running fingers threw my hair. Ester jumped off the side and walk towards our bedroom door "my dream when I was being chased I had that book in my arms we need to read it" despite her curiosity I could seem her pale in the dark light of the house "I really hate to say it but I think you're right we should open it, this started with the book that means that ". I followed her to our room the grabbed the bag I had put the book in pulling it out its old leather cover held a now old seen there was more decoration on the cover with flowers engraved around the edges the ribbon looked brighter and the pentagram clearer. I placed it on the floor and Ester lit a white candle "I believe the book is wiccan and my cousin tells me white candles create positive energy" she nodded to me to open it "please open" I whispered mostly to myself pulling the belt off and untying the ribbon the pages flipped open to a page that had a photograph missing on the outside there were labels pointing in. I looked up Ester she pulled the photo out of a book she was reading and placed it back in the slot the arrows added up as if someone was analysing the source in a history, the age of the photo washed out the person colouring. To the right was a young woman sitting on a chair, her hair was up in a bun with pieces falling around a pale face she looked like Ester maybe a few years older she wore a light-coloured dress with embroidered flowers and on the label read her name, Ffion, underneath was written earth magic. Behind her stood a man around the same age with dark black hair, pale completion and wore a dark suit jacket he had a hand on Ffion's shoulder the arrow pointed to him saying Aures and that he could summon riches from the ground he looked like Anthony. Sitting on another chair next to Ffion was another woman wearing a dress that could have been black but was probably blue her dark hair fell onto her shoulders in brown waves she had a bright smile just like Dany she was called Alaw and she had water magic. On the left hand side of the photo was another man and a women with blonde hair standing arms linked she was wearing a dark dress and lace gloves the tag said her name was Aelwyd fire magic written beneath the name was fire magic and the man had pale eyes possibly blue and wore a dark waistcoat and dress trousers he looked more like Arthur but he was called Aerfen his power was celestial power to their left was a thin women with blonde hair and delicate hands folded in her lap her grey dress Deryn was written in cursive hand writing and the single word Air under it. The two right in the front on the ground were two men one slightly younger than the other but who looked like Wren and Kieran dressed in a light and dark suit they were called Carys and Colby according to the notes with the abilities over love and death. I ran my fingers over the man and women in the middle standing up, they had their arms link and holding hands the man held a startling resemblance to Kristen with the dark blonde curls and tall built structure but in the photo the man's name was Tanwyn and his power was noted differently only saying he could emit a burst of energy and then the women her dark hair fell over her shoulders and her dress had patterns sown into the hem she looked like me, this was the women's whose name I heard Enid, her note was 'the spirt'. Ester had the same shocked expression on closer inspection you could really tell who was the descendent of who " they look just like us and the symbols due coordinate with a gift see the runes are draw next to the powers" I felt like I was stating the obvious "its titled with that word Diogelwyr it means safe guarders in welsh that what the creature wrote on the window and look" she pointed to an 11th note that had an arrow to the hand reaching out throw a window behind them "it says 'we call it Diafol meaning devil it has been hunting us for 3 years and we are yet to discover what it wants with us though we know our mission is to stop it' they knew what it was" she sat up and went to the door for her slippers "this is a diary" I exclaimed "we need to tell the others" I stood to follow her gathering the white candle.

Everyone was seated around the table and the light from the flame brought out the shadows on everyone's faces. It must have been around 2 am but we were all fully dressed and surrounding the table "so the evil book is a diary" Maisy asked pushing her ombre hair of her shoulder "not evil, misunderstood" Wren said to her "we need to write all this down the retracing of our footsteps" I wanted to rub my temples the lack of sleep would probably make my dread worse if I wasn't so adrenaline high.

We hauled the cork board from Ester's room into the lounge and started pinning up what we had the photos from prom "so" Charlie begun "we found the book the day before Halloween and I believe that rush of air was the start of all this" places the drawing Ester made of the book at the start Dany then takes over "we then attended the Halloween disco and discovered we left at 11:30 pm" brushing her brown and blue hair out of her face, she pinned the photos from the dance and the one from the log book along the piece of string running the length of the board. "then we went into the woods at 12:00 pm" Dany pinned the CCTV photo on the board next to the pervious picture. Attaching the images of the runes handed over to Ester "we then discovered that we had these runes which we now know from reading the book coincide with special abilities, we also know we have connections to these people" she pinned the old photo of the Diogelwyr on the board, she nodded to me and I got up we now know that the book is a dairy resembling a Wiccan book of shadows and that this creature is called Diafol and its up to something" I finished "looks to me that we need to go into the woods find out where we went, explore a bit" Maisy spoke out.

Dany got up and walked to the bedroom door she was sleeping in "well we better get ready to head out at first light make sure phones are charged and we all have a map we are going to find something out". 7 hours later we had all rested a bit eaten dressed and packed bags, we were ready to go as Anthony locked the doors and salted the back door saying he wasn't taking any chances. Brave faces on we started the walk down the trail and into the place the Diafol had emerged from the woods. The woodland seemed ominously quiet. We paused, now even the sound of our own footfalls was silent. All that could be heard was the susurration of the leaves in the gusty wind. Looking up we were transfixed by the myriad of leaves the danced in the high boughs creating a living roof above them. I felt calm, almost hypnotised but the longer I stared the more the leaves started to resemble eyes staring back down at me and the boughs seem to creep, blocking the sunlight as if forming a cage. The crunch of Dany and Maisy's shoes on broken foliage snapped me out of my trance "hate to make this sound like a fairy tale but stay on the path it will take a split second to get lost" Charlie hissed at them from the right of me. Everyone was scouting the woods for any sign of movement. Smell of damp leaves, splash of water from the stream, fungus on rotting tree stumps, rustle of roosting birds every little sound made me jump "okay so any sort of landmark will be near the trail so if we stick to it and don't get split up then we should be able to find something". My feet were beginning to hurt, the woods accelerated the twilight that was just how long we had been walking the earth was damp and the wind was picking up. Then a loud crack sounded, we stilled and a breathy voice echoed on the wind 'found you' my voice caught in my throat but Charlie's sure didn't "Run" she yelled and we did, bolting off the path and into the woods Kristen and Anthony ran in front of me Ester at my side, my legs pumped as I jumped over fallen trees, my lungs roared my head down as I ran faster. Just as I looked up I collided with Kristen falling to the ground his blonde curls stuck to his head as we stared at one another gulping "guys look" Ester said jogging up to us, I stood up slowly and help up Kristen then looked at what Ester and Anthony were looking at. Before us was a giant stone covered in runes and a crack ran straight through it. My skin felt cold, shivering I looked around me and noticed the swirls in the air and ghosts in the trees like they were waiting for us to move I felt vulnerable. My head hurt with the magic in the air thick like it would clog my lungs It was impossible not to notice and the faces watching me with grim expressions but even with them there I noticed a lack of presence "where are the others" I shouted over the roaring wind the other whipped around in a desperate search "where are we" Anthony replied.