Salem

✨Chapter 15✨

The kiss seemed to go on forever. Our lips moving in tandem, together. Ben's arms held me close to him, although I had no complaints, I felt like I could never get close enough to him. I could melt into him and still, it would never be enough.

Eventually, we each pulled away for air, our faces staying ever so close, his hands still holding my cheeks, mine still tangled in his hair.

"Wow..." He breathed onto my lips. "Was...was that okay? Like did you want that as much as I wanted that, 'cause...damn. I really liked that." I giggled as he nervously ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even further. His babbling just made him ten times cuter.

"Yes," I finally answered, unable to keep the smile off my lips. His smile was one of relief, filled with affection. "I wanted that, as well."

We stayed like this for a few more moments, before we jumped apart, a loud ringing coming from my lap.

I checked the caller ID, surprised to see Alivia's name.

"Hey, what's-"

"You have to get here. Right now!" I rose to my feet as my stomach did flips at the terror in her voice, how it wavered and shook.

"Okay, okay, what happened?" Every single bad thing that could have happened ran through my head, making my stomach churn painfully. Bentley had stood, too, his hand resting carefully on the small of my back.

"They...they know we know, please just get here. I'll explain everything then." She ended the call. I felt my hands shake in fear and anxiety.

"What's going on? Was that Alivia?" Ben's voice sounded so far away and it took me a moment to respond.

"We need to get to her house right now, something's happened."

He immediately raced toward the car, while I dialed Scarlet. She picked up on the third ring.

"Something's happened to Alivia. Meet us at the car."

Within five minutes Scar had jumped in the back and we had sped off toward Liv. Scar kept questioning me about the little I knew, which only increased my heart rate, but I couldn't be too hard on her, I knew she was just as scared.

When we reached Alivia's house I noticed how all the lights were turned off, all except her bedroom. That's weird, I thought to myself, desperately hoping nothing had happened to her.

We knocked a few times and waited for a response, then knocked again.

"Alivia...?" Scar called, I could hear her voice shaking. Her curly brown hair had become a complete mess since we left the party, I'm sure the stress of the night isn't doing much to help her.

"Oh, my, Scarlet? Is that you?" She finally gasped through the door. A sigh of relief coursed through me, she was okay.

"Yeah, Ellie and Bentley are here with me, too. Open up."

I could hear locks clinking and keys jangling until the door finally opened.

Alivia's coarse brown hair was still wet, as though she'd just come out of the shower and her eyes were wide and fearful, she looked like she was shaking, too. Both Scar and I enveloped her in a huge hug.

"They left me a note." Alivia said once we'd all settled down in her room. Her parents were away for the weekend, so she had friends over to finish a group project. Once they left she'd found the note.

I looked at it and read it over and over again. The words didn't quite focus. They had 'invited' us to the woods.

"We, the Order of Queen Dena, invite you, Alivia Smith, Scarlet Stanhope and Elliot Mitchell, to meet us in the middle of the woods at eleven O' clock. Next to Ariannes's Rock. Failure to attend or inclusion of any others will result in severe consequences." Ben read aloud, a shiver ran down my spine. So this was about Queen Dena.

"We have to go!" Scar exclaimed, although she still didn't sound too okay.

I looked down at my lap. Memories of the girl in the woods flashed through my mind. Her blonde hair reminded me of Kaylee. Nausea overwhelmed me, but I tried to hold it down as best I could.

"You didn't see what I saw." I said quietly. Still not looking up. I could feel their eyes on me. "They killed that girl and you want us to go out there and get ourselves killed?"

"It's better than not going and letting them come to us. I'd rather we go and see what they want than not go and have ourselves killed, or worse, someone we love." Scarlet finally said, looking away and out the window. "I can protect you guys when we're together, I can't when we're in two different places." She mumbled so quietly I nearly never heard.

Ben finally spoke up. "Scarlet's right. I may not be able to go in with you, but it's safer to know what's going to happen than live in fear all your life."

"I guess it's final," Alivia looked up at me, I could see the sadness reflected in her eyes. "We have to go, don't we?"

It was like a wet blanket had been thrown over the room, suffocating and heavy. The only way to throw it off  would be to face them, but maybe that would be dangerous, maybe it would get us killed, but maybe...maybe it could be our chance to stop them.