“Priya.” Mateo bent over her her unmoving form. “It’s okay. We’re here now.”
“Priya. Wake up.” Kristy held Priya’s face in her hands. “Open your eyes. Please. Just open them. Come on, Priya. Please.”
“She’s breathing, but she’s out,” said Carl. “She’s out cold.” He paced back and forth.
“That thing’s inside her,” said Kristy. “You saw it. That thing went inside her! We need to get it out!” She shook Priya a little, her breath coming in panicky sobs.
“I’ve got her.” Mateo reached down to lift Priya’s body. “We’ll carry her out of here and get her to the hospital. Let’s go.”
Priya’s eyes flashed open. Mateo jerked backwards.
“Priya,” said Kristy. “It’s me. Your best friend, Kristy. Can you see me? We’ve got you. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Priya didn’t seem to see anything at all. Carl looked over at Mateo. He shook his head.
“I’ll grab her,” said Mateo. “Let’s go.”
Mateo took her shoulders, but then Priya’s body lurched up into him. He fell back as her body rose from the ground, slowly at first, then faster, out of his reach. Her arms and legs dangled from her torso as she levitated into the sky. “Grab her!” shouted Carl.
Kristy jumped to her feet and flung both arms around Priya’s stomach. Priya’s body continued to rise. Kristy held on, but when her own feet began to leave the ground below her, her grip loosened and she let go, crashing to the dirt.
Mateo was already moving. He jumped for her body several times, but she was completely out of reach, ten or fifteen feet up and still rising. Higher and higher, until she was above the trees.
“Priya!” shouted Kristy. She looked at Mateo. “Do something!”
Mateo was frozen. What can I do? he thought. Whatever had knocked Priya out was now taking her away, and he felt powerless to stop it. I can’t possibly reach her. Not even the tallest basketball player with the best vertical could jump that high. He watched Priya float farther and farther away from them.
I’ve gotta think of something. Priya needs me, and Kristy is counting on me. We can’t just leave her to this fate. “Let’s go!” he shouted. Mateo took one step after her, then another, the others following as he broke into a run. The spirit was moving Priya fast above the trees, with nothing to hinder it, while they stumbled across and around a plethora of stumps and rocks and other barriers. Before they knew it, her body was gone, whisked away into the darkness.
The three of them stopped, panting and heaving at the base of a hill. “It’s no use,” said Carl.
Kristy was a mess. “She’s gone. My best friend’s gone.” She dropped to her knees, her face in her hands.
Mateo wrapped his arms around her. He really had no idea what to say. Everything had happened so quickly, like a movie or a dream. Could this be a dream? Maybe that was it. Could it be possible that any minute he’d be woken up by his mom’s voice calling from the kitchen and find himself lying safely in his bed? He shook his head. No, this was no dream. He knew better. This was real, and this reality was something most people wouldn’t conjure up in their worst nightmares.
“We’ll find her,” he finally said to Kristy, trying to reassure himself as much as her. “We’ll find a way to save her. We have to.”
“How in the world do you propose we do that? Huh?” Carl railed. “How? Her body was just possessed by some white-robed, smoke-for-a-skull, undead beast! You saw that, right? What chance do we have of taking on that thing, not to mention its brother we left behind at the overlook? Now I’m sure you haven’t forgotten about him.” He seemed close to freaking out in a full-blown frenzy.
“Where do you think it’s taking her?” asked Kristy. She was shivering in Mateo’s arms.
“Remember Priya’s story?” asked Mateo. “She said there are places in these hills where spirits turn the living into one of them.”
“You think her story is true?” asked Kristy.
“I don’t think we have any other choice but to assume it is,” said Mateo. “We’ll keep going in the direction Priya’s body went. We’ll be smart this time and keep the moon in the same spot over our shoulders, to make sure we don’t lose our way. We’ll find her. And if Priya’s story is true, all we have to do is get to her before the light of the blood moon shines on her face.”
“Yeah, that’s all,” said Carl. “That’s it. We’ll ‘get to her.’ That’s a well-conceived plan.”
“You have a better one?” asked Mateo.
“We go back to the road,” he said. “Find somebody to help us.”
“Look!” Mateo pointed. Earth’s shadow had begun to pass in front of the moon. “The eclipse has begun. There’s no time to get help.”
Kristy began walking away, into the woods, following the direction set by Priya’s floating body.
“You can go back to the car if you want to, Carl,” she called over her shoulder. “Mateo and I are going to go save our friend.”
Mateo looked at Carl and gave him a shrug. He turned to follow Kristy.
Carl stood by himself for only a second. “Wait for me!” he yelled and ran after them.