The Spanish moss danced in the breeze like lost souls floating down Hades’ river. Cassie reached up and let it glide along her palm. The physical feeling matched the psychological impact her visitors had on her. She looked down and saw that the ground beneath her had disappeared. A black void threatened to suck her in. She clutched at the moss, twisting her hand in an effort to wrap it around her wrist. It wasn’t that far to the tree trunk, which was still rooted in the earth.
But the moss gave way and she dropped fifty feet in an instant. A stifled attempt at screaming gave her pause for a moment. Overhead, dozens of crows ascended from the old oak tree, leaving behind barren branches. There had been leaves there a moment ago. Or had that been the silhouettes of the birds?
“Think it through,” she muttered to herself. “You’ve been through this before.”
The dream was one she’d had several times. After the first few instances, she came to realize it was a harbinger that always started the same way with the moss and the void. Someone communicated with her this way, though she wasn’t sure who it was. It was after this moment that things changed.
Just let go.
She spread her fingers wide and let the moss unravel. It clung to her skin as it did so. Cassie breathed in the blackness as she descended through the void. Thirty seconds passed. The light began to filter in. She was near the end. Almost at the place where the message, if there was one, would be revealed. What was it last time? She struggled to remember. While she recognized the beginning of the dream rather quickly, the endings always faded.
She braced for an impending collision with a roof. Would she gain entry this time? The question was answered a few seconds later. She hit the bed and bounced three feet in the air before settling onto the mattress again. The walls and ceiling were coated thick with blood. It dripped like rain off of leaves. She leaned over and stared at the pool of crimson on the floor. Every drop from the ceiling splashed and sent out a wake. Small waves crashed against each other.
The room seemed familiar. Cassie realized where she was when she saw a flash of Alice’s face.
“Speak to me, Alice,” she said. “Tell me who did this.”
The center of the room started to spin, forming a whirlpool. It widened by a foot every ten seconds. The bed broke free and started to swirl. Cassie leaned over and saw the black void again. She’d never gone through twice before. Where would it lead? Panic set in. What if she went through and never came back? What if she was accosted by spirits she had never encountered before?
An arm reached through the ceiling and extended toward her. It was a man’s arm with thick muscles covered in a layer of hair. The scarred knuckles gave her reason to pause. But as the front of the bed tipped forward, she reached out and grasped the hand.
A layer of blood coated her as she was pulled through the ceiling into the night sky. The tree loomed larger than ever, every inch of its branches covered in Spanish moss that twisted in gale-forced winds. A face appeared. A face she knew all too well.
Novak smiled at her.
“Welcome back, Cassie.”