They walked through the trees in silence. The further into the forest they went, the more Sarah started to wonder if this was really such a good idea, especially tonight.

Before the sun had even gone down, people throughout the village were boarding their windows and locking their doors. It was their town's own macabre tradition, and every year on All Hallow's Eve the entire village did it without fail. Sarah had helped her family board up their own house, then told them she'd be spending the evening with Emily's family. Jane told her parents the same thing. Emily said she'd be at Sarah's.

Sarah had waited patiently in the shed in the back garden for it to get dark. She scanned the tools there, partially out of boredom, but also wondering if she should take something with her for protection. Her father's ax would probably be her best bet, but it was far too heavy to lug all the way out to the woods. She passed just as quickly over the rakes, shovels, and shears – none of those would be practical. Finally, she settled on a pruning saw with a seven-inch blade.

As soon as the sun slipped below the houses, she set off down the street. She tried to keep out of the streetlights, but she wasn't particularly worried about being caught. Now that it was dark, no one was going to be looking out of their windows tonight; even from the safety of their homes, no one wanted to meet the beast's glowing eyes. Rumors swirled around town that seeing it was a surefire way to attract it into your home.

She slipped into the forest only a few feet, mostly to get out of sight of the village as she waited for her friends to meet her. It seemed like forever before she heard the crunching of leaves underfoot.

"Hello?" Sarah called out quietly. She knew it was almost definitely one of her friends; she wasn't far enough into the woods for it to be the beast. At least, that's what she hoped.

"Sarah? Where are you?" Emily asked.

"Over here." Sarah replied, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry I'm late." Emily said. "Turned out we didn't have enough boards for all the upstairs windows. Had to borrow some from the Wilsons."

"Don't worry – I just got here myself." Sarah told her; she hadn't been waiting that long.

"You think we're really going to see it tonight?" Emily sounded worried.

"I hope not." Sara knew the whole point in coming out here was to rid the village of the forest-dwelling monster, but that didn't mean she actually wanted to see it.

"Really? Then why are you here?" Jane asked, coming up to them. She sounded surprised that anyone wouldn't want to see a monster.

For the last hundred years, the town had been cursed. Sarah never could get the complete story about what had started it, but she definitely knew what the consequences were.

Every month since the town was founded, once the sun went down and the moon rose, the beast would leave the forest. It would wander through the streets of town, snatching children and ripping adults to shreds. It came into houses, too. Each month, in the light of the new day, there'd be someone found either strangled to death or with their throat slashed open.

Sometimes, in particularly unlucky years, the crops would fail and the beast would make an appearance on All Hallow's Eve, too. The harvest had been especially bad this year.

"Are you sure you know where the lair is?" Emily asked, pulling Sarah from her own thoughts. 

"Positive. I saw the footprints myself." Jane promised yet again. Jane loved the idea of monsters and claimed to have been tracking the beast ever since it took the Allen boy last All Hallow's Eve.

"You girls are still here?" someone asked, coming up to the group.

"Alex?" Sara asked. What was he doing here?

"Emily said I should come." Alex said in response to her unasked question. Sara had no idea what Alex had said to his family about where he'd be going tonight, but she decided she didn't care. It'd be nice to have the extra muscle when they faced the monster down.

"Is everyone ready?" Jane asked.

"Yeah." Alex said, raising a hatchet he'd brought to show her. Jane responded by grinning and showing him a large bread knife.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Emily sighed, fingering the handle of her brother's baseball bat.

Sarah nodded her answer silently. In the dark, no one noticed.

"Sarah?" Alex asked.

"Yeah – sorry. Ready." she said.

"Don't worry – we probably won't even see it." Alex said, trying to be reassuring. "We'll just sneak in, destroy the thing before it has time to reach the village, and sneak back out."

"I know." Sarah mumbled. They'd been over the plan dozens of times. It still didn't make her feel much better about this potential suicide mission.

"The den's not far from Halycon Glade." Jane said encouragingly. "If we see the thing, just run into the clearing."

"Yeah, ok." Sarah mumbled.

Some said the moon made the beast crazy – that it caused the monstrous attacks. Others said that the beast was afraid of moonlight. They said the only houses that were safe were the ones bathed in silvery light; the creature wouldn't dare expose itself directly to the moonbeams. But whatever the truth, everyone knew it would avoid the clear night skies, clinging to the shadows under trees and rooftops.

The four of them walked further into the forest, Jane leading the way. They walked deeper and deeper until even Sarah had no idea where they were. But Jane never wavered once; judging by her confidence, she must have come out to this place dozens of times. Sarah almost admired the boldness.

When they got to the cave where the beast dwelt, Jane put her finger to her lips and then pointed inside. Everybody crowded around the entrance, but no one dared go in.

"Think it's in there?"" Sarah whispered quietly.

"Only one way to find out." Jane whispered flippantly. But she was still glancing around nervously.

Finally, Alex sighed. He raised his hatchet and took a small step into the cave. Then another. Two more steps and he disappeared altogether, swallowed up by the darkness. Sarah held her breath, waiting.

"There's nothing here." Alex called out quietly.

"Are you sure?" Emily asked.

"Yeah – the cave's only like six feet deep. There's not a lot of room for it to hide."

Cautiously, Sarah stepped into the cave, curiosity getting the better of her. The walls were dark and wet. She couldn't tell if they were dripping with water or something else. Slowly, she reached her hand out towards the wall. She was afraid of what the liquid might be, but she was more afraid of not knowing.

Somewhere behind her, Sara thought she heard a howl that was disturbingly close to the mouth of the cave. She jerked her hand back, forgetting all about the walls.

"What was that?" she asked. But she had a pretty good idea that she already knew the answer.

"It's close." Emily said, her voice shaking.

"We've got to go." Alex said firmly.

Sarah nodded. If the beast wasn't in its cave, it must already be on its way to the village.

Sarah wanted to rush to the village – her little sister was probably there, hiding in her room. What if the beast found her? The attacks on villagers in their own homes was always random; her sister was just as likely to be attacked as anyone else.

But Sarah knew better; there was no way they'd beat the beast back to the village. And even if the group did make it unscathed, there wasn't a soul there who would let any of them inside tonight. There was only one place they could hope to be reasonably safe.

The four of them hurried to Halycon Glade. Their best bet was to run to the clearing and hope that the monster was so afraid of moonlight that it didn't come out of the trees. They could only hope that the older villagers were right.

Sarah sprinted, not looking at anything around her. She only had one focus. Finally, she burst out of the trees, gasping for breath. She looked around, wondering where her friend had gone.

Sarah looked around frantically. She wanted to call out to her friends, but she didn't want to attract the monster's attention. A scream rang out through the forest, and Sarah sank to the grass.

She wanted to bolt, but how could she hope to outrun a moon-crazed monster? She glanced vaguely at the trees at three edges of the clearing. Should she try climbing one?

She heard a rustling in the leaves and pulled herself to her feet, trying to steel herself.

Jane appeared so fast, she nearly crashed into Sarah.

Jane was flushed and panting. She went to rest against a tree, but thought better of it as something howled in the distance. Instead, she found her way back to the center of clearing. She rested her hands on her knees, looking like she was about to collapse. As she caught her breath, she stared up at the sky. Her ruddy cheeks drained of color.

"...Where's the moon?" she asked.

Sarah's head snapped up. All she saw was an inky black sky dotted with a few pinpricks of starlight. There was no moon in sight.

"The moon should be there." Jane insisted, searching frantically through the trees. "I checked the calendar – tonight's a new moon."

"...A new moon?" Sarah asked slowly. A chill started creeping up her spine.

Jane nodded emphatically.

"Idiot!" Alex said, coming into the clearing. "A new moon's not a full moon. It's the opposite."

"The opposite of a full moon?" Jane asked, apparently not comprehending.

"Yeah." Alex nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Means there's no moon tonight."

"But if there's no moon tonight..." Jane trailed off. She looked to Sarah for an explanation. But something was slowly dawning on Sarah. She started backing to the opposite edge of the clearing, careful to keep both of her so-called friends in sight.

"...Where's Emily?" Sarah asked as she continued scooting away. Emily might not have been the fastest runner in the village, but she should have been here by now.

"Emily?" Jane asked blankly, as if she'd managed to forget that their childhood friend had come along.

"Yeah. Emily." Sarah repeated.

"But what about the moon?" Jane asked.

"There is no moon tonight." Alex sneered at her. He didn't sound all that concerned about Emily either.

Sarah heard another howl from somewhere in the woods. But it didn't sound like it was getting any closer to them. It wasn't going towards the village either. So was it really the beast they'd set out to hunt? Or was it just a lost wolf in the wilderness? Sarah didn't know. What she did know was that if the moon wasn't full, there was no sense standing in the clearing. And Emily was definitely missing

Sarah took off through the trees, running back the way they'd come. All the while, she listened for sounds of the moonstruck-beast. She was starting to doubt the tales, but that didn't mean she was ready to risk her life on those doubts.

Before she knew it, she was back at the cave. Emily still wasn't in sight.

Cautiously, Sara approached the cave. She could see a leg jutting out from the entrance. Emily. She crept closer. She could see the deep pool of blood surrounding Emily and the jagged gash across her throat.

Sarah jumped back with a scream, bumping into Alex, who had apparently followed her. She scrambled as quickly away from him as she could.

Alex saw the body in the cave and his eyes widened. He took a step towards Sarah, but she leapt back, throwing her pruning saw out in front of her. Jane appeared seconds later.

"Sarah?" Alex asked.

"What's going on?" Jane wanted to know.

Sarah didn't know what was going on. All she knew was that Emily was very clearly dead. And if the moon wasn't full, it wasn't a moon-crazed beast that had done it. She started wondering if that monster was even real. And if it wasn't, that only left two possibilities. And both were standing in front of her.