It was late when we finally arrived at our destination. The bus pulled over slowly, bumping over the uneven earth as we came to an uneasy stop. We exchanged glances, and then without saying anything, we all rose to our feet to head outside. There was no point to putting it off now.

The air was ice when I stepped out of the bus. The entire world had frozen around us, like everything else had ceased to exist in this moment.

As if the forest itself was taking a breath, the wind gusted, sending my hair flying around my face. I pulled the hood up on the royal purple sweatshirt Veronica had let me borrow. Above, wisps of clouds danced across the blue moon. It flickered and winked like a single eye spying down from the heavens. Without any light pollution, the Milky Way was lush and dense around it. It glowed like a soup of twinkling glitter.

I thought back to my nightmare—the way the moon had swollen with the blood of sacrifice, drowning out everything else around it. I shuddered. My wolf and I needed to make sure we escaped, or this exorcism failed. But where was she?

We'd pulled off on the relatively flat side of the road. The shoulder wasn't large, but there was enough space that we could get the bus far enough off the road for another car to pass. However, I doubted another car would be coming by anytime soon. We hadn't seen a single one for the past hour.

On the other side of the road, the ground dropped off into a steep ditch. I shivered, thinking about what it might be like to drive down this old highway in the middle of the night and suddenly see a car coming the opposite direction. The road was so narrow, one false move, and you'd be flying off into the ditch.

I bit my lower lip, trying not to think about that. But, it was better than thinking about the alternative. Better than thinking about what was going to happen to me tonight when we arrived at the clearing. Better than thinking about my nightmare.

"How are you feeling?" Liz asked. She stood next to me, staring up at the sky as the rest of Make Them Scream piled out of the bus.

"I'm ready," I said. "I'm scared, but I'm ready to go through with this." I didn't look her in the eyes as I said it. I didn't want her to sense the lie.

"I'm proud of you." She placed her hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. I finally turned to look into her eyes. She held a stoic expression like she always did, but I could also see sadness there. "I always have been. And I love you, even though sometimes I've had trouble showing it. You know that, right?"

I glanced off at the ground. "I know." I ground my teeth. A bitter, vile taste clung to my tongue.

"I guess we should get moving," Reggie said as he and Veronica came up behind us. He flipped on a flashlight, illuminating the tall pines around us and scanning the edge of the forest. The light danced over trunks of trees and thick fir branches, casting haunting shadows slinking through the woods.

"I'm sorry we have to do this." Liz's voice broke me from my trance as she brought a rope to my hands. "But, we can't trust that your wolf won't try to shift and stop the exorcism. We have to take precautions."

It's okay. I heard the voice of my wolf call to me from the back of my mind. Go along with this. This will not hold us.

I nodded. "I understand." I held out my hands to Liz, and she slowly wrapped the rope around them, all the way from my wrists up to my elbows. She finished it with a tight knot. The rope pulled snug against my arms, securing them together. I was grateful Veronica had insisted that I borrow one of her sweatshirts. The cold didn't bother me too much, but I appreciated that the fabric guarded my skin from the rope burn.

"Guys, I found it," Reggie called from the distance, his voice echoing back through the cold air.

A bright light blinded me for a second as he shot the flashlight in our direction. I raised my hands to my eyes to shield them.

"Sorry." He turned light to the woods.

"Come on, let's go." Liz pulled the end of the rope tied around my wrist and led me to where Reggie, Jake and Veronica were standing. I winced as I accidently stepped on the heel of my injured foot, for a second forgetting about the slice I'd gotten in my dash across the parking lot. I continued on, careful to stay on the toe of that foot.

We reached where the others were standing. A nail pinned a small sheet of thin metal to the side of a tree. Chipped, purple paint coated it, and in white, someone had drawn a sketch of a tent. Beneath it, "3/4 mi" was written.

"Ready for a hike?" Jake glanced my way.

I forced a smile in return, swallowing down the acid crawling up my throat. "I'm ready."

Reggie and Veronica lead the way with Jake following not far behind. Liz walked next to me, still holding the end of the rope around my wrists.

I glanced over my shoulder as we descended into the woods. Even though Reggie was the only one who had brought a flashlight and he was at the front of the group, the moon cast enough light for me to see. Alex followed along a few yards behind Liz and me. He had his hands in the pockets of his denim jacket, and his eyes were turned down to the ground. He looked like he was walking to the gallows.

Had I really hurt him that much when I'd rejected him? I pinched my eyes shut, trying to force the bitter taste of vomit down. Alex hadn't said a word to me since.

Stop worrying about him. Don't forget what he is planning to do to us. Don't forget that he abandoned us.

I pulled my cheeks in and chewed on them. I had to remain strong. I couldn't lose my focus.

In the distance, I could hear the lonely call of wolves howling. The wind rushed through the trees, making them dance like waltzing ghosts. The lyrics of "Hotel California" came back to me as I remembered last night. It seemed so long ago now, but yet only a day had passed. I didn't want to remember it, but also, I didn't want to forget. Things had seemed so much simpler then. Only a day ago, I'd felt like everything was going to be okay. Back when I'd sung by the fire, and I'd felt like maybe, I belonged somewhere.

Back when I thought I'd found my family. When I thought I'd found my pack.

A lump formed in my throat, and I felt a tug on my arms, pushing me to keep moving.

Now, I didn't know what to think. Maybe I didn't belong anywhere. Maybe I was meant to be alone.

Not alone, I reminded myself as I thought about my wolf. I'd never have to be alone again. An out of place smirk sneaked across my face. It felt wrong, like it was happening beyond my control. I moved my hands to cover my mouth, forgetting for a second that they were still bound.

Liz glanced back, and I immediately straightened my face into a neutral, somber expression. She tugged on the rope lightly. I was falling behind. My feet stumbled as we trekked over the uneven earth. I kicked through brambles with my combat boots. Tiny thorny brush scratched my bare legs.

"Everything okay?" Liz whispered so only I would hear it.

"Yeah, just nervous."

"I know," she replied. "It's going to be okay."

I nodded, praying that she would be right. Praying that the exorcism would fail, and we'd be able to escape.

The sound of shuffling steps and shifting pine needles echoed through the frosty air. The noise hung in it, like it was caught in some invisible web—suspended in a place where time had ceased to exist.

Crusted snow crunched under my feet. Even though the air was cold, a warmth like sitting by the glowing embers of a campfire radiated from beneath my skin, like some core at my center was burning.

Are you there? I tried to call to my wolf, hoping she would hear me.

I am ready. A voice growled back. Soon. Wait.

Ahead of us, the group slowed. Liz pulled on the ropes on my arms, and we finally reached Jake, Reggie and Veronica. Alex came up behind us, stopping so he was right next to me.

The clearing in front of us looked like it hadn't been touched in a year. Reggie's flashlight illuminated the weeds snaking across the ground. Tiny pine trees stuck up like little petrified hands reaching to the sky.

"I'll start gathering wood for the fire," Jake said, heading off into the woods.

"Come on, babe." Reggie touched Veronica on the shoulder. She followed his lead as they joined Jake, searching among the dry, dead forest for sticks.

"I'll clear out the pit," Alex said. He kneeled down in the center of the clearing, pulling up the trees and weeds that covered a small divot in the earth. It looked like a place that had once been used to hold a fire.

Or many, many fires.

I bit down on my lower lip. Reggie, Veronica, and Jake were already returning with their arms filled with sticks and branches.

When do we make our move? I asked my wolf. My heart pounded against my ribs. We are running out of time.

Patience. Trust me.

The band piled the sticks in the center of the clearing while Alex removed his lighter from his pocket. He flicked the light on, and a small flame illuminated in his hands. The wind rushed through the forest, making the fire dance and shudder. He shielded it as he slowly lowered it to the sticks.

A few flames caught the dry rough edges of branches, but the wind quickly snuffed them out. He continued to try, holding the lighter under the dry wood.

"Jake, see if you can find some dry pine needles or something," Alex said lowly.

Jake nodded and went back into the thick of the woods.

"You can sit," Liz told me.

I nodded and took a seat by the pit. I almost fell on my ass without being able to use my hands to brace myself.

"I can't get this fucking thing lit," Alex muttered under his breath after a few more attempts. Finally, he gave up and lit himself a cigarette instead. The end of it glowed red as he took a drag, his hair blowing around his face. "It's too fucking windy out."

He glanced over to me, and a chill ran down my spine as he made eye contact. I quickly looked away, focusing up at the sky instead. The moon swelled across the sea of stars. It looked like it was dripping. Blue light seeped out of it, leaking into the sky as the color of the moon drained to a deep purple.

A bright halo of white glowed around it. When I was a child, one night on a car ride to Vermont, I asked my dad about the halo. He explained that it meant snow was on the horizon, and that only those that were pure of heart and soul could see the halo.

I asked him if he could see it, too.

He said he hadn't for a very long time.

"This should be enough," Jake's voice broke me out of my thoughts as he returned from the woods, his fists filled with dried needles and dead sage brush.

Alex nodded and put his cigarette between his teeth as he went back to working on the fire.

Smoke poured out of the weeds, the fire quickly devouring them. The smell of burning pine and something acidic and chemical filled the air. My eyes stung as I shielded them against the smoke.

Finally, the flames took to the dead wood. Warmth radiated from the center of the clearing like standing at the gates of hell. The fire danced, crackling and popping as it vaporized the tiny bits of moisture retained in the fibers of the wood. Sap leaked out of the pines, hissing and simmering.

Silence fell over us as we all stared into the flames. There was something about fire that was enticing and captivating. It had a way of entrancing people. I could watch fire for hours.

"Jake, do you have the knife?" Alex finally asked, breaking us all from the spell that had fallen over the forest. He looked up to the sky, where the blue moon hung above us. Now, it had shifted from purple to red, glowing like it had been dipped in blood.

"Yes," Jake replied. He retrieved a large knife from his pocket and slid the wooden cover off of it. The silver blade glistened yellow and red in the flickering light of the fire. Like the cover, the handle was made of smooth wood, and it had been intricately carved into the shape of a wolf. A shiver rushed through me.

"Let me see your hands." Jake approached me. The left half of his face glowed red in the light from the fire, while the right half remained cast in shadow. His lips were turn into a frown, and there was something dark smoldering in his eyes.

Liz gave a light tug on the rope that bound my arms. I raised my shaking hands in front of myself, my heart racing.

It's now or never, please. I begged my wolf. I didn't know why she was waiting so long.

Heat burned in my chest, radiating across my entire body. My arms and legs tingled like they were electrified. As Jake brought the blade up to the palm of my hand, I felt the bones within me beginning to crack and crunch.

My eyes burned like they'd been set on fire. I snapped them open, everything around me shifting from red to vibrant hues of blue and yellow.

I'm ready. The wolf within me growled. Time to fucking rock and roll!