Page 2 of The Holly King's Sacrifice

I’m sure I’ll be dead soon.

The altar isn’t far, nestled just within the woods at a fork in the road. Torchlight flickers on a crooked green traffic sign with arrows up ahead—one arrow pointing north to Juniper and one pointing east to Gulliver. Just before the sign is a big granite boulder, a single red candle already lit and surrounded by holly branches.

I look around for any sign of the Holly King himself, and only then do I see what’s all around us.

Bones.

The bones of dead animals, stag skulls mounted on poles in a circle around the boulder. One of the men starts shaking uncontrollably, and I’m certain it’s more out of fear than it is from the cold.

It’s like there are demons encircling us, waiting to feast.

The thrust me forward, and I stumble against the boulder, yanking my feet up and out of the snow. It has to be well below freezing, and the snow has been billowing in for over two weeks. The doors in Manistique will all be shut tight, and these men will go home to their cozy fires…and they’ll leave me.

“Please!” I ask one more time.

“Hand it over,” the second man says.

My eyes go wide. “What?”

“Your dress,” he says, a sneer on his face. “The Holly King likes his offerings naked.”

My trembling kicks up a notch. “I’ll freeze to death,” I say.

“Better that than let himeat you,” the sneering man says. “So hand it over.Now.”

I take a shuddering breath. I can’t imagine putting my bare skin on the boulder, outside of my feet—but I’m not going to have a choice. They’re going to leave me here completely naked.

I don’t know what these men will do if I don’t obey them.

So I lift myself up slightly and pull the slip over my head. I hand it over to the leering man, watching how the light reflects on his face, his ears and scalp covered with a warm fur coat.

“Don’t come running back,” he says. “You know what happens if you do.”

Of course I know; they’ll shoot me on sight.

It’s happened to more than a few men and women over the years.

“God will never forgive you for this!” I warn.

The sneering man looks back at me as he goes, taking the light with him. “I don’t think you’re in any position to talk about God, sweetheart.”

I watch their retreating backs, the torchlight flickering on the surrounding deer skulls as they head back to town. Then their lights turn to pinpricks in the dark, floating like fireflies.

Then they round a bend in the path…and they’re gone.

I’m alone.

I take a deep breath and look around at the surrounding snow. It’s falling in light flakes, a brief respite from the winter storm that’s enveloped Manistique these past two weeks. The moon is bright, at least, and my eyes adjust quickly to the darkness of the woods. It might not be a good thing, though…because I can see the skulls around me in startling detail.

Each one could be the Holly King, seven or eight feet tall and leering at me through the darkness. I cover my naked body in desperation, wishing that I was safe from these monsters, that I was at home by a warm fire. I would even take the company of my horrible family in exchange for safety.

Those wishes are silly, though.

After all, it’s that same horrible family that gave me up.

Something cracks in the shade of the trees, but I can’t tell if it’s snow falling from a branch, or something moving. There’s more than just demons out here; there are bears, too, along with cougars and wolves. I clutch my arms around my shoulders, remembering that my plan was to run far away from here—even if it meant dying in a hole somewhere.

I don’t want to face my nightmare.

---