Page 122 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

Jed stifles a laugh. “That’s specific. Although if I’ve been devoured, I’m not sure how I can complain to anyone.”

Ducking below the unseen webs, I study the darkness for the creepy occupants. “They’re the devil’s foot soldiers, Jed. It doesn’t have to be logical.” My boots clap over the stream, trickling over the rocky floor. My eyes track the shadows that seem to become darker, deeper, more tangible. I squint as it looks like a hand reaching out for me.

“Tell me your fears,” a slither of a whisper says.

Zee halts and I smack into his back. “Did you say something?” he asks.

“No.”

“What keeps you awake at night? What terrifies you, even in the sunlight?” the slimy voice coaxes.

“Everyone, blank your minds,” Duncan shouts.

“Oh fuck me, this is some Ghostbusters type thing, isn’t it?”

“Ghostbusters?” Jed says.

“It’s a film. For the finale, the demon plucks their worst fears from their minds and sends it after them.”

“What was it?”

I shrug. “A giant marshmallow man.”

Jed snorts behind me as Uncle Charlie sighs. “Isn’t this witch a friend?”

“Acquaintance, but she will still test us. Or more likely test Natia.”

We shuffle forward in the dark. Invisible legs tickle my face. I screech and jump back, landing in Jed’s arms. “Bloody hell,” Jed breathes as I wipe at my face and fight a shiver. Zee, Duncan, and Uncle Charlie have backtracked to see what the fuss is about.

“What the?” Duncan exclaims.

“Duncan, some light?” I beg.

A brilliant ice blue ball of light appears in his palm, lifts from his hand, splits into quarters and surrounds us. I spin around, taking in the scene. A human skull rattles by my feet, making me jump, and heads towards a set of bones arranging themselves into a…

“Oh fuck no,” I whisper, my heart thunders.

“What did you think of?” Zee asks.

Another bone, maybe a rib, rolls along the floor, rotten flesh winding around it as it goes. The putrid smell of corpse hits the back of my throat, making me retch.

“I told you to blank your mind!” Duncan shouts in horror as one creature takes shape.

“I tried!” I wave at the horrific scene.

“What the hell did you think of?” Uncle Charlie chastises.

“Zombies…” I take a step behind Zee. “And… spiders.”

“Zombie… spiders?” Zee groans.

I glare at him as a third set of bones takes an arachnid shape. This one has four heads, one of them still has an eyeball hanging out the socket, maggots crawling through the side. “Not together, this is a new nightmare.”

The foot tall zombie spiders circle us, a grotesque, unnatural side step motion that doubles their creep factor. My stomach drops as one twists to reveal an upside down skull. Grasping the handles of my twin sai swords on my back, I slide them out. Time to face my fears. The cave wall shakes. We freeze as full body skeletons, again with bits of flesh dripping from their angular bones, drag themselves out of the walls. I do a quick mental count, eight skeletons (I’m refusing to call them zombies) and three zombie spiders. There are six of us, no problem.

“What’s so scary about zombies?” Jed enquires. As a creature scuttles towards me. A quick strike of my blade removes its head from its body, which rolls back into place.

“They don’t die.”

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