The dark was kind. It held Babe like the softest blanket. It was as though he was precious. He wanted to wake so he could know this feeling fully. He wanted to see his Mom. Mom was who made him feel like this. It had been so long. The car accident stole her away while he was safe and sound in kindergarten; it took her before he had gotten all of the warmth; all of the love he needed was stolen. It made him whimper.

"Babe." She hissed. "Hey, Babe!" A serious hiss. Why would she hiss. Mom never did before. Maybe it was a game?

"Fucking, A. Babe. Get. Up." This was not his Mom, Babe realized. The comfort he felt was a lie. Aches assaulted him. Clair had him by the hoodie and was lifting his head up when he finally was able to crack his right eye open. Her hair was a mess he realized. He reached up and patted her head. Clair was a tidy thing. She would be appalled to see her blond curls every which way. She squinted her pretty hazel eyes and batted his hand away. "Would you cut it out?" His hand fell back. He felt so weak.

Then, a surprise; his left eye opened. It must have realized there was nothing for it. Halleluiah, he could see. It was bleary but getting better. He groaned. His whole body ached. There was no blanket. Fuck. In fact he seemed to just be laying in a small hollow between some trees with just enough room for him and Clair. The air smelled amazing, like cedar, pine and lilac. He took a deep breath.

"Finally." Clair huffed. "I thought you were going to sleep your life away."

"What is going on?" Babe groaned.

"What is going on is you are lucky to be alive. Thanks to me. Well," she admitted, "probably thanks to me."

"Would you do me a favor, Clair?" He asked. His arm flopped over his eyes.

"You mean besides saving your life?" She pierced his low key glance with her sharp fully awake one, "Sure." She said looking down at the small pile of pebbles in her lap. "Why not. In for a penny in for a pound. Or so my dad says"

"Would you please make sense?" Well that came out more whiny that intended. But whatever; according to her he had been mostly dead for a bit. It had to count for something. Bet Mr. Reighn would even take it as a reason to miss calculus.

Clair looked at him. Her face looked, strange. Not angry exactly but something. "Nothing makes sense. Sorry." Claire sighed after a long moment. Her voice was faded, exhausted. "There is too much. Let me sum up. We were in calculus," -that explained why he was thinking about Mr. Reighn-" when the lights cut out. Do you remember that?" He shook his head. "Well, they did. And everyone acted like they usually do- oohing and aahhing like we're in 3rd grade instead of 11th."

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She scrunched her nose in that way Babe had always loved. Why hadn't he asked her out? Oh that's right she was dating Jet, aka: the asshole. How had that yanker gotten her anyway?. He'd always wondered. Now of course was not the time to ask. He refocused on what she was saying.

"Then there was a dragging sound. It sounded as though something enormous was coming down the hall. Most of us moved away from the sound. Those who didn't did pretty quickly when the wall started to buckle. My Reighn treated it like an active shooter drill and told us to topple our desks and hide behind them. Which we did. Some lost their minds and decided to try to go out the windows. Which was understandable. I just followed directions. But then the Atropal came in. It was tall, and naked with its pale flesh stretched over the large bones." She shuddered. "It's eyes we just skin covered sockets. I did not know what it was at first. But then Bryant called out and said, 'It's an Atropal!' and told us to not let it touch us. Believe me, no one was letting that thing touch them. You moved out of it's way but not fast enough. I thought you were fast enough but it was moving in a strange way. I don't know. . short space teleporting? So it just locked on it's prey and then attacked. It got Jenna first then Mick and then you. But when it got to you. After it grabbed Jenna, and just disappeared. We guessed it teleported out of there." Clair took a breath.

"Then the lights came back on. Mr. Reighn acted like it was just a terrible tragedy. Like it was no worse than that earthquake a few years ago. You know how Mr. Reign is; stoic and dead pan. He told us to gather up. . ." Her voice which had been steady dipped lower and she shuddered before saying, "the bodies." She glared at him. Her anger surprised him. "You and Mick. I was one of the five who carried you.. You weren't stiff.. it made me wonder if any of you were actually dead." It was his turn to shudder. The whole class thought he was dead. Mr. Reighn everyone. Poor Jenna and Mick. Where were they now? Were they alive again like him? He wondered.

"Why bring me here? And while your at it, where are we exactly?"

Clair seemed to be debating telling him something. She squared her shoulders and looked straight at him. "I brought you hear because my family worships here, in this forest. We believe in nature magic and have a small coven, church if you like, of members." She paused and waited perhaps expecting a barage of questions. And boy did he have questions but he swallowed them. For now. So she continued, "And this is just Lakewood forest. The north section that is undeveloped though, not the trails and boating area. No one comes here because this is privately owned and protected from development. Well accept the Akan, my church or coven if you prefer.

"Ok." Babe said and he forced himself to sitting. "Now, since you are part of this nature worship group, does that mean you knew this, whatever this is, this invasion by the Atropal, was going to happen too?"

Clair hummed. And he tried to keep his mind off his constant interest in her pretty full lips but it was hard when she turned them in like that. She shook her head, which helped him clear his own and said, "Yes but not like you think."