The five left only hesitated for a few seconds at the top of the hill before Anna reassured Paul of Katie's safe return. Anna actually curiously wondered if she and Katie would share the same event during their trail kidnapping interludes, or if everyone experienced something different. The fact that she had been nabbed by some of the same girls that had given the ale to her and Emily the night before showed the attention paid to the trail's atmosphere.
Anna also felt good making progress on the trail, instead of shuffling through trying to anticipate the scares. She had been developing a lot of nervous energy since her private sidetrack on the trail. She felt like breaking out into a sprint to try to burn some of the anxiousness away. Anna rarely came out of her subdued shell, but she was starting to feel the itch she did occasionally experience to let down her guard. It didn't help that her body actually had begun to physically itch, quite a bit. Anna wanted to get out of the trail and dance, or drink, or perhaps, her body blushing at the thought, find out if there was some more passion behind the moment she had shared with Shanna.
A startled laugh from Emily broke Anna from her thoughts. The group, more tightly organized, had descended the curved hill into a sizable canyon in the forest that seemed to have been dug about eight feet down and around fifteen feet across. The path ran halfway between dirt walls and six foot, large diameter wooden poles had been driven into the ground between the walls and the path. Emily had been scared by a goblin actor, one of few that seemed to disappear and reappear between the poles in the dimly lit area. The path continued at end of the canyon to stairs leading to a large shack that Anna saw another group entering.
Shanna turned to Anna, "This is new."
Anna found herself surprising uncomfortable with the enclosed setting, "Yeah, let's keeping moving."
Shanna furrowed her forehead at Anna's response, but did not have time to reply before she almost ran into Jack. Another reaper stood at the bottom of the stairs holding his hand out to Paul.
Shanna took a couple steps forward to Paul, "What's going on."
Paul raised his eyebrow, "Somebody had a heart attack on the trail."
"Really?"
"No. I'm messin' with you." He grinned, "I think they're waiting for the group ahead of us to clear out."
The group chatted and waited at the bottom of the stairs for long enough for Shanna to see Anna develop a visible impatience. Shanna could swear that Anna's eyes actually had started to become greener as she stared murder at the hooded stair guard. Shanna turned her gaze back to the reaper and saw a walkie-talkie disappear into the hood. She could have sworn that her ear twitched as she heard, "The preparations have been made. Let them pass," drift from the same hood. She started to move again, but no one else responded, and she saw the guard still had a hand up.
After a moment, the reaper dropped the hand, and Paul led the way. As Shanna passed the reaper, she saw golden eyes and the outline of a female face briefly before the guard turned quickly away.
The group ascended the stairs. Black, long, heavy, multiply layered strips of curtain formed the foreboding entrance to the shack. Once Anna made the last entrance, Shanna found herself draped in a darkness so complete it seemed like it could never end. She stopped for a second, and actually smelled Anna as she brushed aside her.
"Come on, Shanna," Anna tugged the side of her jacket.
Paul called out somewhere in front of her, "Just keep moving forward, people."
Shanna continued to shuffle forward in the inky black, occasionally reaching forward and lightly brushing the back of Anna's sweater.
In the dark Shanna had only the warning of a whiff of a similar aroma to Anna's before she felt herself gently pushed into a complete turnaround. As she tried to reorient, she found herself reaching around only to touch a wall in three directions. She tried speaking softly, "Anna?", but received no reply.
Shanna walked slowly into the only direction left for her, hoping she would reunite with her friends at the end. She felt for the walls running beside her with both hands until both walls gave way into open space.
"Shanna," a strange voice spoke softly.
Shanna stopped and began to speak when the blackness was suddenly exploded by many green torches lining the wall of the room she found herself in. A figure with a fur-lined cloak stood in the center of the room looking down into a very large cast-iron pot suspended over an also green fire.
The petite figure raised her gaze and Shanna was taken aback by seeing the same woman who had given her ale the night before. Shanna thought the trail had really gone to some length to keep the show going the whole time.
"Shanna, you were given part of a special gift last evening, a gift you were chosen for some time ago," the hood was lowered deliberately, revealing raven hair, bright hazel eyes, and a round but defined face "this gift makes you a part of a special pack of women, an opportunity offered rarely and to a select few."
Shanna allowed herself a small grin. She realized that the ceremony, or some version of the ceremony, must have been a trail gimick for the year, although it was definitly different than any of the other trail set-ups from past years.
Shanna thought she saw the woman's eyes brighten as she continued, "Do not take this choice lightly." Shanna sensed before she saw five more grey cloaked women step forward from the wall, surrounding her from behind. A sudden combined aroma from the flame and the women overwhelmed Shanna with feelings of both belonging and desire. The leader continued again, "You're feeling only a taste of the benefits that come from joining the women of Witches' Woods. You must make your decision now, yes or no?"
The woman behind Shanna moved closer around her and she experienced even stronger primal impulses with the proximity. Before she could think, she found herself exclaiming, "Yes!" She barely saw the leaders hand move before a stunning burst of light and sound came from the pot, distracting Shanna from noticing the tiny sterile needle injected into and removed from her glute, as well as the exit of all her mystery companions.
Shanna shook her head to clear the shock she had recieved from the burst. The leader had obstructed Shanna's view of a now revealed door on the other side of the chamber.