The scent of broken glass and wet earth clung to Vinny's clothes as he helped Deborah to her feet. Her hands trembled against his chest, fingers curling into his rain-soaked shirt with desperate strength. The storm had passed as suddenly as it began, leaving behind an eerie silence broken only by their ragged breathing and the distant shouts of approaching dorm monitors.
Deborah's blue eyes were wide with shock, her mascara smudged like bruises beneath her lashes. "Sheila..." Her voice cracked as she stared at the empty, shattered window where her best friend had stood just moments before. The curtains billowed inward like pale ghosts, revealing a dorm room in perfect order - except for the glittering shards of glass covering Sheila's neatly made bed.
Vinny's marked wrist burned with increasing intensity. He glanced down to see the silver lines had reformed into an intricate new pattern - a twisting, Celtic knot that resembled an ancient key. The symbol pulsed with eerie light, casting shifting shadows across Deborah's tear-streaked face. Somewhere in the depths of his mind, the tree's voice whispered:
*"She has taken your first sacrifice."*
Flashlight beams cut through the darkness as faculty members came running. Vinny caught snippets of panicked voices - "Call the police!" "Check the security cameras!" "Someone call her parents!"
Deborah took a stumbling step toward the commotion, but Vinny caught her elbow. "We have to go," he urged, pulling her into the shadow of a towering oak. "Now."
She resisted, her body trembling. "But Sheila - we can't just leave her!"
Vinny swallowed hard. The mark on his arm throbbed in time with his racing heartbeat. "She's not here anymore," he said gently. "And if we stay, we'll be next."
They slipped through the chaos like shadows, using the storm's aftermath as cover. The campus had transformed into a nightmare tableau - windows lit up one by one as students woke to the commotion, voices rising in confused alarm. Somewhere, a girl was sobbing hysterically.
By the time they reached the boys' dormitory, Vinny's entire arm burned as if the silver marks were living things burrowing deeper into his flesh. His vision swam with each step, flashes of that other world superimposing themselves over reality - the walls bleeding black sap, the air thick with the scent of funeral flowers.
Derrick was waiting in Vinny's room, pacing like a caged animal. His normally cheerful face was drawn with worry. When the door opened, he spun around, eyes widening at their disheveled state.
"Dude, what the hell happened?" he demanded, running a hand through his already messy hair. "The whole campus is freaking out! They're saying Sheila -"
"Disappeared," Deborah finished hollowly. She sank onto Vinny's bed, her uniform streaked with mud and rainwater. Her fingers plucked absently at a loose thread in Vinny's comforter. "One second she was there, warning us... the next..." Her voice trailed off.
Vinny rolled up his sleeve, revealing the glowing key symbol now etched into his skin. Derrick recoiled, nearly knocking over Vinny's desk lamp. "What the actual fuck is that?"
Deborah answered before Vinny could. "The tree's mark," she said quietly. "It's changing him. Choosing him for something." She met Vinny's eyes, and he saw the unspoken question there - would he end up like her cousin?
A sudden knock at the door made them all freeze.
Not a polite knock - a slow, deliberate scrape. Like branches dragging across wood.
Vinny's breath hitched as the temperature in the room plummeted. Frost spiderwebbed across the windowpane with audible cracks. The doorknob rattled violently.
Then Lena's voice, strained and urgent: "Open the door unless you want to die tonight."
Derrick moved first, yanking the door open with enough force to make it bang against the wall. Lena tumbled inside, her usually pale face ashen. A trail of bloody fingerprints streaked the hallway behind her, glistening wetly in the dim light.
"She's coming," Lena gasped, slamming the door shut with her full weight. Her black eyes were wide with something Vinny had never seen there before - genuine fear. "The Lady of the Roots has your friend."
Deborah shot to her feet, sending a stack of textbooks tumbling to the floor. "Then we have to save her!"
Lena's laugh was hollow, devoid of its usual mocking edge. She pressed a hand to her bleeding side, wincing as she peeled back her torn shirt to reveal three parallel gashes that oozed dark blood. "You don't understand," she panted. "Sheila isn't a victim."
The overhead light flickered violently. Outside, the wind howled like a grieving thing, rattling the window in its frame. Vinny's mark flared brighter, the pain so intense his vision whited out.
When it cleared, the room was different - darker, older. The walls wept black sap that smelled faintly of copper. The air hung heavy with the cloying scent of funeral lilies. Shadows pooled in the corners, too deep, too dark.
And standing where no one had been before, partially obscured by the shifting darkness:
A woman made of roots and shadows, her form constantly shifting like smoke in the wind. Her hollow eyes fixed on Vinny with terrible recognition. As she smiled, her mouth stretched far beyond human limits, revealing rows of thorn-like teeth.
*"Hello, bridge-builder,"* she whispered with Sheila's voice. *"Let's play."*
Then the vision shattered, and the real screaming began - not from their room, but from somewhere outside, a chorus of terrified voices rising in unison across the campus.
Derrick crossed himself, his usual bravado gone. "We're all gonna die, aren't we?"
Lena met Vinny's eyes, her expression grim. "Not if we fight back."
The mark on Vinny's arm pulsed in agreement, sending fresh waves of pain radiating through his body. Whatever game the Lady of the Roots wanted to play, they were all unwilling participants now. And as another scream pierced the night, Vinny realized with dawning horror that Sheila might have only been the first to vanish.
The storm was just beginning.