Dark Magic 3 - Things get a Little Darker by Longshot (f/f, qs, grim) Kristen sits up in bed and looks at the hose on the floor, then at herself. 'But ... I'm clean! And ... I drowned, didn't I?' she thinks to herself. She lays back down in bed, trying to sleep, but her eyes couldn't seem to leave the muddy garment on the floor. 'But how ... who? It makes no sense! I know I drowned. I felt the mud all over me, and then I blacked out. But now I'm here and ... alive!' The thoughts raced through her mind until sleep finally claimed her. Kristen awoke the next morning to the phone ringing. She drowsily picked it up. "Hello?" "Kristen? Oh, thank God it's you!" a woman's voice said. Kristen frowned and being a bit irritated about being woken up. "Who did you expect, the Santa Claus?" A long pause followed. "Oh ... did I wake you up Kris? I'm sorry! Look, I just had a really weird dream - I guess it was a dream - last night and I wanted to talk to you ..." Kristen sighed softly. "I'm sorry for snapping. Give me about an hour, Anne." "Okay Kris. I'll see you then," Anne replied. Kristen spat out a quick bye and hung up, muttering softly to herself, "What's so damn important that it can't wait until a more normal hour?" She looked at her clock. "Hmm 12:31 PM ... I guess it /is/ a normal hour." Kristen walked slowly into her bathroom, still a bit drowsy, only to find a new surprise waiting for her. She barely managed to stifle a scream, as before her lay a muddy black silk dress hanging off the shower door. She slumped down against the sink and stared at the dress as if it were a demon. "What's happening here? I don't understand!" she cried out. "Whoever is doing this, it isn't funny anymore!" Kristen collected the muddy garments and stuffed them in a trash bag. Then she went to take her shower. About 1:30 PM Anne arrived. She walked in. "Kristen? I'm here!" Kristen wandered out of her bedroom into the front room. "Damn Kris ... Ya look terrible!" Kristen sighed. "Thanks, Anne. You're a beauty queen, too." Anne sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Kris. I guess, manners aren't my strong point today. Anyway ... I wanted to tell you about that dream. It was so weird! I heard this voice. It told me to go out to the swamp - ya know, the one on the edge of town - and take a rope. I had an important mission there. So I do, and I wander around a few minutes, and I see this group! They were chanting in a weird language and then suddenly they stopped, and I saw someone running, and they chased ..." Kristen looked at Anne oddly. "And?" "Well, they all stopped after a few minutes and started laughing and said, 'The spy won't get far'. They were all wearing these really weird brown robes, and anyway, I decided to see where the girl went. And I saw someone who I thought was you." Kristen interrupted, "And she was sinking in quicksand with a man standing over her? Then she drowned in the quicksand?" Anne gasped. "Yeah! Well except ... I pulled her out after the man left. Once her face disappeared he left and a few seconds later I fished her out. But ... it was you, Kristen! I took you home and cleaned you up and put you in bed. H-how did you know?" Kristen paled visibly. "Then ... it happened? But ... how did I get out in that swamp, and how ..." Anne looked at Kristen and frowned as well. "Kris? should we tell the police? I mean, if there's a cult out in the swamps ..." Kristen shook her head. "No. They won't believe us, Anne." Anne frowned. "Kris, where were you last night, anyway? I tried to call about 7:30 or so and you weren't home. We were supposed to go to the movies remember?" Kristen sighed as she thought back. "Well, I remember I was getting ready. I had just finished getting dressed when there was a knock. I figured it was you because you said you might be a little early and I told you it was open and I'd be up there in a minute. And that's the last thing I remember ..." Anne frowned again. "Kris, it sounds like you were kidnapped! Kris, if these guys are kidnapping people we need to call the police!" Kristen shook her head. "I was out for a few hours and I have muddy clothes ... I could have easily gotten drunk at some party and fallen in a ditch. They'll never believe us. No, we're gonna have to go stop them ourselves, Anne. We'll go tonight at midnight. I'd suggest wearing something ya don't care about." Anne sighed. She knew better than to argue with Kristen especially when she got a crazy idea in her head. Kristen could be so bullheaded at times. That night at midnight both girls were at the edge of the swamp. They had taken Kristen's car and they left it at the side of the road. Kristen was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with white socks and black tennis shoes. Anne wore a blue blouse with a pair of torn up black jeans and black flats. The girls looked at each other and nodded. Each was carrying a rope and a small firearm. "Kristen, this is a really bad idea," Anne whispered. "Please reconsider, the police will have to at least check it out if we both complain." Kristen shook her head and Anne sighed softly. Kristen crept through the swamp until she reached a part that looked very familiar to her, her heels from last night were still buried in the mud where they had been pulled off her feet from last night. It took all her effort not to scream and reveal their position to anyone who might be nearby. Anne closed her eyes and gulped softly. "Those are ... yours, aren't they?" she whispered. Kristen's only response was a slow nod. "I don't hear any chanting. I wonder where they are." Kristen shrugged but a voice behind them answered their question. "We are right behind you ladies. If you will so kindly hand over those ropes and the guns you are carrying. We have a sacrifice to finish, and since last night's was stolen I'm sure a double sacrifice will please Quagmos. Oh, and trying to pull your guns would be very bad, you might get one or two of us but we do outnumber you." Kristen and Anne exchanged glances and nod to each other. "We have to give in Anne, he's right." Anne nods slowly and sets her gun and rope down. Kristen does the same. "Very good ladies. Now if you'll be so kind as to stand, turn to your left and back up slowly." Anne and Kristen did as they're told, for a few moments at least. Kristen gasped as she felt an all too familiar sensation under her feet. "No!" she cried out. "Not again!" Anne looked at her, puzzled for an instant then followed Kristen's gaze down to their feet which were being engulfed in oozing brown mud. Anne screamed and began tugging at her feet, trying desperately to pull them up. "Stop it, Anne!" Anne still tugged at her legs, shaking the mud and causing them both to sink. "STOP IT, ANNE!" Kristen grabbed her friend's arm and pulled it away from her legs, which had already began to sink deeper in the mud. Kristen calmed a little. "It won't help you. I've been here before, and I tried it. It only makes you sink faster." Anne looked at Kristen, her eyes filled with fear. "Then ... what are we supposed to do? I don't want to die out here because of your stupid plan!" Kristen shook her head. "I don't know, Anne. We'll think of something." The girls slowly sank into the quicksand, Kristen up to her knees and the panicking Anne to her thighs already. "Kristen, please! You have to do something! Save me! I don't want to die!" She twisted and turned in the mire trying desperately and futilely to pull herself free. Kristen sighed. "I don't know what to do, Anne, but if you don't stop struggling there won't be a chance." Anne stopped her wild movements again and looked up at Kristen. "Why ... you know a way out right? You have one?" her voice was pleading. "Not yet," she whispered something softly, "but they aren't here to stop us. We were fooled by a speaker, they can see us somehow but they aren't here. See it over there in the bush? Don't turn your head, just look." Anne did her best to look out of the corner of her eye. She was almost to her waist in mud and her friend was talking about some speaker in the bushes, the same friend who was barely over her knees in the mud. Anne looked up at Kristen again. "You're working with them aren't you?" Kristen looked at Anne. "What are you talking about? Are you insane?" "It's why you aren't sinking as fast! They told you where to stand, where it was thicker so they could lure me here and watch me drown and then save you before you drown too! Well I'm not going to let them succeed! I'm going to take you with me!" She lurched suddenly at Kristen and grabbed her waist and started pulling. "I'm going to take you with me, you bitch!" This motion caused them both to sink much deeper as Anne's activities stirred up the quicksand. "ANNE! Stop it! What are you doing? Trying to get us both killed?" Anne smiled evilly. "Yes, I am! Because I'm not going to let you get away Kristen! I'm on to your evil plan, you are jealous of me, and you're trying to kill me!" Kristen looked down at the wild-eyed Anne. In her mind she realized that her friend had snapped and that if she didn't get away from her and out of this quicksand she was going to get them both killed. She looked around desperately and then saw it, a small sapling that looked sturdy enough to hold her weight and she should be able to reach it. "Anne, please stop! I'm going to get us both out! Anne, please! Listen to me! I know a way!" Kristen was up to her waist now and Anne seemed to be listening. "You do?" Anne whispered. She was sinking rapidly and was already up to her armpits. She let go of Kristen for a moment. Kristen didn't waste any time. She lunged forward for the sapling and grabbed it. "Anne, just stay calm! I'm going to get you out!" Anne screamed a horrid scream that sounded like she had just been stabbed with something "You bitch! You're going to pull yourself out and leave me here to die! I won't let you!" With that she shoved her arms into the accepting mire and wrapped them around Kristen's waist. "Now you have to take me with you or else we'll both die!" Kristen was up to her breasts and at an odd angle in the mire, and Anne's added weight was only serving to pull her down. She looked back at the tree and gasped. Anne's added weight threatened to pull it from the soft ground. Kristen looked between the two. Anne was up to her chin now and still sinking. "Little tree please hold out! Please ..." Kristen felt them both settling into the mud. Anne tilted her head back and began to babble about she would insure that she died too for trying to betray her, and then there was silence. Anne was under the mire. Shortly after she felt the added weight fall away. Kristen said a silent prayer for her friend and then slowly but surely began to pull herself from the quicksand. Several hours later an exhausted Kristen wandered slowly out of the swamp, covered in mud. She placed a garbage bag over her car seat to protect it and drove home. Somehow miraculously she made it, between her exhaustion and the tears for her friend who so needlessly died out there. She drove past a small sign, now almost covered by the weeds near the edge of the swamp. "Danger ... Quicksand. Swamp gas in this area is known to cause Hallucinations. Do not Enter."