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It felt like they were being followed, and occasionally Harper would spin around and shine his flashlight down the dirt road. There was nothing behind them except an unnerving tree, so they trudged forward only to hear a loud hissing sound. Something pounced out of the bushes and the boy staggered back as a blur of white flashed by him. For a moment, he thought it had been a ghost. His mind went into overdrive, only to realize moments later that it had been Jasper who had rushed past him and not some cursed spirit.

No, no, no, they couldn't split up. Not in a place like this. If one of them were to go missing, it'd be almost impossible to regroup.

Thankfully, Inadi rushed towards the girl's rescue and eventually Avian went off to help. As soon as they had returned Harper approached the both of them and placed a hand on both their shoulders. "Jasper, Inadi, are you guys okay?" He waited for an answer, "we'll need to stay in a group, alright? Getting separated here would be very bad news." He gave the girl a comforting smile then tapped Inadi one the back. 

This forest was messing with them and everyone felt jittery, even Hakuren had felt a chill rush down his spine, though he would rather die than admit that. "Bear," he gave Jasper a smile. "Remember, those who rush off in horror movies always get eaten first."

Harper sighed, "that's why we're sticking together, safety in numbers."

While Harper had pushed himself towards the front of the group, Riley lingered near the back. The girl watched as Lesley and Martini clung to each other like a pack of sardines and slowly made their way behind them, "don't worry, we're all together." However, instead of getting a response, Lesley mentioned a tree behind them and sure enough the girl turned around to see a tree, smack dab in the middle of the trail.

"Uh, that wasn't there before." She muttered before Brandy suggested they apologize. Well, that sounded easy enough. In fact, it sounded normal. To be honest, she thought he would suggest they make a sacrifice to the tree gods or something. "Go on Lesley," she nudged him forward flashing a grin and giving the pink-haired man two energetic thumbs ups.

Lesley began to apologize, only to plop Leila down in front of the tree halfway through.

Riley arched an eyebrow wondering what the dragon tamer would do next. The girl fell back, snapping one of the trees' branches in the process. The others had already made their way towards the path, but the tree wasn't just going to let them leave now.

Suddenly, it grew a mouth. A wooden scowl appearing on its bark. "What are you staring at you good for nothing whippersnapper! Just because I'm old doesn't mean you can disrespect me and vandalize me!" His eyes shone an even darker red as he shook his branches in anger.

"Whoa Leila," Riley reached out to grab the girl by the hand. "You got it to talk, good job!"

"SHUT UP!" The tree eyed the redhead with distaste before straight at the pink haired man. "AND YOU, WHAT THE HELL KIND OF APOLOGY IS THAT?" He jabbed one of his branches into Lesley's chest and continued to yell all sorts of profanities. "Bubble gum head!" The tree swiped another branch at the man's head, messing up his fabulous pink locks. His eyes landed on Martini and Ace. "What are you looking at? SUSHI! FLAME HEAD!" He began spitting what looked like moss at them, obviously very, very upset.

At the sound of the new voice, Harper and the others who were up ahead turned around. 

"So you're looking for the witch, aye? Answer me when I'm talking to you pinky!" His eyes fell on the trident in Ace's hands and they could have sworn smoke came shooting right out of his new found nostrils. "Stone of sacrifice? What do you even want with those creeps?" The tree shuddered. "They turned one of my closest friends into moss juice, it wasn't a pretty process. So witches, yeah?"

Riley bobbed her head up and down. "That's right."

"Well, do you want a piece of advice?" The tree grinned before motioning for the humans to come closer. "Lean in, that's right, this is super secret advice, y'know." As soon as they were close enough the tree cackled and in his loudest voice declared. "YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE NUMSKULLS."

Riley flinched at the intensity of his voice. "Aren't you a jerk? Guys, maybe we should just get off oldie's lawn." 

"Oi, oi! Don't you dare walk away from me! I'm just telling you the truth." Riley was already stomping off towards the blocked path Jasper and a few of the others had decided to take.

"Even the midnight man, the greatest witch hunter alive eventually died here!" The tree snickered. "Good luck, hoomans."

The tree's eyes vanished and so did his mouth. There was a flash of lightning and suddenly it began to pour buckets. "Snap," Riley lit a fire in the palm of her hands planning to burn through the vines that were blocking the way. "Mind helping me out Ace?" Songbird muttered something about not burning the path and she dropped her hands to her side. "Oh, I was planning as using it as a lamp...that's all."

Harper unsheathed his sword and began hacking away at the vines. The blocked path was darker but they had two fire mages to help light the way and they managed. Eventually it led them to another part of the forest. There were less trees but more stones now and in the distance one could see the vague outline of a mansion.

Lightning tore through the sky and rain thundered down even harder. The Lost souls were cold and tired.

Harper turned to look at them, some of the others were practically dragging their feet behind them now. He focused on the house in the distance, maybe a short break would be a good idea. It wouldn't be any use if they fought the witches in this condition. "Maybe we can rest there for a little while? We're all tired and fighting the witches in this condition won't do us any good." He gave the others a hesitant smile. "What do you guys say? We can settle our nerves, dry ourselves off and maybe fill up our stomachs too."