I should have listened to him, and now the only thing that was left was his compass. The dial had broke, fixed on one point as if it were telling me where my brother was.

The last person to hear from him was his friend before he left his shift at the university library. That had been around 9pm when the library closed for spring hours. He never made it home, but when I had went to look for him, I found his compass, something he never leaves without. Something was very wrong, and I was starting to understand my brother’s dread that something was watching him.

It wasn’t unusual for people to go missing around Pleasant Springs, in fact four people went missing last year around this time. Old legends say Wendigos traunt the forest around, but one had never been so far into town. Though their creatures do not stalk for days. This, this was something different.

With the only lead of the compass, I grabbed my jacket and bolted out of the door. It’s been a rule, a law, one could say not to be outside at a certain time. In Pleasant Springs, things are not as pleasant after dark. As children, we were taught to listen to the town bell that signaled the setting sun so that we would come in before the darkness fell. So what was the darkness? No one knew.

The cool fall air touched my cheeks as I turned to head towards the area my brother had disappeared from. Maybe something would find me too and I would at least find a body.

Once I entered the forest, I felt it. The eyes, but no matter where I turned, I saw darkness all around me, but I knew there was something watching me. Even from a long distance. I used my phone flashlight to make my way through the path, but something told me that to get what I wanted, I would have to veer off. With nothing but my own resolve, I stepped off the path and wandered into the thick brush, not even able to see more than a foot or two ahead of me.

I had walked for about a few yards when I heard the rustling begin. It wasn’t much later that I felt the darkness consume me too. When I woke up, I saw the world of color. It was then I realized, somehow, we had both been kidnapped by the fae. The fae were not your average Tinkerbell fairies that would help lost travelers. No, the fae were dangerous and often ate humans to keep their energy and magyk strong.

Of course! I should have known, my Great Grandmother, before she passed often told us about the fae and how evil they were. But you could outsmart them and essentially obligate them to let you and the others go. That is, if you make it out alive.

I sat up on the table, seemingly the only one conscious. I realized that we were hooked up to ivs but it wasn’t blood that was being drawn, but rather, something golden with a tinge of pink. It was the I realized they were draining our life force. Maybe the stories my Great Grandmother told were true. I ripped out the iv and looked at the other bodies, it was when I noticed my brother laying there. I rushed over, being quiet to not alert any nearby fae. “Thomas, wake up!” I whispered harshly and shook him. It wasn’t long that his soft blue eyes peaked out. The bag he had was nearly full, so he might be drained.

“Catherine?” He asked softly and rubbed his eyes seemingly trying to pull himself from the trance that he had been out under. “It’s me, I’m here, we need to get you out of here,” I said and then unhooked him. Unfortunately, I couldn’t replace his energy with food because one of the number one rules about interaction with the fae is that you do not take any of the food in their realm, otherwise you will be trapped.

I helped Thomas sit up and get off the bed and onto his own two feet. I walked quickly with him towards the entrance and then into the hallway. It was then we heard footsteps and I grabbed Thomas to duck beneath a table. The claws of the fae ended right at our noses as a long nailed hand gripped the tablecloth.