Novels by Gina

Mary froze The tree with the scratch marks the one that had been miles behind them now stood directly in their path. The long vertical gouges were fresh, still glistening with sap that looked disturbingly like diluted blood.Peters voice shook. “…this wasn’t here.”Peter stepped closer, raising his flashlight.“Something is following us. Or guiding us. Mary felt a chill travel straight down her spine.“No,” she whispered. “Not something. Someone.” Because that’s when she saw it.A figure standing behind the tree, Small. Thin. Trembling A teenage boy Barefoot Clothes torn Skin pale with exhaustion and cold He looked exactly fourteen Mary gasped.“James ?”the first of the five missing tens His eyes lifted to hers, glossy with tears, like he was fighting between relief and terror But he didn’t speak His lips barely parted as a whisper escaped raspy, desperate, barely audible.“Don’t be loud… it hears you.”Mary stepped forward instinctively, her heart breaking.“You’re alive. Oh my God you’re

The morning sun hadn’t even risen when Mary stepped out of her mother’s house.The sky was still a bruised navy blue, heavy and trembling like it knew something monstrous was awake beneath it.Peter was waiting outside on the porch, her hands buried in her hair, pacing frantically.When she saw Mary, she rushed over“Mary! I heard shouting what happened? Are you okay?”Mary looked at her, eyes hollow.“No,” she said quietly. “But I understand now.”frowned. “Understand what?”Mary turned toward the road “I have to go back.”peter grabbed her wrist. “Back where?”Mary whispered the word like it tasted like ash.“Bogahill.”Peter froze.“No. No, absolutely not. We just barely got out alive! We lost officers. You nearly died. That thing”Mary cut him off.“Peter . My mother made a deal. Before I was even conceived. She promised me. I was the offering.”He stared at her as if she had misheard.“Your mother? Promised you?”Mary nodded“And the creature waited. Twenty-five years. It couldn’t touch me unle

Mary didn’t sleep Her apartment was too quiet ,Too still, Too watched.Peter slept heavily on the couch, totally unaware of the shadow outside the window, the faint scrape of claws against the glass, the whisper of something ancient breathing her name.Mary sat upright, back stiff, eyes fixed on the message glowing on her phone “ASK YOUR MOTHER.”Her mother The one person Mary had never questioned The one person who avoided stories about her childhood The one person who refused to ever let her return to the village where she was supposedly born.Mary grabbed her keys “Mary…? Where are you going?”Peter murmured half-asleep.Mary turned,“I have to see her. Now.” Peter blinked tiredly. “At 3 a.m.?”“It can’t wait. It won’t let me wait.”Peter sat up. “Then I’m coming.”“No,” Mary said. “You need rest.”Peter stood immediately. “I’m not letting you go alone. Not now. Not after everything.”Mary hesitated.Okay. Maybe she did want someone with her.“Fine,” Mary whispered. “Let’s go.”The shadow at th

The dust still hung thick in the air, settling slowly over the broken ground where the pit once gaped open. Officers yelled orders, children sobbed, and the Bishop’s prayers cracked with exhaustion. But Mary didn’t move She sat kneeling at the edge of the cave-in, her leg throbbing, her fingers trembling against the dirt.Mary dropped to her side.“officer Mary… talk to me. You’re bleeding.”Officer Mary looked down. The claw marks on her ankle were deep, exact, almost ceremonial in shape. The flesh around them had already begun to darken.“I’m fine,” she whispered But she wasn’t Not physically and Not mentally Not after what the creature said.Mary touched her arm gently. “What happened down there? You… froze.”officer Mary swallowed hard It knew my name.”Mary frowned. “What? How?”Mary hesitated Then whispered “It knew my mother’s name too.”Mary breath caught “Officer Mary… that thing shouldn’t know anything about you.”“I know.” “Then how?”“It said she was here before, Pregnant, With me.

Dust filled Mary’s lungs Her ears rang from the explosion as she pushed herself upright. Pieces of stone still rained down from the ceiling, clattering across the pit floor.The creature lay sprawled across the rocks, its limbs twisted, its six eyes dim.Dead-looking But Mary didn’t trust it.“Everyone move!” she shouted, coughing “Get the children up! NOW!”Officers above lowered the remaining intact ropes, their faces shadowed by panic and falling debris .“Climb! Hold tight!”The girl obeyed, sobbing as she ascende comfort struggled with trembling hands.“Mary, I… I don’t think I can”Mary knelt, gripping her face gently.“Yes, you can. Look at me.”comfort’s breath shook violently.“He comes back when he pretends to be dead…”Mary’s stomach clenched.“I know. That’s why we have to be fast.”She lifted comfort, placing her hands on the rope and guiding her feet onto the knots.“Don’t look down. Just climb.”Comfort nodded and ascended slowly Mary stayed behind with Mary “You should go,” she sh

Mary fell The world spun black, gray, black again air rushing past her ears in a violent roar. She couldn’t even scream. She only felt the weightlessness, the helplessness, the stomach dropping certainty that this was how she died.Mary fell beside her, arms flailing, eyes wide with terror.“MARY!” she cried ,Mary reached for her Their fingertips brushed Then the ground slammed into them.A shock ripped through Mary’s spine, All the air blasted out of her lungs.She rolled across cold, uneven stone, finally coming to a stop against something hard a boulder or a broken pillar Her vision blurred Her ears rang Mary lay several feet away, groaning. Mary forced herself to breathe In, Out, In,Out Alive Barely She crawled toward mary “You okay?” Mary wheezed. Mary clutched her ribs but nodded. “I… I think so. Where are we?” Mary raised her flickering lighter.The flame barely illuminated a few feet ahead, but she could sense the vastness The cold, echoing emptiness.They were in a massive under