SURREPTITIOUS
The Part 40

The silver APV stopped in front of Ratih's house.

"Whose house is this? Why is it all dark?" asked Zahra who was sitting in the back seat with Alinda and Greeta.

"It's the home of Mrs Ratih, a psychic who often helps people who are bullied by subtle creatures" Xaga said.

"Is he home? Why are the lights off?" asked Elan who was sitting in the middle seat with Zayn and Arnold.

"I don't know, but this afternoon he's still home." Xaga got out of the car and he pulled Amadhea out of the car. He knocked on the door of Ratih's house.

"Ratih Maam? Ratih's mom?" Xaga looked worried. He looked at Amadhea. "You still stand strong?"

Amadhea nodded.

Shortly after, the door opened. Ratih looked frightened and had many scratches on his body. He stared in annoyance at Xaga and Amadhea. "Why are you back?! Go!"

"Mr...." Xaga doesn't understand why Ratih kicked them out.

He looked at Amadhea. "I can't help you anymore. A ghost that merges with your body is no ordinary ghost. He's a satanic cult!"

"But, Ma'am, who can help us?" please Xaga.

"I can't!!!" ratih Bentak.

Amadhea was surprised to see two of Ratih's guards standing behind Ratih. The two guards had no heads. There was no more golden light around him. There was only a splash of blood on the clothes they were wearing.

Amadhea patted Xaga's shoulder embracing her. "Come, go."

Xaga nodded.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Ratih" said Amadhea.

Xaga has to go. He stopped his car in the middle of the road. The man looked annoyed and hit the steering wheel.

"You better go home. Let me go back to the old house" said Amadhea quietly.

"You think after we get home, we'll calm down for leaving you in that house?!" grouser Alinda.

Amadhea stared resentfully at her friends. "You know this is dangerous?! You see the psychics were hurt fighting those ghosts. I don't want you guys to get hurt too!"

"Then what about you?! You're gonna shut up?!" greeta looks even more angry.

Amadhea breathed a heavy sigh. "You have a family, they're waiting for you at home. Even if I die, no one will ask me."

Xaga looked ahead. "We have to go to Dead Beach. We need to find that house!"

Amadhea. "No! You guys go back home! I'll go to the mangrove forest alone tomorrow!"

"Do you think your problem will be solved by yourself?" gerutu Zahra's.

Arnold nodded. "If you go alone, are you sure you'll survive?"

"You can't do it alone. We've been involved so far to help you. Let's just go ahead" said Elan.

"What should I tell everyone when you don't come back from that place?!" ask Alinda.

Greeta grunts. "You can't find the solution, can you!"

"You don't know how powerful that black-eyed ghost is!" amadhea.

Zayn, who had been silent, finally said, "We have God."

Everyone looked at him.

"The ghost has power because of the help of the devil, because he worships the devil and associates with his God. We have strong faith and religion. He won't be able to fight us, because we have God" Zayn said.

"Also I don't want you to get hurt. Did you see what happened in my house? All your crosses and prayer beads are destroyed" said Amadhea.

"It is because there is fear and doubt in us even though we have prayed. Satan is using that to attack us" Zahra said.

Silent.

Xaga drove his car.

"Where are we going?" ask Amadhea to Xaga. "Take them home first."

"There's no time." Xaga looked at Amadhea for a moment. He saw Amadhea's eye color had blackened all.

Amadhea heard the sound of giggling laughter echoing in her ears.

Xaga nodded. "There's GPS."

They passed through the border forest between City A and City B heading to Province C.

"It's likely we'll be until 4am" Xaga said.

Elan looked at his watch. "Now at 11pm."

Suddenly there was the sound of objects falling onto the roof of the car quite loudly.

"Astagfirullahaladzim!" Zayn and Zahra say Istighfar together.

"What's that?" asked Elan who was surprised.

Xaga has no intention of stopping his car. He kept going at moderate speed. There were footsteps on the roof of the car.

Suddenly the face of the burning-faced ghost appeared on the windshield of the car.

"Yeah!!!" The whole car screamed in shock, except for Xaga and Amadhea.

Xaga confirmed the rosary hanging in front of the glass. The burning-faced ghost shouted and then fell to the side.

"His face is so scary!" Greeta shuddered in horror. Though at that time he 'tapped' the ghost's face with a one-handle pan while resembling Alinda in the kitchen.

"Revelation!" arnold shouted as he pointed at the tree in front.

Xaga braked his car in time. Otherwise, he would have hit the tree in front of him.

"Almost," muttered Xaga. He pulled his car back, but he couldn't.

Alinda pulled down the windshield and looked out the window. "And your car's stuck in the tree's roots."

Xaga turned on the front spotlights of the car. They were surprised to learn that the car they were riding in was stuck at the root of a mangrove tree. Even the front of the car is now surrounded by sea water. The waves sound clear. They're close to the beach.

"Why can we be here? Weren't we in the teak forest before, huh?" ask Zahra.

"Are we teleporting?" ask Elan.

Greeta looked around. "How is it possible? I don't believe in any of this."

Xaga got out of the car. His feet went into the waters to the knee. " Come on, let's get out."

They also came out.

Xaga stretched out both hands. Amadhea held onto Xaga's shoulders as the man carried her out.

"You guys okay?" ask Xaga.

"We're fine."

Amadhea's vision was fixed to a location where there was a black car that was shuffled like a former accident. That car was his father's car. He remembered the license plate of the car.

So, Aunt Merlin and Calvin crash here? They suddenly moved here too? Inner Amadhea.

"Come on."

Eight people walked down the path. Xaga and Amadhea first followed Greeta, Zahra, Alinda, Elan, Zayn, and Arnold.

"There's no signal here" said Zahra, who opened Google Maps.

"It's okay, I know this way," said Amadhea.

"What's? Have you ever been here?" ask Alinda.

"Yes, in a dream," replied Amadhea quietly.

They light HP flashlights for street lighting. There are a lot of insects in that mangrove forest. The sound of birds and waves was heard adorning the silence of the night.

...👻👻👻...

^^^09.45 | 1 September 2021^^^

^^By Ucu Irna Marhamah ^^^