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“What are you two talking about?” Charlie hissed, her eyes wild.
Sadie ignored her sister, focusing on Skyler. “Before we discuss any of this, she needs to remember now. We don’t have time to wait, and I know the way she can. It’s how I found out. She’s coming with me into the woods, and you will not fight me on this.”
“With those things out there? I’m not going to risk her getting hurt,” he said. “You told me the stories of what they can do.”
“It’s funny,” Sadie snapped, “I’ve already been hurt countless times. It all involves me getting killed by my beloved. The. End. It’s quite the tale, isn’t it?”
“You don’t know, then?” Skyler ran a hand across his jaw as he cast a glance at Charlie.
Sadie blinked. “What?”
“Because of Ada’s spell, I do the same to my beloved.”
“You kill her?” Sadie took a step back, stumbling.
He nodded, and nausea bubbled in Sadie’s stomach. She knew their lives had to have ended sooner, but she hadn’t thought it was because Skyler was killing Charlie each time.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Charlie whisper-shouted.
Sadie needed to comfort Charlie for now—this was the sister she loved, the one she would always fight for, more than ever before. With a heavy sigh, she rested her hands on Charlie’s shoulders. “You are going to come with us through the woods. We can’t stay here because this cabin isn’t protected and they can come in. I know how this is going to sound, but it will help you remember. Outside there will be silver spirits that may come after us. Keep your gaze trained on the ground, and do not look into their eyes. Not one time. If you do, you will die. Do you understand?”
Skyler scowled, mulling over what she’d said. “She’s right. You wouldn’t be protected here. Trust her words on this. Trust me.”
Charlie’s lip wobbled and her face paled.
“This is your warning. Do you understand? If you want, I can even blindfold you,” Sadie said.
“I don’t need a blindfold,” Charlie answered, her voice shaky. “But I swear if you two are screwing with me and this is all a practical joke, I’m never talking to either of you again.”
“I wish I could say it was.” Skyler grasped Charlie’s hand, gently squeezing it.
“I’ll lead the way, and we need to move fast.” Sadie peered out the window, finding no sign of silver silhouettes floating through the air, only their wails in the distance.
Slowly, Sadie drew open the door, looking side to side before waving them on. They rushed toward the lantern-lit trees, keeping their feet as light as they could.
The trees were still stitched together, holding their barrier shape, while some of the others were leaned to the sides again as if they were a wax candle and a flame had melted them.
Skyler kept silent, but her sister let out a low gasp and Sadie motioned at Charlie to keep quiet. She could tell her sister was fighting a scream as she covered her mouth. Charlie was going to remember the spell she cast even if Sadie had to tie her to a chair and force her to recover the memory. But a sinking feeling coursed through her as she wondered how her sister had been killed in each life…
Up ahead, the goat-skulled fiend crawled out from behind a tree and Charlie gasped. Sadie mouthed at her not to worry. There wasn’t a sign of the others and she hoped they were hidden, but as they passed bones along the ground, she knew they weren’t all safe. She remembered the pig-skulled fiend being ripped apart.
The lanterns continued leading the way and Charlie stared at them, but she didn’t question it, even as her body trembled. A silver form then slithered out from a tree above them.
“To the hole where you dug before,” Sadie rushed out, nudging Skyler forward.
They sprinted past several trees when something strong yanked Sadie back by her hair and screeched beside her face, making her ears ring. Squeezing her eyes closed, she ripped herself free and bolted after Skyler. Not once did she glance over her shoulder as she cracked open her eyelids. “Keep going and don’t look back,” she shouted to Skyler, who was pulling Charlie beside him. The spirits could touch them now, something they could never do before. But in this state, it was Sadie’s essence that was here, not her true body. Her form at the moment was the same as theirs. She dodged a few fallen logs, then pushed away the vines, finding Skyler and her sister halting inside the circular tree formation. Still, no moths lingered.
Shrill screams shot through the air and Skyler held onto Charlie, not budging.
“We need to go now. The wards were still holding last night but may not for much longer. Trust me in this life, Skyler. I promise this will help her to remember and isn’t a trick. You must both speak these words to enter.” She whispered the spell to them both, words she’d never told anyone.
Skyler tightened his jaw, relenting as the screams grew closer, and he and Charlie murmured the words. Sadie then led the way down the two flights of stairs, relieved the words had allowed them to follow. Cracks lined the walls, but the wards held. For now.
Same as the night before, she found River inside the crystal box where the dagger had remained, only the lid wasn’t closed this time since they’d left it open.
“He’s here?” Skyler rasped, stepping closer to the box.
“River is in there,” Charlie gasped, her arms folded in front of her, her body vibrating harder.
