Jade walked quickly along the cracked road, the soles of his shoes scraping against the uneven asphalt. Exhaustion marked his face in deep dark circles.
Staying at Kenny's house, he had spent the entire night awake, unable to shut off the mind that kept producing theories, calculations, and possible escape routes from that cursed place.
The previous afternoon, he had searched every corner of the town like a man looking for gold, collecting parts, scrap metal, anything that could feed his creation.
All he still needed were proper wires and a battery with enough charge to bring the plan to life. And help.
He needed someone fearless with strong arms. He knew exactly who fit that description.
When he reached the porch of Colony House, he spotted his target.
Daniel was leaning against the wooden railing of the porch, relaxed, patiently listening while Ethan explained a complex rule from a game he had clearly just invented.
Jim and Tabitha were speaking quietly with Julie a few steps away, the family tension giving way to a fragile calm.
Without any 'good morning' or basic courtesy, Jade stomped up the steps, breaking the peace of the moment.
"I have a plan. A real plan that can get everyone out of this hole," he declared, his voice about an octave louder than necessary. His bloodshot eyes locked directly onto Daniel. "And I need your help."
Three residents of Colony House, who were sharing a single crumpled cigarette on the stairs, stopped smoking. They exchanged looks that mixed genuine pity with deep boredom.
"I was exactly like that my first week," one of them muttered, exhaling smoke slowly through his nose.
"Here goes another one who thinks he's going to discover the magic exit," the other replied, shaking his head before taking another drag.
The Matthews family looked at him with the same silent skepticism.
Jade noticed the weight of their stares.
"Why the hell are you all looking at me like you're at a funeral?"
He raised his right hand, tapping his temple repeatedly with his index finger.
"You see this? I built a multimillion-dollar software company with just this. I'm not some scared hillbilly. I solve problems."
Daniel didn't change position. He simply raised an eyebrow.
"And what's the genius tech solution?"
Jade ignored the provocative tone, driven by his own adrenaline.
"I picked up static on the radio communicator. I built a makeshift antenna. If I place it at the highest point possible, I might be able to capture a frequency. There could be a signal beyond the interference. But I need to go to my car to get the battery and cables."
Jim's eyes immediately lost their skeptical filter. His engineer's mind absorbed the logic of the proposal, calculating its viability in fractions of a second, and his posture straightened.
Daniel, on the other hand, kept the same neutral expression.
He knew this story. He knew perfectly well that Jade's radio tower plan would lead to nothing but frustration and injured people.
"Sounds great," he said, his voice completely devoid of enthusiasm. "But I'm busy right now."
Jade blinked rapidly, as if someone had just slapped him. Disbelief twisted his face.
"Busy?" He let out an incredulous laugh. "What the fuck could be more important than getting out of this place?"
The moment the curse words tore through the air, Jade froze. His gaze dropped to Ethan, who was watching him closely with wide eyes.
He sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging as he rubbed his sweaty face with both hands.
"Sorry. My bad for swearing in front of the kid."
Daniel waved his hand lazily in the air, dismissing the apology—which technically hadn't even been directed at him.
"Don't worry about it. I just don't want to go."
[Casual rejection successfully applied. The target's frustration level has just reached critical. Grab the popcorn.]
Jade stared at Daniel as if trying to decide whether this was some elaborate joke or a direct insult.
"Alright. You don't want to help save your own skin. Great."
He pointed a finger toward the lawn.
"Then lend me that monstrosity on wheels and I'll drive there myself."
"Not happening. I don't lend my baby to anyone." Daniel paused briefly, looking Jade up and down.
"Especially to someone who, honestly, doesn't seem mentally stable enough to ride a tricycle right now."
Jade ran both hands through his hair, letting out a grunt of pure frustration.
What an irritating guy. I swear I want to punch that smug face, Jade thought, teeth clenched.
But reason—or maybe simple self-preservation—won over the impulse.
"Lucky for you I'm not in the mood to have a hammer flying at me today. Keep your ridiculous tank."
Some steps behind, Julie bit her lower lip, trying to contain the laughter that threatened to slip out.
He really has absolutely no filter.
The thought came with a strange warmth spreading through her chest. The way Daniel treated a millionaire having a meltdown with the same casual indifference he would show anyone else was... oddly attractive.
Jade spun on his heels, clearly ready to search for another solution. His gaze swept across the area until it landed on Donna's van parked near the garden.
He took a step in that direction. Then he stopped.
The memory of Donna's expression, her firm voice, and the almost intimidating presence of the woman flashed through his mind like a warning light.
Jade immediately shook his head.
"No. Better not," he muttered to himself.
"Why don't you ask Sheriff Boyd?" Jim's voice interrupted Jade's spiral of irritation. The engineer stepped forward.
"The truck he used to rescue us... it might work."
The mention of the vehicle made something change in Jade's face. Not much, but enough for the tension in his eyes to grow heavier.
The memory of the truck brought another image with it. Tobey being rescued.
"That'll work," Jade finally said, his voice now a little lower.
He looked directly at Jim.
"You're coming with me. You understand the technical side and can help set up the antenna in the right place."
Then he cast a quick glance toward Daniel.
"I need someone who doesn't think salvation is going to fall from the sky."
Jim hesitated. His gaze shifted first to Tabitha. Then to Julie. Part of him wanted to stay there, slowly rebuilding his relationship with his daughter after everything that had happened.
But his analytical mind was screaming that Jade's plan, as insane as the man seemed, had a solid technical foundation.
He leaned closer to his wife, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"I think it might work, Tab. It's basic electromagnetism. If there's any kind of signal beyond the interference... this could pick it up and we might be able to communicate with whoever's out there."
Tabitha looked into her husband's eyes, reading the desperate hope shining there.
"Go. Be careful."
Jim turned back to Jade, determination replacing hesitation.
"I'm in."
When the two men started walking down the porch steps toward the street, Daniel lifted his chin.
"Good luck to you both." There was no sarcasm in his voice this time, only the pragmatic recognition of a futile effort.
As soon as the two men moved away, Ethan turned his attention to Daniel.
"Why didn't you want to help?" he asked, frowning as he tried to understand.
Daniel looked down, meeting the child's wide and questioning eyes.
"Because I don't think it's a promising plan, kid."
Ethan didn't look convinced. He straightened his posture, unintentionally taking on the stance of someone about to explain something extremely obvious.
"But even if it doesn't work, you still have to at least try."
Ethan continued, now gesturing as he spoke.
"If it doesn't work one way, you just try another way. That's how it works in stories. The heroes try a bunch of different things until they succeed in the end."
Daniel watched Ethan, analyzing that simple and direct conviction. It was the kind of logic adults usually forgot somewhere along the way.
He's not wrong.
Daniel knew exactly how that attempt would end. He knew because, to some extent, he carried the script of that reality inside his head.
But the truth was... this wasn't exactly the same script anymore.
This reality had already begun to distort.
"You have a point," Daniel admitted, slowly nodding at the boy. "The logic checks out."
Ethan's eyes lit up with expectation.
"So you're going to go help them now?"
Daniel blinked, his expression instantly returning to his usual cynicism.
"No. I'm still not going."
The boy let out an exaggerated sigh, crossing his short arms and pushing his lips into a frustrated pout.
Right behind them, Julie could no longer hold it in as she watched the interaction.
A short, muffled laugh escaped her. She slowly shook her head while looking at Daniel.
His stubbornness was almost impressive.
Tabitha let out a small, resigned sigh as she looked down the road where Jim had disappeared.
She wanted to believe that attempt would lead to something. Anything.
Even a clue.
She needed to get her children out of there.
---
In the center of town, the small bell above the diner door chimed softly.
Boyd walked straight through the room until he reached the last table in the place.
There, Father Khatri was finishing a cup of tea, his gaze fixed on the steam rising from the porcelain.
The sheriff pulled out the chair across from him and sat down with a heavy sigh.
"Everything alright here?"
"Everything's under control," Khatri replied in his usual diplomatic tone.
Boyd tilted his head slightly. His eyes swept across the worn floor until they found Sara.
The girl was wiping the counter with a damp cloth.
"Did she give you any new information?"
The priest shook his head.
"No. She told me she tried to communicate with the voices again last night. But nothing so far."
The sheriff scratched his graying beard and turned his face toward the window, watching the cracked asphalt of the main road.
In the distance, he spotted Rick walking. The man was coming from the direction of the clinic. There was something in the urgency and lightness of his steps that unsettled the sheriff.
"Keep an eye on her," the sheriff instructed as he stood from the table, already with a new destination in mind.
---
Far beyond the dirt road, deep within the forest, where the trees intertwined so densely that sunlight died before ever touching the ground, a colossal structure made of black stone rose from the darkness.
The walls were irregular, ancient, as if they had been erected centuries ago and simply forgotten by the rest of the world.
Parts of the fortress were covered with thick roots that burrowed into cracks in the rock, while moss spread across the surfaces like a slow disease.
The place resembled the ruins of a gothic castle.
Inside one of its monumental halls, immersed in cold shadows, a middle-aged man sat in a high-backed chair carved from dark wood. His long braided hair fell over his broad shoulders.
A heavy rustling of wings broke the silence.
A raven with unnaturally glossy feathers—black as obsidian—landed on the arched window's stone ledge. The bird tilted its head in an unnatural way, observing the man.
When it opened its beak, the voice that echoed out was not the caw of a bird, but an aged human voice.
"Donovan... how is the plan progressing?"
The man did not move a muscle. His cold eyes remained fixed on the empty fireplace in front of him.
"The girl broke free from my control," Donovan replied. His voice was deep and resonant, filled with restrained irritation.
"The connection was severed. There was probably interference from the One in White. But... I've already found another target. One far more malleable."
Just the mention of the 'One in White' caused an unmistakable flash of fear to cross Donovan's old eyes.
An almost imperceptible tremor tightened his jawline.
The raven scraped its sharp claws against the window stone. "I saw the ritual."
"When will the new batch arrive?" Donovan asked, his gaze finally shifting away from the fireplace.
"It won't take long," the raven assured him. The bird hopped from the ledge to a rustic table nearby, adjusting its wings. "About Daniel... has there been any more information?"
Donovan formed a thin smile, devoid of any warmth. Only cruelty.
"Nothing new. But one of the orders I gave my new puppet is precisely to kill him. The shock will give us answers."
"If he demonstrates another kind of power in order to survive, we'll see whether he's a threat that needs to be eradicated... or a tool we can use to our advantage."
The raven let out a bizarre sound of approval.
"Since the surface scan revealed no relevant information, once the next batch arrives and I recover a bit of my power, I'll try to dive deeply into his mind," the bird promised.
"Don't worry too much about Daniel. Just keep an eye on him," Donovan said, leaning back in his chair. "If the puppet fails in its mission, there will be others."
"I'm more concerned about getting our hands on the boy as soon as possible than about him," the raven warned.
"Last time, we had a small setback because of the interference from the One in White. We can't afford to fail now. Time is short," Donovan concluded, his voice dropping into a dangerous whisper.
The bird released a low, dragging caw. Without another word, it spread its large dark wings and took flight through the window.
The beating of wings blended with the rustling of leaves as the raven cut through the sky above the treetops. Its flight was swift, stealthy, and lethally silent, covering in minutes the enormous distance to the outskirts of the town.
As it approached the grounds of Colony House, the bird slowed down. It made a wide circle in the air before descending in a smooth dive, landing without making a single sound on the highest branch of an old oak tree.
After landing, its unfathomable eyes shifted from the deepest black to a glowing red, locking directly onto Daniel.
Down below, Daniel was still leaning against the wooden railing, calmly talking with Ethan, Julie, and Tabitha.
—
Back at the castle, Donovan slowly opened his right hand.
At the center of his palm, embedded into the flesh, there was a dark mark. An ancestral symbol resembling a trident, as if it had been branded into his skin with a red-hot iron.
He slowly closed his fingers, forming a fist. The mark pulsed with a sickly light.
At that exact moment, kilometers away, in the center of town, Rick stopped in the middle of his kitchen.
A sudden wave of heat surged through his wrist, exactly where his own symbol rested.
He frowned, surprised, bringing his hand to the marked skin.
The mark there seemed... hotter.
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