We hit the ground hard—stairs, glass, bodies all tangled together. For a second, none of us moved. The only sound was breathing. Shallow. Uneven. Like the place had squeezed the air out of us and wasn't done yet.
Mia was in Cameron's arms.
She was shaking so badly her teeth clicked together, her fingers curled inward, slick with blood. She kept pressing them to her mouth like she didn't trust herself not to scream if she let go. The blood wasn't slowing. It ran down her wrists, dripping onto the glass below, each drop spreading like it wanted to stain the whole world.
I stood there longer than I should have. Watching. Because part of me was terrified that if I spoke, if I acknowledged it, this would become permanent.
I forced myself to move.
My legs felt wrong—heavy, delayed, like they belonged to someone else. I crouched in front of them, one knee down, steadying myself with my hand on the glass. It was cold. Too cold. Like a grave.
Mia looked up at me.
Her usual calm—gone. Completely shattered. Her eyes were wide, glassy, filled with something raw and animal. Fear stripped down to the bone.
"Thank you," she said, her voice barely there. "For saving me. I… I don't know how much longer I could've—"
Her voice broke. She stopped. Just swallowed hard instead.
Cameron's arms tightened around her without him even realizing it. His jaw was clenched so hard I thought it might crack.
"Anytime," he said quickly, forcing a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You hear me? Anytime. You need saving, you call my name. I'll come running."
Mia looked at him.
Really looked.
Then she smiled.
It was small. Fragile. Like it hurt her to do it. And that somehow made it worse.
I understood then why she didn't smile much. Why she kept herself locked down so tightly. If you grew up learning that perfection was survival, you didn't waste energy on softness.
We bandaged her hands as best we could. Cameron's fingers shook as he wrapped the cloth, his usual jokes completely gone. The blood soaked through anyway.
That's when it hit me.
Damage here wasn't imaginary.
Fear wasn't an illusion.
This place didn't just show you trauma.
It made you live it again.
I stood, drawing a slow breath that burned all the way down.
Mia was hurt. Badly.
Jordan was missing.
The sun was almost gone.
And if Kurohana and Kangetsu decided to stop watching and start hunting—
We wouldn't last.
"Can we rest?" Cameron asked quietly.
I looked up.
The sky was wrong. Darkness eating it inch by inch. No stars. No mercy.
"We can't," I said.
Mia flinched, then nodded anyway. "Where's Jordan?"
"We haven't found her yet."
The words tasted like failure.
"We were looking for both of you. We can't stop now."
She looked at her hands, still trembling. "I can't fight."
"I know." I met her eyes. "Can you walk?"
She hesitated. Then nodded. "I'll manage."
That scared me more than if she'd said no.
We moved.
The path narrowed until it felt like the world was forcing us into single file. The crimson glass stretched on forever, veins fading in and out like a dying heartbeat. Time felt warped. Like we'd been trapped here for years instead of minutes.
Then—
Water.
It came out of nowhere. Cold. Violent. It ripped the ground out from under us.
I grabbed Cameron's hand. He grabbed Mia.
And then the current tore us apart.
"Mia!"
"Cameron!"
Their voices vanished beneath the roar.
I was dragged under. Cold slammed into my lungs, my muscles locking up, my mind screaming at me to stop fighting.
I kicked.
I broke the surface gasping and clawed my way onto a floating slab of glass.
That's when I saw the boat.
Two figures.
My heart nearly stopped.
I swam until my arms burned, until my body begged me to sink. When I hauled myself over the edge, I collapsed—then froze.
Jordan stood there.
And her mother.
"I don't want to leave you," Jordan said, her voice small. Younger than I'd ever heard it.
"You don't have to," her mother replied softly. Too softly. "You can stay. We can be together. Forever."
Jordan hesitated. "What about Dad? My brothers?"
Her mother smiled.
A smile that didn't touch her eyes.
"Everything will be taken care of. Don't you miss me?"
Jordan stepped forward.
Something in my chest cracked.
"Jordan!" I shouted.
She turned. Relief flashed across her face. "William?"
Her mother's gaze snapped to me. Cold. Sharp.
"Don't listen to him," she said. "You're safe here."
Jordan hesitated.
Then nodded.
And her body began to sink into her mother's.
Not swallowed.
Absorbed.
Like she was being erased.
"Jordan!" I lunged forward—
Too late.
She was gone.
The water swallowed me again.
Cold. Crushing.
Then I heard it.
A scream.
"Mom—no!"
I broke the surface just in time to see her.
A woman thrashing in the distance. Brown jacket. Blue jeans. Long black hair plastered to her face.
Drowning.