It's no longer light out when I wake up. The cabin is silent. I'm still slumped over the master bedroom's double mattress, and despite the darkness outside, Carmen's not beside me. I sit up, and pull myself back to lean against the headboard. It takes me a moment to remember what happened. When I do, I clench my hand into a fist, then hit the mattress with all the force I can muster up.

Stupid. I'm stupid. I wish I had the excuse of naivety, but I knew what I was doing. I knew what was happening, with that dark spirit at Chiku and Sefu's place, with the sheep. I knew what I was doing. Why didn't I stop? Why didn't I say anything to Annabel? Or Ava, or Carmen? Or anyone? My throat is dry, as if someone has scraped it with a blunt rake, so I leave the bedroom to fetch myself some water.

The second I step into the living area, I wish I hadn't. The room is empty, bar Carmen, who's pottering around the sofa and armchair with a few pillows in hand. The room is dark, but dimly lit by a tall lamp next to the TV. I consider leaving quietly, just disappearing back into the bedroom, but I'm fed up of being a coward, so I mumble a meek hello. Carmen's head whips towards me, and she stops in her tracks.

She throws the pillows in her hands onto the sofa as she says, "I'm going to crash here tonight."

She says it quietly and with hesitance, like she's worried she'll offend me. Or like she's scared I'm going to hurt her.

"Don't do that," I say before quickly following it up with a, "you take the bed. I'll sleep here."

Carmen opens her mouth as if to argue, but decides not to, and instead, she nods with a quiet thanks. I try to show a smile back, but my mouth must not get my brain's message because my lips don't even twitch. I mutter something about getting my sleeping stuff, then disappear back into the master bedroom.

When I return to the living area, Carmen is sitting on the arm of the sofa. She's biting her nails. She stands when she spots me, gives me another thanks, and heads towards the hallway. Just as she's about to disappear into the darkness, she pauses, and turns back towards me.

"I'm not sure if you heard me explain earlier," she says in a hushed voice. "The whole, uh, dark thing might be related to Ava. The Gruffudds were saying dark energy attracts dark spirits, something about them being able to identify and latch onto dark activity, all that stuff. Something might've tracked you--us down from, uh, that energy. I called Kato, by the way. About Ava." She follows it up with a, "sorry, just so you know."

To think, I'd assumed there was no way I could possibly feel any worse about all of this. I don't respond to Carmen, just blink at her like some kind of idiot. She says a goodnight, then steps into the hallway. Seconds later, I hear a door close. I exhale a long, heavy sigh as I fall onto the sofa, which now has a white duvet on it.

"Explain to me what the hell is happening, right now."

Annabel's voice catches me by surprise, and I snap my head up to see her ice blue eyes digging into every freckle on my face. She's standing above the sofa with her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

"I'm evil," I mutter as I lie down, not bothering to pull the duvet out from underneath me. "Surprise!"

"The sheep? The other night, when it was--"

"Yep, your truly."

For the first time, well, ever, Annabel is speechless. I've closed my eyes, so have no idea what her face is doing, but I can take a good guess. I'm surprised when a few minutes pass, and I hear nothing from my sister. She's usually yelling at me by now. When she does find the words to respond, they're not hard or angry. They're much worse. They're quiet, hurt.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

I open my eyes, and turn my head to see my sister's hunched figure sitting on the glass coffee table. Her peepers are still glued to me.

"If you'd... If you'd just said something, this wouldn't be so... so suspicious. Carmen was telling the others it doesn't mean you're dark, or your fate is sealed or anything like that, but it..." She sighs. "It looks really bad, Felix."

"I thought I had it under control." I stumble over my words, then catch myself. "I do have it under control."

"If you genuinely believe that, you would've told someone about it."

I don't say anything, and instead, turn to face the back of the sofa. She's right. I know she's right. She knows she's right. She's saying what everyone else is thinking, what Carmen was too afraid to say moments ago. I shut my eyes again, and focus on my breath. I must be exhausted because despite everything, I'm starting to drift off. It isn't until Annabel speaks again that I resurface to the present.

"I considered it."

I hold my breath, but don't turn back towards her.

"Turning dark, when I was alive," she elaborates, and her voice sounds muffled because my right ear is covered by the sofa cushion. "Even me, who hopped on a plane to England to try and stop Connor wasn't resistant to it. I had a few moments. I remember a few moments." She pauses. "The feeling of it. I guess me saying nothing is no better than you saying nothing."

I don't know if it's just because I so desperately want them to, but her words help.

"We'll find Ava," she says. "The others are just a bit freaked out. They'll get over it once they've had some time. We'll figure out where Ava is, everyone will understand you've just had a few hiccups, and you won't turn dark. I promise."

I turn back around to face Annabel. The sad look remains in her eyes, but there's something else tucked away in them now. A brightness, something like optimism. I scan her pale face, then shake my head.

"You can't promise things beyond your control," I mutter.

"I know you, Felix. Better than your friends do, better than Connor does." She manifests herself onto the sofa so that she's sitting beside my legs. "Better than you do."

She speaks the next sentence with such adamance that I believe it. I believe every syllable of it.

"You won't turn dark."

I hadn't thought to check the time earlier, but it must not have been as late as I thought because at ten twenty-one that night, I'm woken up by a phone call. I scramble around the sofa in a half asleep state until I feel the warm metal of my phone, and yank it from underneath me. As I squint in the darkness at my phone's screen, I almost choke on my own breath as I read the caller ID.

Ava.

"Hello? I--Are y--"

"Evening!" a voice which is definitely not Ava's, and undeniably someone else's chimes from the other line.

I blink slowly. No. Shit. No.

"Where the hell is Ava? If you've even thought about hurting her, I swear I--"

"Hey, calm down," Connor soothes from the other end. "Hear me out a second, bud, I--"

"Where is she?" I demand, jolting to my feet.

"She's fine, okay? Just calm down."

Is he kidding? Calm down? Calm fucking down? Swiping me away in the dead of night is one thing, but doing it to someone who should have no part in any of this is a whole other level. I'll kill him. I swear to God, I'll kill him.

"She's a bit bloody weird, mind you," Connor mutters, and it makes me want to punch him. "She's fine. I tried calling earlier--tried last night, but the bitch wouldn't give me your number since you changed it."

"Can't imagine why," I scoff.

I hadn't realised I'd started doing it, but I'm treading around the room, just pacing around and around the coffee table. I can't keep still. Where's Annabel?

"I gather you're still in Pembrokeshire," Connor inquires. I swear under my breath, then mumble a yes. "Great! Ideal. Okay, so listen," he starts, and God, I want to punch him. I wish I could punch him. "I'm not going to touch Ava, okay? So long as you meet me--How does tomorrow sound? Meet me tomorrow, at midnight. I was thinking the beach."

My pacing comes to a halt. What the--Is he on drugs? He's on drugs. He has to be. He's talking as if we're trying to arrange a convenient time for us to meet for a first date.

"Are you high, or some shit? What are--"

"It's quiet, out of the way," Connor explains, and as he continues, Annabel appears behind the sofa with a questioning look in her eyes. "You know how I found you, don't you?" The calmness in Connor's voice is edged with something else. I think it's excitement. "You've been trying to push it away, I know that, but you've been--"

I cut him off before he can say the words. "I'll meet you now."

Why not? I'm done. I need to end this. I can't bear the thought of Ava being stuck with this creep for any longer. I just want to get it over with.

"Now's not a good time for me."

I laugh. I actually fucking laugh. Yep, drugs. Without a doubt, high out of his mind.

"Felix? Who are you--What's happening?" Annabel butts in, and I lift my hand to tell her to sh.

"I need to sort some things out on my end," Connor mutters. "Tomorrow at midnight, okay? I won't lay a finger on Ava." He sighs. "I'm not a murderer, Felix."

Again, I laugh. This guy's full of jokes, isn't he? A real joker, Connor is.

"Tomorrow at midnight, at the beach," I confirm, then can't resist adding a, "should I bring my swim stuff?"

The line goes dead. Whatever. Sure. One day. I can wait one day. I throw my phone onto the armchair, and run my hands over my face. I can't stop moving. I'm still circling the coffee table as I rub my face again.

"Felix?"

I stop, and snap my head to Annabel. I forgot she was even here. I explain everything to her, and by the end of my story, her mouth has dropped open, her eyes wide. He won't hurt Ava, will he? I don't trust him. He's here somewhere, he has to be close. Screw it.

I scout the room until I find my shoes lying beside the front patio doors. I fell asleep in my clothes earlier, so I don't need to bother getting dressed. As I start pulling my shoes on, Annabel manifests herself beside me.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to find him," I reply absentmindedly.

"What? No, Felix, you have no idea where he is," Annabel argues. "Seriously, it's a wild goose chase, and--and you can't go alone, it's too dangerous."

"Piss off am I getting the others involved in this," I fight back, standing upright to look at my sister.

"We have a whole day," she snaps back. "We can call the Medakis, maybe even get the Gruffudds involved. Hell, maybe some of the other families. There's enough time for people to travel here, for us to find back up."

I don't know what part of this whole thing is screaming action film to Annabel, but I'm not sold. I roll my eyes, then bend back down to tie my laces. Annabel shouts my name. She doesn't get it. I can't let anyone else get hurt. This is my shit to deal with, not anyone else's. When I stand back up, Annabel is still there, still looming over me.

I go to pull down the front door's handle, but it's stuck. I sigh.

"Annabel, let go," I say in a stern voice.

"No!" she snaps back.

I shut my eyes for a moment, and try to pull down the handle again. She's still got it locked in place. I release it, turn to her, and raise my eyebrows. She doesn't budge. I don't have time for this. I shut my eyes, and engrave the image of the door handle into my head. Immediately, I can feel Annabel's force on it. I focus on it, on her energy, on the handle's energy. Every inch of my attention is on those two things, and I push against Annabel's force. It loosens, and without touching it, I open the door.

"Felix!" Annabel yells as I swiftly step onto the decking outside. "Stop! You're going to get hurt! You don't need to redeem yourself!"

I'm not trying to redeem myself, I'm trying to end this shit once and for all. Any redemption that comes from this is just a perk, even if I'm not alive to revel in it. Annabel's calling after me, and the second I step onto the gravel of the driveway, she appears beside Ava's car.

"You're shattered, you--It's been a long day, you're not in the right state to deal with this now!"

That makes me a laugh a little. My sleeping habits have nothing to do with this. I ignore her, but she doesn't shut up. When she finally gets the message, Annabel grunts and disappears. I figure she's gone back to the cabin to try and stir Carmen, Tom, and Jamie, but she's no poltergeist. She won't be able to do much, and luckily for me, Ava's the only light sleeper of our bunch.

"Okay, think," I mutter to myself as I'm walking out of the caravan site.

Where would he be? If I was an evil, family murdering arsehole, where would I hideout? My steps slow down as I reach the end of the road out of this place. He'll be somewhere quiet, somewhere out of the way. The only problem is that this entire goddamn town is out of the way. I don't have phone signal half the time.

I figure I should head in the opposite direction of the town, so instead of turning right, I leave the caravan site by turning left onto a side road. It's not long until Annabel's nipping at my heels again.

"Turn back!" she screams way too close to my ear as she hurries to keep up with me. "This didn't end well last time, remember? You passed out after a dark spirit found us, then nearly died of bloody hypothermia!"

"I'm wearing a jacket this time," I point out as I nod down at Dad's hand-me-down. "Personal growth."

"Felix!"

I ignore her. It's summertime, and not cold. The tiniest bit chilly, if that. Even without a jacket, I'd probably be fine.

My optimism doesn't last long, nor does my sense of direction. I'm wandering down a narrow street hidden by overhanging trees and not a single street light, which granted, was a poor decision on my behalf. I've got no clue where I am. It's fast ocurring to me how stupid of an idea this actually was. I tried calling Ava's phone again, but couldn't get through. Now I have zero signal. I think it's gotten colder too.

Annabel's no help because her sense of direction is as horrific as mine. She can manifest back to the cabin, and manifest back to me, but the in-between is just as lost on her as it is on me.

"You're literally stupid."

"Thanks," I beam in response to my sister's grumble.

"Any signal?" she questions.

I bring my phone out of my pocket, and click the lock button. Nothing happens. Hm.

"Hello? Anything?"

I look up, then shrug. "I think it's dead."

Annabel releases the biggest groan yet. I know I can be an idiot, and impulsively doing dumb shit is one of my favourite past times, but even I realise how stupid of an idea this was. I think I was just angry. Really bloody angry. Now that I've calmed down and am thinking semi-rationally, I'm well-aware of how dumb this was.

I stop when I see a bench, and sit down onto it. With a groan, I drop my head into my hands. Holy shit, am I tired. I lift my head back up, and Annabel's standing above me with a face like thunder. I ask her to try and figure out the route back, but she refuses to leave my side. What does she think is going to attack me? A doormouse?

When she refuses to explore a second time, I roll my eyes, and lie down onto the bench. It's actually pretty comfortable, so comfortable that before I realise it's happening, I've fallen asleep.