"Urgh..."

"H-huh?"

"Where are we?"

These were just few of the things the confused bunch of tired companions said. Waking up, they remembered falling through that accidental-time-fabric-rip-thingy, seeing different colors, falling out of the fabric, hitting a bunch of branches and trees, and blacking out. "How long were we out?" Jace asked Mack, as he was the only one who bothered to check their watch. "Since we've woken up, it has been 10 minutes and  49 seconds since we have blacked out, signaling that we have 20 minutes approximately to get to the middle of the forest by 12:00 AM." "Wow, we surely spent a lot of time with the wolves and stuff, huh..." MaKenzi whispered wistfully, as she realized the time gap. "Yeah. Well, let's keep going then if we don't want to be vaporized," Brandon said, adding a small chuckle after. And they set off to find the woman whom the call was from. 

All of a sudden, Brandon got into a defensive position, closely looking around for signs of danger or sudden movement. "What is it, Brandon?" Jorryn asked, confused as to why he was so defensive all of a sudden. "There's someone following us. Be prepared, and stay close by to me," Brandon said, as he got more firmly established in his stance. 

The group immediately silenced their whispering as they heard a rustling in the bushes. The group could hear whispers not from them, as if there were more people out there. The whispering got louder and louder, closer and closer, until it seemed like it were in their ears. The group covered their ears, not wanting to hear it. Then...it stopped. It just...stopped. Like someone had shushed them all at once. 

They turned around, not wanting to go any further, but were met by the dark, empty void of a face of the Shadows. As the group started to run, MaKenzi started to have a flashback.

MaKenzi sat with her grandfather as he started to tell the tale of the mysterious Shadows by the living room fire. It is nighttime, and MaKenzi is enjoying a cup of nice, hot, delicious hot cocoa. She silenced her laughter as Grandfather told her the story...

"It is said that the Shadows were once a happy bunch of forest explorers, not knowing what they were doing or where they were going. They also had enthusiastic tourists with them, for the explorers were the guides. All of a sudden, the group heard shots. Loud, ringing, terrifying gunshots. As the tour group ran, they were shot down. Some hid, but they were found. It turned out to be hunters; the group had foolishly gone out during the middle of the hunting season where the deer were reportedly most abundant. Some say their souls are here in the forms of shadows, looming on the outskirts of the forest. Some say it's an urban legend and tell others to grow up and get a life. Yet, some have went missing after camping in the forest near or during hunting season, but those who were in the forest far from hunting season saw no paranormal beings or reported anything unusual. Now, the government prohibits people from camping there during hunting season, but the government doesn't have time for that, apparently, so everyone keeps going there at night, especially at hunting season."

As MaKenzi was brought back to the present, she noticed that they were getting to a clearing in the woods, and it looked somewhat like a golf course. The grass was beautifully mowed, and there were rolling hills, like from a movie. For some reason, when the group had crossed an invisible line separating this lush greenery from the dark forest, the shadows cowered and turned away, obviously not wanting to go any further. "This must be where the woman asked us to come!" Jorryn said. "Yeah, it seems like we are in the middle of the forest," Mack said, checking his GPS. "Hello? Woman? Are you here?" Jace called out to nobody...or so she thought. "That woman was leading us on a wild goose chase!" Brandon said angrily, after waiting 5 minutes. The group murmured an angry agreement. As they turned to go back home, they were met with the face of a beautiful woman. She had long, black hair, and red lipstick. When she smiled, two of her teeth were sharper than usual, but the group could not see this in the dark. She had on blue jeans and a blue ruffled off-the-shoulder shirt, and converses. She looked sort of like a model, but more casual than classy. What was a woman like her doing in a place like this? She spoke in that sweet, alluring, deadly voice that Jorryn remembered...

"Hello, children. I am Esmerée Abellona Lynx. It's a pleasure."