Jack's pov

A couple of days have passed by with no luck in finding Selene's crystals. Of course Jeff and I are the only ones really looking. Slender doesn't care about something so irrelevant and Masky and Hoodie agree with him.

I don't think they understand the girls the way Jeff and I do. We've been watching over them, feeding them, talking with them. I'm started to grow a bit... attached to the mysterious masked girl. Maybe it won't be so difficult to make them our allies after all.

Jeff and I were out scouring the woods, hoping to at least find a clue that would lead us to one of the crystals. Jeff let out an annoyed groan.

"Am I the only one who's starting to think this is a lost cause?"

I sighed. "I'm starting to think that way too. But we can't just give up or the girls won't join us."

Jeff chuckled and looked at me. "Come on, we've been getting them to open up more and more each time we visit them. Do you really think they'll still be worried about that?"

"They're not as simple-minded as you seem to think, Jeff. I don't think they'd appreciate it if we just gave up."

He shrugged. "They might understand. They can't expect us to just magically find the-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, one of Selene's large dogs leapt out of some bushes and clamped its jaws around Jeff's arm. He let out a small scream of pain as the beast violently shook him around.

"Why does this always happen to me?!" he yelled while reaching for his knife.

I was about to help him when the other dog leapt out at me from behind. I tried ducking down out of the way, but its claws raked across my back as it sailed over me.

I hissed at the pain and jumped to my feet. The skull-headed dog snapped its jaws and charged at me. With my scalpel in hand, I slid under its feet, cutting across its stomach as I went.

Now behind it, I noticed Jeff had plunged his knife into the other dog's muzzle, forcing it to finally let him go. Neither of the beasts seemed hindered by their wounds, but lucky for us, they decided to flee.

Jeff and I panted, our injuries bleeding profusely. We've come across Selene's pets a few times now, but usually at a distance. This time they attacked us. These monsters are gonna be a problem if we can't handle them now.

"Let's get home, my back is killing me," I said, causing Jeff to nod.

We trudged our way back home. Not seeing Slender or the proxies anywhere, we decided to go down to the basement. Going over to the two girls, Selene seemed to chuckle at us.

"I see Fang and Saber have had their fun," she said. "You really shouldn't go near them."

"We didn't choose to!" Jeff shouted, clutching his torn, bloody arm. "Your damn mutts ambushed us!"

Her smirk quickly turned down into a frown. "Forgive them, they're only angry because I'm not with them. It's the same with Naomi's pets."

The blue-eyed girl smirked at Jeff. "You know all about that, don't you, Jeff?"

"Shut up," he replied in an annoyed tone.

Out of curiosity, I decided to ask, "Which dog is which?"

"Fang has a deer skull over the top of his head while Saber's whole head is a skull."

"Jeff's seen my beautiful mare, Latte," Naomi chimed in, "and we can't forget my opossums, Bella and Edward."

I hissed, a searing pain coming from the large scratches on my back. "We should go get cleaned up. My hoodie's getting soaked with blood."

Before either of us could move, Selene said, "Wait, I can heal you."

Jeff and I stared down at Selene. "No way!" Jeff yelled. "There's no telling what you could do with your crazy magic mumbo jumbo! I don't want you doing anything to my body!"

I stared at her momentarily. For some reason, I trust her. "Alright," I said.

"Jack, you can't be serious!" Jeff cried, clearly shocked by my choice.

I ignored him and kneeled in front of Selene. I slowly untied her wrists and ankles.

Selene's pov

I was a bit surprised that Jack was trusting me. I don't know why I even offered to help in the first place. I guess I'm growing a bit of a soft spot for these two.

I rubbed my wrists where the thick rope had pressed against them. I then looked at Jack in front of me.

"Turn around," I ordered.

He silently obeyed, sitting down with his back to me. I leaned closer, examining his injury. I could see the large, bleeding cuts from where my pet's claws ripped through his hoodie.

I concentrated and slowly waved my hand back and forth above the wounds. They slowly began healing up until they were completely gone.

Jeff seemed to stare in awe while Jack lightly touched part of his back. "The pain... it's really gone," he muttered.

"I change my mind," Jeff said. "I wanna be healed too."

I chuckled at him. Jack moved aside, letting Jeff sit before me. He held his arm out to me. I took it and once again waved my hand over his torn arm. Jack watched in fascination as Jeff's arm healed up.

"Whoa," Jeff commented, inspecting his arm. "That is really cool."

"How do you do that?" Jack asked.

"I have a strong connection with the spirits," I answered. "They often aid me with tasks such as this."

He slowly nodded in understanding. "I suppose we won't keep you tied up any longer as long as you don't cause trouble."

"I assure you, I have no intention of fighting," I replied.

"Hey! What about me?!" Naomi interrupted, struggling to move.

I scooted over to her and undid the rope on her wrists and ankles. She immediately stood and stretched.

"Ahh, now that feels much better. Now I just want my knife back."

"Well neither of you get your weapons back yet," Jeff told us. "We trust you to move around freely, but not if you're armed."

"Fine," I said. "Forget the weapons. Let's go, Naomi."

Naomi silently followed me out of the basement. The two boys came rushing out after us. They quickly got in front of us, stopping us from going further.

"You can't leave," Jack said.

"Why not?" I questioned with slight irritation.

"Because Slender would kill us if we just let you waltz out of here," Jeff answered.

Naomi laughed a bit at that. "Well that's your problem, not ours. We've got things to do."

Both boys pulled out their weapons. Naomi got in front of me protectively, ready to fight the two if she had to.

"You're just asking for it, aren't you?" she said.

In the blink of an eye, she lunged at Jeff, knocking him to the floor. With her now on top of him, she threw punches at him while he stabbed at her with his knife. Jack inched closer to me, pointing his scalpel at my throat.

"Don't even try anything," he said to me.

I smirked. "Or what? You'll kill me? Go ahead, do it."

"You doubt me?" he questioned, lightly pushing the blade against my neck.

I chuckled at him. "You won't do it. No matter what you say, you don't have the nerve to kill me."

We seemed to have a silent stare down while Jeff and Naomi rolled around on the floor fighting. I was just waiting for Jack to move. He finally sighed and withdrew the scalpel.

"Damn it," he muttered.

"I knew you couldn't do it," I said.

"What is going on in here?!" a loud voice boomed.

Slenderman suddenly appeared. Long, black tentacles shot out of his back, wrapping around Jeff and Naomi and prying them apart. Now dangling from their ankles, the two still yelled and reached for each other.

"You two had one job!" Slender yelled, his voice filling the room. "Look after the girls! Instead, you let them get out and pick fights with them?!"

Before Jack or I could speak, a loud, brief static filled my head. Everyone, even Jeff and Naomi, fell into silence. Slender let out a sigh.

"Looks like I need to handle things myself."

Slender's tentacles grabbed Naomi and me by the wrists, slipping some kind of metal cuffs on us. A single cuff now rested around my right wrist with a chain connecting to it. It made us look like some kind of prisoners.

"There, now you girls go wait in the living room with Masky and Hoodie," Slender ordered. "Jeff, Jack, we need to have a talk."

Jeff was placed back on his feet and both boys slowly trudged behind the faceless man until they were out of sight. Naomi and I walked down the hall, arriving in the large living room.

Masky and Hoodie were here, standing by the couch. They waved us over. We complied and went over, sitting on the couch. Looks like Jeff and Jack are in trouble. But I don't think we're going to be allowed to leave at all.