The sirens blared, startling us, and an automated voice announced, "Thirty seconds."

"What?" Jade cried. "Another game? Now?"

"I don't know, but we gotta go!" I grabbed her hand, pulling her along as we maneuvered through the maze of straw stacks that loomed in the darkness. The stacks varied in size, creating a disorienting landscape that made it hard to see more than a few feet ahead.

Instinct fueled me as the countdown struck something instinctual and placed me in panic mode. All I could think was to move and move quickly.

The only illumination came from the faint overhead lights that emitted a dim bluish tone like moonlight, casting eerie shadows that danced around us.

I tuned in to the direction of the sirens, my mind racing. Where was Millie? Was she safe? I glanced over my shoulder repeatedly, scanning for any trace of her or Spencer as we made our way back toward the entrance to the Enchanted Forest.

In the distance, a wall of dense fog rolled over the base of the straw stacks, moving toward us just as fast as we were running.

"Fifteen seconds," the voice continued.

Jade struggled to keep up, her oversized overalls tangling her movements. She kept fussing with them, trying to adjust on the run.

"Come on, Jade! We can't slow down!" I urged, tightening my grip on her hand, pulling her along. Fear of what would happen at the end of the countdown fueled me, especially if we had a rolling wall of fog on our heels.

She nodded, determination flashing in her eyes. We pushed forward, the sound of the sirens growing louder, the countdown ticking away in my head.

Then, through the gloom, I spotted Millie and Spencer at the ornate entrance to the Enchanted Forest, frantically waving us on.

"There they are!" I shouted, my heart lifting with hope. "Come on, Jade, we're almost there!"

"Ten seconds."

Millie's voice carried over the chaos. "Hurry! There's fog coming in behind you."

I didn't dare turn around. In fact, I didn't want to scare Jade with that knowledge. I kept my eyes glued to the goal, the slender ornate door that separated the barn set from the forest. But in a split second, Sonya seemingly came out of nowhere, rushing the entrance and pouncing on Millie.

The momentum knocked them back through the door and on the forest side. They were no longer in sight, but their cries and grunts echoed over the thumps of our footsteps and the ringing of the siren.

"Millie?!" I cried out. Instinct kicked in, and I knew I had to reach Sonya before she could cause serious harm. She had already cut Millie's throat once. Who knew what she'd do next? I couldn't let her kill my only sibling, my family, my beloved twin.

I remove my grip on Jade and rushed forward.

"Kam?" Jade called out from behind me.

"Follow me. We gotta help Millie." I slid through the opening and pounced on Sonya and Millie as they tussled on the ground.

Spencer was crouched on his hands and knees, searching the mulch with his fingers. "Where did her knife go?"

The sirens abruptly stopped, leaving an eerie silence in their wake. I grabbed Sonya by the shoulder, yanking her away from Millie. She spun around, a feral gleam in her eyes, and slashed at me with a jagged piece of glass she had hidden. I barely dodged in time, the glass slicing through the air inches from my face.

"Get away from her!" I snarled, I reached for my blade before realizing it wasn't attached to the cuff. Then I remembered, I had lodged it into the eye of the Grimm Piper before she ran away with it.

"Kamila, watch out!" Spencer's warning came too late. Sonya lunged at me, her weight knocking me off balance. We tumbled to the ground, rolling through the dirt and mulch. She dropped the glass in the scuffle, and I struggled to get the upper hand, but she was relentless, her fingers clawing at my face.

Pain seared my face as her nails raked across my cheek, but I pushed through it, grabbing her wrists and forcing them away from my eyes. I managed to roll on top of her and she bucked beneath me, her knee slamming into my ribs. I grunted, feeling the air rush out of my lungs, but I didn't let go.

I managed to use my weight to pin her legs beneath me. I pressed my cuffed forearm against her throat, my breath coming in ragged gasps. She glared up at me, hatred burning in her eyes. With a guttural snarl, she twisted her body, freeing one arm to swing at my face again. Her fist connected with my jaw, sending a burst of stars across my vision.

"Stay down!" I roared, shifting my weight to press my forearm harder against her throat. She gagged, her eyes bulging as she clawed at my arm, her nails digging into my skin.

Pain shot through my palm as I balled it into a fist, white-hot and searing. I could feel the wound reopening, blood oozing through my fingers but I pressed my forearm harder to her neck. I couldn't let her win.

With a fierce growl, I leaned in, using my body weight to press her down. Sonya's struggles grew weaker, her hands clawing against my arm with less and less strength. Her eyes widened, the fury in them giving way to panic as her air supply dwindled.

In the dim imitation moonlight, Sonya's face turned a sickly shade of purple, her eyes rolling back. The life started to fade from her gaze, her body going limp beneath me.

She went still.

I sat back to take in a decent breath and contemplate what I had done.

But then, with a shuddering gasp, Sonya sucked in a breath. Her body convulsed, and she shoved me off with a final surge of strength. I dropped back, clutching my oozing hand as she rolled away and scrambled to her feet.

I ignored the throbbing pain, my focus solely on Sonya. She stood there, swaying on her feet, her chest heaving as she gulped in air. For a moment, our eyes met, and I saw the same fire in her eyes burning bright.

Without a word, she turned and staggered away into the dark maze of apple trees, disappearing into the shadows.

Exhausted, I turned my head to see Millie staring at something behind me. Her eyes wide and a look of defeat on her face. I pivoted to see the door to the ornate entrance closed and Jade nowhere to be found.

"Jade!" I rushed to the door and pounded on the dense wood, desperation rising in my chest. "Jade, are you there?"

Silence.

"Hang on, babes!" I shouted, looking around for something, anything, to try and pry the door open. "I'll get the door open."

When I found nothing, I rammed the side of my body against it, but the door was solid. I threw my body against it over and over until Millie stopped me by placing her hand on my shoulder.

"It's not working, sis." She shook her head and sighed. "All you're doing is hurting yourself."

"But Jade."

"The fog probably—"

"Goddamnit!" I punched the panel that divided me from my love. Then turned to Millie before she could make some stupid remark about my language. "And fuck off, Millie."

"Hey!" She raised her hands in the air. "I'm on your side, sis. Calm down."

"They got Jade," I cried out. "How am I supposed to calm down?"

The thought of the Grimm Piper and her rats finding and manipulating Jade crossed my mind, making me growl through clenched teeth. Even worse was the fear of the fog putting her to sleep, leaving her vulnerable to whatever those people backstage had planned.

There was a rage within me that surged like an unfamiliar beast, clawing at my insides, demanding release. I had never felt anything like it before. It was raw, primal, a force that threatened to consume me entirely.

"We'll find a way to get to her, sis. I promise you." Millie's calm voice showed sincerity and I appreciated her not hounding me with reminders that I was at fault for involving Jade in the first place. "She'll be okay. We just have to come up with a plan."

"And we have to hurry," Spencer added. "I'll look for a safe zone."

"It's pointless." Millie shrugged. "They won't keep anything from entering."

"It's better than being live prey out in the open," he added, and took his brother's spear in hand like a walking staff before heading for an opening in the trees.

"Wait." I huffed. "We should stick together. Who knows what else we'd encounter if we split up again."

He paused to wait obviously in agreement.

I turned to Millie. "Plus, I can't lose you too. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if that happens."

"You'll do what you're good at, fight and survive." There was a softness in Millie's voice and demeanor I haven't seen since we were little kids. I missed it. "Love you, sis."

"I love you too."

We embraced for only a second, understanding time was of the essence. We broke the hug to follow Spencer down a path through the twisted and entwined apple trees.

The wound on my hand throbbed and ached with every movement, each pulse of pain took my attention from anything else. As I flexed my fingers, a sharp pang shot through my palm, forcing me to look down and examine it. Dark specks traced the edges of the wound.

My breath caught in my throat. The sight of the tiny dark droplets confused me, but before anyone could take notice of my reaction, I wiped the specks away on my jumpsuit and continued down the narrow path.

As we continued through the darkness for what felt like minutes, Spencer suddenly pointed ahead. "Look! The safe house."

Relief washed over me at the sight of the small, dilapidated structure. It wasn't much, but it was shelter. We hurried toward it, keeping alert for any threats especially signs of Sonya in the vicinity.

As we reached the door, Spencer was the first to push it open and step inside, holding it agape for Millie and me to follow.

The interior was dimly lit creating shadows that played tricks on my eyes. As I adjusted to the gloom, a familiar figure in the darkened corner caught my attention.

Millie spotted it too.

"Bandit?" The rat with the distinctive bruise on his hind leg sat in the spot, its belly expanded and deflated quickly with rapid breaths. But what caught my attention the most was the Piper's flute clutched in his incisors.

The sight of the rat with the flute sent a shiver down my spine. How did it get inside the forest set and inside the shack, and how did he retrieve the wooden instrument?

As Millie approached the rodent, I took in the room, seeing the familiar stack of paper towels and empty protein bar wrappers scattered around the small space. The damaged TV had familiar scrape marks where my blade had struck it several times in a fit of rage.

"Is that...?" Millie's voice trailed off, her eyes widening as she took in the scene.

"Yeah," I said, my voice low and wary. "That's Bandit with the Piper's flute. She tried to attack me and Jade, so I jammed my blade into her eye. I guess in a strange way I traded my blade for her flute."

Millie crouched to get a better look, and the rat moved from the corner to approach, exposing a small, jagged hole in the wooden wall behind him. The hole seemed too small for the rat to squeeze through, but he somehow managed it.

We watched as the rodent approached Millie, clutching the wooden flute in its incisors. When it reached her, it dropped the decorative instrument on the floor, just inches from her.

Millie picked up the flute, her fingers tracing the intricate carvings etched into the wood. The designs were unlike anything we'd seen before. There was an out-of-place notch where my blade had struck it, and a short piece of broken twine hung from one end, adding to its eerie appearance.

"Careful," Spencer warned, eyeing the flute warily.

Ignoring his caution, Millie brought the flute inches from her lips. The air around us seemed to thicken with anticipation. She took a deep breath and aimed her breath into the end of it.

A low, haunting note resonated from the flute, reverberating through the air. This time, the sound didn't affect me. However, the ground beneath us began to shake. A distant, rumbling grew more intense by the second.

Millie lowered the flute, her eyes wide with realization. "What did I just do?"

The shaking intensified as we braced ourselves for whatever was coming.