"Can you run faster?" Clio yelled at Agatha and Lorcan. "You can have the rest of your reunion once we get out of this place alive."

"Let them be, it's young love." Varinia defended them, running at the head of the group.

"Can someone remind me why we are following a demon?" Demir asked, looking at Varinia suspiciously. "She could be leading us into a trap."

"I trust her," Agatha said. She ran holding Lorcan's hand. "She already helped me before, and I can already see the exit."

The group quickened their pace, they were almost at the end of their mission. At least from the first part. Flora couldn't help but smile as she chased the others, even though they were fleeing from a mansion full of demons. It was one of the best moments of her week.

Agatha's presence restored the energy they had lost, especially for Demir and Lorcan, who seemed to have lifted a weight off their shoulders. She just hoped that their little illusion of happiness wouldn't disappear so soon.

They left the mansion. The beginning of the forest was waiting for them, the tall trees covered the rest of the landscape and the only way out to avoid having to go into them was to follow the route that passed in front of the building.

"This way," Flora instructed them, running to the right. "Aífe told me he was going to leave his truck here."

Just as she had said, the young woman was waiting for them inside the vehicle. She started the engine as the group approached.

"Let's go," Clio ordered when everyone boarded.

"I can see you, I know what I have to do," Aífe said. "Weren't you going to rescue a single person?"

"That was the idea but Agatha insisted on bringing her demon friend," Demir replied.

"Don't worry, if she tries to attack you I'll protect you," Flora joked from the passenger seat, waggling her eyebrows.

"Why is she sitting next to me?" Aífe asked.

"Because no one else wants to sit next to her," Clio replied. "I put up with her every day, now it's someone else's turn."

"You're super mean," Flora said. "I know you actually love being with me. And I'm an excellent co-pilot, Clio always takes me with her."

"Like I said, I have to put up with her every day. The crazy girl doesn't stop chasing me."

For a moment Flora felt as if she had returned to the past, to the beginnings of the resistance when hunting demons was not a common task.

At that time she came to think that keeping the village safe would be an easy task, after several months she could see that the demons wanted them to think that. They were so comfortable with their illusion of playing heroes that they didn't notice when reality began to change.

Witnessing the joy of her companions she wondered if it would last long, a part of her feared that their happiness would be taken away from them once again. They were destined to suffer, at least until the reign of the demons was ended once and for all.

"There's something strange," Aífe said. "The beach is too empty, I don't see any fishermen in the area."

Flora turned her head towards the beach, just as Aífe said there was not a single person or boat in the place.

"Maybe there's something wrong with the tide," Clio answered.

"The tide seems normal to me," Lorcan said.

Complications came sooner than expected. They couldn't go more than half an hour without hearing about a new problem. Although seeing the empty beach didn't confirm that something was wrong, any deviation from the normal was a sign of a bad omen in their situation.

"Then everyone decided to go home early." Clio continued trying to find a solution. "It's not too early either, the Sun is already setting."

"Usually they stay until midnight," Demir joined the conversation.

From her seat Agatha began to shake, her gaze didn't move from her window. She hadn't said anything since they got into the car, her silence didn't bother Flora but the trembling was already a different sign.

Beside her, the demon didn't stay still in her seat, she moved from side to side and sometimes she held Agatha's hand.

They definitely knew something. Aífe's comment had intensified their strange behavior. What Flora didn't understand was why they didn't say anything.

"Are you two okay?" Flora asked, turning to look at the young women. "It seems like something is bothering you."

"You're right, something is wrong in the village," Agatha replied.

"Do you know anything about that?" Demir asked her.

Agatha nodded. "Varinia told me that some inhabitants were planning to attack the Protectors' headquarters and that something could happen in the village."

"Several demons also went to the village," Varinia commented. "But they had orders not to intervene, they wanted the humans to destroy each other."

"Why?" Asked Lorcan.

"It makes the demon's job easier, you know if humans kill each other the demons don't have to do the hard job," answered Varinia.

"Not that. Why would the villagers attack the headquarters?" Lorcan asked once again.

"Must be Peters' people," Clio said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they did something like that after they kidnapped, tortured and killed our friends. Those people are crazy."

Flora only heard part of the conversation, her mind was too full of worries to keep up with them. She still had the clarity to try to communicate with Momotaro. She took out the cell phone from her pocket and dialed the phone number.

The call tone rang several times but Momotaro never answered.

Why was she not there every time they attacked the headquarters?

"We should try to contact Momotaro," Lorcan said.

"That's what I'm trying to do but he's not answering me," Flora replied.

"Try someone else," Clio asked.

Who else could she call? Only one name came to her mind.

"Where are you? The village is falling apart." Noah's voice came from the other end of the call.

"We were rescuing Agatha, what happened? Is everyone okay? Where are you?"

"Hey, Hey, one question at a time. I don't know all the details, I wasn't at the headquarters when they attacked it either. From what I'm told, Peters' followers appeared out of nowhere and started attacking our people. Not everyone survived. Apparently Stefan and Momotaro arrived just in time to save those who were still okay."

"And the village?"

"They also attacked the rest of the inhabitants. They're making sure that everyone with a connection to us dies. You cannot enter the village, it's not safe for you. Come to the abandoned lighthouse, we'll explain the rest when you arrive."

The old lighthouse was known to everyone in the village. The colorless building used to be Umbra's biggest attraction until a maritime accident caused it to be forgotten.

It was a curious place to hide, even Flora didn't understand how everyone who survived could be gathered together in such a small space. Had there been so few who had escaped alive?

The answer to her questions came as soon as the group set foot inside the lighthouse.

Noah was waiting for them at the entrance. There was no effusive meeting, just the classic greeting of the young man devoid of enthusiasm.

"Follow me," he told them. "You're going to be surprised when you see the rest."

Instead of climbing the stairs of the lighthouse, Noah guided them to a small office on the bottom floor. He lifted part of the carpet, uncovering a metal door.

"Come on, don't stay there," Noah said after opening the door.

Flora was the first to go down the stairs. She didn't fully see the room when Titan lunged at her.

"Chuchu! I'm so glad you're okay."

The dog greeted the entire group effusively, even the people he didn't know.

"Can I have my reunion hugs too?" Stella appeared in the room.

"Of course you can," Flora replied, wrapping her in a hug. "It's good to see you again."

"Well, I'm hard to kill," Stella joked. "The others are waiting in the hall, let's go before Stefan has a crisis. He's already quite nervous."

The group of surviving members peppered them with questions the moment they set foot in the white room. Flora let her friends answer as she collapsed onto one of the wooden chairs.

She listened attentively to the retelling of what happened at the headquarters without moving her gaze from the damp spot on the ceiling.

"What are we going to do now?" Lorcan asked. "There has to be something we can do."

"Now our priority is to go find our families and friends," Stefan replied. "Bertram and Gellert already went to bring some of them. No one related to us will be safe inside the village."

"What about my parents?" Aífe asked. "Technically I'm not part of your group but I'm not sure if they consider me one of your allies."

"Don't worry, we can go find them," Stefan replied. "Same with Agatha's parents."

"What do we do when everyone is here?" Clio asked.

Stefan lit a cigarette. "We have no choice but to prepare for battle."