I sat, listening intently to every noise-the giggle of Ethereals, every twig that snapped, the silent whooshing of leaves against the gentle breeze. As far as I could tell, no one had found our trail, yet.

Thoughtfully, Apple sat on the ground, still staring at the spot where Rosario had disappeared.

"She's broken, that one," Apple murmured mostly to herself.

"What?" I blurted out.

Casually, the girl shook her head and gave me a weak smile. "Some of her parts are broken. I can tell. Someone should fix her damage or she'll stop working soon."

To me, Apple sounded like she was talking of Rosario like she was some kind of machine. I was totally at a lost how to react to that so I kept my mouth shut while scrutinizing the clearing.

The whole place was teeming with roses of every color and the scent was intoxicating, it was making my eyelids heavy. It was as if I could almost taste the sweetness in the air. My mind was whirring a hundred miles per hour as I found myself involuntary smiling for no apparent reason. Some part of my brain told me it was stupid to feel all giddy in a situation like this. The rest of my body accepted the euphoria as easy as oxygen. The exhaustion, the pain, the fear; they were all washed away in a moment. Like magic. All those worries lost in an instant.

Apple shushed me, her bright green eyes shifting left and right. "They're close," she whispered.

"Who?"

"Ethereals," she answered, crouching lower to conceal herself in the shadows. "They're here to corrupt Apple's and Aramis' programs. They want us to be trapped here."

My head hurt just by translating what Apple was trying to say.

Gurgling voices of different pitches started giggling simultaneously, echoing in a Round Robin all over the place. The skin on my nape suddenly prickled.

When I looked up, I saw a swarm of Ethereals swooping from behind the trees, heading toward us. Their constantly billowing long hair ranged from gray to blue. They had these small round faces and slit-like lipless mouths. Their abnormally large doe-eyes were a strange dark blue.

The creatures' wispy bodies turned into mist as they hovered over our heads. It was as if they were singing in a discordant tune that seemed to paralyze my whole body.

Apple stood up summoned her Cataclyst. At first glance, it wasn't that impressive. Her hand just turned pearly white. The claws weren't that scary either, but pulsing greenish veins ran like cracks from her fingertips to her elbow.

I pulled Vincent up in a sitting position and propped him on a tree. He was still asleep.

I faced the creatures, thrusting the butt of my staff on the ground. Without a sound, the long transparent blade swung out from the upper half of my weapon. It gleamed like the crescent moon.

The Ethereals seemed to hesitate for a while, lunging at us testily. Through the darkness, the creatures flitted into a blur of blue and gray.

Faster than I could blink, Apple darted across the clearing, plunging into the swarm of Ethereals. She took off the ground and somersaulted in midair, slashing one Ethereal right through the throat and pinning another to the ground with her talons as she landed. Almost instantly, the dead creatures twitched violently, their bodies turning crystal clear before splattering onto the grass.

Two Ethereals swooped over my head, giggling as they pulled my hair and clothes with chilly hands. I tried to dodge but my feet seemed to get heavier and heavier.

I tightened my left hand around the snath of my scythe and hacked like there's no tomorrow. No time for precision. All I could think of was protecting Vincent.

One of the Ethereals got stuck at the tip of my weapon. The other was cut in half. One second later and iced-water showered over me. The cold woke me up from the daze. I really needed a shower anyway.

I shivered, keeping my foothold in front of Vincent. There was no sign of him coming to. Still in dreamland. Just when I needed his help. Ugh. And I was freezing to death just so his sleepy butt wouldn't get a single scratch.

The rest of the creatures were closing in on us.

I could barely see Apple in the middle of the swarm. A minute ago, I thought she was doing a good job of fending off the creatures. But now, the girl could barely move. Her face was drained of color. She was already covered in deep gashes as she glanced over her shoulder to shout "Run!"

Just then, a couple of Ethereals closed in on Apple. Before I could scream a warning, one of them yanked her right arm viciously.

Snap!

The Ethereal flew up, carrying a bloody arm, letting out a shrill laughter. Apple blinked and stared vacantly at the jagged stump of protruding flesh on her shoulder. Then there was blood. And it was gushing everywhere.

"Run," Apple kept shouting through the chaos. "Run!" Then, she simply tilted her blond head and faced the enemies. It was just an arm. No biggie.

I started to call her. I stepped back when I saw how the swarm charged at her viciously. They began tearing her apart limb by limb. Her face didn't show any sign of pain or any emotion for that matter. Still, she kept mouthing Run, Run, Run during her futile attempt to fight back.

Choking back the sob in my throat, I scrambled to Vincent and haphazardly hung his arm over my shoulder. I grabbed him behind the waist, pulling him up. The adrenaline rush made the task a bit easier.

Together, we shuffled across the clearing, heading back to the thick woods where Rosario had disappeared a while ago. As we made our way, hundreds of Ethereals crowded to the still thrashing Apple. Only a few hovered over us. Yet, I hurried my steps, never looking back, tuning out the ferocious shrieks of joy from the creatures.

Once we were to some extent concealed by the foliage, I set Vincent down to catch my breath. I looked up and saw a small swarm, maybe five or more, soaring toward us.

"Vincent," I hissed on his ear. "Wake up. Please wake up." The words barely made it out of my quivering mouth.

Vincent's eyes stayed closed.

Again, I pulled him up. I quickened my steps, preparing to draught.

Rosario was still missing in action. Perfect timing.

I ran as fast as I could, hauling Vincent and my scythe, not knowing where to go. I was frantically searching for a hiding place. A hollow tree, a cave. It didn't matter.

The trees prevented me from draughting straight. I had to weave between them.

When I risked a glance over my shoulder, I saw more Ethereals joining the swarm. They were chasing us.

Unlike wraiths, they were easily distracted, flitting from one tree to another, stopping for something they deemed much more interesting than chasing a couple of teenagers. On the downside, they were a lot faster. Every time I thought we lost them, they kept reappearing behind our backs.

Just great. All I needed right now was to be a ghost-creature's chew toy.

The trail went downhill. A couple of Ethereals were just two yards behind me. I could hear their grating laughter. I strained my already burning legs. My breath was running out as if I was under water.

I bumped onto a tree and tripped on a protruding rock. We stumbled. My cheek banged on the stony ground. The taste of blood filled my mouth. I just bit my tongue.

An arm's length away, Vincent slowly lifted his face off the ground and shook his head. He strained to push himself up and was staggering sideward as he made it to his feet.

I got to my knees and looked up. "We got company!" I yelled at him, jumping up with my scythe pointing at the Ethereals. They were coming right at us.

Wordlessly, Vincent ripped off what remained of his shirt and summoned his Cataclyst. Only then did I notice that the red metallic scales covering his now gigantic claws reached up until his left shoulder and a small part of his chest so that he looked like some sort of monster-human hybrid.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he complained through clenched teeth.

"Ugh," I groaned exasperatedly, fighting the urge to whack him on the head.

Yeah, well, maybe I kind of liked him better when he was knocked out. Seriously.

A small Ethereal with electric blue hair swooped over me. Pain shot from my temple, nearly knocking me down. It felt like I just ran straight on to a brick wall. I went blind for two seconds.

Angrily, I searched for the cursed midget among the swarm. Once I had spotted it, I leaped off the ground and thrust the blunt of my blade to its stomach (if it had one), plowing through the creatures that huddled near it. Four of them dropped to the forest floor.

Vince was quick to catch them one by one and break their necks. As they died, their bodies were immediately reduced to small puddles.

Gasping for air, I held onto a tree. More of the creatures were coming, meaning they were done tearing Apple into shreds. My stomach churned at the sight of the otherworldly creatures. They glided to us like beautiful blue fairies.

"Why couldn't they just do a rain dance or something and leave us alone?!"

Vincent snatched my arm. We did a mad dash away from the enemies. I had no idea where we were heading but anywhere's better than here.

"Where's Rosario?" he asked in between labored breaths.

Okay. Who carried his heavy ass so he wouldn't be shred to pieces and sprinkled over Ethereal Salad Surprise? Me. And what exactly did Rosario do? Uh, desert us. Seemed like Vince missed her nanny a lot.

"Somewhere not here," I panted. Note the sarcasm.

As frustrating as it was, I had to watch every step at the speed we were draughting or I would be smashed like a fly on a windshield if I crashed straight on to a tree.

"And Apple?"

"Dead." It felt like there were thorns inside my mouth.

Vincent didn't interrogate more.

Not like I was all keyed up to fill him in with the details, especially Apple's death. I pushed aside the hair-raising picture of the girl inside my head and concentrated on running. There wasn't time to mourn especially for someone I had only met a couple of hours ago. But still...

I was so deep in thought that I was startled when Vincent suddenly slowed down. He pushed me back. Just as I was about to complain, I saw why.

The trees were starting to thin out. The woods opened to a gleaming stone path towards the castle. We were back to where we started.

Without warning, he pulled me down. We crouched behind the massive twisted trunks of a willow tree.

I noticed a narrow fissure in between the trunks. Vincent slipped in and I followed him. We stepped sideways to slink into the narrow gap. Vines crawled all over the cubbyhole. We squeezed right in, upsetting bits of dried leaves and crumbling earth that settled on the ancient tree's roots for who knew how long.

Squinting, I chanced a peek outside through the vines.

"Did we lose them?" I murmured.

Vincent leaned over a little to look outside, his bare chest pressing on me as he did. "We can't stay here for long. If the Ethereals don't find us, Saul will. But first, we should find Rosario."

"You don't say," I mumbled, not intending to sound sulky but did anyway.