sorry for the late halloween update! life has been crazy. enjoy 👻👻

"What the f—"

"Lucas!" Annie screamed. Her voice broke in a sob and she crumped to the floor. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening—"

"I'm searching the rest of the house," Elijah said.

"Wait—" Gabriel followed on his heels.

"What's happening?"

I hadn't even realised we'd left Cadence alone. Shit, what if something happened to her? Her knotted hair bounced around her shoulders, her voice still filmed with sleep.

"No!" Annie shrieked. Her crying was so hard I almost worried it'd break her in half—the screams shattering her tiny ribcage.

"Where the hell could he have gone? This is fucking insane—" Cadence said. My anger with her seemed so stupid now—all the fury I'd felt was now channeled into a terrifying confusion.

I wandered towards the window, pressing my fingertips to the glass. The sun beating down on this face of the building should have left it warm to the touch. But the glass was ice-cold, splintering my skin.

It was the same window that had been open on the day we arrived. I'd told myself again and again that it was a coincidence. The probability of the wind—of Cadence opening it—of the silk curtains catching between the pane and the glass—all explanations. But now, all of the things I told myself to take away the fear—the mathematics, the logic. They were gone.

Lucas. Lucas. Lucas.

Annie's cries were an endless circle of his name. Cadence and I were cradling her on the sofa. Her body was cold. My fingers were still cold. You promised eight.

Who promised eight? What exactly was promised? Eight what?

"We can't find anything." Gabriel's voice broke my concentration. One of my arms was around Annie, but the other hand was fingering the baking paper note. The smudged blood, the writing barely legible.

I'd had low hopes for anything to show up. You could only search an apartment of this size so many times. Outside, the sun was setting again. A third night trapped here.

"I'm so scared for the dark," Cadence whispered.

"Me too," I said. The sound of the footsteps running rampant around the building had my heart stuttering and my muscles freezing.

I heard the sound of metal popping, and then realised Gabriel was fiddling with the gun. Like he wanted to make sure he had it ready. "I think we should keep watch. Keep a serious guard. Maybe we could hide out somewhere, make a barrier with the sofas..."

All futile actions, I thought. We were sitting ducks. We had no idea what was happening, or what would come next. Two people—two fully grown guys—had disappeared into thin air. And the writing on the window...

We started moving the furniture around, cordoning off a corner so there was a barrier of couches created between us and the hallway and the front door. We drew the curtains to the balcony window, hoping it would give us some shelter. I found it reassuring to have the option of escaping the suffocation of inside the Airbnb.

The ocean—the terror tight in my chest of heavy water squeezing me until I popped—was now an old friend. Those nightmares were almost comforting.

Cadence crept up behind me as I was peeking out at the setting sky. Our beer bottles and cups were still sitting outside, as if we were still here, partying, having the time of our lives. I felt her cool hands press a container to my palm.

"I took these back from Annie. You should have them. I'm sorry."

I took the pills from her, staring at them for a long time. My security. My sanity.

Shoving them in my pocket, I didn't reply. I kept staring, wondering if anyone was staring back.

"We must be missing now," Cadence said. "My roommates would be expecting me home, the guy I was telling you about, Beau—

"Yeah, and what about Lucas?" I said, my words feeling like poison on my tongue. "What are we going to tell them when we can't find Lucas? Or James? Or when we tell them about the noises on the other side of that door?"

"Sierra, Please—"

I shook my head. I couldn't hear it anymore.

Annie and Cadence fell asleep after dark. We all should have been starving, but nobody brought up food. I sat on the floor, my back against the sofa. We were in a fort of mattresses and cushions, what might have been a fun movie spot a measly attempt at shelter.

I closed my eyes and pictured Lucas. Kind, party-guy Lucas. He was the first to reassure someone, the perfect pair to Annie. What had he seen, what had he felt—where was he right now? Was he hurt? Was he with James?

Please come back, I prayed silently. I wasn't sure to who. I'd had trouble with faith my whole life, but that was amplified tenfold last year. When the demons were planted inside of my head. When they stole a part of me and only left fear in return.

"You booked this Airbnb, didn't you?" Gabriel asked. I jumped at his words, pulling myself from my desperate thoughts. It felt as if we'd been sitting in silence for hours. My lips were fused together when I spoke.

"Y-yeah." I cleared my throat. My fingers fidgeted with the lid of the pill bottle in my pocket.

"Beatrice."

Our host. The Airbnb had been pretty simple to book. We were accepted. She gave us instructions. We hadn't needed to contact her since—not until the other guys had come in, and then the signal was gone.

"She owns this place." Gabriel's face was lined with fatigue, but even so, his eyes flickered with thought.

"You think she's some sadistic bitch?" Elijah asked. He'd been laying down, and I hadn't been able to tell whether he was asleep or not. But now he sat up straight.

"I'm trying to work it out."

"You promised eight," I whispered. "Did she somehow... write that?"

None of us needed to acknowledge the fact it was impossible for someone to have manifested in that room long enough to write that note, let alone for Lucas to disappear. I shivered, the sensation causing aches through my body.

"Eight." Elijah swallowed. "Wait."

"Marcus," Gabriel said.

I looked between them. "Who?"

"He was supposed to be coming with us. He cancelled the day before, his dad was in hospital."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Four of us," Elijah said. "Four of you."

You promised eight.

They promised us.

The footsteps started at the same time as the storm. My heart was shooting lead through my veins, making my limbs heavy, tied down with horror. My fingers were shaking as they clasped my elbows. My teeth were locked against each other, making it feel as if my jaw would shatter.

I couldn't tell if anyone was awake. I couldn't see. The lights were out again—sometime between when my mind had given in to the entrance of sleep and the moment the first rumble of thunder broke the sky, the darkness had fallen.

I tried to mutter a word—to see if someone was on guard—to make sure everyone was still here—but all that came out was a whimper. I was cloaked in fear.

"Sierra?" it was Gabriel's voice. I wanted to sob in some kind of hysterical relief. I felt his hand land on mine. I'd fallen asleep on the edge of the sofa, making sure that I'd be the first to know if someone was after us. He must have been on watch. I swore he hadn't slept.

"I-I don't know what we can do," I said quickly. "I don't know how to protect us—to save us."

His arms wrapped around mine until I was laying in his lap, his body hard against me, like armor.

"We'll be okay."

The footsteps ran up the stairs. Down again. Up to the door. My heart stopped. A knock. Footsteps running. Wood groaning. Doors in the building opening and closing. My knuckles tight around Gabriel's hand. His grip flinching with every bang.

"We'll be okay."

My lips were tight. Waiting for the door to fling open, waiting for the danger to erupt in an explosion of death and gore and devour us. Footsteps. Thunder. Knocking. Running.

I swallowed, clearing my throat, my fingers pulling Gabriel tighter, making sure he was close enough to hear me as I formed the words. "We'll be okay."