The Sorrow. Stepping into it from the cluttered, yet warm, space of Mr. Copper's office was like stepping out into a blizzard.

I shook it off and closed the door behind me, only catching Kat's eyes for a moment, before I was just looking at a tree. She looked worried. I couldn't blame her. It felt like my heart was trying to burst out from my chest.

I attempted to steady my breathing as I turned back to face the blinding fog. Somewhere, not too far ahead, the asylum was waiting for me. I got down on my belly and started the crawl towards it.

It was silent. I tried to keep my ears trained for any foreign noises, but all that came back to me was the gentle crushing of soggy leaves as I crawled.

I bit my lip. There was no time to complain now. Mr. Copper warned that the fog would be here. It made sense that it was magical. Something that allowed Fawn to snatch away the children she needed without much risk of being seen— way too convenient to be coincidence.

But having the power to make killer plants, blinding fog, and turning children into poisonous monsters? Were there any limits to a witch's powers? What else was she capable of?

Of course, neither Mr. Copper nor Kat had much to say on the matter. All that could be said was that she was a 'special case'.

"Wonderful," I whispered hotly. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. If it's not something I don't understand, it's something I think I'm beginning to understand before it becomes even more complicated!"

The sound of rustling tree branches in the distance rooted me to the spot.

"Okay, Alex, no more talking to yourself."

When nothing else happened, I continued my crawl. No time to complain. No time to complain. I craned my head every which way that I could. I was moving so slowly Kat and Mr. Copper would probably be done before I even made it to the asylum. Or dead.

I stopped again. I was at the base of a hill. It had to be the hill. Due to the Sorrow, I could not see where it would lead, but it had to be the asylum—lying somewhere up in that swirling mist.

I sniffed the air, with as much good as that would do. Fawn and her children smelled just like the woods. Plus, whatever gave me that magically enhanced sense of smell had long since vanished. Also, I was pretty sure I was downwind.

Just wait for the signal. Mr. Copper did not have time to think of a good one back in the office, but he said listen for something out of place— distinct. All in all, this was already tuning out to be a pretty crappy plan. There was hardly any planning at all. How was I supposed to know if any sound I would hear would be his? Any sound at all would sound 'distinct' in this silence—

A scream broke through the quiet woods. I flinched, held my breath to keep from crying out, and then smacked myself for being so dim. Who screamed?

"Was that the signal? Ah, to hell with it!"

I got to my feet. I sucked in a breath. Then, with everything in me that I could muster, I raced up the hill, screaming and shouting for all that was worth. Threats, obscenities, random noises that sounded intimidating. The whole forest had to be coming alive with all of the racket I was making.

Cower or challenge, nothing could ignore me.

Or, so I thought.

I reached the top of the hill. Through the fog, I could make out the backdoor of the asylum, still busted down from when Stallion tried to retreat through it. I stopped my commotion and caught my breath for a moment.

What now?

We did not have a contingency for this. Right now I should be fighting a couple of Fawn's children while Kat and Mr. Copper dealt with their master.

"So, either they are watching me, right now, waiting to ambush, or..."

I didn't fool them at all and they are lying in wait for Kat to arrive so they can tear her to pieces.

"Bastards!" I shouted, charging through the opening in the backdoor. "I won't let you have her!"

I ran into the asylum, stumbled down a hallway, and turned a corner before I realized just how dark it had become. I could not see where I was going. I looked behind me and all I was met with was more inky blackness.

It was like The Sorrow, but much, much worse.

"Little insect, caught in my web. Filled with regret, filled with dread!"

The hell?

A voice, light and sing-songy, echoed off the walls around me. I put my back to a wall and fruitlessly glared through the darkness to spot him.

Could he see me? I kept my fingers gnarled into claws, just in case that he could.

"Little insect, do not be frightened. Father is here. Father will make you enlightened."

The echoing voice was definitely closer. I hunched down and moved along the wall down the hallway. I couldn't tell if I was moving further or closer to him, but I could not just sit still.

"Little insect, I will drain you. Free your worries, free what pains you."

"What the hell is wrong with this thing?" I asked myself, under my breath. I liked it better when they didn't speak.

The voice was even closer. I shot my head in both directions down the hall but I still could not see a thing. "Damnit, where is he?"

"Little insect, you are found. Do not whimper, not a sound."

I froze. He sounded right beside me.

Lashing out with my claws, I strained my eyes through the darkness. They were adjusting, but I could still see nothing—my hands hit nothing.

"Where the hell are y-!?"

I was cut off by a strong pair of limbs wrapping around my neck and lifting me up off the ground. It immediately squeezed and cut off my breathing as I struggled against the force. I let out a strangled cry.

"I had you, had you from the start! Or did you not listen to the truths in your heart?"

The voice was right above me. I barely managed to crane my head enough to see it.

The red eyes stood out first, almost glowing in the darkness beneath long tangles of black hair. The rest of it came into focus soon after—malnourished, dirty. His gnarled hands were pressed against the ceiling and were somehow allowing him to cling there as he attempted to strangle me with his legs.

He smiled when our eyes met, allowing me to see the tell-tale black teeth. "Oh, it is you, little fox. Hello. A pleasure. Yes, a pleasure. Now, would you kindly remain still so I may wipe your name from the ledger?"

He then brought his head down towards me with those black teeth. Just as Adam had. Only this time, there would be no one to stop him.

However, this time, I did not need anyone else.

I dug my claws into the dirtied flesh of his legs. The lost student let out a screech of inhuman sound before dropping me. I kept my feet and ran to the other side of the hall, but by then he had already vanished from his spot on the ceiling.

I quickly looked above me, only to find empty blackness.

"Come out!" I shouted. "I don't have time to play cat and mouse with you!"

I heard a silencing shhh answer me. I tried to turn, readying my claws to strike, but instead was met with the lost student slamming into my stomach, sending us both into the ground.

With incredible speed, he pinned my hands to the ground. "To put on a good show, one must know how to work both above, and below."

"Just shut up!" I shot, trying to hold my breath against the rotted smell coming from his mouth.

The boy's twisted grin widened as he brought his face closer to mine. "What's wrong, little fox? Despise being trapped in such a little bo—"

I slammed my forehead into his face. He howled in pain again and loosened his grip on my hands enough for me to shake loose and shove him back so that he was now below me.

"Little fox—"

"Shut up!" I repeated, sending a fist across his face. I had never punched someone before, and it hurt like hell. I hit him a few more times despite this until he grabbed my fist with a hand.

For someone so thin, he was incredibly strong.

"Fine then, no more games."

He spat on my face, but what hit me wasn't spit. It clung to my eyes, blinding me.

The grip on my hand disappeared just as I felt the lost student disappear from below me. I quickly stood up and brought my hand up to tear away the gunk, when that strong grip returned on my wrist.

I screamed in agony as he pulled my arm upwards, lifting me on the ground. My shoulder had to be dislocating all over again. My entire arm was going to come off. Before the pain became too great, I lashed out with my other arm, the nails meeting flesh.

Another hiss of pain from the boy as he dropped me. I crumpled to the floor, my entire right arm still on fire, before he was upon me again.

I thrashed blindly. Avoid his face, avoid his teeth. He gripped one of my wrists when I felt my mouth graze something, I didn't care what it was— it was flesh so I sunk my teeth in.

"Cursed little fox! Let go!" he cried, shoving me off, but screaming when a piece of whatever I was biting came with me.

I spat it out. Rotted meat.

He had gone silent again— stalking me, again. I didn't bother to try and remove whatever was on my eyes. I didn't need to. He was quiet— deathly so— but I could smell the fresh blood on him.

I reached out and plucked the lost student from the wall beside me and threw him into the opposite side. I heard him grunt in surprise as the sound of his body smashing into the stone walls echoed down the hall.

Before he could skitter away again, I jumped on him. He struggled until I slammed another fist into his chest. When he let out a strangled cry, I knew exactly where his face was.

My right hand was nothing but a ball of pain, so I gripped his throat with my left, keeping the nails pressed against his flesh.

"No, no, wait, wait, little fox—!"

I dug the nails a little ways into his throat, enough to feel the blood pool around the tips. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't just gut you right now!"

"I-I was only doing as Mo- the witch commanded of me!"

Using the still sore right arm, I managed to rub free the sticky substance on my eyes. I still could not see much of his bruised face in the darkness.

"Go on."

"I'm not...I'm not doing this because I want to...the wretched witch, it was she who made me this way! If you are to gut someone, gut her. She is the source of all this!"

"So all those weird rhymes, stalking me in the dark, you're just doing all of that because she commanded you to?"

"I...I don't know why I make those poems," he said. "I swear I don't! The witch's orders were for me to protect her when she went through Mallard's stuff, and I fight better in the dark, alright? But that's all I know!"

I could just barely make out him holding his hands up. I could feel the pulse in his neck, like rapid little drums against my fingers. His heavy breathing filled the silence between us.

Slowly, I began to take my hand away from his neck. "Okay, then you're coming with me to—"

An explosion of pain racked my left hand. The muscles in my arm locked up as I stared down at the sight of the lost student biting into my hand with his black teeth.

The beating of my own heart became much louder in my ears.

"You..."

I grabbed his face with my free hand and slammed it back into the wall. It sent a similar jolt of pain down my arm and he managed to wiggle free.

With a grunt of effort, he pulled himself back up and began to skitter down the hall.

I stared after him. I looked down at my hand, the black wound, the purple veins.

"You bastard!" I shouted after him, racing after him. "I'll kill you!"

I could see him clearly. He could see me clearly. He looked back at me as he ran, his red eyes wild.

"Mother! Help me!" he screeched.

Catching up to him, I dug my nails down his back. He screamed, stumbled. He tried to leap into an adjacent room, but I sent a kick into his stomach before he could and he flew back further down the hall.

Already recovering from the hit, he looked back at me and spat again, only this time the gunk harmlessly hit my chest. He then jumped to the ceiling as I reached him again, so I leapt up to grab a leg. It riddled my arm with fiery hot pain, but I held firm until he swung me into a wall, forcing me to let go.

He crawled on the ceiling, down the hall, calling for help, from anyone. I got back to my feet and raced after him. Along the way, I spotted a rusted metal wheelchair left lying on its back and grabbed it by the wheels as I ran.

Both my hands were begging to be left alone, but I held strong until I was close enough to throw the chair into the still retreating lost student. He collapsed to the ground with the chair in an avalanche of noise. Despite this, he was already struggling to get up— but I had him.

I was on him as he screamed for his mother. I raised my claws and prepared to strike when light hit my face.

I glanced up and saw that the back door that I had entered the asylum from was now just a short walk away.

"So, you like the dark, huh?" I asked, momentarily silencing his cries for help.

Before he could respond, I gripped him with the burning black hand by his long hair and dragged him down the hall. He clawed at my arms, struggled to get free, but I no longer felt any of it.

The Sorrow was still consuming the hill. I almost lost sight of the boy when I tossed him to the ground.

"Please, little fox, please don't kill me!"

I walked over to him and shoved my weathered shoe down on his ankle to stop him from squirming backwards. His almost naked body was on full display now. I could count the ribs that stood out as he took in deep breathes. His long, dirt and blood infested, hair was strewn out all around him.

He looked up at me with large, bloodshot eyes as I shoved the nails of my bruised right hand into his chest. Before he could cry out, I pressed the black hand against his mouth, digging the nails into the side of his face.

"Shut-up."

He stopped struggling when our eyes met. I could see they weren't actually red, just so filled with red veins that they appeared red. Beneath the veins, I could barely make out big blue eyes.

I dug my fingers deeper into his chest. A muffled scream came from behind my hand. His blue eyes became watery as he gripped my wrist with one of his hands.

"I... remember..."

"What?" I moved the black hand slightly from his mouth.

He looked at me with those watery blue eyes. "I remember you, little fox," he said through painful groans.

I held my breath.

"You don't remember anything," I spat. "Don't think you're going to lie your way out of this again."

"A little fox, all alone, would walk by himself to and from his home."

Did I do that? I could only remember the walks to school with Mary. There were so many years gone, like they never happened. And he knew that.

"You know that— you know I can't remember anything. You can make up any story about me and I won't know what's true!"

"Poor little fox, so lost. He pinned so long for the girl as cold as frost."

I let go of his mouth entirely. His breathing was steadying. There was something off about him, something that was missing.

"You used to wear glasses."

He closed his eyes. His slower breathing turned into one deep sigh. "I used to wear glasses."

He opened his eyes which were now dried and looked back at me. "Please, don't kill me. I bit you because I feared for my life, but if you kill the witch it will all go away. The poison in my teeth, the poison in your hand. I can't disobey the witch and help you, but if you let me go I will run away and never come back."

I slowly pulled my nails out of his chest as he winced before using both hands to grab onto his arms and kept him on the ground.

I bore into his bloodshot blue eyes and forced him to look back at me. "Who are you?"

"A little spider, a little shadow. Forgotten, broken, hollow."

I chuckled. "Is that a pretty way to say that you don't know?"

The lost student smiled back even though it seemed painful for him to do so. "Basically."

My right hand was still on fire. I was quickly losing feeling in the left hand. I looked between the two before finally settling on the boy's dirty and waiting face. I let out a low sigh as I loosened my grip on his arms.

"Alright, I'll..."

I looked up for a moment, and the words caught in my throat.

"You'll what, little fox? Don't leave me hanging here."

Shadows. Dark figures coming from within The Sorrow. Six...Seven...Eight. Eight of them. As the figures grew closer, I could hear noises coming from them. Deep, echoing growls.

I swallowed. Widow craned his neck below me and fell silent as well when he spotted them.

Before the growling shadows came close enough to be seen, they stopped, forming a half circle before the lost student and me.

I let go of the boy as a final, ninth, shadow suddenly appeared, right across from us. It walked towards us until the familiar German Shepherd with his familiar smile materialized from the mist.

He stopped when our eyes met. His smile disappeared.

"Friend of yours?" the lost boy asked.

I couldn't answer him— couldn't break away from those black eyes. "Hero..."

"Sorry, kid," Hero said, lowering himself, the hairs bristling on his back. "Nothin' personal."

He then let out a vicious bark before I was up on my feet and running. I heard the lost student call out something after me, but it was lost in the sea of snarling and baying dogs that now consumed the once silent wood.

...