The carriage's roof cracked open like an eggshell. 

A brilliant beam of pure blue energy shot through the air, splitting the sky in half furiously and lodging itself in Aza's chest. A flash, a sizzle, an unearthly howling noise—and then all that was left was a smear of blood on the carriage floor. 

"What the fuck?" Jericho scrambled back, staring at Aubrey with wide eyes, his silver cloak fluttered, drawn towards Aubrey. 

Everything was drawn towards Aubrey. She'd become the center of gravity, the focal point of what seemed like the universe itself. 

Her head swam. Her ears rang. It took Aubrey a couple moments to realize that that unearthly howling was coming from her. 

It had happened again.

She'd lost control.

But somehow, Aubrey didn't really feel the need to regain it. 

And the magic—the power—once Aubrey set it free... well, it was absolutely exhilarating. 

Aubrey swept a hand casually in Jericho's direction. As he scrambled back, brandishing his sword as though he'd never held a blade in his life, another arc of blue energy lashed out at him. Aubrey drew in a breath and let it out slowly. The howling was no longer just her. It surrounded everything. It was everything. The smell of blood in the air and the sounds of the horses whinnying in distress up ahead and the taste of victory cold and sweet on the tip of Aubrey's tongue. Her dress whipping around her as great winds flung Jericho from the carriage until he was nothing but a distant memory. 

She wondered dimly if this made her a monster. Her footsteps made no sound as she drifted across the carriage's floor, over to the pool of Aza's blood. She dipped a finger in the blood cautiously, rubbing it between her fingers. Sticky and still warm. 

Magic danced in the air around her, brushing through her hair and flitting between her fingertips. Aubrey couldn't help but laugh as she surveyed the wreckage around her. It was... incredible, really, all she'd done. All she could do. So much more. So much power. It crackled through her viciously, and Aubrey realized that this—this was what she'd needed all along.

Aubrey stepped out of the carriage slowly. 

The sudden silence weighed heavy on Aubrey's shoulders. She looked around, energy still humming around her. 

She didn't quite know where to go. On one side, there was an open field and that horrific cube-shaped white building. And on the other was a forest.

Oak, it looked like. 

Oh, how Aubrey hated oak trees. 

But the forest was familiar, at least, and that cube-shaped building surely held unimaginable evils; wicked devices meant to twist and carve and wrestle the magic from her veins. 

She crossed the gravel road, flinching slightly as the sharp stones cut into her bare feet. That would probably be a problem, she realized. Bare feet weren't well-suited to the rough forest floors. But she'd grow callouses eventually.

Eventually. Aubrey didn't dare ask herself how long she planned on staying out here for. 

The midday sun shone bright, accentuating the small spots of blood flicking Aubrey's white dress. She giggled like a child as she hopped up onto a log and stuck her arms out for balance, wobbling unsteadily and traversing the small stream. 

But something in the corner of her eye caught her attention as she walked over the water. 

There, something wrong in her reflection—

She looked like someone else completely. Blue magic fluttering around her. Circles under her eyes, as purple and prominent as bruises. Smears of blood on her cheeks. 

But the biggest change was her hair. 

Her once-auburn locks were white as snow. 

Aubrey's eyes widened. She shuddered, a hand reaching up to comb through her hair disbelievingly. No. No. It couldn't be. The dress, now the hair. Multicoloured sand and driftwood and the mirror image of herself, smiling as if she hadn't a care in the world. She was drifting, she was changing, she was transforming—

And into what?

She sat down on the log. Her toes dipped lightly into the water. Oblivious to the sparks of azure magic dancing across the stream's surface, she studied her reflection, horrified. 

"Figure it out yet?"

Aubrey screamed and fell backwards, landing in the shallow stream. The back of her head struck a rock, dull aching starting to pulse through her skull. That voice. She knew it. 

Aubrey squeezed her eyes shut. No, no, no...

"Aww, you can't hide forever," the voice cooed. Her voice. 

A soft hand brushed up against her cheek. Aubrey reached up, hoping to catch the person's wrist, but was met with only empty air. 

She shuddered weakly. The magic started to ebb around her. Without it, she felt weak. Empty. Drained. 

"It's okay," the voice assured her. "You'll be fine. We'll be fine. Just relax, okay?" 

"I can't—I can't—" a ragged sob tore from her throat.

Behind her closed eyelids, she could see images of a gray ocean and papers fluttering through the air. The pain in the back of her head started to fade away as her grip on reality loosened. 

"That's it."

Aubrey gasped and sat up, looking around. Standing above her was Other Aubrey, hands clasped politely in front of her and a smug smile on her lips. 

"You made it," Other Aubrey said. 

"I don't want to be here." Aubrey toppled backwards into the grass. "I don't want this." 

"Of course you do!" Other Aubrey grinned. "We're safe here. We're strong here. And we're free."

Aubrey blinked slowly, watching the clouds pass overhead. "I don't even know what 'here' is."

"Yes you do." Other Aubrey flopped down next to her. "You're lost."

Aubrey snorted. "Of course I'm lost," she replied. "I ran away and was kidnapped. Then driven to god knows where. I have no clue where I am."

"Well, that," Other Aubrey laughed. "But that's not what I mean." 

"I don't care," Aubrey said. "It doesn't matter. I'm lost. So what?"

"Oh my god." Other Aubrey dragged a hand down your face. "You really are in denial. Okay. Think about it. You're lost. And what happens to lost things?"

Aubrey's eyes widened fearfully. "Huh?' She asked.

"What happens to lost things?" Other Aubrey spoke each word clearly. "They have to go somewhere, don't they?"

Aubrey felt tears well up in her eyes. "No," she said quietly. "No, they don't..."

"Aubrey," her double said softly. "It's okay. It's been calling you. You belong here."

"Here isn't real!" Aubrey wailed. "Here isn't anything. Here is a dream and that's all it is, okay? Just stop talking. Shut up. I can't—"

"Denial won't do you any good," Other Aubrey said, and her voice was so fucking steady, and Aubrey hated it so, so much. "You're lost. You're here." 

"I don't—" Aubrey felt the fight drain out of here slowly. "I don't even know what here is..." she said numbly. 

"Yes you do," Other Aubrey replied smoothly. "This is where everything winds up eventually."

"No." Aubrey shook her head, but it was no use. 

Other Aubrey gestured around at everything, a wide smile on her face. She looked at peace. Content and serene in a way that Aubrey envied. And yet she couldn't have it. She wouldn't. 

"You've been drawn here for awhile," Other Aubrey continued. 

"No I haven't!" Aubrey snapped. 

"Yes you have," she replied, reaching forwards and tugging on a strand of Aubrey's pale hair teasingly. "And it seems like you're one of us now, so." She grinned, teeth pearly and white and deadly as a wolf's. "Welcome, Aubrey," she said dramatically. 

Aubrey almost didn't dare ask, but at this point—well, she just couldn't resist. "Welcome to where?" She asked quietly. 

Other Aubrey smiled. "To where the lost things go."