"Err… Llyne… Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

  Ronald's voice cracked, barely holding itself together. His knees wobbled. His fingers dug tighter into my arm. His pupils contracted, leaving only the shape of the crow visible.

  I followed his trembling gaze.

  The crows. Still perched. Still watching.

  My breath hitched.

  "Unfortunately," I muttered, the words tasted leaden in my mouth. I tried to pass it off with dry humor, but my heartbeat betrayed me, thudding beneath my ribs.

  I didn't need to fake courage. I needed to borrow it. Then, like a bolt of lightning to the brain, I had a thought.

  So, I did the only thing my brain could grasp. I blurted out a fun fact.

  "Did you know crows can recognize human faces and hold grudges?"

  I kept my voice light, almost cheerful.

  "If you're mean to one, it'll remember you. And worse? It tells its friends. So yeah, one bad crow encounter, and suddenly you're public enemy number one in the bird world." My voice deepened. "Basically: be nice to crows. They talk."

  I chuckled nervously, hoping it would lighten the mood.

  It didn't.

  Ronald stared at me. His expression shifted. Did Llyne hit her head too hard?

  I made an "O" with my mouth.

  "Don't tell me Ronald bullied crows before? But he's so pure and angelic... Anyone would think the crows were bullying him... If you ignored the size difference," I muttered to myself.

  While I was still rambling to myself, Ronald stared at me in confusion.

  Is Llyne praying? Is she devotee? I never knew that. But her expression is kind of...

  My eyes were wide and bulging, while my mouth hung open with teeth bared and tongue lolling.

  ... She isn't possessed by a demon, right? A sweat formed at the corner of his forehead. But Llyne is my friend. I can't purge her. Ronald clenched the clothes around his chest. No. I might be assuming. Ronald shook his head, fist clenched. She must be having... a headache?

  Ronald paced back and forth, thinking of a way to ease my headache, when suddenly he froze. He blinked once. Twice. Then tugged my sleeve.

  I turned. My breath caught.

  Where open ground had been, a wall of gnarled, knotted trees was now blocking every exit. Their twisted branches clawed at the sky, and the air smelled of wet earth and decay.

  "The path… It's gone." My voice dropped to a whisper. "Now, it's sealed with nothing but trees. But... how?"

  The branches shook without wind. Our heads jerked towards that direction. Ronald immediately hid behind me, crouched. His head poked out just enough for an eye to see.

  We turned to each other. Our eyes met. "Are we trapped here?" he asked the question I didn't want to ask myself.

  This kid. Why is he always asking me? I should be the one asking you. You're a year older!

  I forced myself to inhale. Slow, deep, even.

  I grabbed his shoulders. Eyes forced on his. "We can't panic," I said, more to myself than to him. "There must be another way out of here."

  He blinked in return, holding his breath. I flicked his forehead.

  "Ow!" Ronald rubbed his forehead. "Why did you flick me?"

  "Stop giving me that blank face and move on."

  Ronald followed behind me, with a hand tightly gripping my sleeve. We kept moving forward, without direction, for around ten minutes.

  Ronald pointed above, "Look! There's something there."

  We turned to each other, smiling, and ran towards it. Soon, the silhouette became clearer. We stopped in our tracks as soon as we saw it.

  A house? But it's too big. A castle?

  Half-forgotten, half-dreamed.

  If it hadn't been weathered by time, it would've looked regal. Almost noble. But now, under the weight of fog and crow-song, it stood like a ruin abandoned by history itself.

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  This shouldn't be here.

  The architecture clashed with everything around it. Too ornate for the forest, too vast for a house. Stone and wood twisted together like relics of a bygone era. A mansion? A stronghold?

  No... a boundary?

  The windows were blind. Paint flaked from the walls like shedding skin. The glass reflected nothing. Not even us.

  Waiting.

  We moved forward, every step heavy. The fog retreated hesitantly. The trees pressed in. The cawing of the crows grew louder, building to a cadence that seemed... orchestrated.

  As we neared the entrance, a shift rippled through the air. A soundless signal.

  Whoosh. Black wings unfurled in unison. The crows took flight, a hundred blades slicing through the sky in a flurry of motion.

  My instincts screamed. I yanked Ronald toward me. The rush of wings passed overhead, a breath away from our skulls. The world dimmed.

  The air grew still. Too still. Even the leaves seemed to hold their breath. Now I know the feeling when Iz said she doesn't like things she can't explain.

  I reached out to Ronald's hand that was gripping my sleeve. "Ronald, do you feel that too?"

  My voice was low, taut.

  Ronald nodded, lips pale. "Yeah. It's like something is drawing us in."

  Just like moths flying into a bonfire. And we're the moth. Great.

  I glanced at the house. The windows remained silent, offering no glimpse of what lay within. My foot scuffed the outer wall. Paint flaked off like dried skin.

  "Ah! The paint's peeling off," I mumbled.

  The castle. No, the thing. Stood like a carcass frozen in time. Just then, a voice brushed against my thoughts before I heard it.

  "H…el…p…"

  The syllables felt misplaced, like they had taken a wrong turn and ended up inside my head.

  "Cooo… me… tthh… uhh… ss…"

  I blinked once. The world snapped sideways. The door stood inches from my face. My vision trailed a second behind me. Ronald yelped and fell, dragging me down with him. We hit hard, dust exploding around us.

  Coughing, we swatted at it, gasping. Ronald grabbed my arm and pulled me upright, but the dust still clung to us.

  A small, strange sound echoed.

  Creeeaak… the door slowly swung open on its own.

  We froze, eyes locked on the yawning darkness beyond. I didn't dare look inside. A cold wind slipped past my shoulders, whispering… lingering just behind sound.

  "Eww! Don't do that!" I jabbed a finger into my ear, trying to dig out the irritation.

  Ronald pulled my sleeves and pointed, "Llyne."

  I turned, and inside was nothing. Pure blackness. Just like my dream.

  Don't tell me Lyndall is in there. Does that mean this is a dream?

  The next second, I gave my left cheek a hard slap. Ronald jolted. He panicked and touched my cheek and yelped, "Why are you harming yourself? If I had offended you, just hit me."

  I ignored his words and said, "Slap me."

  Ronald's eyes widened, and he screamed, "Never!"

  "On the other cheek, the left hurts." I pointed at my right cheek. "Don't miss."

  Ronald's eyes swelled with tears. He shut his eyes and retorted, "I will never harm my friend, you demon!"

  Demon? What is Ronald blabbering about? I checked my surroundings. I don't see any demon. No. Wait. Why would I be able to see a demon? Then I recalled Lyndall and Alma. Fair enough.

  I smacked his arms, "I wanted to be sure we're not in a dream."

  Ronald nodded, relief softening his shoulders. He looked at my injured cheeks, heart tightened slightly. If only I had the healing cream... That must have hurt so much.

  Aigoo. This pure boy. How would he live in the real world without me? Looks like I have to teach him from A to Z. I peeked inside the house and shuddered. If we can make it out of life, that is.

  "Llyne...? Should we... Should we go inside?" Ronald's voice had dropped to a mere thread.

  I hesitated. Inside? Hmm...

  My instinct screamed at me to turn back. Even the mini-mes were rioting. My pulse raced, but I stepped forward.

  "I don't know. But... if there's a chance for adventure, I guess it's worth exploring, right?"

  Ronald's eyes met mine. Something flickered in them. Fear, awe, maybe even a spark of belief.

  "Adventure… right."

  I opened my inventory and pulled out a torchlight.

  Click.

  Flash.

  The beam cut through the dark. Dust floated in the air, motes catching the light like tiny stars trapped in time. Cobwebs draped across chandeliers and door frames, swaying gently. Furniture sat frozen under yellowed sheets, shapes distorted, ghostly silhouettes of a life paused long ago.

  The crows stayed outside, yet I could feel their unblinking gaze pressing into my back. Patient. Waiting.

  "Let's do this."

  We gripped our hands and stepped in.

  Breathing felt borrowed. Floorboards creaked once… then stopped beneath us. Shadows stretching across peeling wallpaper. The chill curled around our ankles and nipped at our necks.

  Ronald's hand tightened around my sleeve, and I swallowed hard.

  He turned to the windows and found them shut tight. His breath hitched, and he stuck himself to me.

  We wandered deeper and found a room. I tried to turn the knob. It didn't budge. I handed the torch to Ronald and knelt, my knees sinking into the worn carpet that smelled of the faint, sour tang of rotting wood. "Here. Hold it."

  Ronald aimed the torch at the keyhole while I took out a few hairclips from my clothes. Ronald moved closer and asked, "What are you doing?"

  "Illegal action on a most probably illegal house."

  "Illegal!"

  "Don't worry. Negative combines with negative turns positive."

  "That does not apply to a house. Only physics."

  "Well, this is physic-al."

  Crack.

  "Well, well. Looky here. You're an accomplice now." I snickered. Ronald mumbled a prayer, and I kicked the door open.

  Unfortunately, I kicked the door too hard, and both the door and the frame broke and fell in.

  A huge Bang echoed through the whole house. I used my sleeve to cover our eyes. When the dust cleared, we took a peek, and what we saw was something we couldn't have guessed.

  Etched into the floor: a circle of ancient geometry.

  Ronald shifted the beam up. Flicker… dim… flicker… then gone.

  The shadows moved before we did. My pulse drummed in my ears. A whisper pressed against the inside of my skull. I clenched my teeth and shoved it away.

  "Hit it a few times."

  Ronald did, but it still won't light up. "Llyne..."

  "... I just bought it."

  Once I get out of here, I'm suing the seller.

  Then silence. The light didn't fade. It was taken. And in that void, the house inhaled. Then exhaled.

  The air loosened. Ronald lowered his shoulders. That was when the symbol began to pulse.

  The circle pulsed… and nothing in the room should have moved.

  Ronald and I huddled closer. The crows outside began their chorus again. Not chaos. A pattern.

  "Oui. That scared the shit out of me."

  The whispering grew louder. I reached for a splintered wooden stick that couldn't fight spirits.

  Why did those crows suddenly start making noise? Should I shoot them?

  I bit my lip, exhaled hard.

  No. Shooting the crows won't solve anything.

  My breath came out thin. I narrowed my eyes.

  Want to break me? Not a chance.