The icy voices had melted together, spitting like poison that was freezing over Jenny's very soul. "An eye for an eye," they were hissing. "A life for a life."

They were talking about Jenny for setting her grandfather free. Now they wanted her, just like back when she first saw them all those years ago. Only this time they were going to take her. The black ice was already clouding the edges of her vision, going to snatch her right from the protective circle of her friends. Of course she was frightened, but the real fear-the one that squeezed her heart until she couldn't breathe-kicked in when she was pulled forward by some unseen force, her feet sliding against the frozen cement.

It all happened so fast that she was shocked by how abruptly it ended, the force knocking her down to her knees. The long legs covered by black jeans blocked her from the sight of them, the Ancient Shadow Men. She was surprised-she honestly shouldn't have been, but she was-to find Julian proudly blocking her.

That was when all his Elders laughed upon him. Such a cold, bone-trembling laugh that made Jenny's arm that were her only support go weak.

"She diminished our soul," one raspy voice said amongst the black mist. "We'll diminish yours if you take this action."

"Torture me for a million years or rip my name out, it doesn't matter." Julian dropped the arm that blocked Jenny and held his head high. His expression was a mix of courage, anger, and boredom-no, not boredom, Jenny realized. It was like concrete, hard, determined and serious. His voice, however, softened when he said, "You're not touching her."

Just like that, the black branches of ice were around his body, clamping hard until he was off his feet. At the same time, someone from behind had grabbed Jenny. They were her friends, and they were trying to drag her toward the open door that led home, but she couldn't-Julian couldn't-

"No!" She jerked and even elbowed someone's firm chest-probably her cousin's- until they released her. She jumped forward and in turn tugged on Julian's shoulder. "No, please! You can't!"

Despite her tugging, Julian didn't even budge. He looked at her and smiled. Not his usual wolf hungry smile; it was an honest smile, one that was small and almost human. "Don't worry, Jenny," he said subtly. "I promise I'll be seeing you again…."

In the next instant, her friends had her off her feet and practically thrown through the door. Jenny remembered it well, but it was when her hands were ripped from Julian that she jolted awake from the nightmare. Dim light peered through her emerald green irises and her golden honey hair was a mess tangled across the desk. She lifted her head and realized she had fallen asleep while reading-again. Well, it was no surprise. She and her friends had been reading and scanning the spell books of her deceased grandfather since it happened.

Finally deceased grandfather, she pointed out to herself. He had been trapped in a torturous game in the Shadow World for at least ten years before Jenny set him free. And it was because of that Julian was-

Jenny shook it off. It was too fresh to think about, but it wasn't fair.

"Life's not fair," Julian's voice lingered in the back of her mind.

She knew that. She knew that well, so how come she couldn't understand why the Elder Shadow Men were chasing her down?

Her frozen bedroom? Nightmares of the frozen claws dragging her by the throat until someone had to wake her up and remind her how to breathe? How everything she touched suddenly turned to ice, or every plant or animal she touched was suddenly missing or dropped dead? Or the fact that she heard them whispering to her, telling them they were coming because Julian's soul wasn't enough. Now they were coming for hers. Apparently she needn't be in their world for them to kill her. They were slowly doing that from the inside out in this world.

But it didn't make sense, they all eventually realized. If they took Julian's soul, killed him like they said, then they legally, by the laws of their nature, couldn't touch her in her world. Julian had to be alive, had to be somewhere but not there for them to be able to chase her. And if they could reach her here, then that meant Julian had to be near enough to connect with her.

But only Jenny had discovered this. The others were researching on the Elders, trying to find something her grandfather had written on exactly how he trapped them or simply how to get rid of them. The thought occurred to Jenny in the beginning and it seemed like the only efficient solution she could think of. What better way to stop a bunch of old Shadow Men than with their predecessor?

It was crazy, of course. Jenny wasn't even sure if they could find him, but if they could-she would be just as unhappy as they were to meet him. After a month since it all ended, would it really be worth it?

Jenny held this in her head as well as her breath as she trudged up the stairs back to the living room. Dee was the first she saw, stretching her long dark legs as graceful and powerful as a panther. Zach was flicking a ripped card repetitively between his long fingers as he read through the tattered journal; his grey eyes wide and tired like some kind of alien. Summer was asleep curled up on the couch, her glossy blonde hair spread out like a doll's. Beside her was Tom, sitting up to keep himself awake and rubbing his eyes as he skimmed the pages hurriedly. Michael was sitting in the arm chair, being more distracted by Audrey who sat on the coffee table as she rubbed lotion on her legs, rather than focusing on the papers in his hands.

Most of them looked up when she entered the room and to catch the rest of the attention, she dropped the heavy leather book on the table behind Audrey. "Folklore," Jenny said a little tensely. "With souls-That's right, right Audrey?"

"Well, what about souls?" she asked, uncrossing her legs nicely, but not completely turning toward her.

"If souls are used as payments, if they are given and taken, and one was to be punished-"

"It could be destroyed or manipulated." Audrey explained, slowly settling into her own words as she went along. "It was cruel actually. If they didn't kill the demon or human or whatever, they would kind of put strings on and dance them around like a puppet. Make them murder their families or torture themselves without being able to stop-"

"What about placement? Like did they keep them in a jar or something?"

Audrey laughed. "Oh, mon ami. No. They were thrown in their worst confinement or more likely the place between dimensions, where down was up and up was left, and there wasn't any ground or anything. They'd be put in Limbo."

Limbo. Jesus, why didn't Jenny think of that earlier?

Immediately she flipped through the pages of the book she had thrown. "That… That actually might work."

Suspiciously, Tom leaned a little toward her. "Why is Limbo so important, Jenny?"

"Hey," Zach said so casually soft that Jenny almost mistook it for the wind coming through the broken window across the room. "Your grandfather actually wrote about that. Very detailed. Almost if he had been…there….himself…"

Jenny desperately found her cousin's eyes and took the books from him not for the information. Zach's fear was himself, mentally. That dark place, with the endless floor/ceiling and the hunter after them, it probably felt like Limbo to him.

But she didn't get a chance to comfort him. Tom stood up and said, "What might work, Jenny? What are you thinking?"

Facing Tom, the idea made her seem even more insane. Hey, with ancient dead ice men coming after you, it was probably a little hard to contain your sanity. I think we should get Julian. It was that easy to say, but the words were caught in her throat when she opened her mouth. Instead of her plan, all that came out was, "I-I think… Julian's alive."

There was an uneasy stir amongst them, but Jenny pushed it away as she brushed her bangs back. "It's not legal," she started slowly. "If they took his soul, if they killed him, then they wouldn't be able to touch me. Like with my grandfather and me. Julian has to be alive."

Summer slowly sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes like a little girl, but her pupils small with the reality of their conversation. Zach had dropped the card, and Dee was standing close to Jenny, ready to shake her back to her common sense if she had to.

"But wait," Michael said quickly. "They aren't exactly touching you. I mean, the whispers and everything is scary, yeah, but they haven't harmed you yet. Don't you think if they wanted you dead, they would've killed you the minute they were able to?"

"But they're Shadow Men. They like to play games-"

"Exactly," Dee said firmly. "They didn't kill your grandfather when he took your place. They…had him for years and couldn't touch you."

"But Julian's one of them. What if it doesn't count-like what if it's not enough and they can still get me-"

Tom cut off the conversation before it could seem reasonable and stood up. "Jenny, he's dead. We watched them drag him away-"

"But they wanted me. They took my grandfather last time because he was human, too. I don't think Julian's soul compares equally. Even if they did kill him-" Something dry snagged Jenny's throat and she coughed on the rest of her sentence.

"Why does it matter anyway?" Audrey asked. "Whether or not he's alive, they're still chasing you."

"I know, but…" Jenny bit her lip and looked away. How could she explain that they needed Julian without it giving off the wrong impression. "If he's alive. If they didn't kill him, but took his soul as-as punishment, then they would throw him into Limbo. Right, Audrey? Killing him would be too easy."

To that, Audrey didn't answer. However, Zach added, "It would make sense. The Shadow Men are supposed to be the cruelest things in the nine dimensions, so endless torture would be a lot more fun than just killing him off."

"He could be in the Shadow World, though," Dee said. "They could just torture him there so they can watch."

"No, he'd have his powers there. They wouldn't trap him in his world-"

"Why are we even discussing this?" Everyone looked to Tom, who stood with his fists at his side, slightly turned away and gazing at them all as if he was the only sane one left in the room. "Julian's not important. Jenny is. You're the one being attacked. We're trying to save you."

The way he snapped it so fiercely made a ball of defense grow in Jenny's chest. "Maybe he can help us."

Now Jenny looked like the only insane person in the room.

"H-He went through all of this to get to me a-and he can do, like, anything." She tried to explain. "If he actually loves me, then he would help-"

"How?" Tom said, surprisingly loud. "How would he be able to do that? Even if he is alive and even if he is in the Shadow World or Limbo, how is he supposed to help us? He would be stuck under their control either way. He'd be stuck just like us. We wouldn't be able to get to him, and he can't get to us-"

"We don't know that-"

"It doesn't matter!" He interrupted. "He shouldn't even be an option!"

Jenny felt too many emotions mixing together inside her. "And what exactly are my options?"

The tension practically suffocated everyone in the silence.

Jenny covered her face in one second, then was rushing off in the next. "Forget it," she said. "We'll just sit here until we find some more illegible notes on useless shit, so whatever. I'll just.. Get eaten by ice for all that matters."

"Wait, Jenny-"

She didn't know who said it, but she shrugged off the hand that reached for her. She was shaking-no, shivering. She was suddenly so cold that she couldn't stand it. Her face was burning with embarrassment or shame, and her core was shaking. They understood that she was scared, but now they all misunderstood her because of Tom. What the hell was he thinking? What was she thinking? Going after the demon that had trapped her and her friends in another world, "killed" Summer, and threw them into game after game because he loved her.

But he hadn't killed Summer. He never played unfairly. He never actually acted cruelly as his Elders did. And he really did love her…

She thought she heard something, but her mind was spinning too fast to comprehend. She was walking back toward the basement when time seemed to slow down. The cold she was feeling was now a bitter pain not just in her chest but all through her-around her. It was in the air, prickling her skin and condensing her breath in the air. She finally heard Zach shouting something behind her, but all she saw when she looked up was the door to the basement slamming shut. The ice quickly froze over it, blurring the door in solid cruelty, and kept coming.

Tom's hand were on her, yanking her back, but his shout was drowned out by the sudden wind. Jenny felt it swirl around her like ice shards, tearing at her skin, blinding and crippling her. The warmth of Tom's hands faded as well as the sight of everyone else. All she saw was white-snow and ice flying around her, tossing her hair, burning her eyes, freezing her clothes. Her pants were now so crisp with ice that she hardly stumbled.

At first, she was trying to get her balance and see, but then she heard it. It was soft and mixed in with the hissing of the wind, but it gradually picked up. When it became audible, Jenny could no longer breathe.

Laughing. She could hear the disoriented voices of the Ancient Shadow Men laughing at her from somewhere very far off. As the ice scratched her cheek open and she winced, they laughed louder, echoing all around her until it was all she could hear.

She could feel her grandfather's living room tearing away from her, and all she could do was scream. It was all she heard, her own pain mixing with their laughter-

Until she heard Michael's voice behind it all.

He was shouting one word. Something short, but too drowned out for Jenny to clarify. Then she saw a spark of orange in the corner of her eye and it hit her.

Kenaz. The Rune of Fire.

As fast as Jenny could do with her numbing fingers, she traced the shape in the air, like a sideways vase, and spoke it aloud. She had to scream it to simply hear herself say it. She saw the spark of orange light up from somewhere outside the ice tornado, but it was swallowed up within seconds, gone without a trace.

Still, she continued to scream and wave her finger around until it no longer worked. Then she was screaming every Rune she could think of. Although, the one for ice really didn't help. The wind only got stronger, the laughter faded, and suddenly the ice was crawling up her feet. She screamed again and watched her finger trace another rune.

Before she could figure it out, the world dropped away from her. She had the sensation of being picked up, then gravity slapped her down and she was falling.

When Jenny opened her eyes, she saw nothing but black. The ice was gone. There was no more wind or screams. She was just there. She tried to figure out where she was, but when she looked around there…. were no walls. No floors, no ceiling. Just black. Black everywhere. She couldn't even tell if she was lying down or standing up. There was no feeling to the place around her. It was like floating in space with her weight completely accounted for. No up. No down. Just space and shadows.

Jenny assumed she was standing when she turned her head since her hair was still down her back and not hanging above her head. She slowly touched her cheek where the blood was dried-or frozen, who knew? But what was more frightening than that thought was the silence. Absolutely nothing. Jenny was afraid to breathe too loudly in fear of something jumping out at her. There was nothing around her.

Or on the contrary, everything. Everything she couldn't see. Like the shadow men, or their claws, or all the torturous things they could do to her-

Jenny covered her face and slowly rubbed her eyes. Nothing changed. She opened her mouth to speak, but was too afraid to. She didn't want to call to her death. Instead, she stuck a hand out awkwardly. Nothing. Next her foot. When she planted it "down" there was still nothing. Hesitating, she moved forward. She could walk, but there was no ground. God, it was like Zach's nightmare. Nothing but blackness and those lights-

Lights.

Like fire.

Quickly Jenny sketched the rune, but nothing appeared. Right. She only made fire back in her living room because there was something nearby to catch on fire. Here, there was nothing. Nothing but her.

Fear quickly swallowed up her heart and the next thing she knew, she was running. For all she knew, she could've been in place, frantically sprinting until she could no longer breathe. Was she even breathing? Was there any air here? Did anyone hear her when she screamed?

After a while, Jenny hit her knees and tried to calm down. She was hyperventilating and panicking. If she stayed calm, she'd be able to figure it out. She couldn't freak out. That's what they'd want. For her to go insane in this empty space. But there was nothing. No space, no sound, no people-

Slowly she thought of Tom and closed her eyes, only bringing forth more darkness. God, how many shadows could she possibly be surrounded by? They were all around her, inside her-she shivered at the thought and hugged herself. In her head, she clung to the picture of Tom, and Dee, and Summer, and Zach-As long as she saw them she'd be all right. She'd be able to stay sane.

Julian had taught her that. Sometimes picturing something could be as real as reality itself. Like when she saw the door from Disneyland in the paper house, or the Aliens from Dee's nightmare that cut open her leg. Not everything was what it seemed. Like this space. It wasn't going to drive her crazy.

As long as she found someone.

Or at least pretended to.

With a deep breath, she mumbled, "Thanks, Julian," just to hear herself speak and know she wasn't insane yet.

She lifted her head then, determined to get up and find a way out, when she spotted a light ahead of her. There was no sense of distance. She could just see it. Like a star in a night sky, seeing it, but entirely unable to sense how close or far away it seemed. It wasn't until she got up and walked toward it that it seemed to grow.

The rays spread quickly and seemed to bounce off an imaginary floor. It made Jenny feel like she was floating in a sea of black with a tiny invisible island a little far off. She could see the floor, or imagined it, really, before the light took over everything.

Then she saw-

Herself?

She could see her honey colored hair, curled and flowing down her back, wearing the short golden dress she had worn to prom. The last prom, the one she went without Tom because they were fighting. The same prom where she saw-

"Julian," she heard herself say when she saw the manly hand upon her mirror's back.

The copy of herself turned and he was there, dancing with her. He was holding one of "her" hands and leading "her" through a very slow, very close dance. He was wearing what he did when she last saw him, a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black pants. Seeing him was like turning onto an oncoming wave, the freezing water whipping her in the face and dragging her under until she couldn't breathe. His white hair looked dull from the distance-if there was any.

Julian was gazing into "Jenny's" eyes, not looking anywhere else as they moved perfectly in sync. And the look on his face-Jenny stumbled away a little from it. He looked so trance, so mesmerized and so happy. Far more intense than Tom's gaze when he used to hold her during a date. Even when he watched her laugh, or kissed her, his face never looked like that. Never so deep, never so… lovingly.

Just when time seemed to appear, it faded when "Jenny" suddenly ripped away. Before Julian could react to her mirror image jumping away, "she" slapped him, then disappeared. It all happened so fast that Jenny couldn't understand. Julian stood there shocked, holding his cheek although there stood no sign of an injury. As if "she" had never touched him. The shine that had been in his expression now shattered and he looked so lost that Jenny had her lips parted, ready to call for him-

Suddenly she was screaming. Not her, but another mirror image of her. Jenny almost didn't recognize it until after she jumped and whirled around. There was a wild fire behind her-beside her, she couldn't tell. But she could see the familiar shadow inside the flames, the familiar jean skirt from Tom's birthday party and green eyes begging for help as they were burned alive.

Her second mirror self was screaming in terrible pain, shouting as the flames engulfed her so fast that Jenny had to grab herself to convince herself that it wasn't her. That she wasn't being burned alive. She knew it wasn't real, but Julian didn't.

"No!" He went sprinting over there so fast, Jenny blinked and he was gone. He jumped for the flames before the blackness swallowed up the hallucination back into the nothingness that it was. Jenny watched in horror as Julian dropped to his knees and punched the air. He screamed something, cursing at no one, then dropped his head into his lap.

The fear was back again. Pure and straight and horrible, like watching yourself die-or watching the one you love die and thinking it was real.

Without thinking, Jenny made herself move. She walked, then ran toward Julian and prayed that he wouldn't disappear when she approached him.

He didn't.

He stayed knelt down at her feet, body trembling and fist trying to grind itself into the ground that didn't exist. Jenny was afraid to kneel down-afraid she'd fall and never stop- nevertheless speak aloud.

"Julian," she said and realized her voice was hoarse. She cleared her throat and spoke again. "Julian, look at me-"

"Go away!" He snapped so loud that Jenny flinched. His voice carried in such a way, almost like an echo, but not quite. "You're not real…" he mumbled afterwards.

Jenny knelt down after that. "Yes, I am. Julian, look at me. I-I didn't burn. I'm right here-"

"No, you're not!" He suddenly shouted. Jenny still couldn't see his face, so she grabbed him. He threw her off so fast that she gasped aloud. When he looked at her, strands of white covered such mesmerizing blue pools so much so that it…hurt. It physically hurt to see him glaring, but seeing so much pain behind them. The bags under his eyes were deep and red, as if he had been crying.

But Julian didn't cry.

That just wasn't Julian.

Shadow men didn't cry or feel sorry for themselves or others. They were cold and cruel.

They didn't show human emotions either, like the fear that Jenny saw in his face now.

"Y-You say that you are. You appear right here, then you-"

He cut himself off and looked away, covering his eyes with one hand and cursing again under his breath.

Jenny didn't know what to do. Was she hallucinating? Or was Julian really here?

Suddenly, it seemed to click together. The nothing. The hallucinations. The blackness. Limbo. They were in Limbo. God, that thought almost made Jenny cry. Did the shadow men have her soul? Was she being tortured now by seeing Julian so terrified and shaken like this?

"You're not real…" Julian mumbled again.

Jenny grabbed him again, harder this time and shook him. He didn't hit her this time. "I'm here, Julian. Look at me. I'm real, and so are you." He gently shook his head and seemed to go limp, as if giving up on it all. "I am! You danced with me on the balcony at my school prom, not here-"

"I was just there. But you disappeared-"

"No, Julian. We're in Limbo. This isn't real. We need to get out of here."

"Not real…"

"Julian, God damn it!" She shook him again, but he refused to react to it. "You kidnapped me and my friends and confessed your love to me and forced us to play your stupid games-"

"Of course," he said with a short laugh. "Of course you'd say that. You know everything I do. You're not real!" His voice rose, as if to convince himself all over again.

"You tricked me into kissing you by disguising yourself as my cousin-"

"And you disappeared after that, too."

Jenny hesitated before a thought reached her. "But you couldn't touch me, right? When you tried to grab me, I disappeared. Look," she grabbed him again, shaking his shoulder once more. "I'm touching you, Julian. I'm real. Come on, Julian, look at me!"

But the prince of shadows just shook his head. "You risked your life for me! In the Shadow Lighthouse, y-you went up to those Shadow Men and they took you instead of me, and now your Elders are chasing me-"

He shook his head, mumbling, "Not real, not real…"

Jenny got so fed up and terrified and confused that she did something she knew she'd have to be insane to do. She grabbed him by the face and kissed him.

Shock rocked him, but for a moment he just sat there. Jenny didn't let go until he felt her, until he recognized her warmth and felt her breathing and knew in his heart that she was real. She had to kiss his still lips three slow times to get him to come to.

His hands snapped upon her in a flash, as if grabbing her meant life or death, and for the first time his grip actually pinched her skin. His hand barely landed on her neck, grazing her skin, then caressing it tightly until his thumb passed over her pulse. Then it moved into her hair and he kissed her back. Lightening flashed under Jenny's eyelids and the emptiness around them began to spin. Such gentleness mixed with wild passion that frightened and excited Jenny far more than she could take at the moment.

But she couldn't pull away. Julian had that hold on her again without meaning to. He was kissing her faster, sending sparks through her veins, making her shudder and cling to him tighter in fear of falling into the blackness without even seeing it.

Somehow, it ended. She didn't know if he pulled away or if she did, but the thread holding them together snapped and they were looking at each other. Julian's sapphire eyes were darker than normal with confusion while his breath was ragged with exhilaration. He was searching her, trying to figure things out as his hands continuously ran over her.

"Jenny?" He was saying as he looked her from head to toe and touched her all over, running down her bare arms, through her hair, across the cut on her cheek. "Jenny?"

"Y-You named yourself after-after the nine worlds, you jerk," she stuttered nervously. "Y-You gave your life for me, then expected me to be all right and now they're chasing me and you're here-You're alive-"

In the next instant, he was clinging to her, arms wrapped so tight around her waist that she almost couldn't breathe. He was practically laughing, but didn't have the breath for it. All he did was repetitively call her name over and over as if that was the only thing keeping her from disappearing again.

In fact he was whispering to her, "Don't disappear." He was almost begging. "Don't fade away again. Stay here."

"Okay," she whispered back. "Okay, I won't…" He relaxed a little, but his grip never faded. So she added, "But I'm not staying here forever. I won't let you trick me into your plan again."

He laughed then, nuzzling himself deeper into the crook of her neck and taking in her scent to reassure himself. "You are real," he said after that.

"Yes, but really Julian, look at me."

He still refused to release her, but he did lift his head.

Jenny could've gasped again. Since he was holding her so close, when he met her eyes, their lips were practically touching. She had no way to stop him when he kissed her.

He kissed her gently this time, letting the touch of his lips linger on hers like the bat of a butterfly's wing. She was lost again, floating around Limbo with him, basking in his warmth and the electricity of the kisses until she could feel her arms again and pushed him away.

Still, he was laughing. He kept running his fingers through her bangs and looking her over. "You really are here. You're not fading. I can feel you. And you act just the same. Ha-ha."

Jenny felt her core trembling-with fear or excitement, she couldn't tell, but she made sure there was enough space between them when she met his eyes again. Still, it was hard to talk calmly to those gleaming eyes of a passionate, venomous snake.

"I don't know what happened, but I think we're in Limbo," she began. "After you gave yourself to your Ancestors, my friends dragged me back home and then e-everything got weird. Things started freezing and I could see them everywhere. Th-The… other shadow men. The older ones. They started chasing me or trying to kill me-I-I don't know, but I was in my grandfather's living room with everyone when there was ice and they were laughing-"

The more she spoke, the deeper reality seemed to sink into Julian. He grabbed her shoulders, but she kept talking. "I tried the-that… um, the rune for fire, but it didn't work. Then I did Uruz, and then I fell. I woke up here and saw you, and I-I don't know what happened."

"You performed Uruz?" He asked quickly. "And it worked?"

"I-I don't know. They were trying to grab me when I said it. But I didn't do the blood or the carving. I don't think it worked-"

"No, no, it did."

"What?"

"They were trying to drag you into the Shadow World, if anything. They were pulling on your soul when you used Uruz. You used their own magic against them. Since you were between the worlds already, you must've fell right between them. You fell into Limbo, with me. It makes sense."

"But how can that happen?" Jenny asked as Julian stood up. He still held her arm, helping her stand as he looked around him.

"A rift," he mumbled. He was looking away from Jenny as he spoke and his voice was hushed, as if he was more talking to himself than her. His eyes looked concentrated on something else that rested in the darkness-something Jenny couldn't see. "You caused a rift in the dimensions. Under the bridge. We're stuck under the bridge. The rift's open, active. We just have to get to it."

When he met her eyes, somehow Jenny understood. "So we can get back home?"

Julian smiled and Jenny shuddered. That wolf-hungry smile had returned. Jenny had forgotten what it looked like and now that he held it so easily while hovering in emptiness with his ability to do anything to her was frightening.

But Jenny felt herself tightening up anxiously.

"If we can find it in time."

Jenny gasped again when the space shifted quickly around her and she was staring into the blackness. She forgot how Julian could just disappear like that and having it happen now made it seemed like it was all an illusion. Yet, Julian's hands clamped down on her biceps from behind, squeezing her hard enough to hurt. She winced and then found his lips in her ear.

"Close your eyes," he said so seductively slow that Jenny wouldn't dare turn to look at him. Her breath was trembling and she couldn't tell if she was afraid or excited, but her eyes fell closed. His hands slowly moved up her arms, centimeter by centimeter, as he hissed, "Picture it. The bridge. The power that brought you here. The ice. The shadows that threatened to take your life away."

His grip suddenly clamped around her chest, pulling her back against him until she could feel every curve of his body, every breath he took to the point where she was breathing with him. And the shock ricocheted through her so quickly that she didn't know what to do. He was always threatening before, but never like this. Never this slow-Never this tempting.

"Picture it clearly, Jenny." He switched ears and let one of his hands snake up her neck. "How you cut open your finger and traveled into my world to come after me. The rune that brought you there. That brought you here." Only his fingertips touched her skin now, and they grazed her neck so softly that goose bumps washed down her chest. He moved so slowly, spoke so demanding, but hot in her ear that the lightest pressure he gave to her chin made her willingly tilt her head back.

It was too…exalting. Her skin was tingling. Her heart was racing. She was too afraid to turn around, but too excited to move away from him. Tom never made her feel this way-

The thought of Tom made her feel guilty. Ashamed because she was giving in to the touch. She could move away, but her feet were frozen in place, as if the ice from earlier was still there. She had that bolt of electricity running through her, the one that Julian always brought upon her, but it was different this time. He could force her in place, could make her say it-make her do anything, but instead he was pushing her to it. Like when he tried to pull her into the hole in the second game, the one that had captured all her friends and was now going to drag her into his world, with him, forever.

Jenny could feel it, teetering on the edge, about to fall, about to stay locked in place, there in his grip. Jenny knew she should jump away. Like before, he was taking control of her. He never had this strong of a hold on her and nothing good was going to come from it. But he never made her feel this excited, this tempted.

"Say it," he said, a little louder in her. "Say it, Jenny. And I'll take you home."

Oh God, she thought weakly.

Home to Julian could mean anything. The Shadow World, the dead amusement park, deeper into Limbo, her grandfather's closet-he could trap her anywhere. Now that he had her to himself, what guaranteed that she was actually going home and not into another one of traps.

Trust, Jenny told herself weakly. He had always played fairly before. Maybe, this time… She just had to trust his word.

He gave her body a tug, pulling her against him tighter, a surprising jolt that rocked her core so hard that she lost her breath. She knew he was looking at her, but she couldn't open her eyes. All she saw was the darkness-and the bridge that it held. The bridge that crossed between Earth and the Shadow World-the one that she and her friends had to cross to rescue the others.

Who was it again? God, her mind was so hazy she couldn't even think properly.

With her skin throbbing where Julian held her, she took in the shortest breath and mumbled, "Uruz…."

Power flashed and Jenny jumped.

There was the sensation of falling and Jenny knew it was real because she felt her hair come up and hit her in the face. She clung to Julian's arm as her weight fell, stomach dropping sickly, and gravity coming back into effect. Before she could scream, Julian forced her head to the side and kissed her hard. Tight enough to hurt her lips and deep enough to choke down her fear.

Their bodies titled as they fell, then Julian was gone.

The wind came back and flashes of white started to pierce the blackness. Voices, shouts, spells, wind, it all rushed in her ears while images of ice, the shadow men, her friends, and the bridge flashed before her eyes. Blackness tore at the edge of her vision, trying to drag her under the line of unconsciousness, but she knew she couldn't pass out.

She could see a black hand, a deformed one with claws reaching for her before there was another flash of power. The wind roared with the echo of Julian shouted something. Ice whipped her hair in her face, then she saw a bright yellow light appearing in a large rectangle. It was blinding and hovering right above her. She was still falling, but it was more like she was stuck in place. Trying to fall, something dragging her down and dragging her down hard, but something else was keeping her in place. The light seemed to pull her upward while the ice and shadows were trying to drag her down.

There was nothing but the cold of the ice nipping at her and the wind swirling so strongly around her that the door of light started to draw away. Until a shadow emerged from it. Without thinking, jenny reached for it, but it was just passed her fingertips. The wind seemed to smack her hand away, and the shout echoed toward her.

"Jenny!"

Tom, she thought and reached up again. The hand came into view. The light dimmed, and she could see Tom reaching through the doorway of light. He had industrial rope tied around his waist and his legs weren't visible. He was kneeling down into the darkness, trying to grab her. In one last attempt, jenny jumped up with everything she had. Tom snatched her wrist and yanked her up by her forearm.

The tightness of the ice zapped past her, the light blinded her, the wind struck her deaf, and reality threatened to make her pass out.

Then, everything was very faint.

The floating sensation was gone. The screaming ended. The cold was gone and weight of Limbo vanished. Instead, there was a new familiar weight, one that pressed down on Jenny's chest so hard it made it difficult to breathe. Yet, best of all, Jenny could feel the floor under her.

She forced her eyes open and sucked in the deepest breath of air she ever had in her life. She immediately coughed, trying to relearn how to breathe, before she was suddenly being hugged. For a moment, she thought she was back in Limbo with Julian. Yet, over the man's shoulder she saw Dee and Zach standing against her grandfather's closet door, also trying to breathe right. Audrey was squealing something and diving on her in a hug as well. Tom was squeezing the life out of her, squeezing her so tight that she couldn't even finish sitting up. Audrey was trying to suffocate her, too, and Jenny was still coughing.

Finally she got them off her, and everyone was talking at once. How the shadow men came and the ice swallowed her up, then she was gone and they were so scared. Then they heard someone talking, telling them to go to the basement and when they did, the door was glowing and they heard her screaming and had to grab her.

But in the midst of it all, their voices died one by one. Michael was the first to see it, standing off to the side, still holding the rope they held onto Tom with, but looking behind Jenny. "Guys…." he said.

Slowly, he got their attention and all eyes moved off Jenny and to the corner of the room behind her. Jenny saw all their distracted and shocked gazes before it hit her. A bolt of anxiety and pure fear went through her, like you're the first person to die in the horror movie and you know it because you feel the murder weapon coming for you, but it's already too late.

Jenny whirled around and had to blink ten times before she told herself she wasn't dreaming.

Standing in the corner of her grandfather's basement, leaning against his dusty desk was the prince of Shadows himself.

He smiled at all the attention. He pointed the pencil that he had been playing with at them all and said, "Oh, please, continue. Don't mind me."

Instantly, Tom forced Jenny to her feet and shoved her behind him. "How the hell-"

"Who do you think it was telling you where to go to grab Jenny?" Julian tilted his head a little, looking more and more like a wild wolf with the way his eyes gleamed at them. "Hm?"

Jenny stared at Julian, but she could still see her friends gathering at her sides. "Thanks," she heard Dee say with attitude somewhere to her left. "Now you can leave."

Julian's face changed to confusion, but with tease. He made a face of "Oh," as he gracefully put the pencil back and stood up straight. "You see, that's not gonna happen."

"You're not taking her," Tom snapped quickly.

All Julian had to do was glance at him and the force knocked Tom completely across the room. He collapsed against the stairs and Dee pounced. She grabbed the heaviest statue she could find on the bookcases of foreign magical charms and swung it at him. Julian easily rotated his arm over the swing, snatching her by the wrist and flipping her in the other corner of the room.

"Please," he said to her friends as he walked closer to Jenny. "Haven't you learned?"

"Julian," Jenny said flatly. It held no jokes, no orders. Julian stopped right before her, examining the determined look in her eyes, then smiled and took a step back.

It wasn't said aloud, but somehow it was clear. The still tension in the air, the one that the Julian's Ancestors had left when they were last there, had caused them all to see it. Although Julian was smirking, and her friends were willing to fight again, Jenny was stuck in the middle with a new problem. They weren't being forced into a trick by Julian, but a deadly trap by his ancestors. Whether they liked it or not, they had to face it.

She had to take two deep breaths before she spoke again. "This isn't a game this time."

"But…" Micheal asked. "What happened? You…. Disappeared for a whole day, then you come back-with him."

"Doesn't matter!" Tom said as he stood back up, rubbing his back painfully. "I say we lock him in the damn closet again."

Happily, Dee punched her hand. "I'm down."

Surprisingly, Jenny jumped between. She put her back to Julian, which was probably a horrible idea after she thought on it, but it was the only way she could speak calmly without feeling so anxious because of those deep, elemental eyes.

"Enough," she tried to say clearly. "No one's getting locked up. No one's getting taken away. No more fighting."

"Jenny," Zach said distantly. "You're… not seriously protecting him… are you?"

Jenny did her best to keep calm. "No-I mean," she had to face everyone then, including Julian, and said shakily, "He saved me. S-Somehow I fell into Limbo and he was there, so-"

"Wrong."

Jenny whipped around. Shock hit her only for a moment when she saw it was Julian who spoke. He met her eyes directly, white hair glimmering seriously. "I had no powers there. It was you who activated the rune, Jenny. When you brought us to the rift, my Ancestors were there, of course. I blocked them long enough for the power to take effect."

"But that doesn't explain why you're still here," Audrey said.

Jenny didn't understand either until she thought back to the blackness. Right as she said it, right as she fell-

The kiss, of course.

Julian only smirked, then his gaze flickered over to Tom. "Doesn't matter," he mocked to which Tom glared furiously.

It sounded entirely foreign coming from the boy that always spoke so elegantly. It unnerved Jenny so much that she had to physically shake it off. That was when Audrey stepped forward.

"It doesn't add up, though. The Shadow Men took your soul as payment for Jenny. If that's true, you should be dead or-or under their hold-"

"We created the runes," Julian interrupted. "We play unfairly. Normally, those powers break the rules."

"But not laws," Jenny countered as she looked at him.

For a minute, Julian just smiled. "In simplest terms, Jenny saved me."

Jenny felt her core shudder and her friends' gazes all fell on her. She had to look away from Julian, but she couldn't look at her friends either. "Fine," she said to herself, unsure of exactly what she was saying. She didn't know where the words came from, but she was speaking them before she couldn't even understood them. "Since I saved you, tell me this. How are you're Ancestors able to reach me? I thought they were restricted to their own world."

"They took my soul as payment," Julian said smoothly, quickly-without missing a beat. "As a fellow Shadow Man, it only would've been effected if they killed me. Basically, they found it more entertaining to toy with both of us."

Jenny took that in, just the way she had before when she figured it out herself. "So by bringing you here-"

"You completely revoked the deal."

Micheal stepped forward. "So now they can just grab her… at any time?"

Julian's gaze never left Jenny, and he saw the shiver of fear run through her mind. When she couldn't shake his gaze, he saw right through her. "Sort of."

"What does that mean?" Dee questioned.

Julian glanced at her, smirking so vilely that Jenny was ready to step between them again. "Telling a Shadow Man's tricks takes away all the fun."

"Julian-" Jenny had started.

"It's all about tricks." Julian said, his voice suddenly very flat and irritated. "Don't fall into one, and they can't grab you."

"So she's just supposed to avoid them for the rest of her life?" Tom snapped. "No way."

"Not with my help, she won't." Julian responded thickly. Then he looked back to Jenny with a thin smile. "But you'll have to ask nicely."

"She saved you, you pig," Audrey snapped.

"And you expect me to help you fools out of the evilness of my heart?" he snapped, not anywhere near Jenny, but to all her friends standing behind her.

That's when Jenny heard it. "Please." It was Summer who was begging, in the smallest voice she had. "Please, help Jenny. Didn't you say you loved her?"

At that, the silence had returned. Jenny couldn't look at Julian. If she did, there was no telling what would happen. Looking at the ground, she asked him, "Is there any way to stop them… for us fools?"

She knew in the pause of his response that he was looking her over, but still she couldn't lift her gaze. "Yes," he answered blankly.

Jenny looked up then, seeing the subtle look in his eyes, but not in his smile. "And you will help us?"

"Help you," he clarified.

There was a commotion behind her, and Tom was barging forward, cursing and lifting his fist, but Jenny quickly grabbed him. Right as she got him back, her mind lost track of the Earth, she got light headed, and her feet stumbled. She would've fallen if Tom hadn't have caught her. The room was still spinning when he stood her up straight.

"I-I'm fine," she said shakily. "We'll figure more out tomorrow." She looked back to Julian, who remained unmoved in the back of the room. "Julian, can you leave this room? Honestly."

Julian's eyes never left hers, but his eyelashes dropped as something crossed his mind. "Yes."

Immediately she pictured the X in her mind, the rune that would keep him locked in here, and she knew her friends, especially Tom, were thinking it, too. Yet, she had done it to him once already. Even after, he had given his life to her, to suffer for an eternity so she could live on.

She couldn't do it to him again.

"Then swear." She said boldly. She pulled out of Tom's grip and forced her weak knees to stay up as she approached the Shadow Man. "Swear on the runes of the Shadow World that you will stay in this room. You won't play any games on me or my friends, anyone involved in this 'trick'. Swear you won't leave this room unless it is to deal with your Ancestors."

Jenny stuck out her hand to him.

And at first Julian just smirked in the slightest bit. He said something with eyes, something Jenny knew but couldn't figure out at the moment. Then he grabbed her hand, leaned down, and kissed it. And in that moment, Jenny saw something flash before her eyes. It was just for a second, but she could see herself in this same position, with Julian kissing the back of her fingers like this like a King would to his Queen. It was such a powerful, graceful flash, but Jenny shoved it far down deep into her core as soon as it faded away.

"Into another game, then." His voice was elemental, just like it was the first day she had met him.

He released her and Jenny turned away, not looking back. She made sure her friends followed her and they all surprisingly made it back upstairs without the door shutting or trapping them inside. Of course, there was instant denial when the door closed behind them, Tom arguing that they should rune the door, Dee saying they should send him back, and Summer saying they should leave him alone.

But Jenny ended it all with, "Enough. It's settled. He's helping us, and that's final."

"Will you listen to yourself-" Tom had started.

"This is my life we're fighting for." Jenny snapped. "I'd rather get tricked than killed…." She gave her friends a firm look and finished with, "He won't trick us, so no one tricks him." And with that, she turned and left for bed.