2
It was now Late February.
Ben, Zippor, and Janelle's will-be-dating boy disappeared. Nobody knew where they went. Some of Jason's friends asked him what happened at the 13, but he told them that the three of them were gone when Janelle and Jason left the house. Not precisely wrong, actually.
But at least, Janelle knew she wasn't mad now. Jason also saw that girl even though the camera didn't capture her, and he did remember Max when she talked to him.
He told her that he started noticing that girl a few weeks ago. None of his friends saw her, and he didn't dare to tell anyone that he saw things that others could not. He originally thought that the girl was following him, but now as he thought more closely, he realized whenever he saw her, Janelle must be near. So she was actually stalking his sister, though they had no idea why.
He once saw the girl killing a neighbor's cat, but he didn't bother. Now he couldn't help thinking why.
At least, the girl disappeared after the incident at 13. None of them dared to return and seek out what was really happening back in there.
Around a week later, Janelle was sitting on a bench in a park, reading a boring novel for reading report. It was kind of freezing cold out on here, but glancing at the laughing children stopped her from dozing off.
Then someone sat down beside her and Janelle glanced at her.
It was an Asian girl with a hood drawn over her face. Though it wasn't snowing right now, it was still February. But she wasn't wearing much clothes. Just a zipped up jacket with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows, revealing some strange, black tattoos on her skin. Underneath the jacket was a dark dress that hung to her knees. The boots that she wore was for mountain climbing. There was a huge bag slung over her shoulder, but it seemed empty. Then Janelle's eyes rested on the most terrifying part.
On the belt of the ten-year-old hung a few daggers and a knife long enough to be a sword. Her arms, thighs and back was also striped with knives. There was even a short dagger concealed in each of her boot. The left side of her jacket was slashed opened and red blood was flowing out freely. She had a hand clamped on it.
The Janelle recognized her, "you are the one who killed Max and the girl in 13."
The girl glanced at her. Her face was hiding in the shadows of her hood, but Janelle caught sight of a pair of shimmering black eyes. The girl spoke in a Chinese accent, "you can see me?"
"Of course I can!" Janelle stared at her, "what, you are invisible?"
The girl raised an eyebrow, "yeah, maybe. Do you think I can walk around with blood pouring down my side and without anyone noticing?" she waved at the crowd, but nobody paid her any attention, "who is Max?"
"A friend of mine. You killed him in Disneyland!"
Someone glanced at her. The girl's eyes twinkled, "keep your voice down. You are talking into air right now."
"You killed someone! He is my friend!" she was yelling now, "I will call the police. He is killed by a lunatic who thinks she was invisible!"
Some people casted her weird looks again. One frowned and steered her child away from Janelle.
"I guess you are the one who is being called the lunatic, isn't it?" the girl said drily, "since nobody remembers Max and you are screaming at nothing now."
Yeah, famous blue eyes.
Janelle gritted her teeth but lowered her voice, "what have you done to Max and my friends at 13? They disappeared. What did you mean by they were killed? Did you kill them? What… what are you?"
"Your friends are dead," the girl's eyes suddenly widened when she glanced behind Janelle, "damn"
"What?" Janelle looked behind her but saw nothing but running children. When she looked back, the girl was gone.
Janelle shot to her feet and looked around, knowing the girl wouldn't be able to get away in such a short period of time.
But she was nowhere near. As if she had disappeared into thin air. Even the puddle of blood on the bench was gone.
Ever since then, Janelle would sometimes catch glimpses of the girl. But whenever she saw the girl, the girl would move away and disappeared again.
The two siblings had not seen the girl for a few months, which was kind of a relief, but they couldn't help wondering where had she gone to.
So one day after detention, it was already evening. Janelle hurried back home but it was one of the worst trip back home. She never knew that it was her last trip to go back home from school.
It had been raining this entire day but the rain eventually stopped when she was attending her lovely detention. So when she jumped over a puddle of water, some weird thing happened.
The world exploded into blinding white light.
Time stopped. Which was, literally stopped. Janelle could still feel herself in the air when she jumped. She tried to move her hand, but it was as if something was compressing against her, stopping her from moving. Her muscle burned when she tried to move.
She wanted to look at anyone near her, but her eyes didn't work against the light. She didn't even know if her eyeballs moved or not. Her sight went dark, blinding her. But she could still feel the light around her, as if drowning her into its very own light.
Then it was over.
The light disappeared as suddenly it came. She fell down on the ground, her ankle twisting a little when she landed. Her hand snapped down to her lap. She collapsed.
"Hey! Girl!" she felt someone grabbing her arm. Her eyesight was still dark.
She blinked and felt the arms helping her sit down on a bench nearby. She blinked again and her sight started to come back slowly. First everything was a blur, then things came into focus. A group of around three or four people was crowding around her.
"The… the light," Janelle rasped, "what is it?"
"Light?" a woman scowled, "what light?"
"The blinding white light, of course!" she stared at the people around her, "the screaming, piercing light that seems to freeze time!"
"Young lady," a man spoke slowly and concernedly, "nothing had happened. No light had shone. You simply collapsed in a sudden. What did you see?"
Half an hour later, Janelle arrived back at home. When she burst upstairs and opened her room door, she was quite surprise to find Jason sitting on her bed, his eyes fixed on her intensely.
"Did you see it?" he asked.
"The light?" she nodded, "yes."
"No else did," Jason shook his head, "Mom, Dad… my friends texted me as if nothing had happened. Then I remembered you can see the girl like I did when everyone else could not, so I took a wild guess that you could also see the light."
"Turn out that you are right," she sat down beside him, "nobody in the streets could see as well. So do you think it is something about that girl again?"
"Yeah. I am sure of it. And talking of the girl…" he fished out a piece of paper in his pocket and handed it to his sister, "here. Found it on your desk."
She took it and read it quickly. There weren't many words on it.
Janelle,
I have put two daggers in your bed. Give Jason one.
Keep them close to you. And keep close, both of you.
And stay inside your room until I come.
Zack
"Zack?" Janelle frowned, "gave us what?"
Jason didn't say anything. But when she looked up from the note, she saw a dagger in each of his hand. He handed one to Janelle, who took it with shaking hand.
"In your bed," he confirmed.
Her face darkened, "the girl sneaked inside my room?"
"I think so. Or how else could she put a note on your desk, concealed two knives in your bed without any others noticing?"
"She told us to stay together. Will you?"
"Well, if she wants to kill us, she could have just put a bomb there or waited in here until we came. So if she wasn't trying to kill us and as she owed us quite a lot of explanation, I am fine with staying. I am just wondering if we should tell Mom and Dad."
"Mom, Dad, a girl gave us this knife. She is invisible, you see. And she killed someone called Max. You once knew Max, but you have forgotten him. Nobody else remembers him. I have no idea what is going on."
"You are making it sounds ridiculous," Jason grumbled, "but honestly, what is so special about us? Nobody sees the girl. We do. No one remembers Max. We do. Nobody sees the light. We do."
Janelle bowed her head, "I guess all the answers are at the Zack girl. We will need to find her," she stared at her dagger, "what is going on?"
Luckily, the dagger didn't answer her.
"Where do you think that girl is?" Jason asked.
"Got to be near. She…" her voice wavered when she felt something cold and sharp pressed up against her spine and something plucked her knife out of her hand and threw it on her bed.
Jason's eyes widened. But before he could move, his knife was knocked out from his hand and a blade was locked on his throat.
Janelle stared at the creature behind him. It looked perfectly normal. It was in its early-twenties and with a head of short spiky hair and shimmering golden eyes.
But its skin was green.
Janelle swallowed but made sure that her expression didn't change. The last thing she could afford is to look weak.
"Who are you?" she barked. Jason glanced at her, clearly surprised by her calmness.
"Who are we?" the creature who was holding her snickered and brushed its lips against her neck. She growled and tried to shake him off, but he had an arm around her with the tip of his knife digging into her skin.
"We are monsters, aren't we?" another voice rang. It was rough and deep. Janelle could only see the creature behind Jason, but she wondered how many creatures were there in her room, "and we are sent here to kill you."
"The why are we still alive?" she inquired and thought of the Zack girl. If she could leave a note in her room, that means she couldn't be far away. She must be near and would come here in any second. Janelle didn't trust the girl, but the girl was their only chance.
"Why haven't we killed you yet?" the deep voice mused again and stepped in front of her. This one was quite tall with purple skin, "do you want death, huh?"
She glared at it.
"Bravo. I will tell you. We are sent here to grab you and drag you back to our master. Satisfied?"
"Who is your master?" Jason managed.
"Our master? You need not to learn, young Lambert."
"Is your master so scared of two little children that he dared not to reveal himself?" somehow, Janelle wasn't afraid. All she felt was anger, "coward."
"His name is the Power One! You know nothing!" another creature squeaked.
"Who say it!" the purple one whirled around and Janelle took this opportunity to throw herself sideways, barely managing to dodge under another creature's swing.
She snatched up the dagger that the Zack girl gave Janelle and swiped it wildly, forcing the creature back.
Jason was beside her in a second, his dagger also raised in his hands. The two stood back-to-back instinctively and took a clear look around the room. Janelle's heart dropped.
There were at least ten monsters in her room. (don't ask her why could all of them managed to cram in her small room. She has no idea) The purple one smiled at her cruelly, a dagger twirling in its hand.
"You know what? My master told us to bring you two back, alive. But he said bringing one alive is also fine, if you two cause too much trouble. As for the other one…" he snapped his fingers, "you have two choices before you, kids. Run and die, or put down your weapons, come here, and don't struggle as we drag you away."
"What do your master want with us?" Jason had also started to calm down.
"This is none of your concern," it smirked.
"Let me guess. You master didn't even tell you," Janelle made a face, "dear me, do you know what a doggie is? I adore doggie, and you look like a doggie to me. Just slightly uglier."
Jason choked.
The monster's nostrils flared, "shut the…"
Another figure leapt into the room from the window. Janelle made a mental note that she would keep her window shut in the future. She didn't doubt that the creatures came in from her window.
The figure landed and stood there calmly. Everyone jumped back in surprise.
"You!" Jason cried out as he recognized her as the Zack girl who had followed them for long. The girl shot him a glare to shut him up.
"Oh, hello, Bobby," the girl beamed at the purple monster.
"My name is not Bobby!" it shrieked.
"Yeah, yeah, but as you don't really have a name, so I gave you one. You should be gratified that I gave you such a beautiful name. Janelle, Jason, DUCK."
Jason obviously still hadn't got the meaning. "What duck? Is there a duck near?"
Janelle managed to tackle him to the ground as two of the Zack girl's knives sailed above their heads and each sank into a chest of one monster.
The room exploded into chaos. The monsters surged forward to meet the girl and avenged their fallen friends. Janelle motioned Jason to follow her to escaped by the window.
"But we can't leave the girl here on her own!" he cried out.
"Nor can we help. Come on," she replied.
She only had time to raise a foot to the frame of the window when something grabbed her around the waist and flung her back to the ground.
Stabbing pain exploded behind her head when it hit the corner of her desk. She slid down onto the floor, her knife now clattered out of her hand. Darkness threatened to drown her. She blinked furiously, keeping the dark spots away from her vision.
A creature with yellow skin grinned at her, "trying to run, huh?"
It raised its sword. Janelle desperately tried to move away, but her entire body felt like lead. All she could manage is to stay conscious and watched.
Then it screamed and fell on the ground.
She blinked and saw Jason standing behind it, holding his knife. The blade was now splattered with blood. He dropped it and stared at the dagger on the ground. He didn't even notice as the creature started to shrink until nothing was left except the smear of black blood on the ground.
Janelle understood what he was thinking. He had just killed a soul with his own hands. It might have killed Janelle if he didn't interfere, but still, he killed someone. He sank to his knees and Janelle forced herself to crawl beside him, ignoring the pounding of her head. She gripped his hand tightly and he whispered, "I… I kill someone. I killed it."
Janelle didn't have time to soothe him. She watched the girl killing another monster with one quick slash. The creature disappeared immediately.
Then the girl turned to the purple creature, Bob.
"Go ahead! Kill me!" it glared at the girl. All of its friends had disappeared now, only leaving some clothes, weapons and puddles of blood. Janelle couldn't believe this ten-year-old was such a brutal but skilled killer.
"I like people who do not fear death, but not you, Demon," she stepped closer, her knife dangling loosely between her fingers, "go to the Operation. Go tell your pathetic master that Zackline has gotten hold of the First and Fourth. You may be too stupid to understand what I am saying, but the Power One does. Now, get off!"
Bob jumped out of the window and disappeared.
When the girl turned to the Lamberts, all Janelle managed was "you killed them all"
"Yeah, I did, except Bob and the one you killed," she wiped some black blood away from her cheek and wiped her hand on her jacket, her face a mask of disgust, "Janelle Lambert, you are hurt.
"Just hit my head. It's… aw!" she yelped in pain when the girl, Zackline, touched her hand to the back of Janelle's head. Instantly, the pain faded. Janelle looked at the girl, amazed, "how did you do that?"
Suddenly the girl leapt to the door and locked it. A moment later, they heard someone trying to open the door. Then their mother's voice rang, "you two ok? I think I heard screams!"
"Just horror movies, Mom," Zackline called back. She had mimicked Janelle's voice perfectly. She sent the two a make-a-noise-and-I-will- mess-with-you-with-my-little-daggers glare, warning them to stay silent.
"Turn the volume down! The noise is crazy! Can't I have a few minutes of peace? You two are totally annoying! Why don't you open the door? I am angry with you two. Totally angry. I am serious! Now, you…"
"Yeahhhhhh I know it. We will be fine, Mom," Zackline called out in Jason's voice this time. The annoyance in her voice was genuine and it didn't need to be faked at all. They could read it on Zackline's face.
"Hm," they heard their mother leaving.
"How can you speak with my voice?" Jason stared.
"After all these, this didn't surprise me. What I want to know is that why can't our parents learn of what happened?" Janelle asked.
"Yeah, you make more sense, Janelle. If your parents know what is going on, it will only put them in danger. Grave danger. Mortal danger," Zackline paused and waved her hand. All the blood on the floor disappeared magically, "I will explain later. We need to leave immediately. Bob will returns with a whole army of Demons soon. They won't bother your parents when you two aren't here. They might threaten you with your parents if I were not here, but since I was, they knew threatening you two is not a point since you are completely under my control," she smiled happily. "You two better grab something before you leave. Some money. I am out of them lately. I haven't had a proper meal for a week already," she started checking on the weapons on the floor.
"How can we trust you?" Janelle glanced at Zackline, bracing herself for a cold comment from the girl.
Instead, Zackline smiled, "taking precaution. Yeah, good thing. You don't have to trust me. You now have two choices, like just now when Bob asked you to go with them. You can trust the one who have just saved your life, or you can stay here and wait for Bob to return. I am not leaving your sides, so you two will be taken, and I will die. Make your choice," Zackline shrugged as if it was no big deal. Her eyes shone when she found a money bag from those monsters on the ground. "Ah."
She stuffed it in her bag, which was still empty like every other times Janelle saw it. But she couldn't see the shape of the money bag. Janelle guessed there was something special about the empty bag. It proved her right when Zackline dropped a few knives inside but the empty bag didn't change at all.
"Explain everything to us," Jason demanded. "You killed Max, follow us, killed my three friends, killed a whole bunch of creatures. Tell us everything."
"Oh, of course I can. But we will be dead before I am done explaining," she smiled cheerfully. "Actually, I think you two still have around five minutes to pack before we die, and I am no big fan of dying. So, do you trust me or not?"
Janelle glanced at Jason, who nodded, surprisingly. "She saved our lives. I think she had earned out trust," he turned to Zackline, who was glancing out of the window, "where are you bringing us to?"
"A temporarily safe place. Come on, let's go before those things returned. We will leave in a few minutes."
"There is no way we can pack our stuff in a few minutes!" Jason protested.
"Just some money, clothes. Not much clothes actually. You are lucky that it is now summer. Change into some dark clothes and wear sneakers. No sandals."
"Not even our ID cards?" Janelle frowned.
"Or toothbrush?" Jason added.
"Nah, no need. We are children. We can lie that we leave our IDs at home. And you won't die if you don't brush your shiny little white teeth. Now, quickly!" she shooed them away, "don't let your parents know you are leaving."
Jason went back to his room. Janelle quickly changed her clothes and grabbed some money. Meanwhile, Zackline flipped open Janelle's exercise book. She studied it for a few moments, and then found a piece of paper and started writing.
When Janelle was finished with her things, she peered over Zackline's shoulder to see what she was doing. She was writing a note for Janelle's parents and her handwriting was exactly the same with Janelle's.
"How did you…" Janelle stared.
Zackline winked at her and for an instant, she almost looked like a ten-year-old, "tell you later."
Janelle stared at the note.
Mom, Dad,
We am sorry that we have to leave without a goodbye. Please don't call the cops. We aren't abducted. Just make up something like we went to camp or a trip, whatever. Please, we are begging you.
We will explain everything when we return.
Jason & Janelle
Janelle glanced at Zackline, "will we return?"
The girl didn't reply.
Janelle took the pen from Zackline, who raised an eyebrow at her. Janelle slowly wrote down a few words after We will explain everything when we return.
We love you two.
Zackline didn't say anything. But Janelle could see bitterness on her face, and possibly envy too.
Zackline shut the emotion off her face once she noticed Janelle glancing at her. It wasn't that easy to close up a face, so Janelle guessed this girl had been through quite a lot of things to learn something like this.
Jason poked his head in, "you not… you know, nake?"
"JASON LAMBERT."
Jason grinned and walked in. Zackline shook her head in exasperation, "we will leave by the window."
"Not by the door? Why?" Jason tilted his head.
Janelle sighed, "Jason, what do you think Mom would say when she saw Zackline?"
"I would like to see."
Janelle ignored him and turned back to Zackline, who was smiling. "Lead the way, Zackline."
The girl nodded and jumped out of the window to the tree outside like no big deal. She caught Janelle and Jason when they leapt out clumsily and they were soon all on the ground.
Zackline started hurrying away. She could move pretty fast with those short legs. The Lamberts had to jog after her.
They finally caught up with her when she stopped at a bus stop. The two were panting like crazy, but Zackline wasn't tired at all. In fact, no bead of sweat had broken on her forehead at all.
"Get any coins? Our bus is coming," Zackline waved at a bus that was approaching.
"A bus?" Jason cracked a smile.
"What? Anything wrong with it?" Zackline glanced at them.
"No, no. It is just… all these monster things, and we are getting on a bus to run away from them. Sort of ridiculous."
"You are ridiculous, boy," Zackline rolled her eyes.
"Boy? Hey, you are younger than me…"
"I am twenty-one."
"What? But… but you look only around ten! What are you?" Jason exclaimed.
"I will explain when we get on the bus," she replied darkly.
"The driver can see you," Janelle suddenly noticed, "and you don't want our mother to see you. Aren't you invisible? You don't need to pay for the bus fare if you turn invisible."
"Not now. It will be a while before I can turn invisible again."
"Why?" Jason asked.
"Long story."
They got to the back seats of the bus. It was almost midnight now and there was only two or three person else on the bus beside them. They were glancing at them, probably wondering what was three children doing in the middle of the night.
"First, where are our friends at the 13? Why did you kill them?" Janelle asked.
"First, three idiotic humans standing by the 13. Surely they knew something was wrong about this place, and yet they went here. Like you two morons," she nodded at the two of them. "And second, it is Demons that killed them. And third, I never kill human."
"And Max?"
Zackline didn't say anything. She just pulled the hood from her face and took off her jacket.
Janelle's eyes darted to her arms again. She didn't have much time to study her tattoos last time, but now she realized it wasn't tattoos. They were like runes instead of drawing and words. Janelle could almost feel the power under the black swirling pattern.
Janelle raised her eyes to Zackline's face and she realized with a start that it was the first time she saw Zackline without the hood that covered her face. Her face was like a ten-year-old one, but very weary. There was a scar on her cheek. Her eyes were ink black, but the pain and intelligence in them told people that she wasn't like any other children. It was as if they had seen too much, too much horror. Her hair was as dark as her eyes and was plaited into a tight braid. It stretched all the way down to her waist. Janelle secretly wondered how long would her hair be if the braid came loose. She also wondered what would be Zackline's reaction if she cut her hair off. She didn't think Zackline would thank her for the haircut and offered her a candy for repayment.
"I do believe you are twenty," Janelle decided to start the subject, "but how…"
"I am not human. I am born a special species," Zackline stared out at the window, "and here is the tricky part. A story that will stretch back to thousands of years ago."
"Just tell me what you are," Janelle insisted.
"A species which growing rate is two times slower than normal human. There are only five of us in this world. We do sorcery and…" she paused, "Witch."
"You are kidding, right?" Jason stared in half wonder and half horror.
"Do I look like someone who likes kidding?" she snapped.
"Then prove it," Janelle glanced at her.
Zackline held out her arms and closed her eyes. She muttered something that Janelle couldn't clearly but she was sure that it wasn't English. It was more powerful, more ancient.
Then a mark on her right wrist glowed.
"Whoa," Jason muttered.
"This is called a Rune. Each Rune stood for a spell. This is Speed. This is Strength, Nightvision. The fade one is Veil, and that is why I can disappear all the time. I can wipe out everyone's memories about that boy Max, though it took quite a lot of energy to perform that spell. It is also why I can mimic your voice and handwriting. But if I use up all the power of the Rune, it will fade and it will takes time for the power to return again. And that is why you can see me, as my Rune of Veil has faded."
"I get it but…" Janelle didn't feel surprise. She felt like she had prepared for these for many years – like she was listening to a song without knowing its name and someone was telling her of the name now, "but then what is so special of Jason and I? And why did you kill Max?"
"Well, for the Max part, Max was a Demon. It must have noticed something was different about you two. Thus it got friendly with you so it could find out what you are more easily," she paused a little, "ah, you must be wondering why you couldn't see that it was a monster. Its type is very special and rare. A Shape-Shifter. So when I killed it, I shielded both of us from the human's sight and created a person to take its place. The Daniel boy wasn't real. It was just a person in my mind. It was a huge spell that affect normal human."
"What, we aren't human?" Jason joked a little too loudly and a man glanced back at them.
Both the man and Jason earned the famous death glare from Zackline, "lower your voice, dumbass. That is a very dangerous story. I prefer to tell you when we arrive at the safe place. All I can tell now is that you are called the Power Nemisises, the bane of the Power One."
"The Bob creature's master," Janelle remembered, "but… first, what are they? Bob? And the Power One?"
"I suggest you to speak of the name Power One more carefully. It is one of the most powerful names on Earth. And as for Bob… well, he is a kind of Demon. Not very powerful, just like any other human, but when there is a crowd of them and only a few of us…" Zackline shrugged. "Not a good thing. His species is called the Ants. They are like ants, weak but everywhere."
"A demon… what exactly is a demon? Like… I don't know, its definition?" Jason asked rather stupidly.
To Janelle's surprise, Zackline was serious when she answered, "a type of creature that served the Dark Lord, the Power One. Bob's species is usually called Ant, but its true and original name is Kwyía."
"Is that English?"
"No. It is called Demonish," she replied, "ah. We are almost here. Come."
They hopped off the bus. Zackline started walking again.
"Where?" Jason asked.
"Sanctuary of Chaos. Not exactly a good place to stay, but it is not easy to be found if you are inside. Come on."
"We only get on the bus for a few minutes. Why don't we walk directly from our house to that Sanctuary of Chaos?" Janelle asked.
"Mostly to lose our tracks so Bob cannot find us so easily. But…" she suddenly paused and tilted her head as if listening. A rune on her forearm glowed.
"They are almost here. It didn't work," she cursed suddenly, "come, as quickly as you can!"
She broke into a run. You could imagine how hard it was with the Lamberts to struggle after her pace, when they couldn't even catch up with her normal speed.
She stopped suddenly and pushed the Lamberts ahead, "go, go, go! Straight ahead and looked for a small green door. GO!"
She fished out a pistol from her bag and shot. There was a shriek of pain and Janelle realized Bob and its friends were closer to them than she thought.
Grabbing hold of Jason's wrist, she dragged him forward, though not happy with the idea of leaving Zackline. But she must trust Zackline.
It was only a minute when she saw a green door at the side of an alley. She threw it open and both of them ducked behind it. Janelle shut the door closed.
"So… we are at the Sanctuary of Chaos?" Jason whispered.
Janelle looked around. It was completely dark and she couldn't even see her own fingers. She kept a hand on Jason and the other hand on her dagger. "It doesn't seem quite chaotic here, right? So I…"
Her voice was then swallowed by yells and screams outside. The clash of metal was also heard. Janelle held her breath, hoping the door wouldn't get kick opened. Being stabbed wasn't one of her hobbies.
Then the noises started to fade. Janelle knew it wasn't safe to go out, but she didn't care. She yanked the door open and looked around.
The first thing that came to her sight was some swords and torn clothes. This recalled her memories of the fight in her bedroom.
A few yards away lay Zackline.
Horrified, she ran to the wounded girl. She had a hand on her stomach and blood was gushing out between her fingers.
"No," Janelle breathed.
Zackline grasped Janelle's hand with a bloodied hand. She croaked out two words.
"Questilsa Breslin."
"Questilsa Breslin? Who?" Janelle asked but Zackline didn't replied. She released Janelle's hand and it fell slack.
Zackline was dead.