Brief mention of blood, not graphic.


"Beca. Wake up, Beca. It's time to get up."

"Nooooo…"

"Yes, I'm sorry. It's Aubrey's rules, and I don't wanna get yelled at again."

Beca cracked open one eye, wincing at even the small amount of light in the room. Emily's anxious face was looming above her, much too close for comfort. To avoid thinking about it, Beca looked to the side, expecting to see flowing red hair on the pillow next to her. However, Chloe was already gone.

"Chloe's downstairs. Everyone is," Emily said far too loudly for Beca's liking.

"What? What time is it?" Beca asked blearily, blinking to clear her eyes and wondering why Chloe hadn't woken her up when she'd left.

"It's almost seven," Emily said guilty, backing slowly away from the bed as if she thought Beca might attack her.

Beca glared, her annoyance spiking. No one should have to be awake at that ungodly hour. "Emily, why the fu –"

"I'm sorry!" Emily squeaked, raising her hands defensively as she backed out of the room. "Aubrey's orders!"

Beca heard herself growl, and she reached for Chloe's pillow to fling at the youngest Bella, but Emily had already whisked out the door, letting it slam. Beca fell back against her pillow with a groan, rubbing her eyes and hating her entire existence. It was stupidly early, Chloe was gone, Amy was hurt, and Ashley and Jessica were still missing.

Ashley and Jessica. Shit.

The memory of their disappearance dragged Beca's body from bed; she figured Aubrey was organizing a search party or something in the daylight, which, okay, smart. Keeping her eyes half-closed to protect them for as long as possible, Beca changed from her pajamas into denim shorts and a blue T-shirt. She wasn't sure what else to wear on a search party, but she hadn't packed much else.

She stumbled down the steps (God, she hated mornings) and into the kitchen of Aubrey's lodge, which somehow looked even more dingy and gloomy in the early morning light. Thankfully, there was a huge pile of granola bars on the counter, obviously meant as her breakfast. She grabbed two, unwrapping one and biting into it immediately, and slid the other into a pocket for later. Glancing around the lodge, she didn't see anyone hanging around and figured they were all outside, gearing up for the search.

Tossing her granola bar wrapper in the trash, Beca spared only a glance at the knife block still missing its chef knife and at the mirror facing the wall before stepping out the front door of the lodge, shivering at the unseasonable chill. She expected to see a full search party assembled, perhaps with police and rescue dogs. That was not the case; instead, the Bellas stood in a sort of semi-circle facing Aubrey, who had her back to Beca.

At Beca's approach, Aubrey turned around sharply to glare at her. Beca had to do a double-take; Aubrey looked rough. Her eyes were bloodshot, with massive, dark bags under them as if she hadn't slept. Her hair was lank and messy, and she seemed to be wearing the same outfit as she had the day before. She still clutched Chippy, who had been dressed in a crisp new outfit, his painted features more alarmingly life-like than ever.

"Thank you for joining us, Beca," Aubrey said, her voice clipped and formal.

Beca cleared her throat, recovering from the shock of Aubrey's appearance.

"Yeah… so, are we meeting the police here, or…?" she gestured vaguely.

"No police," Aubrey said firmly. "No need for that."

Beca felt her eyebrows shoot up. Aubrey had lost her mind; of course they needed the police.

"Uh, dude, we really could use –"

Aubrey delicately lifted Chippy's little wooden arm, bringing Beca to a horrified, stuttering halt. "We do not believe in law enforcement during team building," she said clearly. "And besides. There's no cell service."

Beca stared, stunned by the display. She glanced up and saw Cynthia-Rose staring back at her, clearly as repulsed by the puppet as she was.

Aubrey let Chippy's arm fall but held tight to his hand as she continued, "It is time for some vocal warm-ups before you run the Obstacle Course of Bonding and Friendship."

Beca choked a little. She looked beyond Aubrey to gauge the others' reactions. They didn't appear surprised, so she figured Aubrey must have already given them the day's agenda. Emily and Lilly looked sympathetic, Stacie and Flo stared uncomfortably at their own feet, Cynthia-Rose stared at Chippy in disgust, and Chloe gazed back at Beca, her expression pleading. A weird tapping noise made Beca turn to the house, and she saw Amy staring down at them all from the second floor, seated in her wheelchair at the window, bag of popcorn (where the hell did she get that?) in hand.

Whirling back to Aubrey, Beca said with a forced calm, "Aubrey. Two people are missing. Our friends are missing. You know that, right?"

She again looked at Chloe, who shifted her weight and looked away, her arms crossing over her chest.

"This is just an exercise in finding harmony, Beca," Aubrey said, an edge to her voice. "Sometimes you have to break things down before you can build them back up."

Beca threw her hands up in frustration, shouting, "We've got more important things to do!"

"Oh, what could be more important than this?" Chloe jumped in suddenly, glaring at Beca.

Hardly believing her ears, Beca droned sarcastically, "Hmm, I don't know, Chloe, maybe… finding Ashley and Jessica and getting out of this hell?"

Dimly, she registered the other Bellas backing away slowly from their raised voices, but Beca didn't care. She was tired of Chloe acting like she didn't care about Ashley and Jessica, tired of Chloe constantly giving her the cold shoulder, tired of not having her best friend in her life. The resentment she'd been feeling toward Chloe ever since her breakup with Jesse was boiling over and bursting free.

"Well," Chloe spit back at her, "did you ever think that we're only here because of you?"

"What?" Beca hissed, furious. If it was anyone's fault, it was Chloe's for suggesting the retreat in the first place. Before she could say that, though, Chloe cut her off.

"No, you don't think that we haven't all realized you've been a little checked out lately?" she said harshly. "If you weren't off doing God-knows-what all the time and actually paid attention to us, we never would have had to come here, and Ashley and Jessica wouldn't be missing!"

Oh. The internship. Shit.

"God, that's why you've been acting so weird? Because you're pissed at me for not being around?" Beca groaned, exasperated. She hadn't realized she'd been that obvious.

"Yes!" Chloe exploded violently, throwing her hands up. "Don't you get it? I'm trying to fix us, and you don't seem to care about that at all! What the hell is going on? Who are you always sneaking off to?"

"Girl fight!" Cynthia-Rose called out from the side, but Beca barely heard her. Was that seriously what Chloe was worried about?

"What, you think I've been seeing someone?" Beca laughed, ignoring Chloe's flinch and sudden break in eye contact. "Okay, you know what?" She'd just have to come clean.

With a deep breath, Beca explained, "I've been interning at a recording studio and a legit music producer wants to hear my work."

"Well that's – oh." Chloe stopped herself, her eyes widening in surprise as she absorbed what Beca said. She looked down at her feet, suddenly quiet and contrite, and Beca felt the tension draining away from the situation. She exhaled shakily in quiet relief; she hated arguing with Chloe.

Chloe looked back up and said softly, "Why would you keep something like that from us?"

Beca shrugged one shoulder and replied, "Because you're – I didn't want to distract you."

She'd been close to saying "you're obsessed," but she didn't think that would go over too well, and didn't want the shouting match to resume.

Chloe nodded thoughtfully, but said quietly, "I still wish you could have told me. That's really cool Bec."

"I… yeah," Beca sighed, swiping a hand over her face tiredly. "I should have."

When she looked up again, Chloe was smiling at her gently, as though they'd never fought. She opened her mouth, and Beca knew Chloe was about to apologize, but she realized that she didn't need to hear it.

Before Chloe could say anything, Beca rushed out, "There, I said it, it's fine. Now, can you stop acting so weird all the time and help me find our friends?" She made sure to keep her tone light and joking, desperate not to mess up the repair in their friendship.

With a small smile, Chloe glanced at the other Bellas and Aubrey (and Chippy) before saying, "Yeah. Definitely. Let's find them."

They turned to face the other Bellas, all of whom had been standing nearby and blatantly staring during their fight. Aubrey had her back to them all and appeared to be whispering to Chippy, who was cradled in her arms. Beca glanced up at the lodge window; Amy waved down at her, the bag of popcorn half-empty already.

"You two kiss and make up?" Cynthia-Rose asked with a self-satisfied grin.

"Yeah, there's so much sexual tension here, you could cut it with a knife," Stacie purred (rather unnecessarily in Beca's opinion).

Beca's stomach fluttered and she felt her face warm. She opened her mouth, ready to deliver a sharp retort – of some kind, probably – but Chloe interjected before she could.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, casually waving a hand. "We're good. Let's find Ashley and Jessica!"

"Finally," Flo mumbled. "In my country, if someone has been missing this long, we just say they've been eaten by jaguars and move on."

"Oh my God," Emily squeaked. "You don't think that's what happened?"

Beca couldn't resist rolling her eyes. "No, Legacy," she said, "that's not what happened. We just need to go for the police like I said earlier. Whether Aubrey" – she pointed to Aubrey's turned back – "believes in the police or not."

Aubrey whipped around so quickly that Chippy's arms flapped. "I told you. No cell service, no cops."

"But we can drive and get them," Beca insisted, crossing her arms.

"No."

It wasn't Aubrey, but David; he stepped out from the lodge, Paris following right behind him. Without really meaning to, Beca glanced at Chloe and was momentarily pleased to see she looked affronted by his appearance. The next instant, though, she sent him a welcoming smile that made Beca's stomach hurt.

"We'll find your friends ourselves," Paris added, her eyes lingering on Beca. "We can't risk the camp getting shut down."

Stacie glared at her and said slowly, "They were attacked. I think we have bigger things to worry about."

Aubrey laughed loudly, making Beca jump and whirl; in the time they'd spent talking to David and Paris, Aubrey had moved to stand directly behind Beca.

"Attacked?" Aubrey said doubtfully in a high-pitched voice as Beca stumbled away from her. "More like they got lost and wandered off."

"Um, what about that freaky hole in the ground?" Cynthia-Rose asked loudly. "Don't tell me that wasn't anything. It took three of us to pull Amy out."

"Yeah, and we heard weird footsteps," Chloe added, looking to Beca for support. Beca nodded back, grateful that Chloe was supporting their story again.

David and Paris glanced at each other, brows furrowed. Aubrey, however, pressed her lips together and ran two fingers over the crown of Chippy's head as though smoothing his hair.

"Who would have attacked them?" she said through gritted teeth. "We're alone here."

Lilly raised her hand suddenly. "What if the ghost did it?" she whispered.

Beca's stomach tightened as the Bellas all started talking over each other. She didn't think she believed in ghosts – not really, anyway – but she still didn't at all fancy the idea of one roaming around kidnapping (ghostnapping?) her friends. Amid the frenzied conversation around her, she caught a glimpse of Aubrey's face, which for the first time was drawn tight with anxiety. However, the moment passed and Aubrey was soon yelling over them for attention.

"Bellas! Ladies, please!" she shouted, silencing them immediately. She raised a hand to rub at her eyes before continuing. "Tell you what – let's split up and look for them. Then, if we still can't find them, we go to the police. Okay?"

Beca glanced around; the others nodded their agreement, looking determined. Lilly pulled a knife out of nowhere, looking incredibly pleased about it. Flo saw her, winced, and moved to stand between Stacie and Cynthia-Rose.

"I… okay," Beca agreed, knowing that the compromise was as good as it was going to get with Aubrey.

"How're we going to split up?" Chloe asked, glancing at Beca.

Paris stepped forward and wrapped her arm around Beca's shoulders. "Dibs on Beca!" she called out, for some reason looking directly at Chloe.

Beca's brain turned to mush. A confused mush. What did that even mean? And Paris's arm around her shoulders wasn't helping her think.

God, her perfume smelled amazing.

"I'm with Beca, too," Chloe said in a rush, moving in to smoosh herself against Beca's other side.

Beca felt like she was dying.

Cynthia-Rose and Stacie both smirked, which didn't help.

"I'm with these two," David said with a smile to Emily and Lilly. Beca blinked, surprised that he hadn't joined her, Paris, and Chloe. She risked a look at Chloe, expecting her to be disappointed, but Chloe was too busy giving Paris the side-eye that she hadn't seemed to notice David.

Beca was incredibly confused.

"That leaves us, then," Aubrey said briskly to Stacie, Flo, and Cynthia-Rose. "And Chippy, of course."

Cynthia-Rose's eyes flicked down to the marionette and she visibly cringed. Beca didn't blame her.

"I'll stay here and keep an eye on you twig bitches!" Amy called, loudly enough to be heard from the filthy window of the lodge.

"Thanks, Amy," Beca managed, awkwardly extracting herself from between the two most beautiful women on the planet. She'd been starting to get sweaty, despite the unnatural chill in the air.

"Right, so, we're gonna do this?" Emily asked, noticeably nervous.

"Yep," said Stacie determinedly, though her hands were trembling.

"Stay in earshot," Aubrey ordered, "And if you don't find anything, meet back here in T-minus two hours. Don't be late."

A coyote howled in the distance.

"Wanna bring your shotgun?" Cynthia-Rose muttered, though Aubrey appeared not to hear her.

"Okay, team, break on three!" Chloe cheered.

"On three or af –"

"Let's go," Beca said before Stacie could finish her question. They were wasting time. "Everyone be careful."

She watched as Aubrey took Chippy, Flo, Stacie, and Cynthia-Rose toward the woods to the right of the cabins. David, Emily, and Lilly went straight out from the cabins to walk along the road and woods there. Her heart plummeted; that left…

"To the pool?" Paris suggested.

Beca grimaced. She'd been afraid of that.

"Fine," Chloe agreed stiffly.

Together, they turned and started toward the empty pool, every step closer making Beca's heart thud more painfully against her ribs. The pool had always unnerved her, but she hadn't realized just how much until forced to walk toward it in search of her missing friends that a ghost may or may not have spirited away. Or, if not a ghost, something else.

It wasn't great.

It didn't help that an awkward silence had fallen over the three of them as they walked. Beca didn't like it; she could hear every step they took on the fallen leaves and small twigs, every breath Chloe took, every swish of Paris's long hair as she walked. They moved further and further from the clearing, the sounds of the others' footsteps fading away unnaturally quickly, until they were blanketed in the dense quiet of the forest around them.

The fog rolled in, seeping out of the woods and coating the grounds of the retreat. The mist swirled around them, thickening rather than dissipating in the daylight, and several times, Beca thought she saw someone moving toward them, only to realize the fog was playing tricks on her. She shivered, again feeling the weight of eyes on her back. The whole "someone is watching" schtick was getting old fast, but she couldn't shake it.

"Could they have gone in the cabins?" Chloe broke the quiet suddenly, her voice loud in the eerie fog. Beca glanced to her right at the line of four abandoned cabins dotting the path to the pool, taking in their decrepit and creepy state. Her skin crawled and the hair on her arms stood up.

"I doubt it," Paris said. "They're in rough shape."

"But it doesn't hurt to check," Chloe replied, an edge to her voice.

Paris sighed, then replied just as testily, "If you want to fall through a rotted wooden floor, be my guest."

"We have to be thorough," Chloe insisted stubbornly.

"Beca, what do you think?"

"Yeah, Bec?"

Oh God.

Beca didn't like being between them at all. The way they both looked at her made her feel like she was making a much larger choice than whether or not to look around some creepy cabins for Ashley and Jessica.

"I mean," she managed, pleased that she at least hadn't made some embarrassing squeaking noise, "we could peek in them? Like, just poke our heads in?"

Thankfully, that seemed to satisfy both Paris and Chloe, who stubbornly refused to look at each other. Beca did her best to shrink into herself, though she wasn't sure it worked.

They made their way to the first and nearest cabin. As they drew closer, Beca wondered if perhaps they should have just skipped the cabins. The grimy, broken windows, dark interior, missing shingles, crooked foundation, and rotted wooden steps were wholly uninviting during the day, and she had a hard time imagining that Ashely and Jessica would seek refuge in them at night.

Nevertheless, they moved to the first cabin's door, carefully picking their way up the spongy steps. Beca was on edge, her heart pounding as she constantly stared around for any movement.

When Chloe gasped at a large spider on the wall, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Sorry," Chloe whispered.

Paris rolled her eyes and reached for the door handle.

The cabins should have been locked. Beca hadn't really thought about it, but they should not have been able to enter the derelict building. She was surprised, then, when the door swung open with relative ease and a soft groan like an exhale. She glanced up, making sure that the ancient structure wasn't about to collapse on top of them.

A rush of fetid air from the interior of the building made her wrinkle her nose; it smelled of mold, dust, and decay, as though some animal had died in there years and years ago. The place looked even worse on the inside; what little light filtered through the filthy windows revealed holes in the floorboards, torn and moldy furniture still in place, and a collapsed fireplace on the far wall. As in Aubrey's lodge, the mirrors on the walls were turned so that the glass faced inward.

There was very obviously no one there; Beca wouldn't be surprised if no one had set foot in the cabin since the retreat closed twenty years ago.

Nevertheless, Chloe called tentatively into the dark interior, "Ashley? Jessica?"

There was no reply.

"Happy?" Paris asked, though her voice quivered slightly.

"Not really," Chloe whispered.

Beca privately agreed.

"Let's go," she muttered, not at all liking the eerie feeling of the cabin.

Paris pulled the door shut again with a damp thud, and they wasted no time in making their way down the steps, careful to avoid the sagging, rotted sections.

Similarly, they approached the other three cabins, on high alert for any sign of movement from within.

The second didn't have a front door, but rather was boarded up, a series of warped two-by-fours crisscrossing over the main entrance. They walked around the exterior checking the windows, but there weren't any big enough holes in the glass for someone to have crawled through to get into the cabin that way. It would have been impossible for anyone to get inside.

The third cabin was open like the first had been, but when Paris opened the door, there was something waiting for them inside. Beca couldn't stop herself from shrieking and jumping back when a pair of big, dark eyes met hers; Chloe only just grabbed her arm in time to save her from toppling own the front steps.

"Calm down!" Paris hissed. "It's just a raccoon."

Beca took a second look, and sure enough, the eyes she'd seen belonged to a small gray body with a fluffy tail. The animal bared its teeth at them but stayed put, burrowing into a couch.

Duh. Beca should have expected some animals to be living there, really.

That didn't keep her legs from trembling beneath her.

Chloe again called for Ashely and Jessica to no avail. The sound of her voice didn't seem to bother the raccoon at all, which, wasn't that weird behavior for animals? Shouldn't it have been scared of them? Instead, it only glared at them with those same beady eyes, as if berating them for disturbing its peace.

Beca was beyond relieved to leave that cabin and its inhabitant behind. However, they still had one left to check before making their way to the empty pool.

Beca swallowed.

Her eyes flicked between the concrete pool and the last cabin.

She wished Chloe would say something.

Or maybe Paris.

Anything to drown out the sound of her own frantic pulse.

They approached the fourth cabin cautiously, Beca glancing over her shoulder at the ever-darkening woods, positive she could feel eyes on her back, though they'd lost sight of the others long ago.

She, Chloe, and Paris again navigated the rotting wooden steps, avoiding what would almost certainly be a broken ankle should they make one mistake and fall through the stairs. They reached the front door and paused, Beca's ears straining to hear any sign of life.

This time, she heard something.

Her heart stopped.

"Uh…"

"You're hearing that?" Chloe whispered frantically, her eyebrows shooting up toward her hairline.

Paris nodded, frowning.

Beca reluctantly stepped closer to the door, listening with all her might. Whatever it was didn't sound human; it was more of a rhythmic, electric whirring noise.

Chloe reached bravely toward the door handle, which turned with a click to let them into the cabin. The whirring became louder, and Beca realized it had to be coming from some kind of running appliance. Chloe cast a triumphant look over her shoulder at Paris before taking the first step into the cabin.

Beca followed slowly, eyes on the floor. Unlike the other cabins, however, the floor seemed more stable, though the furniture was no less musty, and there was yet another mirror turned to the wall.

Hope fluttered in Beca's chest as she looked around carefully, searching for any sign that Ashley or Jessica might have gone in there. Someone obviously had been in the cabin recently, if there was a running appliance.

Paris stepped over the threshold behind them, and they made their way further into the room, heads turning in search of the noise. Movement caught Beca's eye and she stared into a dim corner, finally making out the source of the whirring, which came from a small, front-loading washing machine. It was clearly nearing the end of its spin cycle. Only a few articles of clothing were visible through the scratched window, but she couldn't quite make them out.

There was no dryer in sight.

"Guys, look," she said, gesturing Chloe and Paris over and pointing to the washer.

"That's not possible," Paris said, her voice strained. "This cabin is supposed to be defunct. Aubrey said."

"Well, what the fuck is that, then?" Beca asked, her nerves frayed. She didn't like it.

Who would start a load of laundry in some old, abandoned – or supposed to be – cabin?

"Ashley? Jessica?" Chloe called out loudly, twisting and turning for any sign of them.

Nothing.

The cabin was silent apart from the sloshing of the washer and the sound of their heartbeats.

"What's in it?" Paris asked quietly.

"Dunno," Beca shrugged.

"Open it," Paris urged.

Beca hesitated; she could think of about a million things she'd rather do, including running away or hugging a porcupine. Anything sounded better than approaching the washer, though she couldn't really explain why.

"Bec, don't," Chloe whispered, shaking her head frantically. "It doesn't feel right."

Beca looked back at the washer, thinking.

What was the worst that could happen, really? It was just a washer. And opening it might make her seem brave in front of Chloe and Paris… she made her decision.

She stepped forward gingerly, ignoring Chloe's small whimper of fear.

She stood beside the washer, put her hand on the door's latch, and prepared to tug it open. She was sure it wasn't locked; the thing looked older than her grandma, and probably didn't come equipped with safety features.

The air around them quivered with anticipation.

Beca realized she was holding her breath.

Before she could change her mind, Beca gave a mighty tug on the door, flinging it open and causing some of the contents to spill out onto the floor along with a fair bit of water. For a moment, Beca stared at the mess, worried about cleaning up after themselves, until she caught sight of the clothing.

An achingly familiar patterned T-shirt lay in a soggy heap.

She recognized it in a heartbeat; it was Jessica's.

And it was caked in blood.

Paris's scream ripped through the air. Chloe was on her in an instant, basically tackling Paris and clamping a hand over her mouth like she had to Beca the night before in the woods.

"Shut up!" she whispered harshly, her eyes still on the shirt on the floor. "He'll hear us!"

Beca's brain felt like it was running on molasses. He? He who? She glanced between the shirt and Chloe, who looked utterly terrified even as she held a hand over Paris's mouth. Nausea rolled Beca's stomach and she drew a deep breath through her nose. Chloe's eyes locked onto hers and understanding hit her like a bolt of lightning.

Jessica and Ashley were missing. They weren't in the cabin. Jessica's shirt – as well as the rest of their clothes, Beca noted as she stared at the washer – was in the cabin. That was most definitely blood. Someone had put the clothes there. Someone was trying to clean up and hide it. Someone had done this.

Or something.

The retreat was haunted. The camp counselor.

Charles.

Shit.

Before Beca could so much as open her mouth, a series of deep shouts came from outside: David. She and Chloe exchanged a look and Chloe released Paris with a muttered apology. Without a second glance at the clothing on the floor, they rushed out of the cabin, leaping over the hazardous steps out front.

"David!" Paris cried as they ran. "David, where are you?"

The shouts continued, emanating from the woods but drawing nearer by the second. They sprinted to the clearing at Aubrey's lodge where they'd initially split up, Paris in the lead with Beca and Chloe right behind. They were there in less than a minute, Beca's legs burning and Chloe puffing next to her.

With one final shout, David came crashing out of the woods, panting, dirt streaked all over his clothes and a dark line of something trickling down the side of his face.

He was alone.

"Wh-where are Emily and Lilly?" Chloe panted, her eyes focused on the woods behind David as if waiting for them to emerge.

They did not.

David doubled over, his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. Beca wanted to reach forward, shake him, and demand to know where their friends were, but she managed to restrain herself, hands twitching as David eventually hauled himself upright.

"I – they're gone, I'm so sorry," he said in a rush, eyes wide and scared.

Ice flooded Beca's veins. No. Not possible.

"What the fuck does that mean?" she spat and clenched her fists, hearing the anger in her own voice.

David took a step back, looking at her warily before answering, "They're just gone, I don't know what –"

"Tell us what happened!" Chloe half-shrieked at him. Beca couldn't help it – despite the seriousness of the situation, she took petty satisfaction in how furious Chloe seemed.

"He's trying!" Paris shouted back, taking a step forward. "Would you just –"

"Stop!" Beca interrupted, moving between Chloe and Paris. "That's not helping! What happened?" she glared at David.

David shifted uncomfortably, finally having caught his breath. "I don't know," he repeated, "we were doing fine, had covered a lot of ground when the Emily girl said she heard something. We stopped, and there were some weird noises, like… like rustling or something."

Beca caught Chloe's eye; that had been what they'd heard the night before.

David continued, "And it stopped for a while, so I started walking again, and then something hit me, hard." He raised a hand to point at the side of his head, from which the dark line of blood trickled.

"It must have knocked me out, because the next thing I know, I'm on the ground and your friends are gone. I looked around, but didn't see them, and that's when I heard Paris scream, so I started yelling and came running."

Beca had heard enough; she started toward the woods.

"Okay," she said, "well, obviously we just have to go back there and find them and –"

Familiar arms wrapped around her waist, hauling her backward and away from the woods.

"Don't you dare," Chloe said, her mouth right next to her ear. "Bec, you can't, whatever it was will just get you, too."

"Chloe, let me go, there's enough of us that we could take whatever the hell –"

"She's right, Beca," David said gravely while Paris nodded. "That thing didn't care about attacking me, and now he – it – has four of your friends."

"You seem fine now!" Beca fired back shaking free of Chloe angrily. "How do we know you were really even attacked?"

"David didn't do anything!" Paris protested loudly, crossing her arms.

"That's kind of a serious thing to say, Beca," Chloe murmured.

Beca could have screamed. No way was Chloe still attracted to this idiot after he let something Emily and Lilly go missing, too.

"Why did you scream?" David asked Paris, steering the conversation away from himself.

The memory of what they'd found in the cabin rushed back into Beca's mind like a punch to the gut; in her worry for Emily and Lilly, she'd completely forgotten about Jessica's shirt.

"We found something," Paris answered.

Chloe snorted, cutting her off before she could explain. "More like Beca found something," she said. "Ashley and Jessica's clothes are in a washer in the far cabin."

"What?" David looked utterly bemused. "But those cabins haven't been used in years!"

"Yeah, well," Beca huffed, her anger slowly ebbing to fear, "that's what we found, and their clothes were covered in blood. Wanna look?"

She turned to march back to the cabin, Chloe hot on her heels, but Paris caught her arm and tugged her to a halt. Beca yanked herself free, tired of being manhandled. Chloe smirked.

"Wait, Beca, shouldn't we wait for the others?" Paris pleaded, anxiety lacing her voice.

Beca hesitated, then shook her head no. She couldn't explain why, but for some reason, she knew they had to get back to the cabin as soon as possible.

Paris sighed in defeat, and with a glance to David, gestured to let her lead the way back to the cabin.

The walk passed in tense silence. Beca's mind whirred, theories about what had happened to Emily and Lilly – and Ashley and Jessica – bouncing around her skull, each more outlandish than the last.

Aubrey had definitely said they were alone at the retreat, and she had no reason to lie about it. But David had been hit by someone… or so he claimed, anyway. Who would have done that? Did ghosts hit people? And, God, what was happening to Emily, Lilly, Ashley, and Jessica? Lilly could handle herself, but the others… God, what was she going to say to Mrs. Junk?

Movement from the woods caught Beca's eye, shattering her concentration.

A huge, shadowy figure stood half-concealed behind a tree, clad in what looked like a maintenance suit and with a strangely misshapen head.

An iron fist clenched around her stomach. She blinked hard and ground to a halt, but when she opened her eyes, the figure was gone.

"Um, ah…" she choked, staring at the spot she'd been sure he stood.

"Bec? What?" Chloe asked instantly, craning her neck to peer into the woods where Beca stared. "Do you see something?"

"Ye – no," she said, changing her mind.

She'd been imagining things, that's all. It had to be. No one could hide themselves that quickly. No need to worry anyone else because she'd been hallucinating. She'd been thinking about ghosts, so now she was seeing them. That was all.

"Ye-no?" David asked sarcastically.

"No," Beca said firmly, shaking her head out. Ghosts weren't real. "Let's go."

She continued forward to the cabin, hearing the others follow.

It had been a trick of the light. She was sure of it.

She quickened her pace.

They reached the cabin shortly, Beca's stomach churning with nerves. She picked her way over the steps carefully, the others following her closely. Hoping she didn't look as terrified as she felt, she reached for the door – hadn't they left it open? – and swung it forward so they could enter the cabin.

"The clothes are in the corner," she said, leading them in and beckoning to David. "Just take a… look…"

Beca trailed off as she stared at the patch of floor in front of the old washer where they'd left the bloodied clothes.

Except. They were gone. Every piece of clothing was gone, as was the puddle of water that had poured from the washer. The washer itself, which Beca was sure they'd left open, had been closed and turned off; it looked like it hadn't been run in years.

"What the everloving –"

"Beca!" Chloe gasped, one hand again clutching Beca's arm, the other raised to point at something across the room.

Beca's gaze followed Chloe's index finger, moving across the room to land on a mirror on the wall. It had been moved; unlike when they'd been in the cabin earlier, the glass was facing out into the room so that Beca could see her own terrified expression reflected in the glass.

And there, written across it in deep red were the words:

Leave now or suffer with me

- Charles