David's POV

We know you. We know what you've done. Come. come, stay with us. Stay with us and die.

That's what the mirrors had said. That's what they wanted us to do; die. It seemed like a good idea at the time, when we were still in the room filled them. I think we were very likely to have stayed with those mirrors, too, if it hadn't been for the girl. That little girl who looked like she didn't belong in Everworld, that made us seem like regulars in a place we should have never entered to begin with, but she seemed jumpy, like she was trying to get away from something. Like she was trying to hide.

As we all continued to walk she kept glancing at each of us out of the corner of her eyes, regarding us. It was very unnerving. Each time her gaze would land on either April or Jalil she would shift closer to the front of the group and pick up her pace. Once she had even given us a fleeting look that was probably her way of telling us that if we didn't hurry and pick up pace then she would run ahead and leave us behind to find out way out of the forest. I was still dumbfounded from when she had said before that she knew her way out. Isn't it some kind of rule that you're not supposed to know your way out of an enchanted forest?

Jalil was regarding the girl. He was studying her. It probably wasn't logical for a little girl her age to be wandering around in a forest dressed in a dirt and mud smeared dress that I think was white. But you could tell that she had shorts on under it, there was all kinds of rips and tears near the bottom. I think she had on jean shorts, that's what it looked like anyway. She had her lips set in a thin line as she keep picking up and dropping pace. I was studying her, I realized. She was blonde with her hair pulled back in a sloppy, tangled ponytail with twigs and leaves stuck in her hair.

She had probably been running through the forest for quite sometime.

Beside me, Christopher was snickering to himself something about mirrors and how they had evil powers. Did he not remember where we happened to be? One year and then he's tossed back into a place where we never really left and he's acting like it's all so new to him. Give me a stick. I swear I wont kill him, just beat him around a little. Honest.

I think within the last hour the most conversation that floated around the group had to have been: "Oh, fuck, that's gross. I swallowed a bug," or, "Will you stop staring at me!" and, "Are we there yet?" Now we just walked in silence. It felt like we were marching toward certain death. It always seems to be like that. The girl had just caught April staring at her and halted in mid step. Thankfully, we weren't in a straight line. Playing dominoes isn't exactly the top of my list now.

"Stop staring at me!" The girl cried, looking pointedly at April. "Yes, I'm a girl. Yes, I'm nine years old, and no I don't like being stared at," she finished, throwing her hands up for effect. April looked affronted; I couldn't blame her. I don't think she'd been snapped at like that for awhile. Actually, I can't remember when the last time she had been snapped at was.

Christopher took the time to cross his arms and regarded the girl. For what felt like a good whole twenty minutes he just stared at the girl who was staring at April who had her mouth hanging open in shock. "So, girl, kid, person," Christopher began, uncrossing his arms. "D'you have a name, or are we going to call you Strange Kid In A Forest Who Knows About Lying Mirrors?" I took the time to punch Christopher in the arm. We glared at each other before the girl turned to look at him.

She cocked her head to the side. "My name's Sel," she said with a huff. "And from what I can see you've got to be So Stuck Up That You Can't Ask Questions Politely." Sel sniffed, shifting away from Jalil as he had looked up at her. Not once had she met his gaze, she always adverted her gaze else where when talking with him. April had picked up on that. Honestly, I didn't care, I just wanted to figure out where we were going, and how far we had to have been in the forest. It couldn't have been very logical that we were going deeper into the forest.

The five of us continued to tread through the forest, tripping occasionally on a rock or roots of a tree. April and Christopher were shifting the weight of their back packs, and Jalil was looking through his, Sel had stopped walking and put her hands on her hips before turning around to face the four of us. It wasn't long before she was looking around the place out of the corner of her eyes. She looked almost worried - or like she was out to about to take off running. Instead she sighed.

"You've been here before, haven't you?" she asked, looking at each and everyone of us at least five times. "Everworld, I mean. You've all been to Everworld." She gestured to the backpacks.

"Not the friendliest of places, and not a place that I would ever consider going on vacation to," Christopher said, holding the straps of his backpack. "We've been here before, yeah. Why do-"

"Everworld's changing," Sel cut in bluntly. "Things are happening here that shouldn't be. Everything is changing."

Eyeing the girl I asked the only question that I could figure should be asked. "What do you mean 'changing'? Are the gods all getting together to form some all-powerful group to rule over Everworld or something?"

Christopher seemed to have found something funny. "Oh, god, don't tell me that giant snakes and dwarves want to have babies." He paused. "Because you know those would being some really ugly looking babies."

Sel shook her head. She glanced up at the sky and furrowed her brow. My gazed followed hers. Then sun was setting, I thought it was already night, but we were just stuck in the dark forest. Now the sun was setting, and I could see the difference in darkness. It was getting darker. Sel sighed before sitting down on the ground. She rubbed her eyes tiredly before looking back up. "Vampire's found their way to Everworld," she said slowly, making sure that these words stuck with us. "They're everywhere, and they want out of Everworld."

April blinked. "You mean they want to cross over to the real world?" Sel nodded. "How do you know that there's vampires?"

"They've been following us."