Tom's POV

The darkness pressed down on me; it was all I could feel, it smothered my senses. It was like dusk; when the shadows swirl at the edges of the shade, waiting for the last rays of the late afternoon sun to slip behind the horizon. I wanted to cry out but I couldn't work out how. I was drowning, the darkness was intoxicating. Wherever I was it was far worse than the most grotesque and horrifying depiction of hell I'd ever seen. Then, cutting through everything I felt a burning sensation slowly moving across my chest like a knife. I tried to hiss in a breath but all I drew into my lungs was the heavy shadows. Was this the price I had to pay? Was I to become a slave to the Shadow Men like Jenny's grandfather? I felt panic rush into me faster than the darkness as I drifted out of consciousness.

Jenny's POV

I watched the scene unfolding before me with a sick amazement. The blue light was getting brighter now, with every passing second it was getting stronger and Tom was getting weaker. It was exactly how I imagined it would look when a galaxy was swallowed by a black hole; the stars and planets would be sucked deeper and deeper into the darkness until eventually there was nothing left, no trace of them ever existing. Like what happened when Julian died. The metal clamp tightened over my chest and I closed my eyes, trying not to fall apart at the seams at such a crucial moment. Tom was in danger, I told myself, save him now, cry later. I snapped out of it. Tom was in danger.

I searched frantically for the source of light, locking the fierce waves of pain and despair in a deep recess in the back of my mind. Then I realised that the eerie blue light was right in front of me, coming from the one place I refused to look; Tom. The longer I looked the more dread welled up inside me. I tore my eyes away and shoved my hand into my jeans pocket, clasping Julian's ring in my hand for strength. The light...it was emanating from his – I broke the thought off before my fear could completely seize me.

I couldn't deal with anymore of the supernatural. The last games had crushed my ignorance of what hid in the darkness and stolen away all chances I had of happiness, leaving me to pick up the pieces of my once whole and happy life. Another experience of the cruelty and harshness of the Shadow World would scatter those pieces even further and then I wouldn't be able to find them.

It wasn't humanly possible for the light to be coming from Tom's chest, I thought, my stubborn mind refusing to believe what was obviously being presented to me. But then again what was? I'd been kidnapped by a Shadow Man who was so obsessed with me that he forced me into playing life endangering games in the hope that I'd lose and become his forever. That didn't exactly count as normal.

I strode forward, brushing all my doubts away like cobwebs in an old house. I paused at Tom's side; I could feel my heart beating in my throat and blood roaring in my ears. I forced myself to look at the light source, some part of me still clinging on to the fragile hope that it was not coming from Tom's chest. My stomach dropped when I saw that it was right there, glowing from under the fabric like a torch.

I raised my hands so that they rested on his chest. They were shaking uncontrollably and suddenly the last conversation I had with him came back to me. Tears slipped silently down my face as I remembered the last thing I said to him was 'I hate you' and now he could be dying. My knees shook, warning me they would buckle at any second. I yanked his top until it exposed his chest. I gasped and my knees buckled, letting me tumble to the floor. I curled into a ball my face pressed against the cool wooden floor; I had only seen it for a second but it had been enough. I shivered as I saw it again with just as much clarity as the first time. On Tom's chest were several slashes, all glowing the same eerie blue of Julian's eyes. To an average person it would just be slashes but to me it was obvious what they were: runes.

Dee's POV

I paced around the room deep in thought. We're missing something, we're missing something, we're missing something, the thought echoed around my head creating a wall that blocked off everything else in my mind.

The sun was setting now, casting long shadows in the room. It didn't feel like we'd only been here for one day. It didn't feel like Julian had died for Jenny only yesterday. A smile twisted my features as I realised what this meant. I was free. I could do what I wanted without having to live in fear of when Julian would next show up. No more games. No more risking my life for Jenny's freedom. The smile fell from my face. Jenny.

Jenny loved Julian. Jenny lived for when Julian would show up and terrorize us. Julian had slowly gotten a hold on her that no one else had a chance of breaking. She was Julian's more than she would ever be ours. And now Julian was dead. Guilt swept through me. Julian died for all of us, so we could live our lives happy and here I was celebrating his death.

I stopped pacing when I was in front of the window. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the sun's last rays as they warmed my skin. I stood there until the sun went down and then turned to face the group. Zach and Summer were making a snack in the kitchen and Michael was watching Audrey sleep on his shoulder with a fascinated expression; I felt jealousy steal through me. I was the one who was eternally alone, single. There was never a 'Tom-and-Jenny: a single unit' type of relationship for me. In fact there was no relationship, period. All my friends had someone to share everything with, Summer had Zach, Audrey had Michael and Jenny had...I stopped. Jenny didn't have any one either. She'd had Tom, but he was driven away when Julian came, now Julian was dead and Tom was still gone.