(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: depression-like thing, self-hatred)

-Ranya-

I remembered from my four-year period of anxiety what Isabelle had to be feeling. The way it warped your sense of reality. But it didn't make it any less frustrating to deal with at times.

And I fought against the worry for Zachary that tried to envelop my brain enough that I couldn't think about anything but him. My weight made me move a little slower than I would've liked.

Now, I crept along the road in the crisp air, the cookies rattling in my bookbag. It wasn't completely arctic out, but I still kept my hands in my pockets. I listened for any sound that meant the being who controlled the white mist was near. But the night was silent except for my footsteps crunching on the black asphalt. With Isabelle, the sound had seemed normal, but now it was eerie. With the threat of the white mist, I couldn't help but be a little on edge.

As I fast-walked past empty yards and the yawning woods behind them, it felt like a ghost slipped an ice cube into my pants pocket. Huh? I crouched behind a curling brown box elder tree and slid my hand into my pocket.

I pulled out my starry pendant—I had put it there for tonight. But now the teardrop glowed softly green like a bioluminescent fish. "What…?" The last time my pendant had lit up was two days ago when the Guardians came. "But it's never been cold before…" A feeling gnawed at me as I crouched there. Danger is coming. A warning.

Immediately my thoughts went to the soothing woman. Lotus had warned us about her. Their warning had been specifically for Isabelle, though, so this danger was probably something more for me.

Her first Guardian Angel hadn't warned me about the Fear Angel attack, the white mist, or my brother's kidnapping. What could be so important? I tilted my head back to the starless, Moonless sky. "No Fear Angels…" If I could've even seen them in this pitch dark, that was. I looked to the houses on either side of me and scoured the shadows. "No mist."

Whatever it was, I'd have to be careful.

I slid the pendant back into my pocket and began to sprint. People were waiting just at the next block.

Something rustled to my right, and I jumped and spun. I squinted at the tall, matted bushes that lined someone's backyard. The danger? I scanned the darkness and yanked my kitchen knife back out—the only weapon my family had.

I couldn't see very far, even with the lampposts. But I clearly saw the white mist bloom from behind the house with the bushes, swirling into the air and choking out the black night.

I turned and ran.

The mist creatures' guttural language reached me too quickly for my liking. The fog was twenty feet behind. It would reach me quicker than last night. My chest and arms tightened, and adrenaline rushed through my body. Pushed me to go faster. Faster.

I glanced over my shoulder. Ten feet behind me. Six. Two. The fog was at my back now, coiling around and vanishing the front of my bookbag.

The mist creatures' words turned to English enough to speak one sentence: "You'd do well to beware the soother's scheme and strength." Another warning about her?

"Help!" I shouted.

Someone cried back in a fearful voice, "The mist! There!"

The fog didn't slow. I could almost feel the creatures at my back.

"Ranya?" someone else yelled.

The heels of my feet became exposed to the nippy air.

"What the heck is that anyway?"

The elbows of my coat vanished.

"Another of Windshallow's curses?"

I felt more than saw the fog recede. I kept running until I reached the group of people waiting—two girls and two boys. The boney girl with pale freckled skin and a red pixie cut had shouted first. She stared at where the mist had just been.

"Where are our cookies?" a burly boy asked with narrowed eyes.

I slid my bookbag off my shoulders and sucked in air through my teeth as I saw the damage. I cursed myself. "Well…" I turned it around and showed the gaping hole stretching down the whole front of the bag. "They were in here, but I think the mist let them out and vanished them." I shrunk back a little at the four's mistrustful gazes, my chest panging.

"Well!" The boney girl threw her arms into the air and spun around. She started toward the house. After a few seconds, the rest of us followed.

(A/N: I appreciate all favorites, reviews, and follows!)