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

-Ranya-

Mother Nature had succeeded where I had failed. She had protected my sister. If I couldn't even go up against the fake Guardians, how could I win against Pitch, the Watcher, the soother, an army of Fear Angels, and the being who controlled the white mist? I'd get a dagger that could hurt Pitch, but no better weapons, no army, and not even Dakota to help.

I stood and immediately turned to Mother Nature and asked, "Could you please help me defeat your father?" She was my only hope.

A distant look grew in her eyes. "No, I will not help you kill him. But I won't stop you from doing so. And I will protect your sister, as she asked."

My chest, though heavy, felt a little lighter at that last sentence. "So if Pitch comes after her, you'll stop him?"

There was a pause, and then, "Yes."

For now, at least, my sister was safe.

**Isabelle**

Mother Nature flicked her wrist, and a parting appeared in the tornado like a magical entrance.

"Go get your weapon," she told Jamie. She knew?

I crept away from the hole as he nodded and passed through it in a sprint. The path closed behind him, and we were again left in the roaring wind.

I knew what I had to do. Now that I could.

"Ranya," I shouted over the tornado, clutching my hands to my chest.

She turned to me. "What?"

"Lotus told me the person who controls the white fog. It's Caelum Zobrist."

Varying emotions flashed across Ranya's face. Several moments passed before she said, "Thank you." Then her eyes dropped to my palm, and I followed her gaze. A full silver "G" glinted in the light. Stars had sprung up within it in long, thin points. One rested near the bottom.

Pitch would be after me now.

The wind of the tornado stilled. The airplane sound evaporated into the air. As the air cleared, I saw the land's destruction: trees cracked in half, logs and rocks thrown about. The stumps still rooted in the ground were short; the air was open and empty.

I spun to Mother Nature, my heart pounding.

Her eyes were wild, too present. She glanced at me with an eerie, toothy smile, and then shifted into a column of cloud and flew back into the sky.

I trembled hard.

"Pitch is coming!" Ranya cried. "We need to move and get that dagger!" She tried to run after Jamie, but stumbled to the ground. Sophie moved to help her up. "Just go!" Ranya shouted to me, so I sprinted off.

Ranya wasn't ready to face Pitch. She didn't have a plan. And the Guardians were gone, so even they couldn't protect me.

My feet pounded the earth as I sprinted through the destruction, hopping over rocks and darting around fallen trees. As sharp things cut my toes, my feet stung. I jumped at every moving shadow, and the air was quiet here; I could pick up every snap of a branch or rustle of leaves, and every time, my gaze snapped to it, hoping with a squeezing heart that it wasn't Pitch. My fear pushed me forward; I didn't have time to check for certain what caused each sound. I just had to run.

I reached a house surrounded by a worn fence covered in little grazes and scars. The home was small, with dingy red siding and a porch that sank toward one end. It felt a little like Windshallow—like home. Jamie dashed out of the creaking front door with an iron dagger, black leather wrapped around its handle.

"Jamie! She's been soothed!" I cried.

Jamie skidded to a halt. "Mother Nature?"

I nodded and held up my hand and its glinting, silver G. "Pitch is coming."

"Let's go."

We turned and sprinted back through the destroyed landscape. My gaze continued to dart to the right, left, forward. All of my senses screamed wolf cries of danger.

The wind sounded like the whispering of a Terror Storm. Branches snapping reminded me of the rattling of Fear Angels' bones. Leaves rustling was like the striking out of Black Sand, what it had sounded like in the movie.

I tripped over a log and fell to the ground, skin stinging.

Ranya staggered through the destruction, using her stick and Sophie's shoulder for support. My sister was in no condition to fight Pitch. The Watcher had known…

I pulled myself to my feet as Jamie reached her. She let go of Sophie and took the weapon, managing to stay standing, gripping its handle tight.

Jamie took a creased paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. "Pitch's lair is here." He jabbed his finger at some marking on the paper.

"Got it." Ranya squinted at the drawing, taking it and shoving it into a coat pocket. "I have to go there now. We don't have time. He could come after Isabelle at any second."

"What's your plan?" I called out.

She turned in my direction but didn't look me in the eye. "Improvise. I'm good at improvising."

She still had no plan.

"Are you certain you can't help her in any other way?" I asked Jamie as I walked closer.

He bobbed his head. "We wouldn't be much help. We'd just get paralyzed."

Ranya paused, then turned back around toward the forest.

"Please win," I called, the only words in my throat. I said them because there was no way to help. In a way, I was pronouncing her doom.

(A/N: Would you favorite, review, and follow? It would really help me out, and would let me know you're enjoying this!)