The shriek that was winded out of Tahlia's chest, failed to match the shrillness of the one that came out of the boy's mouth in return.

"The hell Jace!?" She fumed at the bright eyed blonde, eyes still wide as she reeled from the mini heart attack he'd almost given her, "What are you doing here?"

Jace Montgomery placed a hand on his chest, catching his own breath. "Shit, what the fuck Tal, you scared the shit out of me!" He heaved, cheeks flushed, "What is this place? And is that a fucking knife?" He pointed towards her hand, eyebrows raised inquisitively.

An anxious huff left her throat, "How did you get here? And- And you're supposed to be at the Pine Barrens."

"Well I was on my way with Tara, but I thought I'd check in on you and you weren't picking up the phone. So I tracked my baby's GPS." He threw a quick glance at the car that sat parked on the road behind him.

Tahlia shook her head distressingly, "No, no, no; you need to go right now Jace, this isn't a joke. It's dangerous."

He squinted his eyes, scratching the back of his golden head, "I have so many questions."

"But first, what do you mean dangerous? What are you doing in this dump anyway?"

Tahlia looked around for a quick second, turning back to Jace only after she was sure the coast was unmistakably clear. "Listen to me." She took his wrists in her hands, peering into his baby blue eyes, "I am not sure, but this could be Logan Hunt's childhood home. You need to get out of here."

The look on Jace's soft face turned from confused to that of shock, as a tinge of bewilderment settled in his irises. He opened his mouth, quickly clamping it down before a word could get out. With knitted brows, he looked at her in disbelief, "This could be what?"

Tahlia looked at him knowingly, "I know, I know that sounds stupid, but I have to check. You shouldn't be here."

"Stupid..." Jace only stared at her, wordless, stupefied.

"This isn't stupid, it's fucking suicidal Tal. Have you gone insane? Are you having a mental breakdown or something?"

Tahlia positively had no answer, so she only remained tight lipped as her best friend looked at her like she was crazy.

"I'm calling the police." He stated, reaching for his pocket when Tahlia clasped on to his hand, firmly stopping him.

"You're not doing anything." She enunciated every word slowly, as if she were speaking to a child, "Go home, please Jace. I have to do this." She asserted, solemn, turning around towards the door, before she felt herself being spun around by the arm.

"Woah, woah, woah, I'm not letting you go in there Tal, for all you know it could be that sick bastard's lair."

"Jesus Jace, did you learn nothing in college?" Tahlia rolled her eyes, "It is highly unlikely that a killer would lounge around in the house he grew up in."

"Well then, I'm not letting you go in alone." He licked his lips, eyes full of firm resolve.

She parted her lips to protest, but deep within she knew there was no way she could shake the stubborn boy off.

Sighing, she relented, "Do you have anything you could use to protect yourself?"

"Looks like you got us covered there Tal." He chuckled nervously as he glimpsed at the blade in her grip.

She nodded, motioning for him to stand back behind her as she spun around. The second her fingertips grazed the dust covered door handle, she felt her stomach twist into knots. Reminding herself to breathe again, she finally twisted it open, letting the door flow ajar.

Tahlia couldn't tell whether the door having not been locked was a good thing or a bad one.

With wary steps, they entered the threshold. It was as dark as a cave, the only light source being the sheer moonlight penetrating the dirty windows, and the stars strewn all around it.

Jace suddenly yelped as Tahlia accidentally stepped on his foot, "Sorry." She mumbled quickly, earning a groan from him as he begrudgingly switched his phone's flashlight on.

The small beam of light illuminated the hallway from where they stood, there was what appeared to be a kitchen on their left, a row of doors on the right; and at the end of the hallway, a flight of stairs.

Swallowing the inkling of foreboding, she advanced towards the first door, Jace pinned behind her. They exchanged a single glance, before proceeding to open the door.

Much of it's contents were shrouded with plain white sheets. Jace waved his phone around, drawing light to a huge structure, which they could only presume was a king sized bed under the covers. Tahlia's brows furrowed in confusion as she spotted a line-up of completely empty photo frames on the wall. She'd witnessed stranger things by now, but it all just simply felt a little too eerie. She walked over to where Jace was, by the big window adjacent to the bed. A chill travelled all the way down to her knees as she realized the window overlooked the entirety of the front yard; anyone in the house could have seen her and Jace coming in.

"Come on." She whispered, gingerly walking out of the room, onto the next one. As she wrapped her palms around the door knob to twist it open, a frown came over her lips as the thing refused to budge. "It's locked." She mused, strengthening her hold on the knife.

"Great, let's get out of here." Jace chirped sardonically.

Tahlia's gaze locked on the last room in the row, halted on the chipping tawny paint on the door.

For a second there, Tahlia froze. What if Logan or Kyle or whoever that man was, was waiting for her right behind that door? This time, he'd kill her. And Jace, who she had dragged into this mess.

In less than twenty four hours, they were all supposed to be on a plane, out of this hell hole for good. Was this worth bargaining with her life and Jace's?

But she was so close.

Heaving a deep exhale, she straightened her shoulders, "The last room, and then we're out of here."

She didn't have to look at Jace to see the look of apprehension that graced his pale face. But it was as if she was blinded by her resolve, that she chose to ignore it and made her way over to the door against her best instincts. With her breath held, she rotated the knob, only releasing the air as the lock came undone with a faint click of metal.

Gently placing her fingertips on the wooden surface, she pushed it open. The duo stepped inside vigilantly, standing still as they took in everything.

Unlike the other room, none of the furniture in here was sheathed, on full display instead for her eyes. The first thing she saw were the two twin sized beds against the wall. Intrigued, she strolled right over to it, while Jace remained in the periphery of the room.

The sheets had all collected dust and cobwebs she noted. On the nightstand between the two small beds, she once again came across empty photo stands. Chalking it up to not enough evidence, she was about to walk out of the room, almost brushing off the crumpled piece of paper that peeked out from behind the frames, concealed by the big lamp. Almost.

It struck her as odd, so she delicately clutched it, bringing it closer to her face,

unfolding the decaying paper to reveal a rough drawing. Focusing the light from her own phone on the surface, it struck her as something a child undoubtedly once made a long time ago with wax crayons.

Titling her head to the side, she let her eyes run over it— Two stick figures of the same size stood holding hands, labelled Mom and Dad in shaky handwriting. Right next to the two, a stick figure quite smaller than the previous ones, Kyle written above the figure's circle shaped head.

Tahlia's forehead scrunched up in confusion as her eyes landed on a fourth and final figure beside the one named Kyle, much smaller than the latter.

Me, it simply said.

Perplexed, she went to call for Jace when her irises slipped to the bottom of the page.

Kilian, the space was signed in rudimentary alphabets.

As she swivelled around to where Jace was, she found him fidgeting with the wardrobe by the door, trying to get it to open. Just as she was about to holler at him to leave it be and come see what she'd found, the wardrobe finally flew open.

It all happened in a flash, a haze of events that was too quick for Tahlia's mind to comprehend.

First there was a loud thump, as a body fell out of the closet, slumping onto the wooden floors limp on it's stomach. Jace quickly fell to his knees, cursing as he gripped the body by it's arms, supporting the torso as he flipped it over.

Tahlia's mouth went wide open as the dark haired figure's face came into view.

"Wynn." She mumbled, aghast.

How do you know if what you see is real?

It was Wynn, her roommate, without a shadow of doubt. Her straight dark tresses were unruly and matted, droplets of sweat and dirt stuck on every inch of her face. Her hands and feet were tied up with tape, mouth gagged with a piece of cloth.

Tahlia dashed over to her, eyes wide, her heart in her mouth. Jace slid the cloth from between her teeth down to her chin, shaking her by her sides.

She just wouldn't open her eyes.

"She's breathing." Exclaimed Jace, glancing at Tahlia, panick-stricken.

Only then did it hit Tahlia, that every bit of this was real.

"We- we have to get her out." She finally said, swallowing the lump in her throat, "Hold her legs." She wrapped her fingers around her shoulders and her forearms, hoisting her up, as Jace mirrored her actions.

The carried her listless form out of the room, laying her down on linoleum, right in front the kitchen.

Tahlia looked around, trying to catch her breath, simultaneously on a lookout for the kitchen sink. The second her eyes found one, she turned to Jace who looked positively shaken.

"Here." She produced her swiss knife, thrusting it in his hands, "Cut the tape and call 911. I'll try to see if there's any water for her."

Scurrying over to the sink, she ran the faucet, not thinking clearly. A groan of frustration left her mouth when no water came out of it. Darting her head around in the dark space, she decided to forage the cabinets in hopes of finding anything they could use.

"We should grab her and get the hell out of here before that psycho gets back home." She heard Jace chip in, perturbed, but she chose to ignore him as she continued to look through the cabinets maniacally.

"Shit Tal, are you even listening to me!? We're dead meat if that asshole finds us." He urged, "He- he'll skin us alive or or feed us to the fucking horses or something, we have to get the fuck out."

Tahlia bit on her tongue, her head about to explode from how overwhelmed she felt. She was facing away from him, not meeting his eye, yet the intensity of the situation was drowning her a thousand deaths. It was all too much, the passage of air in her chest getting more constricted by the second. Sweat trickled down her temples in this cold night.

And then she stilled.

A dark little tendril of fear first snaked it's way around the pit of her stomach. Then it began branching off to where her beating heart was, then her lungs, her limbs and then finally, her brain.

"Jace..."

She began, her voice shakier than her breath, as she slowly turned around. Her eyes met his crouching form by Wynn's side, working at snipping the tape away.

She had to clutch the kitchen top for support, lest her legs give away under the sudden spell of dizziness that had overcome her.

"How did you know about the horses?"

Her voice was but a soft murmur in the wind, yet it captured the boy's attention.

He looked up, "What do you mean?"

"Y-You just said something about him feeding us to the horses. How did you know this place had horses?"

He shrugged, raising his eyebrows, "I don't know, it was just an expression. I- Wait what are you talking about?" His tone held nothing but pure confusion.

Not a word came out of Tahlia's mouth as she remained glued to the spot, eyeing the boy with trepidation.

"Okay Tal, I don't know what you're talking about here, but we're wasting our time. Think of Wynn, we have to get her to a hospital. You can—"

"You said you tracked the car's GPS." She breathed, emotionless, observing his sharp features, "But how did you get here? I would have heard another car."

He gaped at her in incredulity, his jaw gone slack as he began getting up, "Are you...saying I'm a, a part of this?"

Tahlia felt herself shrink back into the counter as she beheld him rising up.

"That drawing I found..." She trailed off, swallowing hard to wet her dry mouth, "He had a brother. Kilian."

As she spoke the name out loud, harrowing realization spread in her veins like warm blood, rattling her core.

"Ian."

She muttered somberly, slowly reaching for the knife in her pockets, only to remember she'd handed it over to him only a few minutes ago. She clenched her hands into tight fists, her nails digging into her palms out of desolation.

She never looked away. Her eyes remained trained on him, as he glanced at the floor, sighing; only when he looked up again, all previous signs of distress from his face had all vanished in the night air.

And although he was physically all the way across the room, suddenly his abyss of a presence loomed over her air, choking her with his darkness.

There was a strange tranquility in his eyes, serene as can be, as the corner of his lips curled upwards to the side.

"And to think you were doing so well."

It is riveting how artists can take the most mundane of things and turn them into a form so compelling. A city's destruction is a only a perilous facet of war, until a bard comes along and sings songs of the heroic Achilles and the bewitching Helen of Troy.

For Tahlia, Logan Hunt had never had plain eyes. They were never blue.

They were sapphires of the first water, more cerulean than the seas of the pacific ocean, the ultramarine skies of aurora. Never just blue.

Now that the mist had finally been removed from her sight, it dawned upon her that the boy in front of her too, had always had the same pair of azure eyes as the man of her nightmares and that of her dreams.

✴✴✴