The rumble is immediately followed by a roar that splits through the atmosphere and trembles in the silence.

My heart pounds faster.

The air feels thinner and I await the breathlessness that nearly killed Jace and me last time.

Especially as the familiar voice of the forest screams in my mind. GET OUT!

"What the hell was that?" Someone shouts, but their voice is no match for the roar, and the rumbling of the ground as a monster charges toward us.

I try not to pant out of fear, try to save my breath, even as my chest grows tighter.

I breathe deeply as Wolf told me to, closing my eyes and trying to find that internal strength even as my heart flitters like a rabbit trying to escape my chest.

Trying to center oneself in the Dark Forest is hard enough.

Trying to do it while a large and deranged-sounding monster is coming at you is a whole other thing entirely.

I brace myself desperately, clutching Wolf's hand, pulling at whatever is inside me but it doesn’t work. The ground trembles as the creature roars, closer this time. The sound of swords being pulled and loud shouts echo in the air.

I pull my own dagger from its scabbard one-handedly.

“Something’s coming!” Brute shouts uselessly, as though we all can't hear it.

I try to sense the direction of the movement, but without sight and with the stillness of the air my sense of direction is all thrown off. It seems like the beasts are charging from all around us.

And then it's upon us.

I hear the next roar from right above me and I scream, throwing myself back instinctively and out of its way. I pitch my dagger in the direction of the voice, stupid because now I'm without a weapon.

And the monster slams into me anyway with a force that knocks the wind out of me.

I fly back into a tree bark before slouching on the floor. All around me are the sounds of battle, screams and slashes, wet and sticky, and thuds from bodies hitting the floor.

I get to my feet, searching around me, trying to get a feel of what's going on from sound alone.

I need to see. I need to see.

“Wolf!” I shout and I hear the monster’s cry, as well as a clang of metal.

“I got him!” Someone that sounds like Prince Caster says, and a howl colors the air but it doesn't sound like the first monster. Are there two monsters? Multiple?

Oh God. We're going to be slaughtered here, aren't we?

No. I must survive.

Where's my dagger? Hell, I don't know. I don't even know up from down.

I need to see.

I close my eyes trying to focus. Come on. Come on. I can’t die like this. I won't come back if I do, and even if I did, there were too many things in this timeline left unfinished.

I don't want to die. I don't want my friends to die either. I’ve worked so hard to get to this point. I’ve done so much and yet so much work still remains.

I haven't even had sex with Wolf yet. I can't die a virgin!

I clear my mind of the ridiculous thoughts and the regrets, breathing deeply. Seeking something.

An internal energy.

I focus. I can't feel what Wolf wanted me to feel, but I focus on what I can feel. Inside me is nothing, a void. Maybe that's what I need to pull at?

I take another breath, putting my palm on my stomach. I imagine my hand wrapping around the void, pulling something but it doesn't move. It doesn't shift.

I don't know if it's because there's nothing there, or because whatever is there is too strong to be moved.

Either way, the result is the same. I tug and tug but nothing happens.

Where did I go wrong? I ask that internal voice. I thought I was doing everything right. I thought you wanted me to save the North.

But I can't do that if I'm dead!

The screams are reducing in number now and so are the sounds of conflict. My teammates might be dying right before my eyes and I can't even see them.

Please. I beg a force I don’t know, a force I’ve never seen before. The force that controls this time-loop nightmare that I'm in.

I can’t die here. Just give me something. Anything.

Are you sure? I think I hear it reply, amused. Because once you agree you can’t take it back. Once you've unlocked this power, it will change everything and you can't put the pieces back as they were. You will no longer be able to deny what you are.

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“Yes.” I hear another roar and what sounds like Savannah shouting from far away. Jace cursing. Tia screaming. A grunt that could have been Wolf.

I need to save them.

Think carefully. It’s not just your fate you’re deciding with this choice. You are deciding for all players in the Game of Fate. Do you still choose this?

“Yes.” I have no clue if it’s there really is a voice talking to me or if I’ve indeed lost my mind. I have no clue about anything at all.

I hear a screech in my ears shouting No!

That’s the forest. Is she talking to me? Or the people fighting?

Accept my terms and I will help you.

"I accept!"

I feel something, an expansion in the void within me, as though I'm inflated, full of air.

And suddenly, with an almost startling alacrity, the sounds stop and my vision clears.

The stillness of the frosty forest is eerie. It’s still dark but strangely I can see everything in front of me pretty clearly. Oddly enough, there's no snow sitting on the branches or covering the floor, even though it's snowing outside. The forest looks just like how it looked when Jace and I were here, except there are no more dark corners and instead of a thin path of light, the entire place is lit up. The fog in the air shifts, emitting a sparkle. Or perhaps they're simply reflecting the gems on the ground.

Black gems, obsidian, as far as I can see.

It's terrifying.

But there’s a strange sort of beauty in it as well.

I'm tempted to take one but I recall what happened the last time with Jace. Besides, my biggest concern is finding my friends.

And once I do, I can look for the True Heart Gem amongst the obsidian.

Is this an illusion? No one is here.

"Wolf," I call out but nothing responds to me. The trees don't even move. There's no wind or sun but I can see and can even breathe.

“Jace? Tia?” Where have they gone? Did the monster take them?

Or was the monster an illusion too?

Have I been in an illusion the entire time?

But as I walk forward, I start seeing a darker rouge staining the rocks below me.

Blood.

My soul grows tight.

There's so much blood everywhere, on the trees, on the floor tracking scarlet over the blacks.

What happened? Were all my friends slaughtered? Where are the bodies?

"Please," I plead out loud, remember that I can talk to the forest. "Please show me my friends."

The answer is slow to come, but then I hear it, clearer than before.

Your friend should have never come back here in the first place. YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE. Now we all will pay the consequences.

"We were forced to come here. We didn't have a choice."

You humans always have a choice. AND YOU ALWAYS MAKE THE WRONG ONE. I warned you that I would not be so benevolent the next time. I will show no mercy.

My heart races. So I suppose the forest is offering me no help. But still, she doesn’t allow cover me in darkness and suffocate me once more, so that's something at least.

Or maybe she can't?

I don't know but if my vision is to be trusted, then I'll simply follow the path of bloodshed and perhaps I'll find my friends.

Or whatever’s left of them anyway.

I swallow past the despairing thought and focus on putting one leg in front of the other.

Even my light footsteps seem magnanimously louder in the quiet of the forest. I also feel like eyes are everywhere directed on me, like even the trees are watching. They're still, not daring to bend as though they can sense the anger that reverberates in the atmosphere.

How dare you?

I don't answer. If she can't help me then there's no point talking to her.

I continue down the path, time shifting and flowing confusingly. I have no idea how much time has passed. The blood trail seems endless and my feet begin to cramp up but I still don't know exactly how long I've been walking. It could be a day or a few minutes.

Everything looks and feels the same, like an endless loop.

For all I know, I could be walking around in circles.

Is this how people lose their minds in the dark forest? I wonder distantly. They simply wander and wander until they’re driven mad by the sameness of everything.

I hear a bird call and glance around wondering if it’s my old friend the Black Shrewk.

But it's not the Shrewk. It's a blue bird, perched on the branch.

The path behind it feels different. I walk towards it and see what looks to be a ditch.

A steep one, and when I look inside, I find a dark-haired figure with her face tucked into her knees, buried in the dirt.

"Tia?"

Her head instantly comes up her eyes wide and panicked.

"Don’t come any closer!"

"Tia, it’s me." I walk to the side of the ditch, and squat, analyzing the hole. "It’s Adria." The ditch, while steep isn't too deep, and Tia with her athletic abilities could have easily come out. Why is she still lying there?

Tia jumps to her feet brandishing a stick.

"Don’t come closer or I will slay you." Her eyes are wide and unfocused as though she can’t see much.

"Tia, it's me."

"Who are you?"

"It’s Adria."

She shakes her head frantically. "It can’t be. You’re a beast playing tricks on me. Adria is dead."

"What?"

"I saw her slain right in front of me," she says.

I frown, but then I realize. The forest showed her an illusion. It has me thinking:

Was the entire battle an illusion? Was there ever a monster?

"When did you see me die?" I ask. "How much time has passed?"

Tia shakes her head. "I will no longer speak to you, creature. I will not lose my mind."

"Oh, Tia..." I shift forward, digging my heels in so I don't fall, and reach out to her. I'm careful not to touch her so I don't startle her and end up with a branch in the face.

"I have a hand in front of your face. Reach out and you can feel me," I tell her. "Remember when we practiced the dance, and you felt that scar in my hand? It's still there. Feel it."

Tia doesn't look like she wants to but then her shaky hand comes out and she touches me hesitantly. Her thumb sweeps over my palm, and finds the scar, nudging and tracing it over and over again.

"Adria," she whispers. "Is it really you? Are you alive?"

"Yes. The forest was playing tricks on you, showing you my death."

Her eyes remain unfocused, even as her face turns up. "I can’t see you. I can see anything."

"I can see. You're in a ditch. How long have you been in here?"

"I’m not sure. Weeks. Months. Years."

She has a messed up concept of time too.

"Hold onto me," I tell her. "I'll pull you out."

She grasps my hand and I pull, leaning all the way back. Her feet walk the side of the ditch and she's lighter than me so it's easy enough to get her out of there.

"Thanks," she says after I let go. "Now what do we do?"

"We’re going to find the others and get out of here. The king's mission be damned. He’s sent us on a fool's quest and I was a fool for going along with it."

"And Wolf? Has he been taken too?"

"I don't know where Wolf is. I lost track of him and everyone else. Hopefully, he's okay." I have to believe he's okay. After all, he knows the Forest better than all of us.

Tia heaves a breath. "I can't believe we may be the only ones alive. My father always said that I would be the first one out of these Elite trials and look at me now. They underestimated me."

I smile at her. "They underestimated me too. Here, let's see if I can help you see. Wolf taught me this breathing technique... try to inhale deeply and focus on internal energy. A heat you should feel somewhere in your belly."

I see and hear her breathe deeply.

"Do you feel it?"

"I think so."

"Now tug on it. Try to hold it."

Her eyebrows furrow in concentration, but then she shakes her head. "I don't know. I don't feel anything."

I touch her stomach and tell her. "Breathe with me."

I inhale and she follows me, and then exhales again. Inhale. Exhale.

I feel something from my hand, like a spark.

And then suddenly, Tia gasps.

"What is it?"

She blinks at me, looking right in my eyes. "I can see."