“You’re safe now. It’s over.”

Thunder booms through the sky overhead as I lunge into Felix’s arms. I press my face against his chest, burrowing into the cold rain-soaked fabric of his hoodie as I cry like I haven’t cried in ages.

The rain is relentless, so loud that I can barely hear the words of reassurance Felix is whispering into my ear. Small rivulets of rainwater stream down my neck, my back, dripping from the hem of my sodden blue dress. Felix holds me tight in the wet embrace, and we stand like that for a while, two bedraggled teens getting drenched by the thunderstorm at the back of a dark alleyway.

Eventually I stop crying, but I can’t stop shaking – whether out of cold or shock, I’m not sure.

I release my hold on Felix, stepping back and wiping the tears from my face, even though it’s pointless with the constant downpour, so heavy we might as well be underwater.

We stand about a foot apart, the only sound that of the roaring rain as it batters the ground.

“You came for me,” I say.

Felix nods, and then tilts his head slightly to the side, watching me quietly with a slight smile curving his lips. I can see myself reflected in the greenish-gold irises of his beautiful eyes as we stand there, locked in an invisible bubble as the maelstrom rages around us.

There’s something about his expression that reminds me of something, or someone.

Swirling water all around. A sad half smile. Eyes filled with deepest, most heart-felt relief that he managed to save me, I’m safe, knowing that everything is fine now.

Evan.

I blink away my tears, reaching up to brush aside a lock of Felix’s dark hair, dripping and cold. My fingertips brush his cheek for a moment, and without thinking, I trace the outline of his jaw, feeling the smooth wet skin as droplets of rain pool where I touch. Felix steps forward, and I quickly withdraw my hand, lowering my eyes as thoughts race through my head.

The dreams. Felix’s face as he stabs me again and again. The myth. The silver circle.

I can’t do this. I don’t know enough. I don’t know anything.

I look up into Felix’s eyes again, and I’m about to speak when without warning he scoops me up into the air, one arm under my legs and one around my back. He starts walking, carrying me bridal style past Cameron’s unconscious form slumped over against a trash can, out of the alley and across the road.

He mutters something about my shoes getting muddy, but I don’t need an explanation. I just put my head against his shoulder and close my eyes.

I can feel the steady rhythm of his heart against mine, the warmth of his body through the cold rain-soaked hoodie.

Some time later he stops walking, and I unclasp my arms from around him, my feet touching the pavement as he lowers me down. The black Jeep is parked next to the sidewalk directly under a ‘no parking’ sign.

“But… the jeep was at the Forest Park parking lot…” I say. How did it get here?

“Kitty left the keys at the cabin,” Felix says.

He takes the keys out of his pocket and unlocks the car, opening the passenger seat door for me. I slip in, and Felix goes around the side of the car and gets in on the driver’s side.

We pull out of the makeshift parking and head down the road, the windscreen wipers squeaking frantically as they battle to clear the rain battering the windscreen.

“What about Kitty?” I ask.

“We’re picking her up,” Felix says.

We pass a row of parked cars before pulling off to the side of the road and parking.

Kitty and Jade are a few feet away, huddled under the cover of an ancient pin oak on the corner of Byleth Park.

Felix winds down his window, leans out and shouts over the din of the falling rain “GET IN!”

Kitty and Jade make a dash for the car, sliding onto the backseat and slamming the door behind them in seconds.

Kitty practically growls as she shakes droplets furiously off her leather clutch.

“What the freaking hell Felix?” She snaps, leaning forward. “Whatever it is, this better be good. You just made us run through the rain all the way from the Indian foods tent at the back of the park. I’m bloody soaked now. Why did you call me? And how the hell did you know where we were? Were you following us?”

Before Felix can answer, Jade interrupts.

“Where’s Cameron?” he asks.

Felix turns around in his seat so that he’s facing Jade, and although his expression is perfectly calm and unruffled, I can hear the icy fury in his voice.

“If you mean your would-be-rapist friend, he’s having a nap at the back of an alleyway,” Felix says.

“Rapist?” Jade repeats, confusion written across his face.

There’s a moment of uncomfortable silence, and Jade’s face transforms as the realization dawns, changing from confusion to shock to rage. Kitty gasps, her eyes going wide.

“Where is he?” Jade asks, leaning forward and grasping the back of my seat, his knuckles white and his eyes wild with anger. “I’ll kill him.”

“There’s no need for that,” Felix says coolly. “He’ll never touch her again.”

“What the hell happened?” Jade asks me, his eyes boring into my own. “Where did you go? What did Cam do? He didn’t… didn’t… did he?”

I shake my head, looking down into my lap. I feel an overwhelming mix of emotions right now, tumultuous and confusing. Anger at Cameron. Horror at the thought of what might have happened. Gratefulness for being saved. And an immense, fathomless sorrow at the realization that this happens every single day, in so many ways, to so many girls and women.

“But he tried to?” Jade says more softly.

I nod, not wanting to meet his eyes right now.

“Felix stopped him before… before he could…” I let the sentence hang unfinished.

Jade leans back, breathing heavily, before slamming his fist into the side door.

“Where is he?” He asks, his voice shaking with anger.

“He’s passed out,” Felix says.

“I said… where is he?” Jade repeats.

Felix is quiet for a moment, before turning around and pointing down the road.

“He’s down that alley next to the ice cream parlor,” he says.

Jade opens the back door, and Kitty reaches out and places her hand on his arm.

“What are you going to do?” She asks.

“I don’t know,” Jade says, before his voice softens. “I’m sorry the night ended like this Kitty. Maybe we can do it over?”

Felix clears his throat loudly in irritation, and Kitty says, “of course, text me,” as she leans into Jade and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“You look really familiar,” Jade suddenly says, staring at Felix’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Have we met before or something?”

Oh shit. He recognizes him.

“No,” Felix says coldly.

Jade nods, before leaving the car and slamming the door closed.

Felix pulls off and starts driving, watching the rearview mirror as Jade heads down the sidewalk.

“Are you ok?” Kitty asks me, leaning between the seats into the front section of the car.

“I’m fine,” I say. “If Felix hadn’t found me though-”

“And how exactly did you find her, Felix?” Kitty asks, a hint of irritation creeping into her voice. “How long were you stalking us?”

“Seriously?” Felix asks. “I just saved her from god-knows-what, and you’re complaining?”

“I’m not complaining, I’m just asking why you were following us, jeez!” Kitty snaps back.

Felix sighs deeply.

“I had a feeling, ok?” He says. His eyes dart over and meet mine before going back to the road.

“Huh, a feeling,” Kitty says, crossing her arms in front of her and sitting back. “Where are you taking us, anyway? This isn’t the way to Ash’s house, right Ash?”

“To the police station,” Felix says as he turns a corner. “She’s going to lay an assault charge against him.”

“No I’m not,” I say.

Felix’s face goes dark.

“It’s not your fault,” he says. “However it happened, you can’t blame yourself, ok? We’ll go to the police and y-”

“No!” I say louder than I wanted to, then more quietly, “No. I know it’s not my fault. But I don’t want to take this any further. I just-”

My voice breaks slightly at the end as I fight back tears. I just want this night to be over. I want to crawl up in a warm bed and forget any of this ever happened.

“Please,” I say.

“Fine,” Felix says. “I’ll take you to your house. That’s where you were going to spend the night, right?”

I nod.

“Fee, maybe you should sleep in Ash’s guest room tonight,” Kitty says, looking out the car window. “This storm might go on for hours.”

“I’ll be fine,” Felix says.

“There’s no way you can walk back to the cabin in this,” Kitty says. “As your older sister I am ORDERING you to sleep over at Ash’s house tonight.”

Felix doesn’t bother to respond, just rolls his eyes, before looking at me and shooting me a crooked smile.

I giggle, feeling my cheeks heat up. Felix’s real smile is such a rare thing. It’s not the same as the fake one he uses on TV, at concerts, for interviews and photoshoots. His real smile is somehow extremely authentic and disarming while also being full of wicked glee, slightly crooked, like he’s trying to hold it back but not quite able to.

We drive in silence for a while, until Kitty yawns loudly.

“Where are you going Fee?” Kitty asks. “We’ve passed those creepy garden gnomes like, three times now.”

Felix is staring at the road intensely as he drives.

“I know,” he says.

“No, you clearly don’t know,” Kitty says. “Just swallow your pride and ask Ash for directions.”

“I don’t need directions,” Felix says irritably. “I know exactly where we’re going. But it doesn’t make any sense. I turned from New Pine into Mayberry, then right onto Ascott, then Ariel Terrace is on the left. But every time I turn in…”

“You’re obviously just taking the wrong turn and driving in circles,” Kitty says.

“See for yourself,” Felix says. “Just keep your eyes on the signs.”

Kitty shoots me a worried glance. We both watch the road as Felix takes the turn into my street, Ariel Terrace, the street name clearly marked on the signpost, just visible through the torrent of rain thundering against the car.

As he turns in, against all logic the Williamson house at the corner of New Pine and Mayberry comes into view. We drive down Mayberry, which borders on Forest Park on one side, then turn into Ascott, where we pass Mr. Moreno’s house with its creepy lawn gnome army, and as we turn into Ariel Terrace, we end up back at the start of Mayberry. The forest seems to stare at us from the roadside, dark and beckoning as a seductive otherwordly beast.

“Impossible,” Felix mutters.

“Try again,” Kitty says, her voice shaking slightly.

He drives around several times. Forest. Gnomes. Forest. Gnomes.

“What the-” Kitty gasps.

Think. This is different to the other times, with the bicycle and the grave and the Rose Inn. But also sort of the same.

“It’s like… a bend,” I say. “In time. Or space. Or a bubble. Where the rules are broken, or breaking down. We’re stuck in it.”

“Like hell we are,” Felix says.

“We could go into someone’s house,” Kitty says. “Maybe if we could just figure out-”

“It’s pointless,” Felix says. “Haven’t you noticed? No one’s home.”

He drives slowly down Mayberry Street, and we look onto the side opposite the forest, lined with quaint bungalows and villas. The lights in all the houses are off, and the streetlights are ominously low, casting the scene in an eerie half-twilight. It’s the same on Ascott Drive. No lights on in any of the homes, no sound of TVs or music or people cooking in their kitchens, the normal hubbub of a nighttime suburb, even though it can’t be later than 10pm.

It’s as if everything’s frozen.

“This can’t be happening!” Kitty shrieks. “It’s like a fucking sci fi movie! Stuff like this doesn’t happen in real life.”

A string of obscenities follow, interspersed with Kitty muttering about waking up from her crazy dream.

With an exasperated sigh, Felix pulls up on Mayberry Road, parking the car on the forest side. A giant oak tree overhanging the road gives the car some shelter, a momentary respite from the downpour.

Felix opens his car door and jumps out.

“What are you doing?” Kitty says, her eyes wide with panic. “You can’t go out there.”

“I think we have to,” says Felix, walking around the side of the car and opening my door. “Come on.” I step out of the car, and he immediately pulls me to his side.

“I won’t let anything bad happen to you, ok?” He says. Although his words are gentle, his expression is back to being cold and stiff again, the same sardonic, derisive mask he always wears.

Kitty joins us, and Felix locks the car.

“We’re going in there?” Kitty asks, staring at the forest.

Felix nods. “Something tells me there’s only one way for us to go now.”

“This is crazy,” Kitty says. “Even if you’re right, how the hell are we going to find the cabin from here? We can’t even see two steps ahead of us.”

“Got a better idea?” Felix asks.

Kitty just grunts.

The three of us stand on the edge of the forest, looking into the dark abyss. Felix takes my hand, pulling me closer against him.

“Let’s go,” he says.