MasukELSEWHERE In another room, far darker and far more dangerous, Cassie stared down the barrel of a gun. The metal gleamed under the harsh light, cold and unforgiving, aimed directly at her temple. Rachael stood before her, arm steady, finger resting against the trigger, her eyes glittering with madness and triumph. There was something unhinged in her smile, something broken beyond repair. Cassie’s hands were still bound behind her back. Her body ached, bruises blooming beneath her skin, exhaustion weighing heavily on her limbs. But her gaze never wavered. “I’ve been wanting to kill you for a very long time, Cassie,” Rachael said softly. “And now… I finally get to do it.” Cassie inhaled slowly and deeply. She wasn’t afraid of dying. That realization startled her. What terrified her was everything she would leave behind. Her husband and daughter. “If you kill me,” Cassie said calmly, her voice steady despite the chaos inside her, “is all your resentment against me going to va
In a room far away from the sirens, far away from the screaming, far away from the chaos that had swallowed the night whole, a little girl slowly opened her eyes. Emily blinked once...Then again. Her lashes fluttered, heavy, as though sleep was reluctant to let her go, as though the darkness wanted to keep her. The ceiling above her came into focus slowly, plain, flat, and unfamiliar. It wasn’t the soft pink ceiling of her bedroom. There were no glow-in-the-dark stars Daddy had stuck up himself. No fairy lights Mommy turned on every night before bed. No balloons drifting lazily near the corners from her birthday celebration. It was too quiet and too empty. Emily frowned, confusion knitting her tiny brows together. “Mommy…?” she whispered. Her voice sounded too small in the room, like it didn’t belong there. The sound echoed faintly, bouncing off walls that didn’t answer back. Emily pushed herself upright, her fingers clutching the edge of the bed for balance. The mattres
Outside the venue, the night screamed.There was no other word for it.Sirens tore through the air in long, relentless wails, red and blue lights slicing the darkness as police cars, ambulances, and emergency vehicles crowded the entrance of what had once been a palace of celebration. The fairy lights that still flickered weakly along the exterior looked obscene now, mocking remnants of a joy that had been violently ripped away.People were everywhere.Some staggered around in shock, faces pale, eyes glassy, coughing into their sleeves as medics ushered them toward oxygen tanks. Others stood frozen, unmoving, as though their bodies had forgotten how to obey commands. And then some screamed, names, prayers, curses, into the chaos, their voices breaking apart under the weight of fear.Families waited. And waited. And waited.Every time the doors burst open again, the crowd surged forward as one, hearts leaping painfully into their throats.Stretcher after stretcher was rushed out, so
The room was quiet. It felt like a countdown to something worse.Lucas and Gloria were bound to chairs, their wrists tied tightly behind them with thick restraints that cut into their skin just enough to remind them of their helplessness. The cold floor reflected the dim overhead light, and somewhere nearby, a machine hummed faintly.Stacey lay on the floor a few feet away.Her body was limp, her face pale, and her breathing shallow.Her hands were tied as well, her ankles bound, her dark hair splayed around her head like a broken doll. She hadn't woken up since they were dragged in here, her consciousness stolen by the chaos, the gas, and the fear.Lucas slowly scanned the room, his expression unreadable.Gloria did the same.Neither of them looked panicked.Neither of them looked afraid.If anything, they looked... bored and tired.As though this wasn't their first time staring danger in the face, as though they had long since learned that fear only gave their enemies power.They w
Nikolai woke to silence. Not the peaceful silence of dawn, not the familiar quiet that came with waking up beside Cassie, feeling her warmth, hearing Emily’s soft breathing somewhere between them like a tiny anchor to reality. This silence was terribly wrong. It rang in his ears, thick and hollow, pressing against his skull until the first thing he felt was instinctive panic, sharp and immediate. Emily! Cassie! His eyes snapped open instantly. His body reacted before his mind fully caught up, his muscles tensing as he tried to sit up, to reach out, to pull them close the way he always did when danger threatened... Only to feel nothing. No small weight on his chest. No tiny fingers clutching his shirt. No familiar warmth under his palm. Emily! Cassie! The names screamed through his mind like alarms. His heart slammed violently against his ribs as he tried to move again, and froze. Pain exploded through his shoulders. His arms wouldn’t budge. A sharp breath tore from his
Darkness was the first thing Cassie felt. Not the peaceful kind that came with sleep. Not the familiar darkness of closing her eyes at night with Nikolai’s steady breathing beside her, with the quiet assurance that the world, no matter how cruel, was held at bay by his presence. This darkness was different. It was thick, suffocating, and alive. It pressed against her chest like an invisible weight, coiling around her lungs until every attempt at breathing felt labored, wrong, painful. It wrapped itself around her thoughts, dull and relentless, dragging her consciousness downward while whispering, over and over, that something was terribly, irrevocably wrong. Her head throbbed. A deep, pulsing ache that spread from her temples to the base of her skull, each beat of her heart sending another wave of pain crashing through her. Her throat burned as if she had swallowed fire, raw and scraped, and every swallow felt like glass. And then... There was a sting on the side of her neck







