The forest exploded with movement.
Footsteps. Flashlights. Voices speaking in low, mechanical tones.
Valeria ducked as another shot tore through the wooden walls.
"They're everywhere!" she gasped.
Her mother pushed a hidden panel in the floor. A narrow tunnel opened below. "Down there. Now!"
They crawled into the darkness, the cold earth pressing against their skin. Valeria's heart pounded with each second. The tunnel twisted, the sounds above fading… until they reached a trapdoor.
Her mother kicked it open. They emerged behind an old shed, deep in the woods.
Valeria turned to her. "What now?"
"We go to The Chapel," her mother said. "It's where they kept the others. And it's where they'll try to finish the ritual."
"The ritual?"
"You were born into it, Valeria. The Fourth Child. The one meant to end the cycle."
Before Valeria could speak, a sharp light blinded them.
Someone shouted: "Freeze!"
Men in black rushed from the trees.
Her mother grabbed her hand. "Run!"
They sprinted through the woods. Gunshots echoed behind them. Valeria stumbled, adrenaline carrying her through branches and roots.
Suddenly, her mother stopped.
Ahead: a bridge, old and barely holding together over a steep ravine.
"I'll distract them," her mother said. "You cross. Keep going."
"No!" Valeria cried. "Not again!"
But her mother shoved her. "You have to finish this. Find the chapel. Find the last number."
A gunshot rang out. Her mother flinched—hit in the shoulder.
She turned and fired back.
Valeria had no choice.
She ran across the bridge, not looking back until she heard the explosion. The bridge was gone.
So was her mother.