A flash of lightning lit up the sky.

Something fluttered in the distance, the glancing light dancing off their beating wings.

Moths? She wondered.

Another flash of lightning revealed more than just moths. A few feet away, standing between two trees, was Edgar. His white eyes sparkled in the dark, and the shimmering outline of his body was bright enough for her to see him amongst the brush.

Her uncle’s voice was louder still, but seeing Edgar spurred her on.

Follow Edgar, she told herself. Follow the moths.

Remi grabbed her skirt and picked up her feet, following Edgar as closely as she could. He faded in and out of sight, always reappearing further ahead whenever she drew close. With her uncle at her back, he was the only thing that she could trust.

“I see you!”

A rock hurled past Remi’s head, and she ducked sideways. Her shoulder slammed into a tree, but she righted her footing and moved faster.

“Please stop this!” she begged through ragged breaths.

“This is your doing!” Her uncle ignored her. “You have been a pox on my family for too long, you miserable bitch.”

Then you shouldn’t have taken me in, she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. It hurt to think about them; when she did, it only reminded her of her father—the man who had thrown her away.

Now his brother pursued her, ready to spill her blood for the sake of nothing. There would be no value in her death, but that hardly mattered to him. He was responsible for everything, and because of his madness, she’d lost Elise and countless others.

Ben’s smile came to mind.

“He’ll die too!” Arnaud cried as if reading her mind.

She choked on a sob but kept moving. Edgar was still there, guiding her through the woods. All she had to do was keep her feet moving and she would make it. By some miracle, she would survive—she had to. Her uncle wouldn’t get away with what he’d done, she’d make sure of it.

Keep running.

Mud caked her feet, pulling at her boots with each step.

Run, run, run.

Something hard hit her ankle, toppling her over as she fell onto her elbows. The gun flew from her hand, a few inches out of reach. Reaching for it, she looked back at the object that had tripped her and was shocked to find a headstone popping out of the ground. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and more silhouettes like the stone she had tripped on became clearer.

“The cemetery,” she breathed, scrambling to her feet.

Edgar waited, watching her with his moths fluttering about his head.

Two more familiar faces joined him—Leith and Elise.

Remi’s heart clenched tightly in her chest. They were there somehow, urging her on. She should have been afraid, but their white eyes and ethereal presence comforted her. She spurred herself forward, her ankle throbbing from its collision with the stone. Arnaud was behind her somewhere, his breathing as loud as hers. He grew weary from chasing her.

Further in, the trees started to thin.

The rain had picked up, and the wind was stronger than before. Her dress was soaked through, and her teeth chattered. Edgar, Leith, and Elise were waiting, moving gracefully across the cemetery. But then, without warning, they were gone. Remi panicked and hurried her pace. It wasn’t long before the Leone family mausoleum came into view.

“Thank you,” she whispered to herself.

The moths that had been circling Edgar’s head were gone, save for one lone creature that beat its wings gently as it rested on the handle of the gate outside the mausoleum door.

“Remi! Remi, get back here!”

She turned sharply on her injured foot and winced at the pain. Hobbling to the mausoleum, she did not stop until the smooth granite was underhand. She pulled at the handle, hoping that the gate was unlocked, and sighed with relief when the handle turned freely in her hand. Remi felt tears forming as Arnaud’s angry shouts closed in.

She used all of her strength, still holding the gun and pulled the gate open. She balanced against the frame, falling forward into waiting arms as the doors widened.

“Shh.” A voice whispered, hands gripping her arms as she was dragged inside.

The doors closed with a soft click, and darkness consumed her. Outside, she heard her uncle. “Remi! I know where you are. I’ll find you!”

“Are you hurt?”

Twisting in her captor’s arms, she recognized the voice. A strained cry left her chest, his name distorted as she rasped, “Ben! How are you here?”

“Try to keep your voice down,” he whispered. She felt his hands run up and down her waist, feeling her arms until his hand found the gun still gripped in her shaking fingers. “A gun?”

“Yes…” she breathed. “Hugo had it...they fought, and I stole it.”

In the dark, she heard Ben chuckle, though it sounded humorless to her ears. “You are unfailingly clever.”

A knock on the door. “Remi? Are you in there?”

Arnaud had found them.

He doesn’t know that Ben is here, she thought suddenly.

“I can hear your heart racing, my darling niece,” he sneered from the other side.

Ben leaned forward, his chest pressing into her.

“Give me the gun, Remi.” His lips were warm against her cheek, brushing against her ear. His hand wrapped around the barrel of the gun and she released it. Ben moved her slowly, stepping in front of her to act as a shield.

When the mausoleum door opened, Remi closed her eyes.

Arnaud screamed her name one final time as the gun went off.

ANSWERS

BEN

The tunnel had been long, winding through the earth like a serpent.

Ben’s lamp had ample enough light, but he hardly knew where he was going. It wasn’t until the tunnel opened up that he realized he’d reached the end.