Chapter Five: Darkness Begins to Fall

After the events that had taken place with Alan, Kate didn't know what to think.

What to do.

So, she merely sat at her desk and stared blankly at her textbooks, too anxious and confused to really do any studying. She was half tempted to leave class and skip school for the rest of the day, but there was a part of her that feared Toni's rage. She couldn't ignore the signs that something strange was going on with Alan. She didn't know what it was, nor did she know how to deal with it, but she had some pretty wild suspicions.

And all of them had her worried

She finally lifted her eyes and stared at a few trees resting outside the window.

To her surprise, a wave of wind tore through the leaves outside.

She jumped when windows rattled on their frames, making several students look up... but then she saw the sky.

Her face went slack and she gawked in surprise.

There were storm clouds sweeping in... and they were obscuring the blue planes of sky from the East. Kate watched them with an expression of dismay, since she knew for a fact that she would have to walk home in whatever storm was coming. It was her last hour, after all. Everyone in the room paused with what they were doing and looked towards the windows when the storm front arrived.

Mostly because the entire room abruptly darkened.

The clouds outside were so dark that the late afternoon sunlight looked almost like early morning twilight.

"Whoa," Kate whispered, blinking at the sky with startled eyes. "That's one hell of a storm front... I really don't want to walk home in that."

"Miss Sanders!" Mr. Garret barked, making her whirl to the front. "Class is in Session! Please remain silent."

"Yes, Sir," she mumbled, shivering and huddling down. "S-sorry."

When the typical snickers had died down, Kate merely stared at her hands with her shoulders hunched.

All she wanted was for school to be over.

She noticed, after a while, that Erika was looking at her... but she chose to ignore it.

When Mr. Garret went back to teaching his class, Kate dragged her backpack open and rummaged around for the book she'd been given.

"What are doing, weirdo?" Tiffany whispered, watching her with observant blue eyes.

"Shut up, Tiffany," Kate whispered back, not even paying attention to how she stiffened. "Leave me alone."

"And why should I do that?"

"Because I'm sitting right next to her," Erika whispered, turning around and looking at her with a frown, "and I happen to be the student council president."

The threat was an obvious one, but it must have caught Tiffany off guard since her mouth fell open.

After a moment, she scowled and returned to painting her nails, mouth pursed as if she'd swallowed a lemon.

When a flash of lightning lit up the room, however, Kate glanced out the window yet again with a confused expression.

The clouds were dark, but her eyes must have been playing tricks on her, since they were flickering like an old movie. As she watched, they seemed to grow even darker somehow. After a moment of examining the frothing sky, she flipped the book open and started scanning the pages. Looking for any sign that her nightmares actually held some meaning she hadn't discovered. The weather only worsened as time went

on. It rained harder, and harder, and then... finally...

A flash.

BOOOOOOOM!

Every girl in the room, even Kate, either jumped or let out a startled scream.

Hell, even their teacher and a few of the boys jumped.

Everyone once again looked outside when more flashes lit up the sky.

"Wow," Katie whispered, leaning away from the window and squinting when a blinding bolt ripped through the sky, flashing so brilliantly that it was difficult just to peer outside; thunder roared across the metropolis like a mighty lion only seconds afterwards. "It's storming pretty bad out there..."

Erika, who was sitting next to her, opened her mouth to say something, but another blue flash exploded not too far away from the school.

Several girls shrieked again and ducked when the windows of the classroom rattled in their frames.

Right around that moment, the principle's voice came through the speakers.

"All teachers are to report to the conference room right away. Students, please remain seated until your teacher returns. That is all."

"That doesn't sound good," Mr. Garret muttered, irritably looking at his students. "All right, behave yourselves while I'm gone. I'll be back soon."

Everyone watched as he hurried out of the room and swept down the hall at a brisk pace.

"I wonder what's going on?" a girl sitting not to far away whispered. "It's kinda unusual."

"Maybe someone brought a gun to school again," another girl replied. "Remember that one guy? With the pink hair?"

"You mean the one who tried to get with Tiffany?" a black boy sitting not too far away inquired. "What was his name...? Something with a 'B'."

"Yeah, 'B' for 'Bitch," Tiffany sneered, staring at her glistening nails with a smirk. "He had a tiny dick, anyway."

"Maybe it's just a faculty meeting or something," Erika sighed, finally looking up. "Who knows?"

"Still kind of scary, though," the girl sitting in front of her murmured, "but hey, at least I can take a break without Garret crabbing at me."

Katie tuned them out after a moment, focusing on reading the book.

She spent an entire ten minutes skimming through sketches of more odd-looking monsters and creatures that seemed rather disgusting, but just when she figured there might not actually be a connection between the book and her nightmares, she came to a page that held a drawn image of nine hooded figures holding crooked black swords. Her eyes widened and her body jerked, catching Tiffany's attention.

When she'd been moved, she had only been moved to the desk behind the one she'd originally been sitting at.

Which basically put her right behind Erika, and still only one desk away from Katie.

But hey, at least they weren't study partners anymore.

Tiffany lifted a drawn black eyebrow when she leaned forward, examining the names of the monsters that had been sketched onto the pages.

"Naz... gul?" Katie muttered, lifting her head and blinking in confusion. "What the hell is a Nazgul?"

Tiffany's blue eyes flicked to stare at the page, but her nose wrinkled in disgust when she saw the sketch.

Erika, however, surprised both of them by lifting her head.

"Now that's surprising," she noted, staring at her with a surprised expression. "I didn't think you'd be a Lord of the Rings fan."

"What?" Kate asked, whipping around and staring at her in shock. "What did you just say?"

"You said Nazgul, right...?" Erika quipped, leaning closer to her. "That's what those evil monsters that stabbed Frodo in the first movie were called... right?"

"I don't know. I've never seen the movies," Kate explained, staring at her with unblinking eyes. "What are they about?"

"You've never seen Lord of the Rings?!" Erika gasped, eyes widening in shock. "Well, what about the Hobbit?"

"You mean that new movie that's playing in Theaters?"

"Yeah, that one!"

"Um... I've only ever seen a preview. What's the story about?"

"Oh, man! You've been living under a rock!" Erika laughed, turning and writing down something on her work sheet. "Well, I've only seen the first one myself, so I can't tell you everything... but from what I remember, it's about a group of people who band together in an effort to destroy an evil ring that this freaky monster wants. I think its name is Saurent or something. The whole movie is really awesome and I meant to watch the other two."

Kate's heart nearly stopped.

"T-that movie wasn't based on a true story, r-right?" she squeaked, voice coming out so shaken that Erika stared at her. "It wasn't real, right?!"

"No, it's a fantasy movie," Erika explained, giving her an amused grin. "Did you really think something like that could be real?"

Katie didn't answer.

Feeling immensely disturbed, she went back to reading, not knowing what to think. When the last bell finally rang, their teacher still hadn't returned so nobody was actually allowed to leave, but everyone still got up in a flurry of action, talking to each other and gathering their things. Erika, on the other hand, merely stood up and sat down on top of her desk with a sigh. Katie waited for a long moment to lift her eyes.

Erika was looking at her with a sympathetic smile.

"So," the brunette sighed, fiddling with a strand of her waist-length hair. "I saw what happened with Alan after I threatened to write him up."

Katie stared at her.

"And?" she deadpanned, tilting her head. "Your point is?"

"Well, don't worry about him too much," Erika explained, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. "He would never truly do something like what he threatened this morning. He's a total asshole, but he was simply looking for a reaction. If you just ignore him, he'll move on. Trust me."

Kate silently put her book away and stared out the window.

Wishing her teacher would return so she could get away from everyone.

"Hey, Katie?" Erika asked, shouldering her bag. "I kinda want to talk to you about something."

"Sure, whatever," Kate mumbled inaudibly. "Not like I'm going anywhere."

A flash of lightning illuminated the classroom windows after she said it.

"You know?" Erika said softly, finally lowering her eyes. "I've been wanting to tell you this, officially, for a long time... but... I'm not sure if I should."

"Just say whatever you need to and be done with it," Kate retorted, staring at her small, pale hands. "Please."

"Well, okay," Erika murmured, looking back up at her with solemn blue eyes. "It's about Nathan."

Kate's bland expression flinched and she had to bite her tongue.

"You're dating him, right?" Kate finally muttered; even though she was completely calm, her heart was beating a mile a minute. "That's what this is about?"

Erika's ocean blue eyes flickered with uncertainty when she looked up with a bitter smile.

"Yes," she whispered. "We're officially going out as of this morning."

Kate nodded, heart dropping through her stomach.

"Take care of him," she said, speaking in a detached tone. "Make him happy... and bring his smile back."

With that, she looked away, staring at the window with an ache in her chest.

She was hoping Erika would drop it.

That the conversation was over.

But to her dismay, the girl set a hand on her shoulder.

"I thought... you would be happier," Erika murmured, biting her lip. "I want to be your friend, Kate, so... why do you look so upset?"

For a long moment, she said nothing... but it couldn't be helped.

So she decided to be honest.

"It upsets me because he hasn't... smiled at me... in years," Kate weakly explained, refusing to look away from the sky. "I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you!" Erika scoffed, looking startled. "Seriously! You're his twin sister, Katie! How could he hate you?!"

Because," Kate said simply, shaking her head, "I'm the reason everything in our lives has gone so wrong."

Her voice cracked on the last word, so she closed her eyes, full lips tightening into a thin line. Her chest heaved and she trembled with the force of restraining her tears; once she got herself under control, she let out a sigh and shook her head. Erika, however, lowered her eyes to the floor.

"He doesn't hate you," she whispered. "Kate, your brother doesn't hate you... I promised him I would never tell anyone, especially you, but... because I don't think he knows how deeply he's been hurting you, I'm going to break that promise. Right now."

Kate stared.

"What do you mean?" she asked, keeping an eye on the other loudly chatting students to make sure they couldn't hear. "And before you reply, please keep in mind that we aren't alone."

"I'll make this quick," Erika sighed, looking at her with a tired expression. "When I met Nathaniel for the very first time... it changed my life forever."

"What?" Kate demanded, staring at her without blinking. "How could meeting him change your life?"

"I don't know how to explain it," Erika murmured, shaking her head. "I... I met Nate only nine days after my mother and father passed away in a car accident... it's why I'm even attending this school, you know: after they passed, there was nobody who could pay my previous school's tuition, so the government put me in here. Anyway, I was still numb over how everything had happened, so I wasn't exactly in a good state of mind. I met him on the bridge overlooking the East River... but... if I'm going to be honest with you... your brother was... going to jump off and kill himself."

Kate's heart almost stopped beating as a result of the ice that swept throughout her chest

"He... he wouldn't..."

The fact that Nathan had been on the same bridge, pondering the very same thing she had attempted to do countless other times, truly made her wonder if they still had the telepathic bond they'd shared as infants. As babies, even when they'd sneezed, they'd done it at the same time.

"If I hadn't grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him off the edge of the railing, he would have jumped," Erika whispered, closing her eyes. "The moment he turned around and looked at me, my breath was taken away. I honestly thought I was looking at an angel, Kate. His eyes were so sad..."

She choked up for a moment, then laughed a little.

"When I tried to scold him for being stupid... he totally broke down. I was a little freaked. I mean, a strange boy just hugged me and started crying. I wanted to make him let go, but I was so afraid that he would shatter into a million pieces if I touched him that I didn't."

Katherine felt stunned to her core, since Nathan had only ever cried once.

Ever.

"After that day, we started talking to each other," Erika mumbled, twiddling her thumbs. "I was really surprised that we actually went to the same school."

"The coincidence would shock anyone," Kate croaked, unsure of how to handle any of this.

"I know, right?" Erika sighed, planting her chin on her hands. "Every single day since then, I've waited for him on that same bridge so we could walk to school together, since I was worried about him. I haven't seen that look in eyes since we started talking... but then I saw you."

"What do you mean...?" Kate whispered hoarsely. "What's any of this got to do with me?"

"Your eyes look like your brother's did on the day I met him," she explained, rubbing her temples, "but the difference with you is that it never goes away like it does with him. I keep expecting to see that look disappear, even if it's being covered up, but it never does... and it aggravates me because I recognize it now. You and your brother obviously had some awful crap happen to you, but I want to make it easier somehow. Starting with school."

Kate only had one question after hearing all this.

"Why?"

Erika smiled a little, but she did look a bit nervous.

"B-because," she stammered, fiddling with her pencil case, "I... I'm head over heels in love with your brother, Kate. And I want you to accept me."

Another flash of lightning lit up the windows, but this one lasted longer than it should have.

In fact... it didn't even seem like lightning at all.

Kate's eyes had gone completely blank because something within her soul, something that felt abnormally important, was being dissolved.

It was like a small anchor inside her had somehow been lifted away, and the dread... the feeling of danger that had balled up in her stomach...

It was being let loose.

In that moment, Katherine knew something was about to happen.

And somehow, she had a feeling that Erika's seemingly harmless statement had triggered it.

She stiffened when she felt an icy draft of air tickling the back of her neck.

A strange presence suddenly entered her awareness, as though someone had just taken up space directly behind her. Several loose strands of soft white hair drifted in front of her face as she sat there, staring at the chalkboard with enormous eyes. Erika was still talking, her ears had begun to ring in a deafening manner, blotting out everything around her and muffling the sound of the brunette's voice.

She felt, rather than heard, the breath of air that the person behind her took.

I don't want to see... Katherine silently whispered, heart speeding up and pounding against her chest; the world around her distorted a little as the ringing noise grew louder, making her see black and red spots. I don't want to see whoever is behind me...

Unfortunately, she felt as though dark and shadowy hands were reaching out to grab her from behind.

Hands that would do something terrible to her if she didn't face them.

So, she slowly turned around.

She found herself staring into the eyes of a grown man with long black hair.

Standing in the aisle between the desks near the back of the room, he was looking straight at her with irises the color of liquid silver.

Her heart palpitated.

She didn't want to have anything to do with him.

She knew something terrible would happen if he came anywhere near her.

"W-who the hell is that?" Kate abruptly demanded, catching the attention of several students. "How'd he get in here?"

"Huh?" Erika asked, staring at her in confusion before turning around and looking at the man as well; she instantly jumped and her eyes widened. "Whoa! When did he get in here?"

He didn't answer them.

Narrowing his eyes, he began to movie down the isle towards Kate, who jumped out of her seat and whirled so she was facing him.

"What are you doing?" Kate stammered, staring at him with a startled expression. "Do you need something?"

He simply continued advancing.

"He's kinda hot," Tiffany drawled, cocking her hip. "Who is he, though?"

"Girl, I don't even know, but he is fine! Mmf!" a black girl giggled, eyeing him up and down. "I'd tap that in a heartbeat!"

"This guy is weird!" Erika exclaimed, standing up and backing away when the guy continued advancing towards her and Kate. "How the heck did he get in here without anyone noticing? And why isn't he saying anything?!"

Tiffany frowned.

"Good question," she muttered, tapping her chin. "I've been by the door since the bell rang left, so I would have seen him."

Kate and Erika continued backing away since he slowly crept towards them, but when the brunette finally turned around and hurried over towards the other side of the room, he didn't even glance at her. Those silver eyes remained fixed on Katherine, who looked around and backed up in dismay.

"Hey, s-stop it!" she finally squeaked, lifting her hands. "Seriously, get away from me! I don't know what you want, but you're creeping me out!"

Without a word, he bolted forward and abruptly snatched her wrist, violently jerking her forward.

Kate shrieked loudly in fright, causing several of the students standing in the room to jump.

"Katie!" Erika shouted, eyes widening in shock; then her expression turned to outrage. "Hey, asshole! Take your hands off her! Right now!"

"Ow! Let go! Let go of me!" Kate yelped, struggling to get out of his grasp. "OW! Someone, help me! Go get a teacher!"

The man's eyes narrowed and his fist tightened.

"OWWWWW!" Kate shrieked, finally hitting his arm with her free hand. "Ow! Ow! OW! Let me go! That hurts!"

"Halt your foolish behavior," the finally hissed, roughly jerking her forward with cold silver eyes. "You will come with me."

"GET OFF ME, YOU FUCKING CREEP!" Kate screeched, snapping her head forward and biting his arm as hard as she could; when his grip slackened, she pulled her hand out of his grasp with all of her strength and stumbled away from him; she ended up tripping over a chair and smacked into the wall, but she somehow managed to stay on her feet. "S-stay back! Don't touch me! Ever again!"

"K-Katherine, what's going on?" Erika stammered, watching as the man approached her again. "How serious is this situation?!"

"It's serious! It's dead serious!" Katie wailed, shakily picking up a nearby math textbook and throwing it at the man; when he merely ducked and continued moving forward, she backed into the corner and pressed herself against the wall. "Hurry up and go get Mr. Garret!"

"This is probably just a hoax," one of her classmates uneasily chortled. "It can't be happening for real, right?"

Katie frantically scrabbled for the nearest object and happened upon a chalkboard eraser, which she threw with all of her strength; when the man tilted his head and dodged it with no change in expression, her knees started shaking and she felt like she was going to pass out.

"Stop it! Don't take another step!" she wailed, dancing from foot to foot. "Seriously, I mean it! I won't hesitate to kick you in the balls if you don't leave me alone! Don't come any closer!"

"You are being foolish," the man coldly informed her. "Halt your insolent behavior."

"THEN GET AWAY FROM ME!" Katie shrieked, bursting into terrified tears. "NATHAN! NATHAN, HELP ME!"

"S-she's crying!" a boy scoffed, eyes widening with a start. "Whoa! Dude, the witch is crying! Look!"

"Okay, it's official: this isn't a hoax," Tiffany muttered, whirling around and bolting out out of sight. "I'll be right back, Kate! Just hold on for a bit!"

"Hurry!" Kate cried, cowering down with a squeak when her assailant slammed his hands down on either side of her. "Jesus! HURRY, TIFFANY!"

"Silence," the man hissed, narrowing his silver eyes; when he lifted his hand and clutched her small chin, tilting her head up, she started trembling. "My eyes see things that were, things that are, and things that may be. You are indeed the one I have been looking for."

"HUH?!" Kate choked, staring at him with hunched shoulders and wide eyes; she tried to pull away, but his fingers tightened on her chin. "Ow! Let go!"

When she struggled to pull free, he refused to move... but then, a textbook smacked him in the side of the head.

He turned with a dark expression to find Erika standing there, holding two more.

"Take your hands off of her, freak!" she snapped, throwing the next book and hitting him again. "Pervert! Pedophile!"

When the next book hit him, he merely stared at her, then wordlessly turned to look at Kate.

With an irritated face, he abruptly let go of her chin and pressed a single finger against her forehead.

Katie's breath hitched when a searing agony instantly burned through her right shoulder.

"OW!" she cried, clutching her arm. "My shoulder! OWWWWW! Fuck! Fuck! It's burning! It's burning! Ow!"

"What's going on here?!" Mr. Garret suddenly demanded, shouldering his way into the classroom with Tiffany close behind; the moment he took in the scene before him, he blinked in surprise. "Excuse me, but who are you? Explain to me why you're harassing my student, otherwise I'll be calling the authorities and letting them handle this situation."

"This is none of your concern," the strange man retorted, glancing at the teacher with no change in his expression. "Leave us be."

Mr. Garret and everyone standing behind him froze, since nobody had believed the guy would stand against a teacher. Several of the smarter students left the entrance and hastily ran down the hall, sprinting at top speed towards the main offices: nobody wanted to deal with a lunatic, especially if he had some sort of concealed weapon on him. Kate stared at Mr. Garret with fearful eyes.

"What did you just say to me?" Mr. Garret demanded, glancing at her terrified expression with furrowed brows. "While she's under the roof of this school, that girl is all of my concern. She is one of my students, and her safety was entrusted to me. Now, can you rationally explain to me how a man your size managed to back a high school girl into a corner? Speak up, sir! Now!"

"If you care so much about her safety," the stranger said in a silken voice, "let her come with me."

"What do you mean?" Mr. Garret scoffed, then turned and looked at Kate. "Miss Sanders, what's going on here? Do you know him?"

"No, I don't!" she cried, shaking her head. "He won't leave me alone, and he..."

Kate would have continued explaining things... but before she could, the room in front of her disappeared and she had a vision.

The classroom... there was glass... a thundering sound... everyone was lying dead... and...

She twitched back to reality within seconds, but by that point, it was too late.

"GET DOWN!" Katie screeched, instinctively dropping to all fours and covering her head with both hands. "NOW! HURRY!"

Some people, such as Erika, Tiffany, and a few frightened students who had adrenaline pumping through them hit the deck out of instinct; others chose to remain upright, her teacher included.

Only a split second later, an enormous shadow abruptly fell across the walls for a moment, darkening the classroom immensely.

Then, with a horrible roaring nose, every single window in the classroom exploded in a shower of glass and wood: a howling wind filled the air, and glass from the busted windows went flying into the room, eliciting several screams. Then there was complete silence.

No sound emanated from the classroom.

But then, several terrified screams began to ring in every single direction.

Some of them from far away, others from right outside in the hallway.

When Kate lifted her head, she felt her heart drop through the floor: the entire room had been completely demolished within the span of a second.

Students lay on the floor with desks and chairs on top of them, some bleeding from the flying glass, others bruised from the wood that had flown off the walls, and the rest unconscious from the furniture that had crashed into them. Kate's entire body quaked as she took in all of the upturned desks. When she twisted around and looked behind her, her face completely drained of color.

Every single one of the windows had somehow imploded into the classroom.

"W-what the hell?!" Kate spluttered, looking at the destruction in horror. "What just happened?! All the windows are gone!"

"Oh, my God," Tiffany whimpered, staring at the unconscious students all around her with enormous eyes. "Oh, my fucking GOD!"

"S-Sanders..." Mr. Garret croaked, finally lifting his head; the girl's breath caught in terror when she realized that his left cheek had been sliced by a piece of glass. "Call... a doctor..."

"No!" Tiffany screeched, instantly whirling around. "Don't let her do it!"

"Why?!" Erika cried, looking at everything in shock. "We have to get help!"

Tiffany didn't respond: she merely glared at Kate with frigid blue eyes, blonde hair disheveled and face dark.

"You knew," she hissed, making Kate freeze. "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?! You did this! This was all because of you!"

"Huh?! No!" Kate whispered, stiffening in horror when she glanced at all of her injured classmates. "No! No, I swear!"

"Liar!" Tiffany screeched, crawling over and clutching the front of Katie's girl's blazer. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT, ISN'T IT?! ISN'T IT?! YOU WITCH! YOU CURSED US! YOU CURSED US! YOU STUPID FREAK!"

"You're wrong!" she cried. "I didn't do it! I swear! I swear, Tiffany! It wasn't me!"

"LIAR!" Tiffany screeched again, grabbing her pigtails and jerking her head around with a violent snarl. "YOU'RE A WITCH! A FREAK! GOD DAMN IT, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Tiffany, get off of her!" Erika yelped, lunging forward and smacking her arms off of the smaller girl. "It wasn't her fault! How could she possibly be behind this sort of thing?! It's only because of her that we even knew it was going to happen, you moron!"

"I-it wasn't me," Katie stammered, shaking her head in fright. "I didn't do it... I swear... it wasn't my fault!"

Her whole body froze up when the stranger moved directly behind her.

When she jerkily looked over her shoulder and looked up at him with shaking limbs, his silver eyes were psychotic-looking.

"Come with me," he hissed, silver eyes widening in a threatening manner. "Now."

Nope.

Finally reaching her wit's end, Kate scrambled to her feet and bolted for the door, screaming at the top of her lungs. Her silver hair flew behind her when she took off down the hall at top speed; several students jumped and moved aside when she tore past them, but her heart nearly burst out of her chest when she glanced over her shoulder realized she was being chased by the creepy stranger.

Breathing hard, she started running as fast as she could, dress shoes clacking against tile.

Nathan, please, Kate silently begged, panting as she sprinted down every hall she could find. Please! Help me!

When she girl skidded to a halt at the double stairways that led to the upper and lower floors, she instantly started heading towards the ground.

An enormous shadow unexpectedly blotted out the light coming through the windows for a brief moment, making her jump.

She eyed the windows, wondering what the hell she had just seen, but then...

It happened again.

The windows at the end of the the hall abruptly cracked with a huge thundering noise and rapidly blasted into the corridor, one after the other, in a quick line directly towards where she was standing. Kate instantly let out a terrified shriek and dove behind the stairway banister, covering her head just as the rest of the windows in the hallway behind her exploded. A terrible thundering wind flew into the school directly afterwards, making her shiver violently.

When everything fell silent, however, she slowly rose to her feet and peered at the destruction in horror.

Then the air grew cold and her hair stood on end for no reason whatsoever.

Kate glanced up at the ceiling when a thin layer of shadow began to slide across it, stretching past her and moving on down the decimated hallway.

After a moment of staring at the strange anomaly, wondering if it was another vision, she turned and looked towards the source.

Her heart flew up her throat when she saw the first shadowy figure walking into sight... followed by eight more. Her lips quivered and she took a step backwards when they turned towards her. One of the hooded figures drew a familiar black sword and lifted it, uttering the same banshee-like screech she'd heard on the East River Bridge. Only this time it was louder, and much more vivid.

It made her skin crawl.

"Oh, shit," Kate whispered, backing away when they began gliding towards her. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..."

When they screeched again, the girl let out a terrified squeak and flew down the stairs, heading for the library with her feet flying.

She needed to get to Miss McKinley.

Miss McKinley would know what to do!

Just as she opened the door and the librarian blinked at her with a smile, the stranger appeared behind her out of nowhere.

The girl jumped when he gripped her wrist and prevented her from moving inside her sanctuary.

"NO! Let me go!" Kate screeched, struggling against his powerful grip. "Miss McKinley! Miss McKinley, help me! HELP!"

"What on earth?!" the old woman gasped, standing up in an instant. "W-what are you doing to Katherine?! Let go of her, this instant, you cretin!"

"Not here," the man snapped, making her flinch. "Go to the roof!"

"SHUT UP!" the girl screamed, still struggling to get away from him. "LET GO OF ME AND-!"

The rest of her words were cut off by the sound of shattering glass and a high-pitched scream.

Kate instantly whirled around and gasped when she saw Miss McKinley staring at the library windows, which had exploded in a spray of glittering shards.

"W-what in the name of everything good just happened here?!" the elderly woman squalled, running over to the windows with enormous eyes. "W-what?!"

"If you do not wish to cause anymore harm to anyone," the man rapped out, glaring into her eyes, "you must go to the roof!"

"WHY?!" Kate wailed, tearing past him and sprinting past a few confused-looking students who'd been on their way up the stairs. "This is so not okay!"

Regardless, she ran up two complete flights of steps until she hit the entrance to the rooftop.

A fierce wind assaulted her the moment she stepped outside, but once she was out in the open she doubled over to catch her breath.

"Kate?" a familiar voice asked, making the girl jump in surprise; she whipped around to see her brother sitting on the building that served as the rooftop door's foundation. "What are you doing here?"

"Nathan, thank God!" Kate cried, heart soaring. "Listen, we have to get out of here! Like, right now!"

"Why?" he scoffed, scowling at her. "School is already over, so I'm sitting up here to watch the lightning."

"You're gonna get hit, you idiot!" she cried, momentarily forgetting her predicament; however, when the man gripped her wrist, she jumped. "HEY! Let go!"

"Who the hell is that?!" Nate called, brows raising when she struggled.

"Help me!" she wailed, kicking the stranger's shins. "He's a psycho! My whole classroom blew up after he walked in!"

"Wait, what?!" Nathan barked, instantly getting to his feet. "What do you mean your classroom blew up?"

"I mean all the windows exploded, even the windows in the second floor hallway and the library!" Kate cried. "Nathan, help me!"

Her brother stared at the man behind her, looking a bit confused, but when the stranger's grip tightened to the point where Kate's wrist popped and she let out a yelp of pain, his eyes sharpened.

"Let go of my sister right now!" he growled, moving to the edge of the rooftop. "Otherwise I'll beat the shit out of you, bitch!"

That's when a deafening animal screech split the air.

Nathan glanced up only a split second before Kate did.

Both twins turned a sickly shade of white when they saw what was resting in the air above them.

"Oh... my... God..." Katie whispered, eyes becoming devoid of all reflective sheen.

A dragon the size of a small building was plummeting towards them from the sky.

And it was coming right at them.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Nathan bellowed, jumping off the edge of his resting spot. "HOLY SHIT!"

It was going to crash into the building... or rather, right into them. But before it could, an even more impossible sight met her eyes: a giant eagle the size of Toni's house flew overhead and smashed into the dragon, sending a multitude of black feathers raining down from the sky. Kate's knees instantly buckled and she could only stare at the fighting creatures in the sky. The man beside her regarded her with an expression so cold that she shivered.

"Who... are you?" Kate whispered, staring up him with terror in her eyes. "Why are you here?"

"I am Gwendolyn," the stranger thundered, giving her an otherworldly expression. "I have come here to collect you."

Kate covered her ears, not wanting to listen, to hear, to live.

She wanted to pretend it was a bad dream.

Then again, in a way, that's exactly what it was: a nightmare.

And the shittiest part was the fact that she was completely awake.

Even worse than that was the Fox 37 news van sitting in front of the gate: the man Kate had saved was holding a microphone in his hand, mouth open and completely agape. The camerawoman was pointing the lens at the monstrous creatures battling on the rooftop. As far as Kate was currently concerned, things literally couldn't get any worse than they already were.

Sadly, she was wrong.

Things were about to get a whole lot worse, and fast.