The maze garden trembled as Elle and Ulrich finally stopped their fight. The grey sky above them shifted, turning slowly into a false dawn.
The light brushed against their skin but carried no warmth, no sting, because it wasn't real. Everything around them was still part of the manor's illusion.
Elle's breath hitched as her eyes widened in horror, one of her companions had fallen.
"Sarah!!!"Her scream echoed across the garden as the fog thinned.
The garden's twisted maze morphed back into its original form, revealing Fleur and the others in the distance.
Rage flickered across her face as she was ready to move, until Ulrich moved.
The old man's shadow rippled, and from it, hands of black smoke shot forward like vipers, coiling around Elle's body. They dragged her back toward him before she could react.
