He moved to Harper and took him by the arm, then he lifted his hand and made a motion. A few others made the same motion, and almost as eerily as they had materialized, they started to leave, except they didn’t return to where they had stepped in from the woods.

They moved past us.

No one moved.

No one spoke. The yells had cut off abruptly.

The air was almost suffocating, but everyone felt the same instinct that kicked in with me.

These guys would kill, so shut the fuck up.

Everyone shut the fuck up.

The only person who argued was Harper. “Hey!” That was his first fight, but he was jerked forward as the guy who found him began walking him back toward where the vehicles were all parked, where the road led in from the other road. One by one, these men walked past.

All silent.

All moving like shadows, except they weren’t. Their feet touched the group. They left tracks.

They moved past me, and they were close enough that I knew they were real, and not a figment of my imagination, but it was almost like they weren’t.

And then there was one who brought up the back end of the group. He didn’t have the black from head to toe. He wore a white mask, like a hockey helmet or a white mask that a serial killer would wear. No joke. For real. A serial killer.

He moved, but it was like he wasn’t moving at the same time.

I looked down not wanting to make eye contact, but as he went past me, that white mask looked my way and he stopped.

My heart lurched into my chest, but I held firm.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t inch back.

I couldn’t show weakness, so I kept my face impassive, and a second later, he moved forward.

I felt as if he’d let loose with a spell on me, and I could suddenly breathe again. It was so sudden and so jarring, that I felt tears surge to my eyes, but then another guy, one of the last two who brought up the rear passed me by.

He went slow and I could see through his goggles.

The others, no. I didn’t know why, but this guy—his eyes were…recognition flared through me, and I gasped, but he shook his head. He was telling me to keep quiet, and I clamped down on my reaction because I knew who this guy was.

Heckler. The Red Demon with the almost white eyes.

Holy…shit! Those were Red Demons.

And they were here.

And they grabbed Harper.

Why did they grab Harper?

Was one of them my dad?

Was Maxwell the one wearing the white mask?

A thousand questions ran through my head, but Harper was quieted almost immediately, and then they were gone. Simple as that.