He runs at Waverly and tackles her to the floor. The greyskins seem to be screaming for their blood. She tries to shove him off with the crowbar but he hits her, grabs at her. Somehow, he snaps her chain off her neck and he jumps back laughing. 

“Did your pitiful boyfriend give you this?” Scarecrow shouts, the ring dangling in front of his face.

“Give it back,” Waverly says. 

He now holds the chain over the side of the walkway, threatening to let the ring fall into the mass of greyskins. She stands for a moment, breathing heavily. 

“Give me the crowbar,” he says. 

She drops it to the floor and charges after him. In a fury, she reaches for the chained ring. She claws at his face, neck, and eyes until they both fall to the floor. She rips the chain from his hands and clutches it tightly. Scarecrow gives her a swift kick in the gut and she goes tumbling over the side. In the last second, she’s able to grab onto the side of the walkway. One hand holds her above the greyskins below and the other clasps the ring in her palm. When he grabbed the ring, Scarecrow was trying to take Lucas away from her again, but she didn’t let him. 

Scarecrow pushes himself up from the walkway and starts hitting her fingers. 

“No!” she shouts out. 

“Waverly!” the voice is Ethan’s. He runs toward Scarecrow from the other side of the walkway and tackles him. He lifts a knife into the air and stabs Scarecrow through the neck and chest, over and over. 

And just as Ethan is about to pull her up, she feels something grab onto her ankle. She looks down and sees a greyskin pull on her and sink its teeth into her leg, ripping away muscle and flesh. She screams out in horror. 

I can’t become one of them. 

The light flashes and I feel too stunned to say anything as Scarecrow stares at me. I can’t help but feel for the chain around my neck. Am I really going to be so stupid? Am I going to let him affect me like that? I think back to the vision of Gilbert’s future and remember that I was in it. He talked to me. I was alive! Unless…unless the vision of Gilbert was to happen before what I just saw with Scarecrow. Or, perhaps in Gilbert’s vision, I’m dying and that’s why I’m standing so close to Ethan. He’s supporting me.

Either way, I have so far been unable to change the future and that thought sobers me. Perhaps I am about to join with Lucas in the afterlife. If today is the end, then so be it. At least Scarecrow is going down with me.

“What did you see?” he asks.

“I can’t control what I see,” I say.