Bryce and Sydney met up with William and Serena by a well in the kingdom. William saw Sydney and immediately walked up to her.

"Sydney."

"William."

"Sorry about breaking your arm."

"It’s okay. I was just a bit caught off guard is all."

"By what? My compliments?"

Sydney started to blush.

"Don’t flatter yourself! I just appreciated being called beautiful, so I went easy on you!"

"Sure you did. Who is the gentleman you are with? That’s Bryce if I recall, correct?"

Bryce walked up to Serena and William and shook their hands.

"It’s nice to talk with you both today. You two were strong opponents! I’m glad we get to work together with you! Sydney has been especially excited to work with William for some reason."

William gave him a confused look.

"I thought she hated my guts. I guess that’s good news to hear."

Syndey just froze in place refusing to refute or make any sounds. Serena stepped forward and smiled at Sydney.

"Oh my goodness, your hair is so beautiful! How did you get it to look so good?!"

Sydney immediately snapped back to reality.

"You really like it?! I’m so glad you noticed! I spent all morning working on it!"

"Of course, I love it! I’m really jealous, I don’t think my hair could handle looking so good for long because of the long hours in the fields."

Sydney started jumping up and down with excitement.

"It’s official. You’re coming over to the Katra dorms for a makeover with me and Zoey. She was right about you, you’re totally awesome!" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Serena laughed lightly.

"Thank you! Anyway, what is it we are doing today?"

Bryce rubbed his mustache.

"I believe we should clean out the interior of the wells today. That will make the water safer for drinking, cleaning things and much more."

"Hmm... that’s a good idea. Let’s do it!"

"We can split into teams of two. Me and Sydney can work together while you and Serena can work together. This way, we can work on more wells in a shorter amount of time."

Bryce nodded his head.

"I think that’s a good idea. Me and Serena can take this one we all met up at. You and Sydney can find another one. There should be one not too far from here. Let’s all meet back up at the palace stairs when we’re done!"

"Sounds good."

William grabbed Sydney’s hand and dragged her away. Sydney’s face grew pink as she was getting dragged along. Serena shook he head.

"I don’t know why they don’t just date yet. Those two have been talking to each other since they were little."

"One of them probably just needs a little push. Frankly, I’m afraid if I push Sydney, she may attack me. Can you maybe do it sometime?"

Serena giggled.

"Sure. Anyway, how are we going to clean the inside of this well?"

"There’s ropes with buckets for each, so I thought we could lower one of us down with a rag while the other controls how high or low they go."

"That’s a good idea! I’ll get in the bucket then since I’m small enough to fit in the well... no offense."

"None taken. I expected as much."

Serena sat her rear in the empty bucket of the well and was lowered down. After going down far enough, Bryce stopped and yelled down to her.

"How’s it going down there?"

"Truthfully, it’s a bit hard to see but I can get the job done!"

Serena started scrapping moss and gunk on to her rag while turning around. After a few moments, her bucket started raising itself.

"Hey, wait! I’m not done with the bottom area yet!"

The bucket continued to rise.

’What the hell is he doing? Did he just not hear me?’

Finally, she reached the top of the well.

"Bryce, I said I wasn’t done with the-"

Serena and Bryce both evaporated into nothing.

"William! I can walk myself, thank you!"

"Quit complaining and just let me drag you."

After three moments, they reached a well. William looked at Sydney with a bright smile.

"Are you thinking what I’m thinking?"

"What?! There’s no way I’m going down there! It’s gross and my hair will get messed up!"

"Come on! I’m way too big to fit in there!"

"I don’t care! You can find another way to clean them!"

Suddenly, William got a very strange sense of imminent danger. Goosebumps appeared all over his arms. He quickly looked around him trying to assess the danger.

"What’s wrong William? You seem on edge."

"I think there’s someone watching us. Someone dangerous. Stay close."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Then a dark figure appeared close behind Sydney.

"Sydney! Behind you!"

Sydney turned around to see a cloaked black skull staring at her. She backed away quickly after seeing it, struggling to find her voice. William was already in front of her, ready to protect her. He concentrated a massive blast of sunlight and blinded the whole area. Grabbing Sydney, he whispered into her ear.

"Don’t make a single sound until you know it’s clear."

Then, he threw her down the well. Sydney used her hands to slow her descent on the wet rocks. She hardened them so they wouldn’t get scrapped on the way down. When she stopped, she couldn’t hear a single thing that was happening above, but she still waited a while before climbing back up.

As she climbed towards the top, she could hear low whispers coming from around her.

"Where did the woman go?"

"I’m unsure. She could not have gotten far. Find her."

"Yes, sir."

"Any update on the one who got away?"

"Spotted and in pursuit."

"Good. Have we found Annis’s Chosen?"

"Not yet, sir."

"Find them, before that dirty blood or water user does."

"Our Makt’s are limited, but we will try our best."

Syndey started shaking in fear. She felt like prey being hunted by a wild beast. She needed to tell her father immediately what was happening in the kingdom before it was too late, but she was currently stuck in a well, too afraid to do anything. The scariest part of hearing the conversation was she couldn’t hear if Willam was still alive or not.

Once she stopped hearing voices, Sydney slowly peaked her head out of the well. The whole kingdom was silent as if nothing happened. She hopped out and started sprinting toward the palace at full speed. However, it took a mere three moments before a skeletal hand reached through the ground and grabbed her ankle, causing her to dissolve into dark particles.

Maria and Emma were walking together with Mr. Katra and Slade. They were all by the wall trying to paint over graffiti with dark grey paint. Maria was the one who would talk with them the most as they painted.

"This is rather pleasant. Last time I painted something, I became a complete mess."

Emma started giggling.

"I didn’t know Mr. Katra could be so serious about painting. It feels like he painted half the wall by himself!"

"This is hardly anything. I’m simply just using my rend ability to move the paint wherever I want."

Slade was panting hard, trying to keep up with everyone.

"Easy for you to say. I can hardly keep up!"

Suddenly, both Maria and Zeke felt something wrong and stopped painting. They turned around to see what it was. Nobody was there.

"Did you feel that too, Mr. Katra?"

"I did. I’m surprised you felt it, Maria. They are clearly trying to hide themselves."

"My senses get heightened with my curse and I’ve been trying to circulate it a lot more recently to train."

Mr. Katra’s eyes suddenly widened. Maria’s left arm started to feel like it was burning through her clothes. Her mark was reacting to a presence around her. She winced at the pain for a moment.

"Everyone, get down!"

Four cloaked figures shot toward the group, trying to touch them. Katra slammed them to the ground with his rend ability, crushing them to dust. Maria already started sprinting to help her friends. She grabbed Emma and pushed her out of the way of another attacker.

Just then, dozens more figures appeared in front of them, wearing a creepy black skull mask. Maria sensed something below her.

"They’re below us too! We have to escape to-"

Skeletal hands seemed to phase through the ground below her and grab Emma’s heel. Maria was able to jump just in time, but it was too late for her friend. She slowly started to dissolve in her arms. Maria’s face filled with dread.

Katra used his ability to make everyone float. More and more figures started appearing through the floor, trying to grab their legs. Slade steadied himself.

"I’ll boost both your speed. Let’s try and regroup at the palace. We’re under attack!"

Mr. Katra flew over to Maria, grabbed her and started flying back with Slade attached to his back. As they were flying, they noticed a figure falling from the sky. Maria recognized the man as Cane from the Rose Clan.

"Follow the man falling out of the sky! I think it’s Cane from Rose Clan. If he was under attack too, that means we weren’t the only ones targeted."

"What the hell is going on? My wife and I never saw anything suspicious all day."

"No time, just keep flying!"

They zipped through the air at incredible speed, catching up to Cane as he plummeted towards the ground. Right before he slammed into the hard stone, Cane was suddenly stopped and slowly lifted into the air. Everything around him felt funny, as if the world was helping him float back up. He looked at Maria with a grateful expression.

"Thank you so much. I thought I was a goner."

"Where’s Jacob and mom? Are they safe?"

"I’m not sure. I was with Mrs. Katra, Peter and Gabriel."

Mr. Katra interjected.

"What happened with my wife?"

Cane went silent.

"I’m sorry sir. She just strangely disappeared along with everyone else."

Weirdly, Mr. Katra held a firm expression.

"I know she’s alive. She’s much too strong to die so easily."

Maria worried for Jacob, but she knew that his mark would react to the presence of this enemy as well and he would know what to do.

As they continued flying through the sky, a small rain droplet landed onto Maria’s right hand.