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Kiara’s breathing is labored as she staggers along with her arm looped around Keiffer’s waist. His arm wraps around her hips, hugging her to him so he can take the brunt of her weight. She shouldn’t be walking with that sprained ankle, but we don’t have a choice. No one’s coming to help us.

You tell me, Nova girl, and I’ll help you. I might never find my father, but his voice will always be with me:

In the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, North Star, it always helps to look at your problem in a different way. Change your perspective, and you’ll find everything changes.

I tip my head back. The stars are snuffed out.

We’d be walking in the dark if not for the motley assortment of flashlights the men wield, all stolen from unsuspecting campers.

Jeremy took my radio from me, proclaiming it was another for their collection, but Kyle, cautious Voice Three, points out that they won’t need to bother with the theater of special effects ever again. They hung on to my radio anyway.

I think about the abandoned tent that Tayla and I found, how the cigarettes and food were left behind but not the flashlights. Not the lighter that would have accompanied the cigarettes. No, those things were taken after these guys terrorized folks for supplies.

But if these guys have been here since they killed Aurora’s fiancé…how long have they been lost in these woods? Seven years at least. Clearly they’ve resorted to theft and maybe even worse, given the way Tayla and I overheard them talking. Given what they’ve done to their own friend.

Until my dying breath, I think I will be haunted by the scraps of Mickey’s remains, the mockery with which they talked about him and how they dangled him so disrespectfully as a prop to frighten us.

Thinking back on all the things that have gone missing, I still don’t get why they didn’t steal our food, too.

Evan’s poncho repaired their shabby clothing, and Keiffer’s batteries powered the radios they needed for their elaborate forest surround sound.

With a flash, I remember Tayla’s lip balm.

For all I know, they palmed that, too. But not the food. I keep coming back to that.

Change your perspective.

I glance up at the bird glinting above for a clue.

This is the third one we’ve passed, and I’ve kept its existence secret so far.

These men seem to think that I have some insider knowledge passed down from my dad, and I suppose it’s possible they’ve overheard Radhika talking about our storied ancestor, but while I don’t doubt their ruthlessness, something about Jeremy and the others isn’t adding up.

I just haven’t figured it out yet.

Biting my lip, I dare to ask, “How do you know my dad?”

Jeremy’s silent for so long that I’m convinced he won’t answer, but finally, each word dragged out slowly, he says, “Used to run into him. He knows the forest like the back of his hand.” He looks at me from the corner of his eye. “Was proud of his daughter.”

Knows ? My brow furrows. He talks like Dad is still alive. Something in my chest soars at the thought. Because if they’ve lasted in here this long, so could he.

Jeremy jerks his head to indicate Radhika, who’s walking right behind us with Tayla, Evan, and Colin, leaving Keiffer and Kiara to make their way, slower, with Gary and Kyle bringing up the rear. For our protection, Jeremy claims, but the truth is, they’re just ensuring that none of us run.

Click, click, click. This time I twist around.

It’s Colin, opening and closing a lighter. Every time he snaps it, I feel a scream building in my throat. Click.

The lighter is shiny silver. There’s an A engraved on it. None of these men have a name that starts with A . So this is stolen, too.

With a start, I remember the group I’d met coming out of the Longing Woods almost a week ago. Aaliyah and her brother Ahsan, who had lost his much-needed lighter, forcing them to end their trip early.

“Heard that one brag about being a Prior descendant, so we figured she’d know the way,” Jeremy says. “If we knew that when we first ran into her and her boyfriend…” His smile is all teeth. “We wouldn’t have let them go.”

Fear scrapes against my bones. “So why did you?”

“Figured it wouldn’t matter. We’d come across them soon enough, take what we need then. People don’t tend to leave here.”

That’s why they have all the backpacks. I repress a shudder.

They’re desperate for the wishing well, but why? I doubt they regret what they did to Mickey, even though it led to their imprisonment here…so what are they trying to undo?

Surreptitiously, I slide my gaze up to the treetops. We’re approaching the next silver bird.

The first time it struck me as surreal. But now I marvel at its beauty.

The seamless way it blends into the night sky until you look up at the exact moment it’s illuminated by moonbeams. And then you see it for what it truly is: a sign of wonderment.

How can it be anything else when nature and magic have worked in such graceful unison?

The leafy canopy has formed in such a way as to create the outline of a bird, the shape cut out so the moonlight can punch through.

And something tells me that if we follow it, we’ll find the wishing well.

It’s what’s going to happen to us once we get there that terrifies me.

“Hey!” an outraged voice cries from behind.

We all turn, Gary and Kyle shining their flashlights directly at the intruders.

“Brian?” asks Tayla, squinting at their shadowy figures. “Emily?”

Kiara’s gasp says it all: she recognizes Brian, too.

“You know each other?” Jeremy laughs. “No need for introductions.”

“You promised you’d take us with you,” says Emily, not making eye contact with any of us.

Jeremy shrugs. “ If you followed through.”

“We found the girl,” Emily snaps. “We spent all day looking. We tied her up and left her for you.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t the right girl. We only wanted the blond.” He jerks his head toward me then smirks at her. “Our deal is null and void.”

For the first time, Emily seems to register our presence. She swears under her breath. “You never said she was blond! We almost had her! You didn’t think that was helpful for us to know?”

“Not my problem.” Jeremy hums under his breath. “Which means you two are still in the red.”

“C’mon, man, that’s not fair.” Brian kicks at the ground. “We’ve been doing this too long.”

That’s it, I realize. Too long. That’s the connective tissue between all the strangers we’ve met. Their clothing, the haunted look in their eyes, the way Brian and Emily didn’t know the latest iPhone model…they’ve been out here too long. They’ve lived for too long.

“Your debt would be closer to being paid if you hadn’t tried to hide resources from me.”

“We need to survive, too,” says Emily.

“Yes, but for how much longer, I wonder?” Jeremy taps his chin and smiles coolly.

In the daggered silence that follows, I run my fingers over the aventurine bracelet Petra gave me. It’s kept me safe so far, hasn’t it?

“You never lost your backpacks, did you?” I ask. “You were hoping to rob us.”

Tayla seizes upon what I said. “I knew there wasn’t something right about you two.”

“Want to warn us about more bears?” Emily says sweetly.

Tayla scoffs and rolls her eyes.

It’s dark, but my eyes have adjusted enough to catch some black butterflies darting between the trees, following us. They’re keeping Kiara in their sights, but for what? How can they help?

A plan begins to form, but if it works, it’ll officially make me worse than Tayla. I take a deep breath. It’ll be worth it, though.

“You didn’t want to hurt us, though, did you, Brian?”

Emily goes still. Brian’s eyes implore me for silence.

“What’s that?” Jeremy’s interest is piqued.

Perfect. Exactly what I was hoping for.

“You wanted Emily to let us go. I remember what you said,” I say quietly.

“You said you were tired of all this. You meant tired of stealing from innocent people, right? Leaving them without any supplies to survive out here, to make it out of the forest. Because you needed to survive more than you wanted to let them live.”

“Shut up!” he bursts out, but his eyes are wide, his forehead sweaty.

“It was just one moment of weakness,” Emily says quickly. “He would have. I know he would have.” She throws me a hateful look, like she regrets not making her move when she first ran across us.

“ They ”—Brian points to the four men—“demand tithe from everyone . Anyone who doesn’t pay up gets terrorized until they do. Just half of everything, right? How are we supposed to live on crumbs?”

My heart is going a hundred miles a minute. “You’re right, that is really unfair.”

Tayla throws me a What are you doing? look, and the others are likewise confused, too rattled to think about what’s being said.

But not me. My mind is clear, like I’ve scaled a mountain peak and am getting my first taste of fresh air, a 360-degree view of everything around me.

I can see for miles. And what I’ve pieced together…

there’s no way, but after everything else we’ve seen, this is the only conclusion that makes sense.

The collection of packs in the glade. The old, old everything. The battered clothing, the styles that are straight out of another generation. Why they have never shown even the remotest of interest in stealing our food when they’ve had no compunction stealing other conveniences.

They’re dead.

They’re all dead.

And walking around are their ghosts.

Corporeal, malevolent, desperate ghosts.