Ericka scanned the dim room where they now rested. She no longer needed Jasmin’s full story—she had already seen what happened. What mattered now was changing the future, stopping whatever fate had been set in motion.

Thalia had said it earlier:
We’ll make it out alive. All of us.

Ericka turned to her. Thalia sat deep in thought, while Ruth slept beside her, clearly exhausted.

“Thalia,” Ericka whispered, “I want to ask you something.”

Thalia lifted her gaze. “What is it?”

“I want to understand what you meant earlier—when you said it felt like… you were inside the body of the soul in pain. Like you were reliving their life. Did I get that right?”

Thalia didn’t answer at once. She seemed to be weighing her words. Then she nodded slowly.

“Before we got here, I traveled again. I found myself inside the warehouse—the place where Ellese was tortured and killed.”

“That’s horrible,” Ericka said softly. “Was it cruel?”

Thalia nodded again, eyes distant.
She explained that during her travels, she didn’t hear voices. She saw memories—silent, floating, like pieces of a film with missing scenes. She lived moments she didn’t belong to.

Ericka listened carefully.
Thalia’s gift was different from hers.
She didn’t watch the past—she stepped into it.

Ericka’s breath hitched as her own vision resurfaced:
Two women.
A child.
And a man digging into the ground with bloodstained hands.

“Thalia…” she whispered.

Thalia blinked. “Why do you look so pale?”

Ericka swallowed hard.
She had seen the house drenched in blood.
A man breaking in—gun in hand—
Shooting two women and a young boy without hesitation.

Their bodies had fallen like broken dolls.
The killer’s face masked.
The same uniform worn by the organization they’d encountered.

“Ericka?” Thalia asked, pulling her back.

Ericka looked into her eyes.
“Thalia… do you remember that family murdered near your house?”

Thalia’s expression darkened instantly.
“Yes. It was reported a month after Ellese and Felisa died. They were massacred—bathed in blood. Even the young boy. No one survived.”

Her hands curled into fists.

“That was your cousin’s family, wasn’t it?” Ericka asked gently.

Thalia nodded, eyes glistening.
“Yes. Our houses were right across from each other. That night… they were taken from me.”

“Do you know why?” Ericka pressed softly.

“I don’t know the full story,” Thalia whispered. “I never tried to know. I wasn’t ready. The pain… it was too much.”

Ericka didn’t push further.

“Are you traveling now to find the truth? About what happened to your cousin?” she asked.

Thalia didn’t speak. She only clutched her jacket tighter.

Her silence was the answer.

“They’re here, Thalia,” Ericka said gently. “Your cousin. Felisa. Ellese. Maybe you can’t see them… but they’re trying to tell you something.”

Thalia nodded slowly.
She believed her.

There were still too many questions.
Too many shadows.
Blood. Secrets. Betrayal.

But one thing was certain:
Spirits seeking justice never stop until heard.

“We need to escape,” Thalia said suddenly.

“There’s a path,” Ericka whispered. “There’s an exit nearby. A woman showed me—your cousin, I think. She said we must be careful.”

Ericka closed her eyes briefly, visualizing it—
a narrow tunnel, barely large enough for one person to crawl through.

“When they wake up, we’ll leave,” she said.

“But going back is dangerous,” Thalia murmured. “If they see us, we’re done. And if they find this hideout…”

“We’re not going back,” Ericka said, pointing to a small hole at the corner of the room, hidden behind cobwebs.

“That’s our way out.”

Thalia stared at her. “You really think this will work?”

“Trust me,” Ericka said. “And trust your instincts. They’ve never been wrong.”

Thalia sighed and nodded.
She didn’t argue anymore.

Silence settled over them—heavy and suffocating.

Suddenly—
Ruth jolted awake, gasping for air, drenched in sweat.

“Ruth?” Thalia rushed to her. “What’s wrong?”

“I feel sick…” Ruth groaned, clutching her stomach. “I had a nightmare… it was horrible—”

She doubled over and vomited, shaking violently.

Thalia held her until the heaving stopped, then wiped her face gently.

Ericka waited quietly, giving her space.

Ruth trembled.
“I saw bodies… so many bodies. Dumped in a dam. The smell—”
She gagged again.
“It was everywhere…”

“Don’t say anything more,” Ericka said firmly. “That’s enough.”

Ruth nodded weakly and curled into herself.

They waited.
The room felt colder now.

Outside, the forest whispered—
like it knew what they had seen.

Once Jasmin had regained enough strength,
they would begin their escape.

And whatever waited beyond the tunnel…
was a truth they could no longer run from.