We tried to leave at dawn.
Zane led the way, keys in hand, swearing he'd remembered the turn.
But the road was gone.
Not blocked.
Not overgrown.
Gone.
Just trees.
Tall, knotted pines pressing tight together like they'd always been there—like no road had ever cut through them.
---
> "This isn't possible," Zane muttered, spinning in a slow circle.
> "I walked this trail yesterday. I filmed it."
Harper didn't say anything.
She just closed her eyes, tilted her head, and whispered like she was listening for something behind the wind.
Then she said it:
> "The Hollow's expanding."
> "We're inside her now."
---
Tyrell had regained some color but hadn't spoken a word since returning.
He sat on the cabin steps, carving something into the wooden floor with the edge of his token.
A shape.
A spiral.
Over and over and over again.
---
Jules stood near the woods, looking for cell signal, arms out like a scarecrow.
She kept muttering to herself.
> "He wasn't supposed to come back."
"We left him there."
She looked at me suddenly.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, wild.
> "You saw it, didn't you?"
> "Inside the tree."
I didn't answer.
---
Because I had.
And I was still seeing it.
Every time I blinked.
The hollow bark peeling back like lips.
The roots twitching like veins.
The teeth.
Teeth made of bark and names carved into bone.
And at the center—
A girl.
Or what was left of one.
Long fingers. Empty eyes.
Her mouth sewn shut with spiraled twine.
Riley had whispered her name once…
> "Elarah."
---
Zane called us into the lodge around noon.
He'd reviewed some of the footage from his camera.
And he found something he swore wasn't there before.
A clip.
Titled simply:
"riley_speaks.mov"
---
We crowded around the screen.
It played with static at first.
Then… his face.
Riley.
Same age as the night he vanished.
Same crooked smile.
Same cut on his cheek we thought came from a branch, but now felt more like a mark left by her.
He looked into the lens. Eyes too wide. Too still.
> "You came back."
> "Why?"
> "You never played fair."
---
Jules gasped.
Harper crossed herself.
Tyrell started shaking again.
The video continued:
> "She forgives lies… if they're interesting."
> "But you lied boring."
> "You lied to survive."
> "She hates that."
Then, slowly, he raised his hand to the camera.
His palm was open.
Empty.
Until, from nowhere, a spiral of ash began to form in his hand—twisting into the shape of a seed.
> "Whoever holds the last spiral becomes her mouth," he said.
> "That means one of you… doesn't make it out."
---
The screen went black.
---
We sat in silence for what felt like hours.
Then Harper stood.
She reached into her pocket and held out her token.
It was changing.
The spiral had grown, threading out like roots along the porcelain surface.
And something new had appeared at the base:
A name.
Not hers.
"Lena."
---
We turned to Lena.
She was standing in the corner, clutching her spiral to her chest.
Her hand was bleeding.
Thin slits ran down her fingers—where the wood had embedded into her skin.
Growing. Moving.
Feeding.
> "It won't let go," she whispered.
"It wants something from me."
---
Harper stepped forward carefully.
> "You were closest to Riley."
> "Did you say goodbye?"
Lena didn't answer.
But her eyes filled with tears.
---
> "I made him go," she whispered finally.
"He didn't want to."
> "But I told him we'd all think he was weak if he bailed on the challenge."
> "He looked at me like I broke something in him."
> "I think I did."
> "And when I ran after him…"
> "I saw her."
---
> "She stood behind the tree. One hand on Riley's shoulder."
> "He wasn't scared."
> "He looked… relieved."
> "Like he'd found something that understood him."
---
> "I turned around and ran."
> "Because I realized… it wasn't him she wanted."
> "It was me."
---
The room grew quiet again.
Until we heard it—
The wind, whispering through the trees like a voice passing between trunks.
It said a single word:
> "Liar."
---
The fireplace ignited on its own.
A new message appeared, burned into the stone above:
> "ROUND FOUR – WHO IS THE MOUTH?"
> ONLY ONE CAN SPEAK FOR HER.
> CHOOSE, OR SHE WILL.