The creature screamed the instant it realized what was happening.
Not with a human voice.
Something older.
Something wrong.
The sound ripped through the Veil like a living storm as shadows burst violently outward from the silver-eyed figure now tearing itself free from Nancy's body.
Pain exploded through her instantly.
Nancy collapsed to her knees with a choked gasp.
It felt like her soul was being ripped open from the inside.
"Nancy!" Kai slammed against the fracture again.
The Veil ignored him completely now.
Its attention locked entirely onto the creature.
Hungry.
Ancient.
Triumphant.
The entity twisted toward Nancy with pure hatred burning in its silver eyes.
TRAITOR.
The word hit inside her skull hard enough to make blood drip from her nose.
Nancy winced but forced herself upright anyway.
"You tried to eat my sanity for months," she rasped. "I think we're past trust issues."
The creature lunged for her instantly.
The Veil struck first.
Massive black chains erupted upward from the abyss, wrapping around the entity's limbs and throat before it could reach her.
The scream that followed shook the entire dimension.
The fracture behind Kai widened and destabilized violently.
Leo grabbed Evan.
"WE REALLY NEED TO LEAVE!"
"AGREED!"
But Kai still refused to move.
Because Nancy was still inside.
The entity thrashed wildly against the chains.
The Veil pulled harder.
The black water beneath them spiraled open into an endless void.
Nyra's voice sharpened urgently.
NOW, NANCY.
She didn't hesitate.
Nancy ran.
The shadows snapped at her heels as she sprinted toward the fracture, toward the light, toward Kai reaching for her with desperate focus.
The Veil roared behind her.
Because it understood now.
It had been tricked.
The bargain fulfilled technically—
but not the way it wanted.
The entity shrieked in fury as the chains dragged it downward inch by inch.
YOU NEED ME.
Nancy stumbled briefly at those words.
Because part of her feared they were true.
The power.
The connection.
The thing that had kept her alive this long.
Without it—
What would she become?
Nyra answered immediately.
Yourself.
The simplicity of that nearly broke her.
The fracture began collapsing rapidly.
"KAI!" Leo yelled. "NOW!"
Kai ignored him completely and stepped directly into the opening instead.
Nancy's eyes widened.
"Kai NO—"
Too late.
Reality split around him as he crossed halfway into the Veil itself.
Pain tore across his face instantly.
Black veins flickered beneath his skin again.
But he kept moving.
Toward her.
Always toward her.
Idiot.
Beautiful, reckless idiot.
Nancy reached for him desperately.
Behind her, the chained entity stopped fighting suddenly.
And smiled.
A cold wave of dread slammed through Nyra instantly.
Nancy—
Too late.
The creature looked directly at the Veil and whispered one final sentence.
She is not the only door.
The Veil went still.
Then—
its attention shifted.
Away from Nancy.
Toward Kai.
Kai froze mid-step as the darkness around them changed direction violently.
The Veil had found something new.
Someone new.
Someone human enough to enter.
Strong enough to survive.
Broken enough to tempt.
Kai's expression hardened immediately as he realized it too.
"Oh," he muttered grimly. "That's bad."
The shadows exploded toward him all at once.
Nancy screamed his name and launched forward—
Just as the fracture shattered completely.