RULE 13: NEVER DEPEND ON WHAT YOU LEARNED ON THE OUTSIDE. IT WILL LEAD YOU ASTRAY.

✷ C H A P T E R T H I R T Y - S E V E N ✷

As we all looked at each other, clueless, Theo took charge and walked back up to Harold. Theo sucked a breath in, his hand resting on the edge of the stall, his fingers tapping on the rotting wood.

"What is the right path?" Theo asked the obvious question we all had in our minds.

I knew Harold would most certainly not give us a straight answer, but it was worth asking, nonetheless. If what the others said was correct, then Harold was also under the spell of Vanessa. I gulped, hoping I would not end up like Harold, my skin gray, eyes purple.

    "I am not at liberty to say," Harold cooley smirked while he reorganized the pamphlets in front of him. The wind blew a few off the counter, but all Harold did was shrug his shoulders, giving a small wave to the pamphlets that were now tumbling down to the parking lot.

    "Can you smell which one is the right path?" I interrupted, knowing everyone who was with me had supernatural abilities that could be leveraged. I didn't want to have come all this way just to be stumped by which path to choose.

    "No," Theo turned his head and sniffed the air. "There must be a block."

    "You would be correct," Harold cheered up, with a larger smile expanding his face.

    "What paths are there to choose?" Theo snapped back, becoming irritated.

    "Right or left," Harold piped out with a chuckle. "Simple, isn't it?"

    Theo let out a sigh, and it seemed like we all came to the same conclusion: we could not use Harold – who had a tour guide pin strung to his shirt – for any information. He was clearly here to provide no clarity on the decision of which path to choose.

    "They always say go right to get out of a maze," Heath offered as he stroked his chin in thought. I had never heard that saying, but then again, I had never encountered a maze. The Borderlands was too small for frivolous affairs such as a maze.

    "This is not a maze, Heath," Mina perked her eyebrows while she sighed. I twisted my lip up in thought, not knowing how we would be able to figure out what path to choose.

    "Do you have any better ideas?" Heath narrowed his eyes at Mina.

Theo turned around. "Have any of you noticed anything off? Any signs at all?"

    "Everything is off here," I responded, my foot kicking the ground beneath me.

    Even back in the Borderlands, I was never the smartest person to walk the Earth. I did well enough in school to keep Pa from hounding me on my marks, but I never excelled in any one subject unless it was in art class. Not that I would have needed to, anyway. Many people in the Borderlands took up trade professions, only a handful of jobs – like Ma's – required further studying outside of the Borderland's Common Curriculum. My lack of education made me want to shrink into a ball and roll away. I wanted to be able to contribute to figuring things out in a meaningful way, but I felt so helpless.

    "Follow the light," Harold said quietly as he was now flipping through a magazine, looking disinterested in what was going on around him.

    "That's what they say to people when they die," Heath barked out, looking puzzled. I was comforted by the fact it did not seem I was the only one who was grasping at straws here. "We're all going to die."

    "No, we're not," Theo scowled at Heath.

    "Technically, we will," Heath looked proud of himself. "One day."

    "Hey, will you shut up," Mina shot up from her slouched posture. "I saw a sign that said that back in the town. It said: Follow the Light."

    "What light, though?" I turned and asked Mina.

    Despite having on a pair of pants, my body was covered in goosebumps. I tried to ward them off by quickly rubbing my hands over my arms, but it gave me no relief from the incoming cold. Instead, I then tried to move my legs in place to generate some heat to keep my limbs from turning a bright red.

    "A star," Theo looked up to the sky.

    Sure enough, up above us to the right of the mountain was a bright, shining star. Even though it was the middle of the day and a thin layer of fog loomed about, it was still easily visible. I had never seen a star shining so brightly during the day. Was that a usual occurrence here on the Outside? I wanted to ask, but my lips were too cold to open, and I did not want to seem foolish.

    "Now, that's too easy," Heath skeptically said back as he monitored the sky.

    Silence overtook us while I focused on keeping warm, longing for the puffy coat that was trapped back in the car. Theo and Mina looked deep in concentration while Heath and I scoured our surroundings.

    It looked like we were in a campground, with picnic tables and grills near the foot of the mountain. Yet, there was still no sign of wildlife anywhere. The air was awfully quiet as if we were trapped in an empty room.

    "Wait," Mina slowly came to a realization, her head tilting.

    "What?" Theo asked, his eyes scanning over Mina's face.

    "Let me think," she waved him off as she continued to look deep in thought. "Look, he has a star on his shirt. It looks just like the star in the sky."

    "What does the star on your shirt mean?" Theo approached Harold again with a question.

    "It is a star," he muttered back, not looking up from his magazine.

    "When did you get that star?" Mina took a step forward to interrogate Harold.

    "Follow the light," was all he said in return, not wanting to address our questions directly.

    "Do you think we follow the light?" Mina's words were unsure.

    "We could split up," Theo mused. "Two of us go left and two of us go right."

    "I'm sorry, you can't do that," Harold finally looked up, his purple eyes vibrantly staring at me. "Your party must decide on one path and one path only."

    "Do you say anything useful?" Mina looked him in the eye, and he almost snarled at her.

    "Follow the light," he bit back at Mina.

    "Is that what you did?" Mina scrutinized, and Harold just shrugged as a response, continuing to flip through his magazine. "Wait."

    Mina waved her hand in the air as the wheels in her mind started to turn – we could practically see them turning, as her face morphed with concentration. We gave Mina a few minutes before Heath let out a big exasperated sigh.

    "I think we go the opposite path the star leads to," Mina finally said. "The people – or whatever they are – that live in this town are all under Vanessa's spell. Can we agree on that?"

    Theo and Heath nodded their heads. Once I saw they were in agreement, I shook my head, too. Mina smirked before continuing on, "okay, so there are signs in this town that say 'Follow the Light'. Everyone we have come in contact with has a star on their shirt – a symbol of the light. They all followed the light – like mindless minions – and, look, that's exactly what they became."

    "Shit," Heath nodded along.

    "We need to take the left path," Mina continued. "I'm sure of it."

    "Okay, we all need to agree," Theo said, digging his foot into the soil below. "We all have to agree to go on the same path, but if any of you are uncertain, you can stay behind. Sage?"

    I was taken aback, but I responded without much thought, "I'm in."

    "Me too," said Mina.

    "Same, " Heath smiled.

    "Okay, then we are going to take the left path," we all nodded our heads at Theo's words.

    Before embarking on our uncertain journey, we doubled back to the car to pick up our backpacks and coats. I slipped on a puffy black, down coat that helped subdue my budding goosebumps. Heath, Theo, and Mina carried a backpack each filled with water and food for our long trek up the mountain. Again, I was feeling helpless not carrying any weight – quite literally – but Theo explained the rest of the journey to Vanessa would be taxing, even for them.

    It made sense, but it did not make me feel much better.

    Once we had all our supplies, we went back over to Harold who looked almost too happy; his yellow teeth on full display.

    "The left path, is it? Ah, interesting choice. Dangers lurk on that mountain. Beware, some dangers can keep even an Alpha up at night. Now, each path leads to a cabin. You will know if you have arrived at the right one upon entering. Once you step foot on the path, you will not be able to come back, and if you ever feel like you made the wrong choice in path, you will not be able to change your mind. You are being watched. Good luck."

    And, with that, we were on our way to journey up the mountain.