30 Minutes Earlier

Nina sat in front of the mirror, a brush in her hand as she combed through her hair.

She’d been at it for the last hour, her palms dripping with sweat.

Finally, she set the brush down and picked up the lip stain. Her fingers trembled as she opened the small box and dabbed her finger into it, pressing it slowly against her lip. She pressed her lips together as she stared at her own reflection.

Her shoulders were trembling.

Her hands were shaking.

She swallowed hard as she pressed her hands together in her lap and held them there.

Her face was pale. No matter how many times she’d tried to even her breathing out it stayed pale.

The guards were stationed around the room, four of them, their eyes moving across every corner and shadow and back again without stopping.

Nobody spoke.

Nobody had said anything in the last hour. The room was so quiet, the low tick of the clock on the wall was very loud in her ears.

She glanced at it.

It was almost midnight.

Nothing had happened yet.

Lady Gina said they’d been found mangled. Was that how she was going to die too?

The thought of it made her legs begin to tremble.

Breathe

She pulled a breath in slowly and let it out through her nose.

It did nothing.

Her eyes glanced at the clock again.

Twenty minutes.

She shut her eyes as she listened to it tick. She opened them again.

Fifteen minutes.

The candles on the vanity threw a long shadow of her against the wall behind her and she stared at it and tried not to think.

Suddenly there was a creaking sound in the walls, as though something was moving inside of it.

Nina whipped her head immediately. The guards all turned to the direction of the sound.

’’Don’t move,’’ one of them said, their swords drawn.

Nina sat still, all the hairs on her body standing on end, her heart banging against her ears.

There was silence as they waited to hear it again, but there was nothing.

Then, before any one could react, the windows which had been sealed exploded as a gush of wind blew into the room.

It tore through so fast that every single lantern went out at once and there was utter darkness.

Nina screamed and was on her feet before she knew she had moved.

"Help!" she shouted, her whole body trembling as she stared into the dark.

"Stay where you are," one of the guards shouted. She could barely make them out in the darkness.

One of the guards ran towards her, but just when he was about to reach her, he froze.

Nina blinked, what was happening?

A loud scream and the crack of bones tore through the silence.

Nina screamed as she watched his body drop to the ground.

The other guards began screaming one after the other.

Nina turned towards the door, running as fast as her legs could carry and began slamming her fists against it.

"Open the door! Help! Somebody help!"

No one answered from the other side. There was no single sound. Like the hallway on the other side had simply ceased to exist.

Suddenly the screaming stopped. All at once, there was not a single sound.

The wooden floor creaked as she heard footsteps approach her.

Nina stilled by the door.

Her heart slammed hard against her chest.

Her eyes blurred as tears fell from her eyes. She was going to die.

She turned around slowly.

And she froze.

A monstrous figure stood in front of her.

The same one she had seen in her dreams.

Its head was larger than the rest of its body and its fingers were long, hanging wrong at its sides. It stood completely still and looked at her. Then it tilted its head to one side.

Then to the other.

Nina trembled, her hands going over her mouth to stifle her screams.

It just stood there looking at her, like it was studying her.

Then, it took one step toward her.

Nina pressed herself into the wall. ’’Please...’’ she cried, she didn’t want to die.

Her feet left the floor as its hand went around her neck.

Nina struggled against it, her hands clutching its arm as she fought to breathe. She clawed and pulled but its grip tightened, its claws digging deep into her skin.

Then she felt it — life beginning to drain out of her, slow and steady from the center of her chest.

She opened her mouth to scream.

No words came out.

Slowly, her grip loosened around its arm and dropped to her sides.

Her eyes blurred and her head dropped forward and the darkness pulled her under until —

There was nothing.

One second.

Two.

Her eyes opened.

Blue. Bright, with power radiating off them.

Nina’s head raised slowly, and she lifted her eyes to the figure.

The figure looked at her face and its grip on her neck faltered.

It stared into her eyes and stumbled back one step. Then another. Its mouth fell open.

Nina’s eyes narrowed on it and she tilted her head.

"How. Dare. You."

Her voice came out low and even and the figure flinched. Its hands shook harder now and its mouth opened wider.

"Annalise?"

Dread filled its voice as it spoke, letting her go immediately.

Nina dropped, her feet hitting the floor. She stood there with her head down and her hair loose around her face and she breathed.

Then she raised her head slowly, rolling her neck, the joints cracking one by one. Her hands hung loose at her sides.

The power came before she reached for it, moving up through her chest and filling her throat, and she opened her mouth.

"Kneel."

The figure drove into the ground, both knees cracking hard against it, its shoulders hunching forward, its arms shaking, its head bowing low.

"Please don’t kill me...please, I’ll leave. I’ll never return."

It croaked, trembling.

Nina watched it, her eyes glowing blue.

She raised her hand towards it and the figure exploded, black particles bursting through the room and scattering in every direction until there was nothing left of it.

Nina exhaled as she dropped weakly to the ground, both palms flat on the wood holding herself up as her hair fell forward around her face.

The blue burned at the edges of her eyes and then bled out slowly, from the outside in, until they were normal again.

She remained on the floor, her head bowed.

Then slowly she raised her eyes to the mirror across the room.

Her own face looked back at her. Hair loose around her face. Dress torn at the shoulder. Chest rising and falling.

She tilted her head slowly, a smile curving her mouth.

"It took you long enough,"

The doors slammed open almost immediately, guards rushing in and their eyes widened with horror when they saw the state of the room, and the dead guards on the ground.

Nina raised her head slowly.

"She’s alive..."

One of them said it like he didn’t believe it yet. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Five minutes past midnight. He looked back at her, his eyes wide with shock.

"The Luna is alive!"

He screamed it this time and almost immediately the noise exploded in the hallway. Loud footsteps sounded as everyone rushed in to see, their eyes widening as they took in the sight.

How was it possible...

How was she alive...

Nina stayed where she was on the floor, her chest rising and falling, and searched through them. Looking for the one person she was waiting for.

Then the footsteps sounded, and every other sound disappeared.

The crowd gave way as it approached.

Nina lifted her eyes and they locked with deep grey ones from across the hallway.

Her lips curved.

There you are.