I felt like I was being stretched out again, and I screamed again just for the fun of it, even if it was still a little painful. I landed on my feet and tried to steady myself, but unfortunately fell off balance into someone's arms. I looked up to see Adria, her face curled up with mischievousness. "I appreciate you falling into my arms, but you gotta take me to dinner first," she teased. I laughed and she helped me stand up. She held out her hand, and I was confused at first. "I'll put the necklace in my bag so it doesn't get lost or anything like that.' I nodded, handed the necklace to her, and brushed myself off. I turned around to see Hunter wave his hand around the portal and grab something inside it. He pulled out my old doll, and the portal disappeared. He stuck the doll in my backpack, and then turned and looked around. Adria and I followed suite and took in our surroundings.

We were in a beautiful forest. The trees towered over us, light streaming in through the leaves and brushing over the grass. Birds chirped and wind blew softly, tickling our skin and playing with our hair. I lowered my arms and my backpack slid off and fell onto the ground below. A couple meters away, a small lake glimmered in the sunlight, the water rippling with fish swimming in it, I presumed. It was lovely. I loved everything in that small moment I looked around. A small wailing sound arose, and it wasn't very pleasant to listen too.

"It's so lovely..." I heard Hunter speak softly. He walked forward toward the lake, almost as if in a trance. A chill went up my spine and my heart jumped into my throat. I didn't know why, but somehow I knew. Something would try to hurt him if he got too close. I ran toward him, calling his name and trying to get him to stop. He didn't seem to hear me. It felt like I was stepping in thick mud I was running so slow. I finally got to him and grabbed his shirt sleeve roughly. He jerked back, but then yanked forward. I heard a growl of frustration and looked out toward the lake. Now that I was closer to it, I could see a rock protruding out of the water. Sitting on it was something that seemed to come out of a horror movie or Greek mythology. It had the body of a serpent, with purple glittery scales and lavender thin limbs, but it had the face of a captivating woman. I knew what it was.

"Adria! Help!" I screamed. I grabbed his arms and tried to pull him away, but under the siren's trance, Hunter was stronger than ever. Adria's running footsteps approached quickly as Hunter grunted and tried to get closer. The siren continued to wail away, getting louder. "Do you have something to block out the wails of the siren?" I asked her over the siren. She thought while trying to yank Hunter away. Then she let go. Hunter surged forward with such force that I nearly let go of him. Adria reached into her pocket and brought out something small. She quickly stuck it in his ears. He blinked, then looked around.

"Where am I?" He shouted. The siren stopped wailing, causing Adria and I to look over, which led Hunter to look. He gasped when he saw the siren. The siren glared at us, then let out the loudest, angriest shriek I'd ever heard. It lasted for about 15 seconds, and I was holding my ears and kneeling when it finally stopped. I looked up to see the siren slither into the water, a dejected look upon its face. I looked over to Adria, who was also kneeling down holding her ears. Her braid fell down across her shoulder, her face contorted in pain.

"What just happened? And can I take this stuff out of my ears now?!" Hunter cried. Ria shook her head, grabbed his arm gently, and led him away from the murderous little pool. I turned around back to the lake. Sitting on the rock and treading water around the rock were more sirens, and they were glaring daggers at our backs. I shivered and ran up to the others nervously, not looking back again. When we got to the place where I had dropped my backpack, I quickly picked it up and slipped it on again. We walked for a while, making sure we were far enough away from the pool.

When Ria and I were positive we were far enough away, she gave Hunter the signal to take out the stuff in his ears. Turns out it was candle wax. I didn't even think about it. I'd been through some of the weirdest crap in the past 42 hours. Ria and I explained what happened to him. Hunter got a little red and apologized, but we knew it wasn't his fault. We walked a little more, the light slowly diminishing. Finally Hunter spoke up. "I think it's time we made a fire of some sort and got to bed." Ria and I agreed.

Hunter and I gathered sticks and other burnable materials around while Adria set up temporary beds. Hunter got to work trying to get a flame manually, but it was dark before long and he gave up. Ria brought out a match-box, struck a match, and lit the fire. We chatted for a while, then took turns making sure nothing came to steal anything we had or maul in our sleep. Weird, I know, but you can never be too careful when you are literally racing against time itself. Hunter went first, then he would awaken Ria after four hours.

My dreams were restless. When I was awoken by Ria hours later, I could only remember smoke and being unable to breathe or see. When Ria woke me up, I didn't feel rested at all. I felt the complete opposite. I sat and watched around us for a few hours. Stirring the fire occasionally and watching the light slowly appear through the trees. Eventually I let the fire go out, as the sun would warm us up soon enough.

I watched the sunrise for hours, just marveling in the beauty of something I'd never taken the time to watch. I saw the reason people did this so often. I was so tempted to wake Hunter and Ria up, but they were sleeping so peacefully and I didn't want to bother them. So I just sat in silence, listening to the birds starting to chirp as the morning progressed.

It wasn't until it was too late that I heard footsteps coming up quickly behind us. I turned quickly to see someone walking up, practically glaring at me before going to wake the others up. "R-Ria. Hunter. Get up," I commanded, shaking them both. It took them a minute to comprehend what was happening. A woman of about 16 or maybe 17 towered over us. I tried to get a good look but I was shaking with fear. I couldn't focus. Something, possibly my gut, told my body something bad was going to happen.

This lady did not like us. The look in her eyes was obvious. She leaned down, right in my face and smirked. "Oh honey, you stepped into the wrong territory today."