The song came through the darkness with incredible, frightening clarity, like she wasn’t on the inside of a cave at all. There was no echo to it, as if she was in an open field. And for a moment, she closed her eyes and hoped she might be.<br/><br/>But she wasn’t. She was still in that same forsaken cave, all alone and surrounded by darkness. And whatever the song was, it was ignoring the strange, enchanted silence. And if it could get around that awful spell, it probably wasn’t a good sign.<br/><br/>“I can sing scary songs, too,” she muttered, and finally made her way off of the beach. The magical lights that had been hidden only moments before suddenly flared back up, bright and horribly clear.<br/><br/>And they were coming toward her.<br/><br/>“Foran,” she said evenly. “You can come out now. There’s<i>bad</i>outside.”<br/><br/>But he never appeared, because like the others, he was gone.<br/><br/>“You know what? Fine. Lights, you stay there and don’t do anything not-lighty. Song, you keep… doing your thing.<i>I</i>have other things to do.” She began to hum loudly to herself, trying to drown out the unseen singer’s song and starting to make a circle of sand around the bonfire Foran had been building.<br/><br/>She would make a big, pretty light with lots of noise and everyone would come back and they’d all leave the cave together before anything terrible happened to anyone, especially Verita. And then they’d find a real town with warm beds, hot food, and hotter baths. And everyone would be happy, even Foran. Well, maybe not Foran.<br/><br/>But out of the corner of her eye, she could still see the lights drawing nearer.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>