The cold wasn't normal.
It wasn't just temperature—it pressed against them. Thick. Suffocating. Like the air itself didn't want them there.
Evelyn exhaled slowly.Her breath came out in a cloud… then didn't fade.
It lingered.
Hanging in front of her like it was frozen in time.
Leo noticed first. "Why is it not… disappearing?"
No one answered.
Because something worse was happening.
Sophie blinked.
Then frowned.
"…Wait."
She looked around the room—at the frost-covered walls, the thin layer of ice crawling across the floor… at them.
Her expression twisted.
"Why are we here?"
Silence.
Alex let out a nervous laugh. "Not funny."
"I'm not joking." Sophie's voice shook. "I don't remember how we got here."
Evelyn's stomach dropped.
"No," she said quickly. "We just came from the corridor—the chanting, the door—"
Sophie shook her head harder. "I don't remember any corridor."
Leo stepped back slightly. "Okay… stop. That's not—"
"I don't remember you running," Sophie interrupted, panic rising. "I don't remember any of that!"
The room creaked.
Soft.
Almost… pleased.
Evelyn turned slowly.
The frost on the walls had begun to move.
Not melting.
Rewriting.
Words carved themselves into the ice in jagged, trembling letters:
WHAT YOU FORGET… BECOMES OURS
Alex stared. "No. No, no, no—"
"Don't forget anything," Evelyn said quickly. "Anything at all. Stay focused. Stay—"
She stopped.
Her grip tightened around the lantern.
"…What were we just talking about?"
Leo's face went pale.
"You said something about—about the corridor—"
"The corridor?" Evelyn whispered.
The word felt… wrong.
Distant.
Like it didn't belong to her anymore.
Behind them—
A sound.
A slow crack.
They turned.
The door they had come through…
…was gone.
In its place stood a smooth, frozen wall.
And inside it—
Shapes.
Four of them.
Human-shaped shadows trapped beneath the ice… unmoving.
Waiting.
Sophie stepped closer, trembling. "Those… look like—"
Her voice cut off.
Because one of the frozen figures moved.
Just slightly.
A hand twitching beneath the ice.
Pressing outward.
Trying to reach them.
Leo grabbed her arm. "Don't touch it."
Too late.
Sophie's fingers brushed the surface—
—and instantly, her entire body went still.
Her eyes went blank.
Empty.
"...Sophie?" Alex whispered.
She turned slowly toward them.
But the way she moved—
Too smooth.
Too controlled.
Too wrong.
Her voice came out quiet.
Flat.
"I remember now."
A pause.
Then she smiled.
"But not you."
The lantern flame snapped violently—
And for a split second—
There were not four shadows in the ice anymore.
There were five.