One of the Piper's eyes wasn't glowing like the other. It was shut tight, black liquid dried and smeared across the lid, trailing down her cheek like a dark tear. I wondered if it was the same black liquid that flowed through the Wolfman's veins, the same that now beaded at the edges of the wound on my hand.

I took note of the lack of nausea and wondered if its absence was linked to the control she no longer had over me.

I had only a moment to wonder how she had appeared on my trail or why she chose now, of all times, to reveal herself.

Then it struck me that Tommy could see her too. He reacted to her presence, snarling and tense. No one else had seen her before, Jade and Millie never seemed to notice when she lurked nearby. Was it the black blood that allowed us to see her, that connected us in some twisted way?

The Wolfman was just feet away from the Piper's slender figure, lunging at her with a vicious swipe. His growl erupted into a feral howl, echoing through the maze, his saliva spraying through the air.

The sound pierced my ears so sharp it rattled my skull. I flinched, gripping the crescent blade tighter, my senses overwhelmed by the clash of creature and phantom.

In what seemed like a blink of the eye, the Piper darted to the side, her movements fluid and unnervingly graceful, as if she were made of smoke rather than flesh and bone. Her one glowing eye, a vibrant, sickly green, seemed to pulse in the shadows as she toyed with the Wolfman, slipping just out of reach of his powerful claws.

"Ah, the poor beast still knows who to fear," she purred, her voice playful like a song only she could hear. She flicked her wrist and suddenly the nearby tune of the flute entered my ears. Its eerie melody cut through the air, making my skin crawl. "But you..." she turned her attention to me, her smile widening. "You are still indebted to my generosity, dear one."

I tightened my grip on the crescent blade and flung it in a sharp arc toward her. The blade sang through the air, aimed directly at her one good eye. But she was too fast. She stepped back just in time, the blade slicing through the space where her head had been only a second ago.

"You can't escape me that easily," she taunted, writhing to the sound of the flute coming from the other side of the wall of twisted and prickly tree branches.

The Wolfman growled, stepping in front of me defensively. He sprang again, this time with a rage that seemed born of desperation. His claws slashed at the Piper, but she only laughed, weaving around him effortlessly. He kept at it, snapping and swiping with a relentless fury, as if something in him refused to let her near me.

For a moment, I saw something in his eyes—a flash of recognition, of humanity. "Tommy," I called, my voice almost lost in the chaos. "Tommy, don't let her control you. Fight her!"

His eyes flickered, the yellow went dull for a split second. He hesitated, conflicted. His big, bad form trembled as if trying to break free from the shackles of his own skin.

Maybe sensing his hesitation, the Piper leaned in closer. I assumed her breath whispered against his ear. "Poor, lost boy... bound by your fate, tangled in the dark. You know there is no breaking free. You know what you truly are."

He snarled, shaking his head, but the words seemed to pierce him deeper than any claw or blade could. I sensed the battle raging inside him. Man against beast, reason against instinct. He turned toward me and extended his monstrous hand. His human fingers, trembled and torn, were visible beneath the fur but reaching for me.

"Tommy," I whispered again, stepping closer, risking everything. "I know you're still in there. You don't have to do this. You can fight it."

But just as his hand drew near, the Piper's flute let out a shrill note from over the tangled wall of trees, and his face contorted in pain. His body jerked violently, torn between obedience to the tune and the desire to break free. He turned to me, eyes wild and filled with anguish. His fingers tensed, he let out a guttural roar as if he were trying to warn me...or attack.

The Piper's eerie smile widened, a twisted pleasure dancing in her one glowing eye as she whispered her taunts into the air. "Bound by fate. You know what you truly are." Her voice was soft, like silk sliding over glass, but it held a sharpness that cut through the fog in my mind.

Suddenly, a high, clear note pierced the thick air. A single, haunting sound that resonated with a kind of magic that chilled my bones. The flute. It finally registered that Millie had the flute! She must have blown it. I turned my head, trying to get a glimpse of her through the tangled thorns, but the Enchanted Forest concealed her presence, leaving only the echo of the flute's eerie melody hanging in the air.

Summoned by the sound, a swarm of oversized rats scurried across the path in front of me. Their small, mangy bodies darted between the roots and brush, disappearing under the tangled trees that walled me in. The Piper's grin widened, and she tilted her head as if listening for something only she could hear.

Then, without warning, the Wolfman leapt. His massive form collided with mine, knocking me back but I managed to balance on my feet. I barely had time to rotate my forearm to retrieve my blade. It attached with a violent clang.

The shock of his sudden attack sent a wave of anger surging through me—an anger that started as a low burn in my chest and spread like wildfire, consuming my thoughts as well as my senses. It rippled through my veins, and I imagined it mingling with the black blood that seemed to course faster through me with every heartbeat.

"Get away from me!" I snarled, my voice a guttural growl that I barely recognized as my own. The Piper's eyes sparkled with glee. She clapped her hands in delight as if this was all part of some twisted game she had orchestrated. "Yes... let it out," she hissed. "Feel it. Let it consume you. Pay the Piper."

A rage twisted inside me like a living thing, coiling tighter and tighter until it felt like it would snap. My vision blurred in my periphery and the world turned red and hazy as my mind teetered on the edge of some dark void. My lips curled back, baring my teeth in a snarl I couldn't control. Something primal and violent stirred deep within, rising to the surface and sinking its claws into my thoughts.

What was happening to me?

I took the crescent blade in my hand, its familiar weight grounding me for a brief second, but then the surge hit. A wave of fury so intense that it consumed everything else.

I wasn't holding the blade anymore. The blade was holding me, pulling me forward. My limbs moved without my command, driven by the black sludge coursing through my veins, feeding on my anger, my pain, my desperation.

It wanted blood and it didn't care whose.

The Wolfman stared at me, confusion flickering in his human eyes, but I couldn't see the boy trapped beneath the fur and claws. I only saw a target.

I attacked, the blade slicing through the air in a deadly arc. He tried to dodge, but I was faster, stronger than I should've been. The blade caught him on the shoulder, and he howled in pain, staggering back.

But I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. The rage had overtaken me completely, twisting my body into a weapon. Every muscle moved with one purpose...destroy.

The Piper stood nearby and watched with her good eye, her expression shifting from amusement to something closer to awe and satisfaction. But even she wasn't safe from the anger raging inside me. I turned on her, my eyes locking onto that cold, pale face. Darkness pulsed in my chest pounding louder, urging me to strike.

I slashed at her with the blade, aiming for the place where her glowing eye had once burned bright. She moved swiftly, her silhouette slipping in and out of the shadows, but I was relentless. Each strike I made felt stronger than the last. My body no longer responded to reason or fear. It was pure instinct, pure rage.

The Piper's presence echoed throughout the twisted forest. "Yes, yes, that's it!" she sang. "Allow the Piper of the Grimm variety to glimpse what's inside of you."

Was this what the Piper had been waiting for all along? For me to lose myself completely?

Her taunts only fueled the fire.

I charged at her, a feral growl escaping my throat, but even as I swung the blade, it felt like I wasn't in control anymore. My limbs jerked and moved as if possessed, as if the black muck was in command now. I slashed again and again, wild, unfocused, just wanting to tear her apart.

Wanting to tear everything to shreds.

Finally, the blade bit into something soft. If it was the Piper or the Wolfman, I didn't know anymore. The lines between friend and foe, between beast and victim, had blurred into nothingness. All I knew was the thrill of the fight, the heat of the rage burning through me.

Then the Wolfman charged at me. His clawed yet oozing human hand grasped at my arm as if to stop me. For a moment, our eyes met—his wild, mine burning with something darker, something monstrous. I didn't care. I bared my teeth and slashed at him again, my vision clouded with red. He recoiled, his howl filled with both pain and something that sounded almost like sorrow.

The look in his human eyes seemed to warn me, urging me not to give in, to fight just as I had been telling him to. That silent message lingered, even as he turned and trotted back to where he had come from.

Yet I felt myself slipping further, deeper into the abyss. I was losing the part of me that knew who I was.

The black ooze at the edges of my itchy hand wound throbbed.

I was no longer Kam.

I was something else.

Something that only wanted to destroy.