The moment Loralie screamed, everything stopped.

"RORY!" Lorenzo's voice tore through the forest as he sprinted forward.

The group broke into a run.

But Lorenzo was faster—his long strides cutting through the distance in seconds.

He reached the well first and dropped to his knees at its edge.

"Rory?!" he shouted down into the darkness. "Rory, can you hear me?!"

Silence.

"Loralie!" Haider yelled next.

Nothing.

Zuri arrived a moment later, breathless. "W-where is—" she gasped, struggling to breathe. "—she?"

No one answered her.

Haider's expression darkened. "I'm going in."

"What? No—" Zuri started, but he was already moving.

He climbed onto the edge of the well.

Lorenzo grabbed his shoulder hard. "Are you out of your mind?"

Haider shook him off. "If she's down there, I'm not waiting."

Before anyone could stop him, Lorenzo stepped forward.

"I'm going," he said firmly. His eyes didn't leave the well. "And if I don't come back, Ethan follows."

Then he jumped.

His scream swallowed instantly by the darkness.

⸻

Lorenzo fell through endless black.

Wind tore past him—impossible wind, rushing through a space that shouldn't exist underground.

The well wasn't a well.

It was a tunnel.

And it didn't seem to end.

⸻

Back above, panic exploded.

"I'm next," Ethan said immediately.

"Ethan, don't—" Zuri grabbed for him.

But he was already climbing in.

Haider followed without hesitation.

"Are you serious?!" Zuri shouted, voice cracking.

For a moment—just one—

She stood frozen at the edge.

Then she exhaled.

And jumped.

⸻

Far above them, carved into the stone beneath the moss and dirt, were faint words no one had noticed before:

BEWARE. CHANGES INSIDE.