The mysterious girl leads all of us through a portal, into a world where we are on the outside looking in. Dylan stands in front of me as I hold Hope in my arms. Jade, Faye, and Klaus stand beside me.
The girl stops walking when we reach a wall of white light that shows images, like a movie theater. I look around this place, trying to figure out where we are and who this girl is.
But then, the images start moving and I can hear people talking.
I see Dylan, or rather, an older version of him, and he's talking to a young girl with big brown eyes and long brown hair, black feathers on her wings. I realize then that the girl who lead us here and the girl on the screen in front of me is in fact Hope, my baby.
"Go to Aunt Rose, okay?" Older Dylan says to Hope.
My Dylan places his hand on my shoulder. I hold my baby closer to me, and I watch as Hope on the screen shakes her head.
"No, Daddy, I can't. I have to stay with you."
"Hope, my sweetheart, everything is going to be okay."
"No, Dad, I don't want you to go anywhere!" cries the older version of Hope.
"Listen to me, Hope. I love you and your Momma loves you more than life itself. Nothing is going to be able to keep us apart for long, you know that. I won't let it. I promise, I'll come back for you."
Then, we are seeing the world from Hope's perspective, and she's running through the woods, going straight to the place where Rose stands.
Suddenly, Rose jerks hard, and a sharp and curved sword sticks out of her chest. Hope screams, and she runs toward where Rose is.
"No," I whisper.
Dylan squeezes my shoulder a little. I stare at the images on the screen, and I want nothing more than to yell and tell her to run away. Run, now! But Hope races towards where Rose crumbles onto the ground in front of a woman wearing all black, and a black and white mask. The girl cocks her head to the side and then runs at Hope, who stops dead in her tracks.
"Hope," I say. "Run!"
The girl who brought us here glances my way, but doesn't say anything. Then, the screen shows our perspective change, and now we're seeing through the eyes of Rose as Jaycee walks past.
"Oh my god," Dylan breathes. "That's Jaycee! She just stabbed Rose!"
I look at the screen in horror as I realize he's right. Dylan and I both see that this is indeed Jaycee, who is now perusing Hope, but not very friendly in her gait. And then, I watch as Jaycee tackles her to the ground, and she grabs Hope by her long dark hair and yanks her backward, hard. My daughter screams in surprise, shock, and confusion.
"Jaycee? What the fuck?" asks Klaus.
"Oh no," I breathe, and I turn, shielding my own eyes as a well as baby Hope's, and Dylan steps to stand closer to me and in between us and the images on screen. I'm not looking, as my eyes are shut now, and my hand is over her eyes.
The sound of fighting springs into existence, and then I hear it. The sound of a blade cutting through flesh. The sound of death. Coming from the screen behind me.
"I'm sorry," Jaycee says on the screen. "I didn't want to do this. I'm so sorry, Hope."
I turn around, looking back at the screen. Hope screams in pain and then she sees something behind Jaycee and smiles viciously, the same way I've seen Dylan do before.
