TWENTY-ONE: A WHILE AGO.

A few days ago, after the death of Resa and Annie's disappearance, the Broadways went silent. It's a tradition to mourn the death of a loved one for seven days before laying them to rest, but Resa's body was nowhere to be found, nor was Annie's.

Clary, now all alone, hadn't left her room for two days. She was devastated. It's funny how things can change in a split second.

Every day she wished she would just wake up and find her two sisters next to her, as if it were all a dream. But each time she woke up in the morning, it was the same nightmare relived.

For two weeks, she did not eat, drink, or get out of bed. She was down, and her phone rang a few times, but she was too downcast to pick it up.

The weight of missing a loved one is so heavy; you can't afford to bear it alone.

This attitude went on for the next three days. Her parents, Cela and Dave, were worried sick about their daughter.

"Should we check up on her?" Dave asked, pacing around the dining room.

"No, I think we should give her time. It's really going to be hard for her," Cela declined, holding her husband to stop him from climbing the stairs.

"But it's been seventeen days now. You said seven days ago. We need to help our baby girl."

"I know, let her grieve; it's part of healing. She'll come around when she feels better."

Dave sighed and sat down on a chair next to the glass table, his hand rubbing his forehead as he sighed continuously. Cela stood beside him, trying to hold him together.

On the fourth day, it was the same result. Although they were worried, they had to give her some space.

That night, the full moon was out. Its light shined brightly on Clary's room through the window. She used her blanket to shield herself from the rays of moonlight.

By midnight, she was fast asleep. A few minutes later, she woke up to find herself in a thick, dark forest. It was so dark, you could hardly see, even with bat's eyes.

The sky was covered with dark clouds. She looked around, scared. How did she get here? She took one step forward and found herself standing next to a wooden cottage with strange inscriptions written all over it.

She squinted to read the inscriptions; it was written in an ancient language she happened to understand.

"Wend þinne andweard to me, þinne hweorf to þam wudu, ealdras treowa."

Which meant:

"Turn your face to me and your back to the forest, oh mothers of wood."

She said it out loud, and then the hut stood up. It slowly turned to face her, opening the door, and before she could process what was happening, she was inside.

Inside the cottage was warm. Annie was seen in the middle of the cottage with a big pot of hot boiling dark liquid, stirring it with a large wooden spoon.

She took some liquid in the spoon, poured it into a cup, and walked over to Resa and Alexa's corpses, which lay on an old crooked bed.

She lifted the cup up, chanting a spell in another language before giving it to them to drink.

She went back to the pot with the now-empty cup. She put out the fire using magic, then sat in the middle of a triangle drawn on the floor with chalk. On each side were lit candles. She put her hands together, closing her eyes as she sniffed the thin air.

"I know you're there. I can sense your presence."

Clary came closer, surprised to see her sisters. She kept coming closer, not saying a word, but before she could come any closer, Annie stopped her.

"Why are you here?"

With so much pain in her voice, Clary replied,

"My dreams led me here." Then she smiled, brushing away the tears that streamed down her cheek. "Come home, Annie. Mum and Dad are worried sick about you."

Annie sighed.

"Tell Mum and Dad I'm fine out here. I can't go back and pretend nothing happened."

Clary dropped to her knees, uncontrollable tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Please, Annie, we can make Raymond pay. He'll rot in jail."

"And what good will that do? At least he gets to keep his life? No! I'll make him pay my way."

Then she stood up and went to her sister, who wept like a baby. She bent down before her, cupping her hair to the side.

"In here, I'm already at home."

Then she hugged her, dried her tears with her thumbs, and made her stand. She kissed her on the cheek and leaned in to whisper,

"Don't come looking for me." And she knocked Clary out.

...

The next morning, Clary woke up with tears clouding her eyes. She couldn't help but cry.

It had been three weeks since Resa's death and Annie's disappearance. The tragedy was too heavy for her to bear, so for the first time in three weeks, she stood up from her bed.

Cela and Dave were surprised to see their daughter in the dining room. They were also happy that she was finally getting back on her feet.

After breakfast that day, Clary met with her mother on the balcony.

"Hey, Mum, can I join you?"

Cela smiled, putting away the pipe she was smoking and stretching out her hands to receive her daughter.

"Sure."

They both looked out at the happenings on the street, silent for a while, before Cela broke the silence with a question.

"Is anything bothering you, dear?"

Clary sighed.

"Yes, I know where Annie is."

Cela looked puzzled. She took a seat in a white plastic chair nearby and stared at Clary with interest.

"Where is she?"

"In the dark forest."

Cela sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. Clary observed her mother's expressions.

"You knew?"

"Yes, we did."

"So why didn't you do anything about it?" Clary blurted out.

"Because she doesn't want to be found, Clarissa."

Clary sighed and sank into the other chair without saying a word.

"But sweetheart, how did you know where she is?"

"I had a dream," she answered, then narrated it to her mother.

Cela placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder for comfort.

"Let's give Annie time to get over it. She'll come around," then she hugged her close to her chest. "I hope so."

...

Later that afternoon, Clary retired to her room and picked up her phone.

She had a lot of missed calls and messages, so she sat down on her bed and began going through them.