“Jason?” I asked, raising my voice slightly over the stuttering of the engine. “What’s wrong?”
I, Xyla and my brother Jason were on our way home after spending three weeks at music camp. We had been driving through nothing but snow for the last two hours, and I had begun to get worried, yet Jason insisted he knew where to go without needing help. In fact, I think he felt offended by the idea of a map. Now, surrounded by white at every corner, the car had started slowing down. I clenched my fists; it was all I could do to restrain from exploding “I told you so!”

Jason slammed his fists onto the steering wheel as the car finally came to a final halt. There was silence.
“Oh, great,” Jason groaned in frustration.
“Yeah, well, you should have -” I began, but Jason cut me off.
“Whatever, Xyla. ‘M not going to sit here listening to your lectures.”
Anger bubbled in me. “Oh, yeah? Then you get us out of here somehow! Do you have your cell phone?” He didn’t reply. “Wow,” I breathed. “Bet you didn’t charge it when I asked you to,” I said, struggling to keep my voice calm.
“I was busy at that time!’ Jason replied, red in the face, as anger built up.
“You were only playing cards!” I said.
“I was loosing against Felix!”
“Well, good for you!” I retorted angrily.
He opened his mouth to snarl, and then shut it. He put his hand over his eyes and sighed. “Look, Xyla, fighting won’t get us anywhere.”
“Well, you won’t either!” I said, but I lowered my voice. “Okay – now what?”
“Maybe we can wait here . . . hey, look!” he suddenly said, his eyes focused on something behind me. “A house!”
“Riiiiiiight,” I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “C’mon, Jason, be serious. How’ll we get out of here? Mum will be frantic -”
‘I’m serious!’ he yelled, throwing open the door. “Look!” he insisted, pointing.
I looked, expecting him to laugh, and then gasped. He was serious! Not too far off into the distance, shaded and half-hidden, was a house, easy to miss since it was white. Tree tops filled with snow surrounded it to form a miniature forest. I followed Jason out of the car, grinning.
“That’s it! We’re going to call mom from a phone and get home!”
“Awesome, isn’t it?” Jason asked, eyes shining. “Let’s go!”
We are so lucky, I thought. Normally, when people get stranded, they have to search for hours before they could find shelter or something!
Little did I know how quickly our good luck could turn bad . . .

In a matter of a few minutes, we stood in front of the white door with hints of brown in the corners to distinguish it from the surrounding walls. I shivered. Jason knocked.
There was silence. No one answered. Jason knocked yet again. I looked up at the sky. It was twilight.
Jason nudged me. I looked back at him curiously. Then I got what he meant; there were hushed voices that I could hear clearly, coming from inside.
Someone rasped “Who in the world could that be?”
Then I heard footsteps: - thunk thunk...

The door flew open. In front of us, stood two young boys. The first one was handsome, white-blond hair suitably matching his piercing light grey eyes. The other was sturdy and well built, and had a mass of messy jet black hair. His eyes were black and intense. Both were very pale. Their looks were cold; suddenly I didn’t have such a good feeling about coming here . . .
“What do you want?” abruptly asked the guy I called Cold to myself. He had something . . . eerie about himself. I breathed slowly.
“Our car broke down,” Jason explained, unmoved.
“So?” asked Cold harshly.
At the same time, the other guy, a glint in his eyes, said hoarsely. “Maybe . . . let them in, Fova.”
“Are you sure?” Fova asked hesitantly. His eyes searched mines and then moved to Jason.

I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself, cold despite the two heavy sweaters I was wearing.
A breeze whipped past us, and the Other guy gestured us in quickly. I immediately took a liking for him, but I wanted to stay as far away from Fova as possible. Fova sounded . . . dangerous. And mean.
I breathed quickly as me and Jason stepped in.
The ‘other’ guy slammed the door and turned to me and Jason. He smiled an eerie smile. “Oh. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Velier,” He held out his hand first to Jason and then briefly grasped mines.
“Hi,” I nodded, forcing on a smile. “Xyla Roberts.”
“Jason,” nodded my brother, dour. I wondered what his problem was.
Fova had already disappeared somewhere. Velier lead us into an open room, which was completely empty except for a small moth-eaten couch on one corner. It was probably supposed to be a living room. I looked around; from the ceiling hung a chandelier which wobbled dangerously, and its one bulb was the only source of light. The light blue walls reflected dimness and a cold aura around the whole room.

Fova suddenly reappeared. I turned around and there he was. I jumped; I hadn’t noticed him come. “Sit,” he told me and Jason, a smirk on his face. “Come,” he told Velier then.
Velier flashed us a smile then he and Fova left the room. As soon as they were out of sight, I turned to Jason. “Ask them for a phone, and then let’s get OUT of here…!”
“Why don’t you ask? I hardly think they have a telephone here anyway…!” Jason replied, gallingly.
“Jason -” I began but Velier and Fova had entered again. “We have a telephone.” Fova said firmly. “We’re not peasants you know…!”
I gasped; had they been eavesdropping? “My brother likes to joke,” I said, giving Jason a hard, meaningful glance. “Doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jason scowled. “Sorry!”
“Oops,” I muttered as my handbag left my grip and my lip gloss and pocket mirror fell out. The lip gloss rolled under the sofa. As I bent to pick it up, my eyes swept the mirror. The chandelier’s sway reflected in it. I gasped, turning around swiftly. Fova was standing in front of me, was he not? Where was his reflection?
But by the time I managed to straighten up, Fova was making his way to the corner of the room. Weird. . . Maybe I had imagined him standing there.
“So,” Jason said, more than a little hint of impatience in his tone. “The phone?”
“Go fetch, Fova,” Velier grinned, anything but amusement in his voice.
“OK” Fova stepped out of the room; yet was back in a millisecond. “Follow me Xyla and Jason”
Feeling uncomfortable, we headed outside the room. The walls outside the supposed “living room” were a sickly green color. There was nothing, nothing in the hall that followed. The hall was long; there was a door at the end. Chill tingled up my spine as Fova slowly turned the knob.

Once again I found myself in an empty room. There was, however, one piece of furniture there. A small, brown, neatly polished round table. There was an old-fashioned green telephone set upon it.
“Go ahead,” Fova said, a slight smirk on his face, and in one small motion, he had slammed the door shut behind him; it was only then I realized Velier had not followed us there.

As soon as the door had slammed, Jason had leaped towards the phone and started dialing. I held my breath. After a second, Jason slammed the phone down in frustration. “No bell,” he said flatly.
My heart sank. I took the telephone from him, and turned the weird dials on it. Then I waited. Nothing at first, I was about to hang up when –
Beep . . .
“Yes!” I threw my fist in the air to let Jason know it was ringing.
After three bells, someone answered. Excitement and hopefulness trickling in me, I said “Hello?”
“Hi. Who is this? Marietta Roberts speaking.” It was my mum! She did not sound upset though. . .
“Mom!” I squealed. “It’s Xyla! I and Jason got stuck in this place where the car broke down, and now we’re at some strangers’ house . . . ! It’s in the wilderness near Bwerta Fellens Society!”
“Okay,” she replied flatly.
“OKAY?” I said, bewildered. “Is that all you’ve got to say, Mum? Okay?”
“Look down,” she replied, and suddenly her voice was different. It was dripping with a sort of evil satisfaction. I was baffled. Suddenly I wasn’t so sure anymore. . . “Mom?” I asked uncertainly, while Jason gave me an impatient look.
“Look down.” She repeated.
I looked. I gasped. “W-what – how?” I stammered.

The wire below me was unplugged. Unplugged. Yet here I was, talking to someone I had thought is my own mother. How?
I threw the phone against the opposite wall where it broke to pieces.
“Jason, we’ve got to get OUT of here!” I shouted. “Go, go, go!”
We both scrambled towards the doorway, Jason questioning me, but I ignored him. My heart was thudding. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
We ran all the way towards the front door. Before I opened the door, however, something slammed me hard on my head. Before everything went blank, however, I heard another ‘bang’ which meant ‘they’ had got Jason too. . .
* * *
I woke up feeling groggy. My head throbbed. “Ow!” I groaned, feeling a bump.
I rubbed my eyes, till I could see properly. A blanket was the first thing that came into focus.
“Huh?” I murmured, perplexed.
I was in a bed. A spectacular double bed with sheets dotted with small silver orbs. The room I was in had no windows. The bed, again, was the only piece of furniture. I checked my watch. Seven forty-eight A.M.
Then the memories rushed back to me. Car broken down – strange Fova and Velier – phone – hit on head. How in the world had I landed here?
Then came the panic; where was Jason? How were we going to get out?
I ran and threw open the door. I was in the same hallway. How strange I had not noticed this room before. . . I ran down the hallway, throwing open the “telephone room” door. Empty. The living room. Empty. Where there even any other places in this house where Jason could possibly be?
I was so anxious. I made my way till the main door of the empty house. Where were Fova and Velier? Tears began to well up in my eyes but I held them in. Of course Jason was fine!
I threw open the door; then gasped. Velier and Fova both stood there, Velier’s hand on the doorknob. Fova laughed. “Hello, early bird.” Velier wiped his mouth.
“Where is Jason?” I asked, gritting my teeth.
“You should know, shouldn’t you?” Fova asked, still laughing.
“He was with you the whole time,” Velier said mysteriously. “You should know.”
Then they both started laughing crookedly, loudly, cackling. I could only stare in horror. Then I broke free of the bond of fear that held me and started running. I pushed Fova, who stumbled, and ran all the way around the huge house. I could hear them both running after me, but I didn’t turn back for fear I might slow down. Panting, breathless. It was only after a second I stumbled in the cold ice. I sobbed; what was going to happen?
I tried to get control of myself as I stood up. Maybe Fova and Velier had stopped chasing me; they were no where in sight. I collapsed under a tree trunk, and I had sat for only a millisecond, when I screamed and heaved myself up. Something stained the snow around where I sat.
Blood. Cold, crimson red shone on the snow. I gulped. Blood. . . I raised my eyes to the house. Trees had covered it, right? So there was no sunshine there, ever. What a typical place for a creature like those to live . . . and what about the mirror? What was that Velier had wiped from his mouth?
My head circled around the theory I could not get myself to believe either. Was it true? Or was everything I had seen a fragment of my imagination?

Gasping uncontrollably, I started to run again. I did not know where I would go . . . every next step was as dangerous as the other. I rounded around the turn where the back of the house started. Oh, no. There were Fova and Velier, victoriously smiling at me as I came running to a halt.
“I know what you are!” I shouted. “I know what you do!” I was stalling for time while I looked around. My eyes found a shack . . . but it was behind Fova and Velier. How could I get there? Maybe if I ran really, really fast . . .
Fova cackled and gave Velier a high five. Their eyes glinted.
“Do you believe in the supernatural, Xyla?” Velier shouted. “In magic? Witches and wizards? Werewolves?VAMPIRES?”
Fova and he both started laughing.
Fear crept up in me. Now what?
“Do you know what we have done?” Fova said, smirking.
No . . . I thought. They’re lying – they have to be. It can’t be true. Can it?
No! I told myself firmly. They have not done what I think they’re talking about. They haven’t.
Catching them off guard, I ran at break neck speed toward the shack. Velier tried to trip me, but I was better prepared. I turned around them, went in the shack – and slammed the door shut and bolted it tight.
My heart was beating so fast as I collapsed on the floor. Whew. Tears were freely streaming down my cheeks now – of happiness, of fear and of fury. I heard footsteps ahead in the dark shack.
I stood up, wobbling. “H – hello?” I asked uncertainly.
“Xyla.” I recognized Jason’s voice, though now it was steely and hard.
“Jason!” I shrieked. “We’re free! It’s all going to be okay! J – Jason?” I asked when he did not respond.
He stepped up in front of me. Some light poured through the cracks in a shack and I was able to see a bit of him. He was pale and his eyes were hard. “Are you okay?” I asked tersely. Behind us, someone banged on the door loudly, and I jumped.
Jason smiled down at me, and I was petrified as I stared.
His teeth. What had happened?
I let out a silent gasp, unable to believe what I was seeing
“No. . .” I said. “Please – please don’t tell me they - they got you. P – Please . . .” I begged quietly.
His fangs were long and sharp, with a glint of red on them. Somewhere behind me in the shack, I heard the dying ‘woof’ of a puppy. No. . . .
Someone rapped on the door again. Fova and Velier. . .
Jason’s eyes shone as he made his way to the door.
“I’ll get that.”