Ethan stood at the cabin door and knocked again, firm but controlled.
"Can't we just break it?" Wednesday asked, glancing at the hinges. "It would be faster."
"No," Ethan replied without looking back. "That would terrify Lucy. She's nine."
Inside, the floor creaked faintly.
Ethan kept his voice steady and raised it just enough to carry through the wood.
"Come on. Open the door. Let your big brother in. Mom and Dad are worried about you."
Wednesday wanted to say that what he was doing right now — calmly knocking and talking through the door in the middle of a cursed forest — was likely terrifying the people inside far more than kicking it down ever would.
The door opened.
"See—" Ethan started to say.
A chainsaw roared to life and came straight for his head.
He didn't flinch.
The blade slammed into his palm instead.
Metal screamed as the chain tore against his skin, sparks jumping from the contact point. The teeth spun violently, trying to bite through bone, but they couldn't get past him. Not a drop of blood fell.
Ash stared.
He yanked the chainsaw back to swing again.
It didn't move.
Ethan was still holding it.
"Calm down," Ethan said evenly, the engine roaring between them. "We're not demons. And we're definitely not your enemies."
He tightened his grip and pulled.
The chainsaw ripped free from Ash's hands. Ash stumbled back a step as Ethan stepped inside the cabin and killed the engine with a casual flick.
Selene entered first, eyes scanning every corner. Wednesday followed, already assessing the room. Enid slipped in quickly behind them. The door shut.
Lucy was sitting on a chair near the wall.
"There you are, Lucy," he said quietly. "Good thing nothing happened to you."
The next moment he was kneeling in front of her.
Lucy gasped and shrank back in the chair, eyes wide. Her hands grabbed the armrests, breathing fast, staring at him like he had just appeared out of nowhere.
He kept his voice soft.
"Hey. It's okay."
She looked ready to scream.
"You don't remember me?" he asked gently. "I came to your house for dinner once. Your dad works for me. You called me uncle."
Lucy stared at him, scared and confused, searching his face. Her breathing slowed slightly as recognition tried to surface.
He didn't move closer. He let her think.
A few seconds passed.
Her expression shifted.
"…Uncle?" she said quietly.
Relief cracked through her fear. She slid off the chair and ran into him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.
"I miss Mommy and Daddy," she cried.
Ethan held her carefully.
"I know," he said softly. "I'm here now."
Ash kept staring at Ethan's hand.
The chain had been spinning full force. It should have carved through flesh.
Instead, there wasn't even a mark.
He lowered the shotgun slowly, suspicion still in his eyes. They didn't look possessed. They didn't smell wrong. But no normal man stopped a chainsaw like that.
"Appreciate you taking care of her," Ethan said, calm but sincere.
Ash gave a short nod.
"When did you find her?" Ethan asked.
That was the part that didn't sit right.
Lucy had been missing for four days.
If she had been here that long, alone, she wouldn't be alive. Not in these woods. Not with whatever was crawling outside.
"Two hours ago," Ash replied. "She showed up near the trail. Shaken. Didn't know where she was."
Ethan went quiet.
Two hours.
So the displacement hadn't just shifted space.
It had fractured time.
If Lucy arrived only recently in this timeline, then she never had to survive four days of this place. That explained why she was unharmed.
'The spell isn't linear,' he thought. 'It throws you into different points.'
He glanced briefly at Wednesday. She didn't need to speak; the calculation was already in her eyes.
"Two hours," Ethan repeated under his breath.
Then he looked back at Ash.
"Thank you," he said again, this time heavier. "If something had happened to her, her family would have been devastated."
Ash gave a slow nod.
"Kid's lucky," he muttered.
"Enid," Ethan said without taking his eyes off Ash, "take care of Lucy. Keep her away from the windows. If anything starts happening, don't let her see it. And if something looks blind and ugly, close her eyes."
Enid nodded immediately. This, at least, she could handle. She carried Lucy to the sofa and sat down, settling the girl on her lap and wrapping both arms around her.
"Okay," Enid murmured softly. "No scary woods, no creepy noises. Just me. You're good."
Lucy clung to her.
Ethan turned back to Ash.
"Hm. What year is it?"
Ash blinked. "What?"
"What year?"
"1981."
The room went quiet.
Ethan exhaled slowly.
"Do you know anything about outcasts?" Wednesday asked, tone sharpening with interest.
"Outcasts?" Ash frowned. "Heard stories. Vampires. Werewolves. Freaks in the dark. Never seen one."
His gaze shifted toward Ethan again. Maybe he was one of those outcasts.
"Umm," Selene said, arms crossed, "care to explain?"
Wednesday answered flatly. "The displacement wasn't purely spatial. We've been sent approximately forty years into the past."
Ash stared at them.
"Future?" Ash said flatly. "Yeah. Sure. And I'm the Pope."
"Yes," Ethan replied without hesitation. "And we're here because of a cursed book. Leather cover. Face stretched across the front. Red lettering. You should've found it."
Ash's expression darkened instantly.
"That thing," Ash said with a furious look on his face, pointing at the book like it had personally insulted him. "That damned book is the cause of everything."
His jaw tightened as the memories came rushing back. His girlfriend had died, then come back as something else—something twisted and wrong—trying to kill him with that same empty smile.
He hadn't even been able to escape the woods. Every road out had turned against him, every path leading back to the same nightmare. The things that book had brought back wouldn't let him leave.
*****
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