The modest house in the rural town, surrounded by pines and fog, seemed to hold the weight of dark secrets. The porch creaked under Cassian's steps as he, Helen, Terri, and Jill followed Susie inside. The living room, lit by a soft lamp, smelled of old wood and coffee. Susie, with loose brown hair and anxious blue eyes, gestured toward the girl beside her. Dark-haired, with an intense gaze mixing fear and courage, the young woman stood, her posture tense as if expecting an attack at any moment.
"My name is Sienna Shaw," she said, her voice firm but broken by trauma. "And I need you to listen to what happened to me. It's not an easy story."
Cassian sat on a worn armchair, his blue eyes fixed on Sienna. Helen, Terri, and Jill took seats on a couch, while Susie remained standing, uneasy, like she feared something might break through the walls at any second. Sienna took a deep breath, her hands trembling slightly, and began.
"It all started a few months ago, on Halloween, in Miles County," she said, her voice low but clear. "My father had died months before. A brain tumor made him… strange. Abusive. Before he passed, he left me a gift—a sword, a kind of dagger with a warrior angel design inspired by his drawings. I didn't know why, but I always felt that weapon was more than metal. My brother Jonathan was obsessed with a killer, a clown named Art. He found sketches of him in my father's notebook, along with news clippings about murders. We thought they were coincidences, but they weren't."
Sienna clenched her fists, her eyes lost in memory. "That night, I went to a Halloween party. I wore a costume based on my father's drawings—a warrior with angel wings. My friend Brooke gave me a drink laced with MDMA without telling me, thinking it would relax me. But then I saw her… a pale girl dressed as a clown, with eyes that weren't human. No one else could see her. I knew something was wrong, and then I got a call. It was Jonathan's voice, saying he was trapped in an abandoned carnival. But it wasn't him. It was that girl imitating his voice."
She paused, her breathing uneven. "I went to the carnival with Brooke and her boyfriend Jeff. The place was in ruins, with a haunted attraction called 'The Terrifier.' That's where the nightmare began. Art, the clown, killed them. He ripped Jeff's genitals out and left him bleeding. He chased Brooke into the attraction, threw acid in her face, beat her with a nail-studded bat, and destroyed her. I found her body, but I couldn't do anything. Art captured me, hit me, tortured me. Jonathan was there, drugged by Art, barely conscious. We tried to escape, but Art wouldn't die. We stabbed him, shot him with his own shotgun, but he kept coming back. It was like something kept him alive."
Cassian frowned, his hands gripping the armrests. Helen exchanged a glance with Terri, while Jill mentally noted details, her expression serious.
"Art stabbed me with my own sword," Sienna continued, touching her abdomen as if still feeling the pain. "He locked me in a water tank, leaving me to drown. I thought it was the end. But then… the sword glowed. I can't explain how. A golden light came from it, healed my wounds, and freed me. I returned to reality, no longer trapped in that tank or in the 'Clown Café' of my nightmares. I found Art devouring Jonathan, and something in me changed. I grabbed the sword and attacked him. I beheaded him. The pale girl appeared, took his head, and left without harming us. Jonathan and I survived, wounded and traumatized."
Susie stepped forward, her voice gentle but firm. "That's when I come in. I was traveling with my family through Miles County. We'd stopped at a motel near the abandoned carnival, and that night I had a vision: a girl with angel wings fighting a clown. I didn't know who she was, but I felt I had to help. I ran to the carnival, arriving just as Sienna and Jonathan were escaping the attraction. I helped get them to a hospital, gave them my number, and stayed in touch. That's why I called you, Cassian. Sienna needs to understand what that sword is—and why she can use it."
Sienna nodded, pulling a wrapped dagger from her backpack. She unwrapped it carefully, revealing a blade with intricate designs, engraved with wings and a handle shaped for her grip. "This is the sword," she said. "Since that night, I haven't let it go. But I don't understand what it is, why my father had it, or why he chose me."
Cassian stood, approaching slowly. "Can I see it?" he asked, his tone calm but curious. Sienna hesitated for a second, then handed him the dagger. As soon as his fingers touched the hilt, a spark coursed through his body. His eyes, usually blue, flared gold, and the blade began to glow with a golden light, as if responding to his blood. Helen rose, alarmed, while Terri and Jill watched silently, tense.
Cassian turned the dagger in his hand, studying it. The glow faded, but his golden eyes remained locked on the weapon. "It's very rare for a weapon like this to exist on Earth," he said, his voice low, almost a whisper. "Even rarer that you, Sienna, have the ability to wield it. There's something in this dagger… something that doesn't belong to this world."
Sienna looked at him, her heart racing. "What are you saying? What is it?"
Cassian returned the dagger, his eyes returning to blue. "I'm not sure yet," he said, his expression serious. "But this isn't just steel. And you're not just a girl. There's a connection here—one we need to understand."
The room fell silent, the weight of his words hanging in the air. Susie looked at Sienna, then at Cassian, as the fog outside thickened, as if the world itself was holding its breath.