Even at first, it's apparent enough that something is wrong, though Lucy couldn't quite say what. It's just that something's off, that intangible but unshakable sense that there's something not quite the way it was before, to be worried about. People have been freaking out for a while now, with claims going around that this Halloween was going to be like the first one she lived through here, five whole fucking years ago, but so far, she hasn't seen anything. That would be just like this place, she thinks. It's nothing if not unpredictable.

Those vines, they aren't right, calling to mind something Mathias told her a long time ago, echoed in the look on his face, but though she follows his lead without a second thought about it, it's not until there are arrows whizzing towards them that she really gets scared. Months ago, he said he'd seen someone, one of the archers who'd kept him and the others on that hill, the one that's now right there. This time, there's no way in hell it's imaginary.

"Shit," she hisses through her teeth, keeping her hand curled tight around Mathias' as she tries to hurry forward. "Come on, come on, we have to — oh, my God."