The room stank of fear, it radiated off the tightly compacted group of children, amplified by the determination to fight, and the knowing that they were all about to die. Impending doom was not the happiest of thoughts per say. The wights merely grinned at the group of children, as a shadow loomed from the doorway, the stench of the hideous creature that was invisible mixed in with the already pungent stench of amplified fear. Yet it was a beautiful day, sun streamed into the room through the windows, illuminating the dust that had been unsettled by the many people in the room, the only grey cloud was in the room, and it resembled pure evil, in the form of two wights and a hollowghast. The end did not seem as far away as it used to for those who lived in the loop, they were not used to seeing death so close.

The first wight, a tall blonde woman with a sour expression, stepped forward, an evil smirk playing on her lips. She reached over and grabbed hold of one of the children by his hair, he was a tall blonde boy with widened green eyes, who stared at her in fear as he was ripped away from his friends. They all looked on, scared to see what would happen to their friend, and many tried to think of ways to save him, although there was no way to be seen, without unleashing a frenzy of unspeakable power.

"It's your lucky day, you're the first to die." She told him, he said nothing, but it was an intervention by a friend of his that possibly saved him, or doomed herself. Either one was a possibility.

"Ethan!" A brown-haired girl by the name of Jeanette yelled his name, her brown eyes full of tears, she was held back by another of her friends, he had his hand over her mouth so she did not get herself killed any faster. The wights rounded on her at once, ignoring the boy they had previously been attempting to kill, he did not look as happy as any other person would do in that situation., if he was not to die first, then he would have to watch one of his friends die, a feat no one wanted to bear witness to that.

"Jenny! No!" Ethan yelled desperately, she was his best friend after all and he had lost too much already, he could not lose her as well. The wights ignored his yells and he was pushed back into his group of friends and peers, and the wights dragged Jeanette to the front instead. Leo, their friend stopped him from falling, giving him a questioning look to inquire about his wellbeing. Ethan nodded at him, before looking back at the girl, who looked scared, it had been a long time since he had seen her look so scared, and the memory of the last time he had faced that expression, they were not worth the thought.

"You wish to die first?" The wight asked, but it was a rhetorical question, the girl would be killed anyway. "What a brave little girl." Her voice was like nails down a blackboard, it took all of Jeanette's willpower not to cover her ears and hide, she would not go down like a coward. She would not, she liked to think, go down without a fight, she had been through too much to let the wights get her down.

"I am 192 years old, I am not a child, but you, you are a coward!" She answered back, the woman slapped her and pushed her into the other wight, who held her back, in case she tried to run. Jeanette looked at one of the others, a brown-haired boy who looked around fourteen, Leo, he nodded. Ethan raised a hand and pointed at the shadow by the door, ice formed all around it, showing off its figure perfectly. Their makeshift plan seemed to be working. Now was the time for the rest of the plan to work, contrary to the fact that parts of their plan had not been thought of yet. And all they could do was hope that it worked.

A lightning strike hit the hollowghast, and moments later a pink burst of energy hit it too. It was working. The lightning strike and energy hit again, but this time the attacks were joined by a ball of fire, which left a scorch mark on the torso of the monster, helping them to see the hollowghast better. The more confidence the peculiars gained, the faster they were killing the hollowghast, true they could have killed it in one blast, but that would have killed one of their own as well, and they didn't want that. The wights stood transfixed as the peculiar display continued, bubbles of water and shadows also joining the fight, occasionally, a strange black mass would hit the hollowghast and disappear, before reappearing and attacking again. At last, their attack paid off and the hollowghast hit the ground with a loud THUMP!

It was a victorious moment, until the wights pulled out a gun and aimed it at Jeanette's head, the brown-haired girl shot the wights a glare, she did not appreciate her life being threatened. Jeanette smiled at a young, blonde-haired girl, who seemed to get the gist of the smile and nodded happily. Another plan was formulating in the middle of this madness, they had each other's backs and that was all that they could ask for.

"Give it up children, you are all going to die." The male wight spoke for the first time, not noticing the young, blonde girl appear beside Jeanette and take the gun, before teleporting away, however she was grabbed by the hair mid teleport and she appeared again, luckily all in one piece. The girl's eyes widened and she looked at Jeanette, who had wriggled out of the wight's arms, she nodded and took the gun from the younger girl and ran.

Attempting to hop over the hollow's dead body and shuddering as she landed on its face, Jeanette made it out of the room, but the wights soon hot on her heels. She did not have a clear idea of where she was going, but as she slid down the beautifully carved, wooden banister, not bothering to use the stairs, she suddenly had an idea. She knew exactly what to do with it, and hopefully, it would never hurt anyone again, not that it was a bad thing.

She was scared, but determined, she had to help save her friends, she had to do something. Pushing open the heavy front door, Jeanette bolted down the worn stone steps and over the grassy bank by the house, towards the rotted old pier. It was a risk, but a necessary one and that was the only thing that could possibly save them all. She winced as she reached the pier, the wood was damp and splinters stuck out of the unsalvageable structure, it was going to hurt, but there was nothing she could do, she had to do this. It was now or never.

Upon reaching the end of the pier, she knew what to do, she held her arm high above her head, readying herself to build up the momentum to throw the weapon as far as she could. She was about to throw when she heard a voice, the wights had reached her.

"Put the weapon down." The wights spoke softly, as though the girl were a frightened animal, rather than a defiant young peculiar. Jeanette merely shook her head and threw the weapon, watching as it landed a good few feet away, making a rather spectacular splash. She couldn't help but smile in triumph, there was less the wights could do to kill them, perhaps they would be safer now. Although, she began to take back that statement as she was dragged backwards and a rusted, blunt blade was pressed against her neck.

"Give it up children, this ends now, with this little brats' death!" The male wight grinned happily, as the knife cut Jeanette's skin, causing her to wince in pain.

"Jenny, it's okay." Ethan called from the group of children, who had gathered at the entrance to the pier. The boy stood beside him, Leo, gave him a withering look.

"Is that all you have? Ethan you're useless!" Leo exclaimed, earning a glare from his blonde friend.

"At least I can do more than just making things float." Ethan's retaliation made Leo attempt to lash out at him, ending up being held back by another peculiar, named Stephan. Ethan always knew how to wind Leo up.

"I'll just save myself then." Jeanette spoke up, closing her eyes with a concentrated expression. Ethan's eyes widened.

"NO! No Jenny don't, you'll die, please, we'll think of something." He yelled in panic.

"Like what? Go on Ethan. Seeing as you know exactly what to do." Leo cut in, earning a glare from Ethan and many of the others as well.

"Leo, shut up, now is not the time." Melanie, a winged girl who was stood on one side of Stephan, yelled loudly, Ethan nodded at her, before looking back at Jeanette, who had enveloped herself and the wights in a pink light.

"Jenny! NO!" But it was too late, a blast of pink light erupted from the dark-haired girl and rippled through the loop, and when it cleared, the wights were on the floor dead, and Jeanette was stood beside them, trembling.

Ethan ran over to her at once and wrapped his arms around her, becoming concerned when she began to cry into his chest. He looked down at her, he always had and always will be taller than her. "Jenny? What's wrong?" he questioned. She shook her head.

"I'm going to die." She stated plainly, his eyes widened.

"What? No, Jenny, you, you did it without dying." He said, but already she had grown very pale and had a burning temperature. Leo joined them, pulling the girl away from the blonde and pressing the back of his hand to her forehead.

"She's burning up." He stated, Ethan wrapped his arms around her again, using his peculiarity to cool her down, but it was too late, she was already unconscious.

Could they have won this another way, and have they lost the girl who gave her all to protect them? Was victory really as sweet as they say?