And so, Maverick divulges the plot to defeat me.

"I think the spectre is the problem, and the rot is a side effect," Maverick says.

"How do you know?" Adwin asks.

Maverick doesn't have it in him to say that his suspicion is entirely a hunch. Instead, he leans forward. "We need to trap the spectre inside of us and lure it into the water. Where it, and we, will dissolve."

"That's why it brought us here?" Mickey asks, his voice high, his eyes sore from the tears that fill them. "The point of this all was to literally dissolve us? That's barbaric?"

"How can we be sure it will work?" Adwin asks. "How could we possibly accomplish that in time? How do we lure it? It doesn't listen to us."

"We just hope that it will show," Maverick shrugs.

Alvaro stares out into the sea. He watches each wave beat against the shore. If he touches it now, will it dissolve him? Or will it wait until the spectre is inside him? They were chosen at random for this task, they will be lucky to complete it.

He doesn't want to think about what happens if they don't.

"Hubert," Adwin realizes.

Hubert had been preoccupied with staring at Clara. He looks up at Adwin, waiting for Adwin to continue.

"You said that this always ends with the spectre chasing you," Adwin says, still looking at the notes. "Maybe you could lure it? You seem to be at the centre of this all. I guarantee the spectre will come seek you out. It will follow you here."

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Clara asks.

Mickey sighs. Clara flicks her eyes over to him, and she almost glares. Really, she doesn't have the energy to care anymore.

(Sadly, Mickey doesn't either).

"Of course it's dangerous," Adwin agrees. He looks to Maverick for support.

In turn, Maverick shrugs. "It's the only plan we've got."

They decide to wait out the rest of the day on the beach, hoping the spectre will arrive. Without Beverly around, no one dares to play in the water. Her absence lays on them thick, as if they have been drowned once more without and hopes of popping to the surface in a different time.

Adwin spends much of the day with his arm around Flo. He doesn't whisper to Maverick this time, instead going over the plan in his head. Occasionally, he will try his best to flip through Hubert's notebook, and try to analyze the situation.

Flo appreciates his presence. She stares out at Beverly's sopping wet clothes, wishing she could pick them up and set them on fire. Beverly was never a blaze though. She belonged in the trees, hanging upside down. If Flo were to move her clothes, they would only look like they were hung up to dry.

While Flo and Adwin sit on the rocks, Maverick and Alvaro walk down the beach. Their fingers graze as they walk, and Maverick can't help but shiver. Maybe, he considers, this entire thing between him and Alvaro only exists in the physical world. However, he believes he is fine with that. After all, he couldn't bear to die leaving someone he loves behind.

Alvaro realizes he is at peace. Not with things ending so abruptly between him and Maverick, but with the life he has chosen to live. If he were to die tomorrow, he believes he would go to Heaven. That's all he has really ever wanted, anyway.

Neither Clara nor Mickey talk, and both of them are content with this. Instead, the two stand together and skip stones. Silently, they are in competition with one another. Mickey is much better than Clara, so he purposefully throws some that are not perfect.

She notices, and she appreciates it. Clara, for once, enjoys that Mickey tries to meet her where she is. His expectations of her are exactly where she is. She wishes that she could love him the way he deserves. Certainly, after the events of today, she no longer loves Hubert.

Hubert approaches Adwin. He whistles, and gestures for the rest of the group to gather. It takes a few minutes, but eventually they stand together, huddled in a circle.

"In case this goes poorly, you ought to leave a note," Hubert tells them.

The other furrow their brows (or cock them, in Alvaro's case).

"The letter you originally received," Hubert clarifies. "I always have the last survivor write a letter. It's always on me while I am chased, and then it ends up in the stove. Don't ask me how it does; it's one of the things that has always confused me the most."

Mickey is about to cut in (more than the rot and the spectre and the time travelling, he thinks) but he instead shares a glance with Clara. He tries to smile, but his lips form into a steady line. Clara blushes and looks down.

"So, you want us to write it?" Alvaro asks. "We don't speak French."

"It translates itself," Hubert shrugs, another question left unanswered.

Flo asks Adwin for a pen, and when she produces one, she begins to jot down notes. "So, we need to mention the rot and the spectre, right?"

"We should advise them not to kill each other either," Alvaro jokes.

Clara sits down with Flo. She is the writer among them, she imagines. Not that she has ever written, but she has read more books than she can count.

"Let's start with: Beware the rot," Maverick suggests. "It's straight and to the point."

Alvaro reaches over, since no one is looking, and squeezes his hand. He smiles when Maverick squeezes back.

"I don't think we should lay out everything we know for them," Adwin says. "I mean, we only have one page. Besides, we don't want to overwhelm the newcomers. I say we talk in riddles so that they can come to their own conclusions. After all, maybe we've been wrong about everything."

Flo gently passes Clara the paper, and Clara begins to write. After writing the first three sentences, she passes the note back to Flo, who finishes it off.

Beware the rot. Beware your ghosts, as well as mine. Beware the Devil, for he lives in the people you know. Trust each other, even when it's hard.

When the note is done, the remaining seven strangers sit together on the beach. They aren't happy, not by a long shot, and they are satisfied either. They sit together in a bubble about to burst. Perfectly contained, wondrously amused, and yet, on the brink of disaster.

~~~~~

Okay. I can't decide if next chapter will be the last chapter, or if I will have two more chapters, or if I will have three. So, this may be good-bye pretty soon!

Thank you all who have stuck with me throughout this journey. I have enjoyed it as much as you. Please feel free to chitchat with me whenever, or whatever you want, because y'all give me that biweekly serotonin hit my body irregularly produces. Basically, thank you.