Everywhere you looked in the town, it was slowly falling into ruins. There were some apartment buildings collapsing, cars in the ditches, or dead bodies scattered in different areas. The difference from this was that it was mainly adults who were dead, with the odd young children.

"This is far worse than I thought," Caine said, looking back down at the map. "How did all these people die? Did Hope already murder them all?"

"No, Hope's aiming for the government because that's where the power is," Kai said, picking up a wet newspaper from the ground.

Amaris spotted a news article about a meteor shower prediction coming in the next few weeks. She wondered why they couldn't come up with a quicker way to prevent it. It could be they were finding and just waiting, but that will just lead to death.

They walked downtown, where small businesses were next to each other. All of them were open, but inside, you'd see at least two adults dead on the ground. She watched Caine and Kai drag out two of the bodies inside an ice cream shop onto the streets, before dropping them.

"We're the villains."

Hope's words rang through her head on a loop. In Claymore, she's a useable pawn to Hope's game while trying to understand who she truly is.

"We could drag people out of these buildings for hours and we'd get nowhere," Caine said with a hand on his hip. "It's like every area has people dead before..."

He stopped his sentence, glancing back at the loud cranking sounds. When Amaris turned her back, she noticed a large apartment building collapsing to the ground. There were other buildings slowly crumbling, with cracks along the siding and pieces of glass falling from balconies.

"Wasn't it divided into four factors?" Kai inquired, looking at them.

"Buildings collapse, the water in the lakes dries up, food rots, and then the meteor shower strikes," Caine gasped. "We'll die in this place at this rate."

"No, we won't," Amaris muttered, her eyes averted. "We'll just be trapped."

They would be in this place watching people die, like when Alexandra killed Jack. If they even tried saving some people back into the future, wouldn't it just mess everything up?

Amaris closed her eyes and placed a finger on her temple, trying to focus. All around her, it was dark but it turned to light when she spotted Alexandra with her arms crossed, glaring back at Jaxton, Kai's twin brother.

"Do you know how badly you screwed up?" Jaxton yelled, his teeth gritting.

"Shut up!" Alexandra barked. "Hope is sent away, and I'll figure out a way to get Amaris back."

"And how does that normally work out? You know your sister is scared of what you will do! It's the exact reason Hope manipulated you again!"

Amaris slowly sat down, her mind spinning in a circle. She knew exactly what Jaxton was talking about because it was all true. She's never been brave enough to speak the truth about how she feared what her own sister was capable of.

"I would never kill her!" Alexandra spat with a red face.

"She needs anger management," Aubrey Prices said with a bright smile. "If you don't keep your anger in check, you will end up killing your sister in rage."

Alexandra glared hard at Aubrey, who twisted around her dirty blonde hair. She wasn't evil, but she agreed with everything that Hope did. If she had to kill someone, that was fine because it meant Hope was closer to her own achievements.

"Your sister killed you," Alexandra spat, pointing at Aubrey. "Don't you recall what you two did to me?"

Aubrey shook her head, rocking on her heels. "My mind killed me."

Amaris watched Alexandra eye her from inside, narrowing her eyes at her. She went storming toward her while Amaris slowly backed away. Her heart pounded because she had to face her sister, who wore the same expression Jack always wore.

"Amaris, stop!" Alexandra yelled, gripping her wrist hard and yanking her forward.

She fell hard on the road back in Claymore, tears sliding down her cheeks. She covered her arms above her head, shaking her head various times. If she faced her sister, she would probably try and hit her like Jack used to do.

"Where are Kai and Hope?" Jaxton asked.

"Some town called Chatham," Amaris murmured, slowly opening her eyes to stare at his feet. "You need to free us, Alexandra."

Alexandra was silent until her eyes turned icy blue. Amaris jumped to her feet, running behind Jaxton and watching her sister fall onto her knees, her eyes growing wide.

"No... you're wrong..."

Suddenly, Hope appeared behind Alexandra with both hands slammed on her temples. There was blood on the side of her cheek, and a sly grin appeared on her face.

"Do you honestly think I'd run off to the government the entire time? Leaving Mari and Kai unattended isn't wise," Hope snarled.

Alexandra fell unconscious to the ground, causing Hope to stretch her hands in the air. Amaris had no idea what she just witnessed, but wondered if it was true that Hope was a demon like Kai thought.

"The joys of having powers," Hope said with a grin. "Did you honestly think I didn't have a clue how you'd contact her?"

This is where she always failed because of Hope's intelligence. Everyone around was just a pawn she could knock down, but Amaris knew she was the usable one. The only reason she agreed to help her was because of her motivation to kill Jack.

"So... are we free?" Amaris questioned.

"Of course we aren't," Hope said plainly. "Do you expect people from another world to magically change time?"

Amaris stared at her sister, who lay unconscious. She slowly opened her eyes with icy eyes she wasn't supposed to have. The two of them were born with ocean eyes, but one person did have that colour: Hope.

Hope lifted a hand up with her eyes closed, smirking. Amaris felt her body lose its gravity, falling through the ground and landing flat on the ground somewhere she recognized. She stood on the wooden balcony of the church in Claymore, where Aubrey stood facing her with a grin.

"What's going on?" Amaris panicked, looking around the dark town of Claymore.

"There's more than one world, Amaris. I can always work my way back to the time we first met and everything that happened," Aubrey said, sitting on the balcony. "Do you remember this?"

Amaris searched her mind for an answer, but it was blank. She knew it was Aubrey Prices facing her, but everything else was gone from her memory. Yet she knew she was away from Jack Kenny's house, searching for the girl in front of her.

"Want to know a secret?" Aubrey inquired. "Ask her."

Aubrey punched her stomach, causing her to fall on her knees before Amaris let out a bloody scream. There, facing her, was a girl with bleach blonde hair, a small nose and mouth, with the same small frame. It was a mirrored reflection of herself, except for the eyes.

"You can't trust Aubrey," the girl mumbled, finally back on her feet. "Everything she says is a lie."

Amaris looked around, but Aubrey had magically vanished. The girl had her teeth gritted, rubbing her forehead, before taking a step forward. Amaris backed away slowly, running to the corner of the balcony.

"I'm Alexandra O'Rally, you're identical twin sister," she said.

"The only sisters I have are Alisha and Didi," Amaris cried, shaking her head rapidly.

None of this made sense in her mind. She didn't have a twin sister, and they didn't exist of the same gender. This had to be someone fooling her to abuse her.

"We need to work together to kill Jack," Alexandra said.

Amaris froze with wide eyes, gripping her hands together. She wanted Jack to be dead, but she never had the intention of actually killing someone. If she did that, it would haunt her like everything Jack did.

"Let Aubrey help you."

"That bitch deserves to be in hell after what she has done," Alexandra spat. "We need to work together."

Suddenly, Alexandra fell on her knees with her head hanging. Behind her stood a girl with icy blue eyes, olive skin and long dark hair. She had a sly grin and a hand on her hip.

"You don't want to help a liar, Amaris. Do you know why you don't remember your sister?" The girl inquired with raised eyebrows. "She erased your existence of every happy memory you once had."

Amaris slowly felt her body being lifted by an invisible force, landing a couple meters away from Aubrey. She didn't understand how her memory could have been erased, but there have always been blanks.

"You have three days to make your decision. It will be quite easy," the girl sneered.

"Who are you?" Amaris asked with her entire body trembling.

"Hope Prices," she snapped her fingers, with Alexandra's body disappearing. Her body then reverted back to Aubrey, the smirk still on her lips.

Amaris was trying to make sense of everything in her head without realizing her body was above Aubrey. She knew she didn't have a sister, but Aubrey just proved her wrong. She wondered why her sister acted on Aubrey's gesture and who on earth was Hope Prices.

"I'm Aubrey's sister, and your sister knows what she needs to do to stop this. It will be unfortunate if something happens," Aubrey said. "You might need to see your real father, Mari."

Suddenly, she felt her body being squeezed tightly and being lifted high into the air, until she went soaring through the balcony. She screamed, landing on the hardwood floor right in front of her stepsisters, both with wide eyes.

Amaris spotted Aubrey wave a hand at her. She felt a throbbing on the back of her head and darkness at the edges of her eyes before falling into complete darkness.

"You can't die!" she heard Didi's voice yell.

"I'll call the hospital," Alisha panicked.

Amaris could see everything on the outside, but she couldn't physically wake herself up. She couldn't remember much, only her twin sister. Something was wrong about her, and it wasn't just the endless questions of why she wasn't in her life.

"Don't you understand it?" Amaris turned her head behind her, seeing Aubrey with a smile. "It's easy to understand."

"Where am I?"

"Dead like me," Aubrey ran toward her with a bright smile, stopping at her. "You won't be here long."

"No, you're the killer of Claymore... the one who wants Jack dead..."

Amaris looked around the dark space, standing on dead grass. Aubrey still appeared the same, but something was different. Now that she noticed it, there was a thick scar around her neck that the other Aubrey didn't have.

"Depression was hard to deal with," she said with a weak smile. "It isn't easy when your sister dies and your parents are murdered."

Now, nothing was making sense. She was talking to Aubrey Prices, who was apparently dead. She still had the same hair and freckles on her face, but she wasn't alive.

"You have to help Hope, because we'll both get what we want."

"I won't get happiness and love..." Amaris murmured.

"No silly! If you help Hope, Jackson will be killed and me and Hope will have bodies again!" Aubrey cheered.

There was no way for someone to get a body again, unless something different was with them. Maybe it was just the smartest idea to stay dead, but the last time that happened she woke up in her bedroom without a stabbing wound from Jack.

"You just have to convince your sister," Aubrey said. "It's the key to saving another world."

"And if she does give you two a body?" Amaris asked.

Aubrey put a finger to her lips before Amaris slowly blinked, looking around the white room. She lifted her hand and spotted a needle picked in with a sling around her shoulder blade. This wasn't the dark space she was in a moment ago, nor the church.

"People don't survive that, Amaris," she widened her eyes, turning her head to the right.

By her bedside stood someone she hasn't seen in about ten years. He still had the same blonde hair and blue eyes she had, wearing a long white cloak. It was her father, standing beside a woman.

"Dad..." Amaris trailed off.

"Is she after you?" her father asked.

"Who?" Amaris asked with her mind still hazy.

"Your sister."

Amaris felt her eyes widen and her heart beat rapidly. She had no idea how her father knew about her sister and where she had been. She probably didn't know herself because she was stupid, and had no real knowledge of the world.

"Why don't I remember her?" Amaris murmured. "Why did I have to leave with mom?"

She lowered her eyes to the white sheets, seeing the nurse leave the room, then shutting the door behind her. Her father placed some papers on a night table, pulling up a red metal chair beside her bedside.

"We were young, and certain things couldn't be forgiven," her father said. "Your mother told you what Jackson Kenny did, right?"

Amaris felt tears form in her eyes, slowly nodding her head. She was only five when she left with her mother because Jack had forcefully used her to cheat. She understood the topic once she was older, but it added to the reasons she hated Jack.

"You and your sister were born identical twins, but something changed after the split," her father spoke. "She had disappeared, with nobody having any recollection of her existence."

She recalled the words Aubrey said about her sister being the key to everything. If people didn't even know she had a twin sister, did it mean she was someone to fear?

"It wouldn't be physically possible for someone under five to survive without a caregiver providing food or water. Someone or something would have to be providing some life support."

"What are you saying?" she mumbled, glancing up.

"I think she and Aubrey's connection somehow link together," her father said.

Aubrey was just a mask for people to see the show. Hope was the one tied to her sister. There were unanswered questions on every corner, that she wanted to dive underwater and never return.

"About ten years ago, I was sent a patient from Clay's hospital by the name of Hope Prices," her father started. "She had a rare blood disorder, resulting in her dying the same day you three left. If I'm correct about possessions nowadays, it could rewire Alexandra's mind, which is filled with intense anger."

"At what?" Amaris asked, finally lifting her head.

"Hope is diagnosed as a psychopath. If she did possess your sister, that immense anger may be directed at Hope but could pose a risk to you. If a person has a narrow vision, they neglect the sights around them."

Amaris gripped the sheets, feeling most of her pain fade away. It wasn't that her father's discovery could be correct, but everything about Hope and Alexandra made goosebumps form on her skin.

"I need to check up on some other patients. You should be okay to be discharged tomorrow. Be careful, Amaris," her father stood and left.

Everything in her mind made it ache. She didn't know anything that was happening in her life or even about the other worlds. She isn't someone capable of saving a person, nor does she have any intention of being saved.

Her hospital door whipped open to Alisha and Didi Kenny, her stepsisters. They were Jack's children since their mothers both abandoned them with him, because they knew he was trouble.

"I can't believe you actually survived! I swear your head was cracked open!" Alisha cried, gripping the hospital railing.

"There was so much blood and we thought we were going to lose you. We'll get payback on whoever did this," Didi whimpered, hugging her tight. "We'll always be here for you."

Amaris felt tears slide down her cheeks, leaning her head back on the pillow. Every time they had said those words, one piece of her knew it wouldn't be true. Someday they'd walk away and leave her alone without their shoulder to lean on.

There was a knock on the door, causing her to rub her eyes. She spotted two people she didn't recognize holding flowers and some chocolate. The boy walked over while the girl looked around the small room.

He placed the flowers on the small table. "We heard about the accident at the church."

"Who are you?" Didi asked, wiping her eyes.

"Josh and Sydney Waters. We're friends of Aubrey's, and she wanted us to give these to you," he said. "She still has much to tell you."

"Murderers don't have friends," Alisha said with her arms crossed. "Does that mean she's responsible?"

"Alexandra O'Rally is responsible for what happened," Josh said.

Amaris could hear her heartbeat in her ears. It was her sister's fault for attempting to kill her despite barely knowing anything about her. It's not like she's had a happy life at all, so she didn't understand why she'd target her.

"We'll see you soon," Josh said with a smile.

Sydney went walking with him out of her hospital room, making her close her eyes. Everything in her life was just one big mess. Her sister is the one she should fear instead of Hope, which doesn't make any sense.

Instead of seeing plain darkness, Amaris saw Alisha facing Alexandra. The sky was cloudy in the middle of a park empty of people. She watched Alexandra with her teeth gritted, facing out her palm with a black beam of light shooting right through Alisha's stomach.

Amaris opened her eyes, still seeing Didi and Alisha in her hospital room. She's had nightmares ever since Jack started abusing her, but this was different. It seemed like it was going to happen or had happened somewhere else.

There was a dark thought that Alexandra might be envious of having Didi and Alisha as her new sisters. That could be a reason she spotted Alisha being killed by her own sister, but it was just a nightmare.

"Having nightmares is just the start, Mari," she glanced toward the door where Hope stood. "If you are scared now, knowing who you are will be the real game changer."

"What do you mean?" Amaris's voice trembled.

"You're alive because you're Rare. If you want to die, only one person could do that," Hope said with a smirk. "Isn't my sister a sweet person?"

Amaris noticed that Hope dodged the question. It made her heart race wondering who the person would be killing her. Did she know this person, or was it someone she didn't even know?

"The past, present, and future are linked together. One change causes a new event, leading either to good or bad," Hope started. "What changed the world, our world and what happens after."

"What happens in the future?" Amaris questioned with her stomach twisting.

"The unexpected."

Hope knew what was going to happen in the future. Wasn't it just smart to trust her, even if she goes around murdering people every day? It's not like she knows the feud between Alexandra and Hope completely, but she still needed actions shown.

"I don't know," Hope said plainly. "I'm not that intelligent. We'll see each other tomorrow, and I'll be waiting for a response."

Hope walked away, leaving Amaris to stare at the white wall. Didi and Alisha were asleep on the chairs leaving Amaris with watery eyes. There was nothing she could do to stop this decision or save the people in her life.