I never believed in evil. Not real evil—the kind that crawls into your bones and twists your thoughts. But that was before the cabin. Before the book. Before Mia started screaming in a language no one taught her.

Now, I’m standing in the cellar, shotgun in hand, watching my sister convulse on the floor. Her eyes are black, her mouth foaming. She’s not Mia anymore. She’s something wearing her skin. Eric’s dead. Olivia’s dead. Natalie’s arm is gone, and she bled out in my arms.

The book says five souls. Five deaths. The Abomination rises with the fourth. I’m the fourth.

I pour gasoline over the floorboards, over the book, over myself. I light a match. But then I hear it—Mia’s heartbeat. Faint. Human. Still in there.

I drop the match. I’m going to bury her alive. It’s the only way to purify her. I dig the grave in the freezing dirt, hands bleeding, mind breaking. She fights me when I put her in. Bites my wrist. Scratches my face. But I close the earth over her.

Then—silence. No heartbeat. I dig her up. I build a defibrillator from car parts. I shock her. Again. Again. Her eyes open. She’s back.

But behind me, Eric’s body twitches. His neck snaps up. His voice isn’t his.

‘You took her from me,’ it says. ‘Now I take you.’

I turn. The shotgun’s empty. The keys are in the cabin. I have to go back.