The fire crackled, but it wasn't comforting. Not when night was pressing in around them, and the Ghost Riders could return at any moment.
Jesse sat with his back against a rock, arms crossed, watching Cooper. The kid was pale, sweat slicking his forehead, his hands still marked with that unnatural black. The same mark Jesse carried.
Maggie poked at the fire with a stick. "We gonna talk about it, or we just gonna sit here pretendin' it ain't happening?"
Clint, sharpening his knife, didn't look up. "Ain't much to talk about."
"Like hell there ain't," Maggie snapped. "First me, then Jesse, now Cooper? The chest did somethin' to us. We ain't just cursed—we're changin'."
Jesse exhaled. "I know."
Maggie's eyes flicked to him. "You've known?"
"Had a hunch," Jesse admitted. "Didn't wanna believe it."
"Then say it, Jesse," Maggie pressed. "Out loud."
Jesse glanced at Cooper, still out cold. Then at his own blackened veins creeping up his wrist. He clenched his fist.
"…The chest ain't just cursed. It's giving us something."
Silence.
Clint finally set his knife down. "That supposed to make us feel better?"
Jesse didn't answer.
Because it didn't make him feel better either.
A low groan came from Cooper. His eyelids fluttered, breath coming in short bursts.
Zeke knelt beside him. "Coop? You with us?"
Cooper's fingers twitched, and then—he shot up, gasping.
His eyes snapped open.
For a second, they weren't his.
Jesse saw it—a flicker of something else staring through him.
Then Cooper blinked, and it was gone. He doubled over, coughing.
"Damn," he wheezed. "That was a helluva ride."
Maggie gripped his shoulder. "Cooper? You okay?"
He wiped his face, staring at his shaking hands. The blackened veins were still there. But something had changed.
"…I heard voices," he said finally. "In my head."
Zeke raised a brow. "That's… not great."
"No kiddin'." Cooper rubbed his temples. "But that ain't the weird part."
Jesse frowned. "What's the weird part?"
Cooper closed his eyes.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the sand beneath him shifted.
Everyone tensed as the desert trembled. The fire flickered, the earth groaning like something buried deep was trying to rise.
Cooper's eyes snapped open, and the shaking stopped.
He blinked. "…Well, shit."
The gang stared.
Maggie was the first to break the silence. "Did you just—"
"Yeah."
"Did you know you could do that?"
"…Nope."
Clint let out a low whistle. "Now that's a helluva trick."
Jesse didn't like this. Not one bit. "Coop, what else did you hear in your head?"
Cooper hesitated. "…Whispers. Names I ain't never heard. And a voice."
Jesse narrowed his eyes. "What voice?"
Cooper flexed his hands. "Didn't say a name. Just kept whisperin'… 'You're not ready.'"
Zeke exhaled sharply. "That don't sound ominous at all."
Jesse pushed himself up. He was done sitting around.
"We leave at first light," he said. "No more wastin' time. We need answers."
Maggie nodded. "Where to?"
Jesse turned toward the dark horizon.
If they wanted answers, they had to go to the one place no sane person would ever step foot in.
"The Hollow."
The wind picked up.
Jesse's gut twisted. He turned sharply, hand on his gun.
"Jesse?" Maggie asked.
"Shh." He listened.
The desert was too quiet. The fire barely flickered.
Then—the laughter started.
Not close. Not yet.
But coming.
Zeke swallowed hard. "I take it we ain't sleepin' tonight."
"No," Jesse said grimly. "No, we ain't."
The gang readied their weapons.
The Ghost Riders were coming.