l the same after th

and drifting fog. Silence had always been part of the town's identity. But now, that silence felt deliberate c

contact. The conversations ended when I entered the room

table with her hands wrapped tightly around her cup, her gaze drifting again and again

trees yesterday, did y

casu

only a second. "

d froze

y, carefully, "that tra

I added quickly.

I didn't say that. I didn't mention the backpack. Or the way Kael Draven's voice sti

he table. "People disappear in small towns be

ttled heavil

est she came to e

journals handwritten, fragile, their pages yellowed with age. As I stacked them, I noticed symbols dr

curiosity getting

shot out, closing the

just storie

bout what?

ly. "Things tha

ands were

do what everyone else in Cr

d ques

, and she suddenly found something very important to clean behind the counter. At the hardware

," he said quick

rch parties

es. "The forest'

word

ger

watched. The hairs on the back of my neck rose, and I tur

d across

ok like he belonged in town. Everything about him felt wrong for the setting, like he was o

r eyes met, h

estions," he said

wed to,"

shoul

g that," I snapped. "

ugh his voice stayed firm. "Som

s, old ones, the kind that had healed long ago. His posture was ten

re?" I asked, noddin

dn't

e your life, you'll stay close

hrough me, sh

at a t

a wa

within the trees. It wasn't thunder. I was certain of that. Ka

o go," he s

, I didn

sleep refu

d it move outside the house. Heavy footsteps. Slow. Deliberate. The wind shifte

ard the window, pulling the cur

rd was

fence

had forced its way through from the other side. Deep marks scor

ds tre

my grandmother did

ing closer,"

I dem

rn, like she was deciding how much truth I could surv

asn't

my own in

w marks, the broken latch, the disturbed earth. I started noticing patter

s, Kael w

mes, I felt his presence without seeing him at all. Once, I woke up t

e gone b

crept i

t pa

te

hing

dge of something vast and dangerous and that everyon

I confronte

at's happeni

tightene

tell

ng, his voice dropping. "If I do," he said

o stay steady despite the fear cur

something like reg

s when

ruth was, it w

ore dangerous th