Delilah turned to look at me, eyes sharp. “By what?”
I didn’t know how to answer, but the woods didn’t feel like woods anymore.
They felt like a hallway.
And we were walking deeper into something’s house.
CHAPTER 24
Beau
I couldn’t shakethe feeling that something was watching us.
Not like backwoods-camper paranoia. Not like we were being hunted. It felt…older. Like we’d stepped onto someone’s land without knocking first.
We kept walking.
Flashlights on low. Milo trotting ahead, ears pinned, every so often glancing back to make sure we were still behind him. Noelle’s hand brushed mine every few steps, and every time it did, I remembered the ring I’d slipped onto her finger last night.
She was still wearing it…someone might notice. If anyone saw it, our secret was out.
If we even survived the night.
The trees started to shift. Not visibly—but I noticed it. The rhythm of them. The space between trunks. How every bend looked just a little too familiar. We’d looped back on ourselves at least once, I was sure of it. But the trail never turned.
It just…breathed.
Moved beneath us.
Alive, for a thing that absolutelyshould nothave been alive.
“Trailhead’s gotta be close,” I muttered. Maybe if I said it enough, it would make it true.
Shane’s phone buzzed again.
He looked down at it, stopped walking. “Another one.”
We all gathered around as he pulled up the image—grainy black and white. Just like the others. Empty forest. That same smear of light streaking through the middle like a thumbprint on the lens.
“This is Cam Seven,” he said. “That one…Jesus, they’re getting closer.”
No one said a damn word after that.
We kept walking.
And walking…and walking. It was like we couldn’t walk far enough to get the hell out of these woods, like they were twisting and turning and closing in on us.
Delilah stopped first, hand going up sharply. “Wait. This is…we’re not getting anywhere like this.”
We all paused. My flashlight beam caught on the moss beneath our feet—thicker than it had been before, velvety and soft, like the ground had started cushioning our steps without us noticing.
“What are we doing?” Whit asked, voice tight. “We’re not getting anywhere.”
Holden looked around, brow furrowed. “I think we should stop. Regroup. Figure out where the hell we are.”
Noelle didn’t say anything.
At first I thought she was just quiet—processing, same as the rest of us. But then I saw her face. Pale. Eyes wide, lips parted. Breathing too fast. Her hand dropped from mine and pressed hard against her thigh like she was grounding herself.
