“I know.” I reached up and brushed my thumb just under her jaw. “But if you want to take it off…”
“I don’t.”
I nodded. That was all I needed to hear.
She leaned into me for a second, letting herself settle. Her voice dropped low enough that no one else could hear. “I don’t think it was just the woods. I think I wanted it before we even got lost. I just didn’t know how to admit it.”
I swallowed hard, feeling something in my chest shift. “Okay,” I said quietly. “Then we’ll figure the rest out whenever you’re ready.”
Her fingers slipped into mine again, squeezing once. “I’m already halfwaythere.”
Flora’s voice cut across the clearing. “We done?”
“Yeah,” Whit said, brushing dirt from his hands. “I think that’s it.”
We all stood there for a second longer than we needed to, like no one wanted to turn their back on the trees. The quiet was too thick. Too expectant. I’d seen a lot of shit in this town, a hell of a lot more in the past few years than ever before…but this?
This was the strangest thing yet.
And I had a feeling it was just going to get stranger.
We walked back to the trailhead in silence, loaded up with our backpacks and gear, Milo trotting ahead alongside an incredibly out-of-place Pickles. Flora brought up the rear, still watching the woods like something might follow us out. Every few minutes, she paused to listen, her hands braced on her shotgun.
When we reached the trucks, nobody rushed to get in. We all just stood there for a moment, looking at each other.
“Y’all good to drive?” Flora asked, glancing over at me.
I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks for coming to find us.”
“I didn’t find you,” she said. “You came to me. That’s different.”
She didn’t explain further. Just turned to climb into her truck.
And that was that.
I helped Noelle into the passenger seat and loaded Milo into the back. Then I stood for a second with the door open, watching the woods.
That’s when I saw it.
Just inside the first line of trees…closer to us than it had any right to be. It was perched high in the branches, curled into the leaves, wings flat against its back, tail twitching, and moonstone eyes gleaming.
Unmistakable.
The Shadow Painter.
It didn’t move…didn’t make a sound. Just watched us.
Like it was making sure she got back safe.
I couldn’t really see it that well—just a shape in the trees, lit from within. But I could feel it. The same feeling I’d gotten when it stepped between us and the Gloamstrider. The same feeling I’d had that first night in the woods, when I heard something pacing the edge of the campsite and felt an arm wrap around me in my sleep.
Noelle’s arm had been around me.
But something else had been out there too.
Noelle…she talked tough, but she’d walked with death for most of her life—I knew that now. The way she brushed it off, the way she talked openly about losing her brother, not ever having her parents, barely having her grandmother…it was all justher. The only constant had been this creature, chasing her through the world.
Chasing her tome.
