I nod, though it feels flimsy. “Ziek said he’ll go with us. At least until we reach the end of the Hollow.”
“Good,” she murmurs, relief softening her shoulders. She turns to Ryder. “Promise me—no more bickering with River. You’re all each other has out there, so look out for one another. The Hollow is a scary place.”
Ryder straightens and gives a small, solemn nod. “Copy that.”
Though I know River won’t make it easy for him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The air feels thinner behind the thick, scratchy fabric of the scarves Ziek gave us. Every breath drags a little, but I’d rather fight for air than fall victim to the Lady of Death again.
The forest looks different now—still vast, still alive in that unsettling way—but somehow less threatening. I can’t tell if it’s because Ziek walks beside us, moving with the ease of someone born from the trees, or because of the fresh symbol carved into my skin, still throbbing faintly.
Either way, the Hollow doesn’t feel quite as eager to swallow me whole.
“Earlier… you said the forest shifts. How can you be sure we’re going the right way?” I ask Ziek, curiosity running through my veins.
“The runes help, but we have another system.” He gestures to a nearby trunk, a symbol carved into its bark. “Every fifth tree is marked.” He pauses, letting his fingers brush the grooves. “When you stop seeing the symbols, you know you’ve drifted off-course.”
“What does the symbol mean?” River asks. I step closer, tracing the ridges with my fingertips.
“Unchanging,” I murmur.
Ziek shoots me a small smile. “You know your Enchantra. She’s right—The Hollow can’t shift these trees. They’ll never move, never die, never change.”
My eyes linger on the mark—I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed them before. Perhaps the same protection rune is threaded between each ridge, or maybe it’s just because I didn’t know where to look.
“Smart,” River comments.
“You live in this forest long enough,” Ziek says, straightening, “and you start to figure out its tricks.”
We stop by a stream to fill our flasks. I perch on the edge of a flat rock, letting the cold water rush into mine, the current humming against the metal like a quiet warning.
“So… Kalia is sweet,” I say, making conversation with Ziek.
“Yeah. She is,” he replies, taking a long swig of water, a smile sprawling on his face.
Ryder is propped against a tree nearby, sharpening his sword. I know Ziek has noticed the strange mending along the blade, but he hasn’t said a word.
“How old is she?” I ask, washing my hands in the stream.
“Six,” he answers with a small smile. “Though she acts a lot older.”
“How’s it for her—growing up in the Hollow?” River asks, struggling to hide his bittersweet intrigue.
Ziek lifts one shoulder in a half-shrug. “She doesn’t know any different. Sometimes I feel bad, bringing her into all this—” he gestures to the forest around us, “—but I’d rather raise her here with people I trust than out there. Too many variables I can’t control.”
I nod. A part of me gets it. She might actually be safer with him than anywhere else.
“So what brought you out to the Hollow in the first place?” I question as we start moving again.
“The same reason you found it,” Ziek says, glancing back at me.
“The gem?” I quicken my steps until I’m beside him.
He nods. “But I wasn’t trying to save the world. I was trying to run from it—well, from my Gifts anyway. The voices were getting too loud. I’d heard the legends and thought maybe finding the gem would free me from my duty to Mourna… but the trials never showed.” He shrugs. “I don’t mind. It led me here. I’d never known peace before this place. Once I felt it, I knew I had to stay.”
“And then you found the others?”
