She glances back at the group, then at me. “You think it’s a trap?”
“I think we’re about to find out.”
We cross the boundary together—Bree first, the rest of us close behind.
The moment we pass the pillars, the air shifts. Warmer. Heavier. The Ether coils tighter around us like mist, silver threads weaving through the trees.
Bree looks toward the forest, eyes unfocused for a moment. Then she turns, voice quiet but certain. “This way.”
I glance at the others. No one questions it.
She starts walking, and we follow—deeper into the trees, away from where we entered last time.
The Ether shifts around us as we move, silver weaving through the darkness. I stay close, watching the way the light flickers against the undergrowth.
Wrong. Like something disturbed it before we arrived.
Like something’s been using this path.
“Gray?” Bree’s voice pulls me back.
I meet her eyes. “Stay close. Whatever’s waiting for us in there already knows we’re coming.”
Chapter 33
Seth
I’ve never been here before.
That’s the first thing that hits me as we move deeper into the trees—this place is older than anything I’ve seen in the Void. Older, and somehow more alive.
The air hums. Not with sound, but with presence. Like the forest itself is breathing.
Bree walks ahead, leading us without hesitation. The others follow close—Thane and Stellan flanking her, Gray and Rhett just behind. I stay near the back with Wes and Jace, watching.
That’s when I notice the veins.
As Bree passes over the silver threads that run through the earth beneath our feet, they lift—thin ribbons of vapor rising like steam, drawn toward her.
I stop, watching one thread curl upward and dissolve against her ankle before disappearing entirely.
“You seeing this?” I ask quietly.
Wes glances down, then at Bree. His eyes narrow. “Her Ether’s—different.”
I look closer. He’s right. The silver still swirls around her, but the black that’s been threaded through it is thinner now.
The land is giving it back. Whatever was taken from her, the sanctuary is trying to return it.
“There’s a fox.”
Theo’s voice cuts through the quiet, and everyone stops.
He’s staring into the trees, eyes bright. “There’s a fox.”
And then I see it.
The fox steps out from between the trees—sleek, silver-eyed, its edges shimmering like it’s made of mist and starlight.
