Feeling.
The others are talking behind me, voices tight, urgent, but it all fades into the background. I focus on the hedge. On the texture. On anything that doesn’t feel the same. Everything feels solid. Normal.
My fingers catch on a thorn, sharp enough to draw blood, but I don’t pull away. I keep going, breathing too fast, heart pounding harder with every step.
Come on. Come on.
“We need to head back the way we came–” Oberon begins.
“There isn’t another way out,” Sylvian interrupts. “The answer has to be here. Remember, we’ve found a way through the hedges before. We can do it again.”
I press harder, forcing my hands deeper into the branches, ignoring the way they scrape and bite at my skin. Then… something shifts.
It’s faint. Subtle. Not a gap I can see, but something I can feel. The branches aren’t as tight here. There’s a give to them, justbarely there, like the hedge thins for a split second before closing in again.
I freeze.
Slowly, carefully, I move my hands back over the same spot. This time I pay attention to every detail, every difference. The way the branches bend just a little easier. The way the air feels different against my fingers.
There.My breath catches.It’s something.
I push my fingers deeper, wincing as the thorns bite, but I don’t stop. The branches shift, resisting at first, then parting just enough to reveal it, a narrow opening. Hidden. Almost impossible to see unless you’re right on top of it.
Hope strikes so hard it makes me dizzy.
“Here!” I shout, as I shove the branches apart wider. “Over here! There’s a way through!”
Oberon is on me instantly, his hand firm on my arm, already pushing me toward the opening. “Go,” he orders, leaving no room for argument.
“But I can—” I start, but he doesn’t let me finish.
“Now, Alette.”
There’s no time to fight him on it. The ground shudders violently beneath us, the roar behind us so loud it feels like it’s inside my skull.
Strong hands shove me forward. I stumble into the gap, branches catching immediately, thorns biting into my skin as I force my way through. The space is tighter than it looked, the hedge resisting me like it doesn’t want to let me pass. It snags my clothes, scrapes my arms, drags at my hair.
For a second, I think I’m stuck.
Panic spikes, sharp and blinding.
“Move!” Ashton’s voice snaps from behind me, urgency cutting through everything.
I push harder, ignoring the sting, ignoring the way the branches fight me, forcing myself through inch by inch until I break free. I stumble forward into open space, breath tearing out of my lungs as I catch myself on shaking legs. Cool air stings my skin, sharp and real, but I barely feel it as I spin around.
“Come on,” I breathe, heart hammering as I watch the hedge.
Sylvian slips through first, quick and controlled, barely slowed by the branches. Ashton follows right behind him, less graceful, swearing under his breath as the hedge claws at him on the way through.
There’s a struggle on the other side, the hedge shaking as something heavy is forced toward the opening. For a terrifying second, nothing happens, just the violent rustle of branches and the sound of strained breathing. Then Cassius stumbles through. He nearly collapses the moment he breaks free, his body giving out as he falls forward, and Sylvian is there instantly, catching him, dragging him fully clear before he can be pulled back.
But Oberon is still on the other side. With the cyclops.
“Come on,” I breathe, my voice shaking as I stare at the hedge.
The branches thrash violently. Something massive slams into the other side. Leaves burst outward, twigs snapping, the entire wall of green bowing toward us as if it’s about to split open.
My heart lurches into my throat.
