Nobody spoke after the children vanished. The clearing remained silent. Empty. The abandoned camp sat motionless beneath the trees. The fire pits smoldered. Blankets stirred gently in the wind. A wooden horse rested where Aurora had dropped it. Everything looked normal. That frightened her. Because nothing about this was normal.
The children had been there. She knew they had. Everyone knew they had. Yet now the clearing looked untouched. Like they had imagined the entire encounter. Like the forest itself was trying to erase evidence. Aurora hated that feeling. The feeling that reality was becoming unreliable. The Veil pulsed uneasily beneath her skin. Silver threads flickered briefly across her fingers. Then disappeared. Even the Veil seemed uncertain.
Lucien stepped toward the abandoned campfire. He crouched beside it. Studied the ashes. His expression immediately darkened. Aurora noticed. "What is it?" Lucien didn't answer immediately. Never a good sign. Finally he looked up. "These fires should be cold." A chill passed through the group. Aurora frowned. "What do you mean?" "They've been burning for days." Silence.
Everyone looked toward the campfires. The smoke continued drifting lazily into the air. Fresh. Warm. Impossible. Aurora felt her stomach tighten. The survivors hadn't been here recently. They had been gone for days. Yet somehow the camp looked abandoned only minutes ago. The forest was wrong. Time was wrong. Something was wrong.
A distant crack echoed through the trees. Everyone turned. The sound came from somewhere deeper in the forest. A branch breaking. Heavy. Deliberate. Not an animal. Something larger. The returned marching ahead did not react. They simply continued toward the mountains. Thousands of pale figures disappearing deeper into the darkness. Aurora hated how calm they looked. Like they belonged here. Like the forest welcomed them. The living, however the living did not belong.
Another crack echoed. Closer. Gideon immediately drew his sword. Elara moved nearer to their mother. Darian looked up sharply. His eyes narrowed. Aurora noticed his expression change. "What?" Darian remained silent. Listening. Then his face went pale. "I hear singing." Nobody else heard anything. The forest remained silent. Still. Dead.
Aurora exchanged a glance with Gideon. Darian wasn't joking. The fear on his face was genuine. The memories inside his head were getting worse. Or perhaps something else was happening. "What kind of singing?" Darian swallowed. His answer emerged quietly. "A lullaby." The words settled heavily over the clearing. Aurora felt every hair on her arms stand up.
Then she heard it too. Faint. Barely audible. A woman's voice. Somewhere among the trees. Soft. Gentle. Singing. The melody sounded old. Ancient. Beautiful. Wrong. The sound drifted through the forest like fog. Elara immediately stiffened. "You hear it too?" Aurora nodded. The singing continued. Growing louder. Drawing closer. The Veil reacted instantly. Pain exploded through Aurora's chest. The silver threads erupted across her skin. The reaction was violent. Protective. Terrified. Run. The warning struck her harder than before.
Aurora spun toward the trees. The singing stopped. Instantly. The silence that followed felt worse. Much worse. Then she saw her. A woman standing between the trees. Far away. Half-hidden by darkness. Watching. Aurora's breath caught. The woman wore a long dark dress. Her face remained obscured. Her features impossible to make out. Yet something about her felt familiar. The sensation struck immediately. Recognition. The same feeling she'd experienced when she saw the silhouette within the fracture. The woman stood perfectly still. Watching them. Waiting.
Aurora took a step forward. The figure vanished. Gone. No movement. No sound. Simply gone. Lucien appeared beside her instantly. His expression had become unreadable. "Don't." Aurora turned. "You saw her." It wasn't a question. Lucien's silence answered anyway.
The forest suddenly exploded. A scream tore through the darkness. Human. Male. Close. Very close. The group reacted immediately. Aurora ran toward the sound. Branches whipped against her face. Roots caught at her boots. The scream came again. Then stopped abruptly. Aurora burst into another clearing. And froze.
A man hung suspended between the trees. At first she thought vines held him. Then she saw the truth. Hands. Dozens of pale hands emerging from the darkness. Not attached to bodies. Only hands. They protruded from tree trunks. From the ground. From the shadows themselves. Grasping. Pulling. Holding. The trapped man struggled desperately. Blood covered his face. His eyes widened when he saw Aurora. "Help me!" The hands tightened.
More emerged from the bark. From beneath the soil. From places they should not exist. Aurora felt horror twist through her stomach. The forest was alive. Or something inside it was. The man screamed. Aurora acted. The Veil erupted. Silver light tore through the clearing. The hands recoiled instantly. The trapped man dropped. Hit the ground. Scrambled backward. The shadows retreated. For a moment. Only a moment.
Then the trees groaned. Every tree in the clearing. Simultaneously. The sound echoed throughout the forest. Deep. Ancient. Angry. Aurora suddenly understood. The forest remembered. And it did not appreciate being disturbed.
Behind her, somewhere far ahead on the mountain path, the returned continued their endless march. Toward the waiting darkness. Toward the doorway. Toward whatever horror had called them from the grave. And for the first time since leaving Hollow Vale Aurora realized the journey itself might kill them long before they reached their destination.