We went back to that house to pick up our things.

  No one said anything. We already knew what had to be done.

  The futons were messed up, the table was empty. Even the smell of yesterday’s dinner was gone. It felt like something from days ago.

  I slung my bag over my shoulder and checked what was inside.

  But my head was somewhere else entirely.

  Ra?k.

  Not the power. Not the rampage.

  Those eyes he’d shown at the end.

  Eyes that had realized he couldn’t “hear” anymore.

  That moment.

  That silence.

  I’d seen dead eyes plenty of times, but that—yeah, that was the first time.

  To see that kind of gaze settle into the face of a kid barely twenty.

  “You’re still thinking about it,” Ren said behind me as he closed the door.

  I didn’t answer.

  Because I was.

  Sera came up beside me and lightly pulled the front of her coat closed. Her face was calm, but softer than usual.

  “Nael, you did enough.”

  “…I know. I know, but still.”

  I shrugged.

  “Knowing something and accepting it aren’t the same, right?”

  I didn’t say it out loud, but I was pretty sure she was thinking it too.

  That her father had died from the same sickness.

  When we left the village, people were gathered.

  Not a lot.

  But it felt like we were being seen off.

  A few bowed their heads. A small child waved.

  An older woman stepped forward and murmured something under her breath.

  And then—

  “Princess Serelyne…”

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  Someone said it. Not a shout. A clear voice.

  No one corrected it.

  No one denied it.

  Sera didn’t say anything. She only lowered her gaze slightly, and kept walking.

  We walked in silence for a while.

  At some point, the scenery changed. The road got rougher, the trees packed in tighter, the air grew damp. Light slanted through the branches.

  We’d crossed the border.

  “This is… the Riser Forest?” I asked, half to myself.

  “Probably,” Ren answered from up front.

  “It’s my first time leaving Thiseia. I thought it would feel… special.”

  “Don’t you feel that?” Sera asked over her shoulder.

  I thought of Ra?k again—his father’s face, his last words, the fact that we couldn’t do anything. It sat in my chest, and right now, nothing else could really get in.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t feel it yet.”

  Sera didn’t say anything, but she rested a hand on my arm for a second.

  Ren kept his eyes forward and said quietly, “You will.”

  So we kept walking.

  Deeper. Further in.

  But what we’d left behind didn’t disappear so easily.

  The first thing that felt wrong might’ve been the air. Heavier than usual, and the way the branches moved—it didn’t feel like wind. It felt like something was touching them.

  We were walking in a line. Ren in front, wearing that blank face he gets when something doesn’t sit right with him. Sera behind him. She looked alert, but not like she had a clear handle on what it was. I was bringing up the rear, glancing back every couple of steps.

  It didn’t feel like we were being chased.

  Just… like something was off.

  The creak of the ground, the way sound carried through the air—everything felt clogged and empty at the same time. Like a space that was nothing but echo packed into a box.

  My body stopped on its own. Reflex, before thought.

  —Fshh!

  Something dropped from above. No—someone. Straight down onto Sera.

  “Wha—!”

  Sera couldn’t dodge in time. She fell and rolled. I stepped forward, but I couldn’t do anything.

  The “someone” was a girl about our age. Messy hair. Clothes that were… weird. Not dirty, not torn, and yet they didn’t belong. Like she’d come from somewhere off the map.

  She sprang back up. Breathing hard, but not scared. She had the face of someone who needed to move—now.

  “Run! The Lord of the Forest is coming! He’s mad, and he won’t listen right now! Hurry!”

  Before we could even respond, she took off. No hesitation at all.

  “…Huh?” was all I got out.

  Sera got up without saying anything, and Ren was already staring into the depths of the forest.

  Then we heard it.

  Thud. Far away, but unmistakable—something big forcing its way through trees.

  Another hit. Branches snapping. Not wind.

  Footsteps.

  “So is this… a threat? Or a life-or-death self-introduction?” I muttered.

  No one answered. The sound was getting closer.

  “…Yeah. Got it.”

  And I ran.

  I was running before I even finished thinking. I just—didn’t want to see it. The sound was enough.

  Ren caught up in three strides. Sera was right behind. No one spoke. No plan, no orders—just legs moving.

  A sharp crack sounded to the right.

  That wasn’t a branch.

  —that was a trunk, snapped from the base.

  “Go north!” I shouted. No real reason, but Ren turned instantly.

  That side was a little more open. Less undergrowth. More light. Still forest, but… you could breathe.

  Thoom. The ground shook—this time I felt it under my feet.

  We vaulted a small stream, and the air turned into the smell of scorched resin.

  And then— we broke through. Not into a totally open field, but past the forest’s edge. A brighter area dotted with rocks and low shrubs.

  I bent over, wheezing. Sera had her hands on her knees. Ren—barely even sweating. Which, honestly, kind of annoyed me.

  “Yoo-hoo!” That voice again. Way too energetic.

  “If you’d fallen off a cliff, that would’ve been the worst first meeting ever, right? I’m glad you’re okay!”

  For example: that orange fruit along the path—bitter, but sweet. The one we passed on the way.

  Yeah. She was holding one now, biting into it.

  We’d been there three minutes ago.

  Meaning—

  While running for our lives, she picked fruit and took snack time?

  …Either this girl is unbelievably weird, or she’s completely out of her mind. One of the two.

  She looked at us and grinned like we were old friends.

  I just raised my left eyebrow.