The town didn't feel the same after that day in the forest.
It wasn't something obvious. Crescent Valley had always been quiet, always half-asleep beneath its heavy clouds and drifting fog. Silence had always been part of the town's identity. But now, that silence felt deliberate carefully maintained, like everyone had agreed not to speak about the same thing without ever saying so out loud.
It followed me everywhere. In this way people avoided eye contact. The conversations ended when I entered the room. On the way the doors closed a little faster after sunset.
At breakfast the next morning, my grandmother barely touched her food. She sat at the table with her hands wrapped tightly around her cup, her gaze drifting again and again toward the windows, as though she expected something to appear just beyond the glass.
"You didn't go near the trees yesterday, did you?" she asked casually.
Too casually.
I hesitated for only a second. "Just the trail."
Her hand froze midair.
"Elara," she said slowly, carefully, "that trail leads to the trees."
"I was careful," I added quickly. "Nothing happened."
That wasn't entirely true. Nothing violent had happened. Nothing had attacked me. But I didn't say that. I didn't mention the backpack. Or the way Kael Draven's voice still echoed in my head. Or how unsettled I had felt long after I left the forest behind.
She sighed and looked away, staring down at the table. "People disappear in small towns because no one wants to ask the wrong questions."
The words settled heavily between us.
That was the closest she came to explaining anything.
I spent the rest of the morning helping her organize old books in the living room. Most of them were journals handwritten, fragile, their pages yellowed with age. As I stacked them, I noticed symbols drawn in the margins of some pages. Circles. Crescent shapes. Marks that looked suspiciously like claws.
I picked one up, curiosity getting the better of me.
My grandmother's hand shot out, closing the book with a sharp snap.
"Those are just stories," she said.
"Stories about what?" I asked.
She smiled thinly. "Things that don't exist."
But her hands were shaking.
Later that day, I decided to do what everyone else in Crescent Valley refused to do.
I asked questions.
At the diner, the waitress stiffened the moment I mentioned missing animals. Her smile faltered, and she suddenly found something very important to clean behind the counter. At the hardware store, a man laughed too loudly when I asked about the torn backpack I had found near the trail.
"Hikers get lost," he said quickly. "That's all."
"But no search parties?" I pressed.
He avoided my eyes. "The forest's too dangerous."
That word again.
Dangerous.
On my way out, I felt that unmistakable sensation of being watched. The hairs on the back of my neck rose, and I turned instinctively, half-expecting to catch someone staring.
Kael stood across the street.
He leaned against his truck, arms crossed, his attention fixed entirely on me. He didn't look like he belonged in town. Everything about him felt wrong for the setting, like he was only passing through, even though something told me he was more rooted here than anyone else.
The moment our eyes met, he straightened.
"You're asking questions," he said as I approached.
"I'm allowed to," I replied.
"You shouldn't."
"Everyone keeps saying that," I snapped. "No one explains why."
His gaze softened slightly, though his voice stayed firm. "Some knowledge makes things worse."
I studied him more closely this time. Faint scars lined his knuckles, old ones, the kind that had healed long ago. His posture was tense, alert, like he was always prepared to move at a moment's notice.
"Do you live out there?" I asked, nodding toward the forest.
He didn't answer.
Instead, he said, "If you value your life, you'll stay close to town. Especially at night."
A chill ran through me, sharp and sudden.
"Is that a threat?"
"It's a warning."
Before I could say anything else, a low rumble echoed from deep within the trees. It wasn't thunder. I was certain of that. Kael's head snapped toward the sound, his entire body going rigid.
"You need to go," he said sharply.
For once, I didn't argue.
That night, sleep refused to come.
I lay awake listening, every small sound amplified in the darkness. Then I heard it move outside the house. Heavy footsteps. Slow. Deliberate. The wind shifted, carrying a scent that was sharp and unfamiliar, something wild and metallic.
My heart pounded as I crept toward the window, pulling the curtain aside just enough to look.
The yard was empty.
But the fence wasn't.
Wood had been torn apart, splintered outward as though something had forced its way through from the other side. Deep marks scored the posts, far too wide to belong to any animal I recognized.
My hands trembled.
The next morning, my grandmother didn't act surprised.
"They're getting closer," she murmured.
"Who?" I demanded.
She looked at me for a long moment, her expression torn, like she was deciding how much truth I could survive. "Things older than this town," she said finally.
That wasn't enough.
So I began my own investigation.
I retraced the trail where I'd found the backpack. I photographed the claw marks, the broken latch, the disturbed earth. I started noticing patterns always near the forest edge, always during full moons, always at night.
And always, Kael was nearby.
Sometimes I caught glimpses of him at the edge of my vision. Other times, I felt his presence without seeing him at all. Once, I woke up to find muddy footprints leading away from the house. Large. Barefoot.
They were gone by morning.
The fear crept in slowly.
Don't panic.
Not terror.
Something worse.
The growing realization that I was standing at the edge of something vast and dangerous and that everyone else had already chosen to pretend it didn't exist.
One evening, I confronted Kael again.
"You know what's happening," I said.
His jaw tightened. "Yes."
"Then tell me."
He stepped closer, his presence overwhelming, his voice dropping. "If I do," he said quietly, "you won't be able to unsee it."
I met his gaze, forcing my voice to stay steady despite the fear curling in my chest. "I already can't."
For the first time, something like regret crossed his face.
That was when I knew.
Whatever the truth was, it was tied to him.
And it was far more dangerous than I had imagined.