Rex and Will were back, along with Wics and Luc. Wics was pale, with wounds so deep you could see the bone. Niva had gasped and quickly told the boys to lay him carefully on the floor while she fetched herbs and bandages.

  Luc was also injured, with cuts on his arm and leg, but nothing I couldn't handle.

  Wics, on the other hand... he needed all the help Niva could give if he was to have any chance of surviving.

  Will looked exhausted. He sat down on the floor with his back against the wall, his hands over his head.

  I began cleaning Luc's wounds and wrapped them with bandages.

  "Thanks, Tracy. Good to see you're alive." He smiled, but his eyes were tired, sorrowful.

  He and Wics were close friends – they did everything together and saw each other as brothers. Niva had told me that earlier.

  I nodded and returned his smile with a faint one of my own.

  Rex had lain down on the floor and fallen asleep. It was easy to forget he was hurt too – he was just very good at hiding the pain.

  I crawled over to Will. He had a deep wound on his arm that he'd been carrying around for too long. Now the skin around it was red and irritated. He looked up as I gently began cleaning it.

  "I... I didn't find the others," he said, his voice cracking. "I don't even know if they're alive."

  I took his hand.

  "They could still be alive. We don't know anything yet..."

  But I fell silent. What did I really know? Nothing. Will could be right. Sate, Nick, and Gus were gone. They might already have fallen to the dark side.

  I sat down beside him and kept holding his hand in silence.

  Should I tell him about Vaelmark and Sacra's true identity?

  No. Not now. It wasn't the right time.

  Wics groaned as Niva wrapped the bandages over his wounds. Sweat poured down her forehead – she was completely focused. When she finished, and Wics had passed out from the pain, she looked at us with concern and waved for us to follow her outside.

  "He won't make it through the night without professional help."

  Rex cursed. "No one has ever taken one of us outside our forests."

  "If we don't do it now, he'll die."

  "I'll take him," Luc said from the door. "If it hadn't been for Wics, I'd be dead. Now it's my turn to help him."

  Everyone nodded.

  "Leave early in the morning," Will said. "The dark side is strongest in the evenings and at night."

  Luc carried Wics on a simple sled made of frozen bark and rope. Early the next morning, he left.

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  When the door closed behind Luc and the sled disappeared into the woods, silence settled heavily over the hut. Niva curled up in the corner, Rex breathed deeply where he rested, but Will and I were still awake. Alone in the dim light of the dying fire.

  I turned toward him.

  "Will... I need to tell you something."

  He looked up, tired but listening.

  "That night when Sac was unconscious... he woke up. But it wasn't really him."

  Will didn't move, but I saw his muscles tense.

  "It was Vaelmark. He spoke through Sac. And it wasn't a dream. He knew things. About the curse. About Sacra."

  Will stared at me. "What did he say about her?"

  I hesitated. Then I said it outright: "That she's alive. That she never died that night."

  He shook his head. "No... we saw her die."

  "It was an illusion. Part of something bigger. Vaelmark said she's hiding in the dark. Waiting. That she's the source. Everything we're fighting – it comes from her."

  Will stood slowly, took a few steps away. He stopped with his back to me.

  "That explains why nothing's ever felt... finished," he said quietly. "Like something's always been held back."

  I stood and followed him.

  "And the curse," I continued. "Vaelmark said it shouldn't be broken. That it was meant to protect. If we fully release it... we'll unleash something we can't control."

  Will turned around, his gaze heavy. "So what do we do?"

  "We find Sacra. And we do it our way. Without tearing apart what holds the darkness back."

  He nodded, slowly.

  "Then it starts now."

  Will leaned back against the wall, his eyes still fixed on the fire. I remained beside him, my hand resting over my stomach as if I could quiet the nerves within me.

  "Do you think she's far away?" he asked quietly.

  "I don't know," I said. "But I have a feeling... like maybe she isn't. Like she's closer than we think."

  He looked slowly up at me. "Close... how?"

  "Not in a way I can point to," I replied. "More like a feeling. In the air. In the ground. As if someone's watching us."

  Will was silent. I saw him swallow, slowly.

  "You don't think it's Vaelmark you're sensing?"

  "No," I said quickly. "This is something else. Heavier. Colder."

  He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "Damn. I thought we'd get a break. That we'd finally started to understand what we're up against."

  "We have," I said softly. "But she's a step ahead."

  Will looked toward the door where Luc and Wics had vanished hours earlier. "We have to find out how close she really is. And what she's waiting for."

  I nodded. "We will. But we can't tell anyone yet. Not Niva. Not Rex. They need to focus on surviving."

  Will turned to me. His eyes were tired but clear. "Just you and me, then?"

  I nodded again. "Just us."

  Outside, the wind swept through the trees, and in the silence I felt it again – a faint, pressing presence. Like a shadow without a source. I didn't know where Sacra was. But I knew she was waiting. And that it was only a matter of time before she revealed herself.

  I knew I should lie down, but I couldn't. Not after everything that had happened. I stayed by the fire, pulled the blanket tighter around me, and let my eyes rest on the slowly dancing flames.

  Will sat quietly beside me, shoulder to shoulder. Neither of us said anything for a long time, but we didn't need to. It was as if the words were already there in the silence – a language of their own that didn't need translation.

  I leaned slightly against him, and he gently pulled his blanket over my shoulders too. The warmth from his body was more than physical – it calmed something inside me, quieted the racing thoughts. Here, in this moment, there was no darkness. Just us.

  "When I was little," I began softly, almost whispering, "I thought safety was something you found in a house. Four walls, a lock. But now..."

  Will looked down at me, waiting.

  "Now I think it's a person," I finished.

  He didn't say anything at first. But his hand found mine, gently. Our fingers intertwined. Nothing big. Nothing dramatic. Just simple. Natural.

  "You're not alone in this," he said at last. "Not as long as I breathe. I've chosen you."

  I turned to him, resting my head on his shoulder. My breaths grew slower. Deeper.

  And for the first time in a long while... I fell asleep.