We didn't stop moving until the unnatural weight pressing against our backs finally faded. Even then, no one spoke. Not until the forest around us felt real again. Until the trees weren't just shapes in the dark but actual trees, and the sounds of the night returned in uneven, cautious trickles.
Julien exhaled loudly. "Alright. I vote we never do that again."
Felix let out a strangled laugh. "Agreed. All in favor of pretending we never saw that thing?"
No one argued.
I wasn't ready to relax, though. Whatever that thing was, it let us go. That didn't mean it wouldn't change its mind.
Mira walked beside me, her expression unreadable. "You didn't want me to attack."
"You saw what happened," I said. "The moment you prepared a curse, it reacted. That thing wasn't mindless."
Wallace, still glancing over his shoulder, nodded. "It didn't just lash out. It… responded."
"Responded," Julien muttered. "Yeah, that's one way to describe almost getting impaled."
