Selene
Now that I had grown in magic I found that the forest always spoke to me at different times of the day and in different ways. Not in words. In shifts. In the way the air pressed too still against my skin. In the way birds delayed their first call. In the way leaves held their breath before light broke through. This morning, it felt wrong, it felt like something was different, like there was a shift that I just couldn’t understand or point out yet.
I had left before the others woke fully, needing quiet before the weight of the day settled in my bones. The countdown to Steven’s attack lingered over the pack like a storm cloud that refused to move. A day now or maybe just a few hours.
The trees parted softly around me as I walked, boots silent against damp earth. I wasn’t aimless. I
