Chapter 19: What The First Takes
Chapter 19: What the Forest Takes
The news spread through Crescent Ridge Academy like wildfire.
Another student was missing.
Lena heard about it between first and second period, caught fragments of panicked conversation as she walked through the hallways.
“Tyler Sanders.”
“He has been gone since yesterday.”
“They're searching the forest.”
Her stomach dropped. Tyler was a senior, popular and well liked, the kind of person everyone knew. If someone like him could disappear, anyone could.
By lunch the entire academy was on edge. Teachers moved through the hallways with tight expressions. Students clustered together in groups, their voices low and worried. Nobody wanted to be alone.
Two days later they found him.
He was discovered at the forest boundary just like Sarah had been, wandering and disoriented with no memory of how he got there but this time was different.
This time, unlike Sarah, he had marks on his arms.
The photo started circulating during fourth period.
Someone had taken it before the authorities arrived, a blurry shot of Tyler sitting on the ground with his sleeves pushed up.
Lena saw it when the girl next to her pulled out her phone.
Three thin lines ran across Tyler's forearm. They were silver edged, exactly like the ones on Lena's skin.
Her blood went cold.
She pulled her sleeve down and pressed her hand against her arm, making sure the fabric stayed in place. The girl next to her didn't notice because she was too focused on her phone, but Lena could barely breathe.
Tyler had the same marks. The same silver lines that had appeared on her skin after the shadow visited.
What did that mean?
By the end of the day, the academy administration had called an emergency assembly. The headmaster stood at the front of the auditorium, his expression grave.
“Until further notice, no student is to approach the Blackwood Forest boundary alone,” he announced. “Curfew is moved to five PM. All extracurricular activities outside the main building are suspended.”
Whispers rippled through the crowd.
“These measures are for your safety,” the headmaster continued. “We are investigating what happened to Sarah Mitchell and Tyler Sanders. In the meantime, I expect all of you to follow these rules without exception.”
Lena sat in the back row, her hands clenched in her lap.
She could feel eyes on her, students glancing in her direction. The whispers about her had never fully stopped since the hallway incident. Now with two students found at the forest edge, the speculation was getting worse.
She kept her head down and tried to ignore it.
Fifth period was chemistry. Lena sat at her lab table trying to focus on the lesson but her mind kept drifting to Tyler's marks, to the shadow, to the feeling that everything was connected in ways she didn't understand.
That's when the vision hit.
It slammed into her without warning, so violent she had to grip the edge of the desk to stay upright.
The classroom disappeared and suddenly she was in the forest, standing in the dark among the trees.
The shadow was there.
It stood over someone on the ground, its form more defined than she'd ever seen it. It reached down with one hand, long fingers outstretched toward the person lying motionless below.
Lena tried to see who it was, tried to move closer, but she was frozen in place.
The shadow's hand touched the person's arm and silver light exploded across their skin. Marks appeared, glowing bright, the same three lines Lena had on her own arm.
The person on the ground screamed.
Lena gasped and the vision shattered. She was back in the classroom, her heart racing, her hands gripping the desk so hard her knuckles were white.
The teacher was still talking and students were still taking notes. Nobody had noticed.
Except Lena's hands were shaking and she couldn't make them stop.
Was that what happened to Tyler? To Sarah?
Was that what was going to happen to her?
After school Caleb was waiting by his car, his expression tight. He didn't say anything as Lena got in, just started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.
They drove in silence for several minutes before he spoke.
“The disappearances are connected to something old,” he said quietly, his eyes on the road. “Something that should have stayed buried.”
Lena turned to look at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means there are things in Blackwood Forest that don't belong in this world anymore. And for some reason they're waking up.”
“Why?”
Caleb's jaw tightened. “I don't know.”
“Is it because of me?”
He didn't answer immediately and that silence told her everything.
“You need to stop letting your emotions run loose at school,” he said finally. “Every time they spike, something in the forest responds.”
Lena's breath caught. “How do you know that?”
“Because I've been paying attention.” He glanced at her briefly. “Every time you get upset or angry or scared, I feel the shift. And if I can feel it, so can everything else that's paying attention.”
“You've been monitoring me.”
“I've been trying to keep you alive.” His voice was harsh. “Do you have any idea how dangerous you are right now? How many things are watching you, waiting for you to slip?”
Lena wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold. “I don't know how to control it.”
“Then you need to learn. Fast.” Caleb pulled into their driveway and cut the engine. He turned to face her fully. “I'm serious, Lena. Keep your emotions in check. Don't let them build. Because every time they do, you're sending out a signal to everything in that forest that you're here and you're vulnerable.”
The weight of his words settled over her like a blanket.
She wanted to argue, wanted to say she was trying, but the fear in his eyes stopped her.
“Okay,” she whispered. “I'll try.”
Caleb nodded once, then got out of the car. Lena followed, her mind spinning.
That night she went to bed early, exhausted from the stress and fear of the day. She changed into pajamas and was about to turn off her light when she noticed something.
On her left forearm, just above the original three claw marks, a new symbol was appearing.
Lena's heart jumped into her throat. She watched as silver lines formed on her skin, more complex than the symbol she'd seen before. This one had curves and sharp angles, geometric patterns that didn't match any language she knew.
It glowed brighter than the first symbol had, bright enough to cast light across her skin.
She started counting. One. Two. Three.
The glow intensified. Four. Five. Six.
Lena's breathing quickened. Seven. Eight. Nine.
The symbol pulsed with light, beautiful and terrifying. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.
It was glowing longer this time. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.
Finally, at twenty seconds, it started to fade. The lines sank back into her skin until they disappeared completely, leaving only the original three claw marks behind.
Lena sat on the edge of her bed, staring at her arm, her whole body trembling.
Two symbols were now appearing without warning.
They were both glowing and then fading like they were messages she couldn't read.
She pulled her sleeve down and turned off her light, climbing into bed in the darkness. Her window was still locked like Ethan had told her to do. She could see the latch from her bed, the moonlight reflecting off the metal.
She was just starting to drift off when she heard it movement outside her window.
It was slow, like something walking carefully across the roof.
But the footsteps that were too heavy to be a bird or squirrel.
Lena's eyes snapped open. She lay perfectly still, barely breathing, listening.
The sound moved along the edge of the roof, directly above her window, then stopped.
Silence.
Lena's heart pounded so hard she thought it might burst from her chest. She stared at the locked window, watching for movement, for shadows, for anything.
The sound came again and it sounded closer this time.
Right outside her window now, moving slowly, deliberately, like whatever was out there knew exactly where she was.
And was waiting for her to make the first move.