Chapter 17 The Call Beneath the Trees
The forest swallowed us the moment we stepped inside, with shadows stretching long and dark under the overhanging trees. The sound of the world beyond, school, was traffic, even the faint hum of my thoughts, faded until only the crunch of leaves under my shoes and the beat of my own heart remained.
I moved cautiously, with hands touching against the rough bark as though I could steady myself against the unknown. My chest throbbed, a shiver running through my ribs, not from fear alone but from something primal awakening inside me which was power. It was raw, pulsing, and demanding attention.
Kai walked a step ahead, his presence was sharp and steady. I wanted to reach out, to feel anchored, but the hum of energy curling around me made every nerve prick, and every movement feel intensified.
“This place…” I whispered, my voice was barely audible. “It feels… alive.”
Kai glanced back, with his jaw tight, and his dark eyes scanning the shadows.
“Because it is. The forest remembers everything.
Everything you’ve been. Everything you will become.”
I shivered. Not from cold. But from the awareness that, for the first time in my life, nothing was ordinary. Not even me.
A rustle to my left drew my attention. My pulse jumped. It was not dangerous… but familiar.
“Luna?”
I turned sharply, expecting some pack member, or some shadow among the trees. But it wasn’t them.
It was Ethan.
He stood there, with muddy sneakers half buried in fallen leaves, his eyes wide and bright with worry. “You didn’t… You didn’t tell me you were coming out here.”
Relief and panic collided in my chest. I was relieved because seeing him grounded me. And I panicked, because I hadn’t expected him, and Kai… well, Kai didn’t like surprises.
“Kai,” I said, gesturing. “This is… Ethan. My friend.”
Kai’s eyes narrowed, unreadable. His jaw tightened just slightly. “Friend,” he repeated, his voice low. Not hostile, but sharp. Protective and warning.
Ethan raised his hands, with a half-smile, he felt nervous. “Yeah… friend. The one who doesn’t get eaten by the forest?”
I couldn’t help but laugh, despite the surge of energy coiling inside me. The sound was like a connection pulling me back to something normal, and something human.
“Luna,” Kai said, stepping closer to me, just enough to remind me of the bond between us. “Stay near me.”
“I’m fine,” I said, though the shake in my fingers betrayed me.
Ethan tilted his head, frowning. “You don’t sound fine.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but the forest answered first. A low hum, almost a vibration under the soles of my shoes. My chest churned, a wave of power pressing at my ribs. I stumbled slightly.
Kai’s hand touched my shoulder, not touching fully, but just enough to anchor me. “Breathe,” he whispered. “Feel it, but don’t let it take you.”
I closed my eyes. The energy swirled around me, alive, and aware. Not chaotic, but insistent. It wanted direction, focus. It responded to me… and to him.
Ethan took a cautious step forward, he put his hand out as if to touch me. “Luna… you okay?”
I opened my eyes. The bond pulsed faintly, a subtle glow in the space between Kai and me. I instinctively backed slightly, my heart racing. “I… I’m fine,” I said, my voice shakier than I intended.
“You’re not fine,” Ethan said, stepping closer. “I can feel… something. Something’s wrong.”
Kai’s gaze flicked sharply to him. “Stay back,” he warned. “It’s not safe.”
“Safe?” Ethan laughed nervously, but his eyes didn’t leave mine. “Since when have any of your days been safe?”
I wanted to snap, to tell him to leave, but the words caught in my throat. Ethan had always been the one person I could breathe around. And now, standing here in the forest with Kai, the raw energy thrumming between us, I realized just how much I needed that connection with someone normal.
The ground shuddered under my feet, like a faint, ominous tremor. My pulse jumped. The forest seemed to lean in, listening and waiting.
Something moved in the shadows, it was deliberate and heavy, and it didn't sound like a human. My stomach clenched.
“Kai?” I whispered.
His stance tightened, protective and silent. “Stay behind me.”
I glanced at Ethan. “You… maybe you should step back,” I warned, my voice low. But even as I said it, part of me wished he wouldn’t leave.
A pair of glowing eyes appeared in the darkness, with molten gold and unblinking. The forest exhaled around us, a quiet vibration that made my limbs quiver.
Ethan froze, his eyes wide open. “What… is that?”
Kai didn’t answer immediately. He shifted slightly, placing himself between me and the creature. “It’s testing you,” he said finally, with his voice calm but deadly. “It knows you’re awake.”
The creature stepped closer, lean and immense, with shadows curling around it like smoke.
Every instinct in me screamed to flee, to run back to school, and back to anything familiar.
But I didn’t.
The power inside me surged, responding to the creature, and to Kai, also to the forest. Heat prickled along my arms as energy coiled around my fingers, faint sparks lifting from the ground.
“Luna…” Kai’s voice was urgent, and low. “Focus. Control it. Don’t let it take over.”
I clenched my fists, grounding myself with Ethan’s worried gaze and Kai’s protective presence.
The bond between Kai and me pulsed faintly, steadying me, even as the forest around us held its breath.
The creature stopped, with its head tilting slightly as if considering me. I felt its awareness like a test, it was testing boundaries, and assessing. The surge inside me answered, not violently, but deliberately. Power I hadn’t yet mastered hummed at my fingertips.
Ethan’s voice broke through, shaky but strong. “Luna… you can do this.”
I blinked at him, surprised. His support was so ordinary, and so human, he anchored me in a way that Kai’s presence, was supernatural, protective, and magnetic, it couldn’t entirely. I drew in a shuddering breath.
“Focus on me,” I whispered to Kai. “And Ethan… don’t look away.”
Kai nodded, subtle, almost imperceptible. “I’m with you.”
Ethan’s hand pushed near mine, he was not touching, it was just a reminder that someone human still existed in the chaos. “I’ve got you,” he said softly.
The creature lunged slightly, testing. I tensed..but instead of flinching, I extended my hands, and the energy responded. A wave of faint light and heat rippled outward, swirling around the creature.
It stopped and hesitated. Its molten eyes locked on mine.
A low growl, vibrating in my chest, but it didn’t advance. Not yet.
I exhaled, trembling. Power humming at the edge of my control, my heartbeat in sync with Kai’s, and a steadying presence of Ethan at my side. I realized something terrifying and exhilarating, that I was no longer hiding and no longer running.
And yet…
From the deeper shadows of the forest, more eyes shone.
Bigger, older, and they were watching and waiting.
The forest seemed to lean in.
Kai’s hand touched mine lightly, like an anchor, and a connection, but his eyes darkened. “They’re not done,” he muttered.
My stomach churned with fear, excitement, exhilaration, and the undeniable thrill of power mixing in me.
Ethan whispered, he sounded tense. “Luna… what are they?”
I didn’t know.
But I would find out.
Because there was no turning back now.
The forest pulsed violently, responding to me, to them, and to the bond that had begun and to the raw energy I could no longer ignore.
I felt it in my chest, in my fingers, and in the ground under us, there was something ancient, something waiting, and something that would either destroy us or demand the full measure of my power.
I took a shaky step forward.
And the shadows moved.