Chapter 2 The pull of Shadows
I ran through the empty hallway, my heart hammering so hard it felt like it would break my ribs. The echoes of my name...“Luna…”still lingered in my ears, carried on the faint wind that didn’t belong anywhere. My chest ached, my hands shook, and a cold, heavy weight pressed against my ribs.
Why did it feel like the air itself was alive?
I should have been scared, terrified, even, but there was something else, something I didn’t understand, pulsing inside me. A strange rhythm, a pull, like a connection I had never felt before. It made my head spin and my stomach twist, like being caught between two worlds at once.
I ducked into the side hallway, hiding behind lockers, trying to catch my breath, trying to make sense of what just happened. The strange energy, the pull I felt toward… something, someone. I couldn’t even name it, was terrifying and thrilling all at once.
And then the memory hit me.
I had always been different. Always. From the moment I could remember, I had sensed things others couldn’t.
Whispers in the wind, shadows moving in corners where no one else saw them, feelings I shouldn’t have been able to feel. The forest at the edge of town had always been my only sanctuary. My parents had loved it too, often taking me there on weekends. They had died when I was ten, leaving me with my grandmother and her mysterious warnings, and a family legacy I didn’t understand.
The accident, or what everyone called an accident, had been brutal. It was raining hard that night. The roads were slippery, and the car lost control. My parents couldn’t stop in time. The tires skidded on the wet road, and the car slammed into the road barrier. Everything happened so fast. The impact was loud, and then… it was over. My parents were gone. I remembered the sirens, the lights flashing red and blue, the cold, hard truth pressing into me before I even reached the scene. I remembered kneeling in the rain, staring at the wreckage, the taste of salt and blood in my mouth, my small body trembling. That was the night I learned the world was cruel and unpredictable, and that being different made you… separate.
After that, I stopped trying to be “normal.” I stopped trying to fit in.
Being alone became my shield. The forest became my sanctuary. And the strange abilities that pulsed in my blood, the instincts I couldn’t ignore, they were mine, my secret, and my shield against a world that would never truly understand me.
Yet now, after the hallway, after the pull I felt, everything felt different. I wasn’t alone in sensing the shadows anymore.
Someone else, Kai was part of this hidden world, and he had been… watching me.
Saving me and protecting me.
And it scared me more than the bullies ever had.
I pushed my hands into my pockets and walked to the edge of the school courtyard. The wind brushed against my face, sharp and cool, carrying the faint scent of something wild, and something alive. My fingers tingled. My heartbeat synchronized with it. I couldn’t ignore it anymore. The world I had thought I knew, human, dull, and ordinary, was only one layer. Under it, there was something else, something ancient, and something dangerous.
And I was a part of it.
I sighed, leaning against the cold brick wall. I hated feeling like this, like the world was constantly reminding me I didn’t belong. I hated how much I craved the pull I had felt toward Kai, even though I barely knew him. Even though the pull was confusing and wrong and exhilarating all at once.
Why did it feel so… right?
I wanted to hate it, to push it away. But a part of me, a hidden, stubborn part, wanted to dive headfirst into it, to embrace the danger and the thrill. I had been trained, by life and circumstance, to keep my distance. To stay quiet. To avoid attachments. And yet, Kai had shattered that carefully built wall with a single glance, every single moment.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, dragging me back to reality. A text from my grandmother:
“Be careful, Luna. The forest stirs. The blood remembers.”
I shivered, pressing my hand to my chest.
She had always spoken in riddles, but after today, the words made more sense.
Something in the forest, in the world, in me, it was awakening.
I wanted to run, to disappear, to go back to my sanctuary among the trees, but I didn’t. Not yet.
Because deep down, I knew that running wouldn’t change what I was. Running wouldn’t change the pull. Running wouldn’t change the fact that I was no longer just a girl hiding in the shadows.
And that terrified me more than anything else.
Later, I wandered through the quiet streets of Crescent Valley, avoiding the main roads, avoiding anyone who might recognize me. The town had always been small, suffocating, and ordinary. I had walked these streets countless times, but tonight they seemed… different. The shadows stretched longer, and deeper.
The wind carried whispers I couldn’t place. My instincts thrummed again, stronger this time, pulsing through me like a warning.
I stopped at the edge of the Crescent Forest, looking into the trees that had always felt alive. The moonlight fell softly through the branches, casting silver patterns on the ground. I could feel the pulse again, the rhythm of the forest, the heartbeat of something ancient and it was calling me.
I stepped forward, barefoot, letting the cool grass press against my toes. Every step brought a mixture of fear and longing. I had always loved being alone here. Always. Because being alone gave me clarity, it gave me control, gave me space to breathe without the noise of a world that didn’t understand me. But now, with the pull I felt, with Kai’s presence lingering in my mind, even being alone felt… different.
I wasn’t alone anymore.
And that was the scariest part.
A sudden rustle in the underbrush made me freeze. My pulse jumped, and my instincts screaming. Something, or someone was out there. Something big.
Something moving faster than it should.
My hands tingled. My breath caught.
Then a familiar voice, soft and low, drifted through the trees.
“Luna…”
I whirled, heart in my throat. There was no one. Just shadows. Just the moonlight weaving through the branches. But the voice had been real. Real enough that my skin prickled, and my stomach twisted, and a shiver ran down my spine.
I had felt pulled, drawn, and alive in ways I couldn’t explain. And now, I realized with a sinking feeling that the world I had hidden from was reaching for me, and it would not let me go.
I took a step deeper into the forest, and everything went silent.
Then the ground under me shivered, almost like a warning. My heartbeat sped.
Something moved in the shadows. And I realized, with a shock that froze me in place, that this wasn’t just a whisper anymore. Someone, or something was coming for me.
I clenched my fists, forcing my racing thoughts into focus. My parents were gone. I had survived alone before. I could sur
vive again.
But deep down, I knew this was different.
And I had no idea if I was ready.