Margaret hunched over her horse, the creature's white breath mingling with her own in the frigid night air. The Shadow Woods lived up to their name, dense pines casting deeper darkness beneath a starless sky. Old Ren's map lay open across her saddle horn, though she could barely make out its markings in the meager light from their single, covered lantern.
She'd always been the responsible one at the academy—the one who took notes, who remembered birthdays, who made sure everyone got home safe after parties. Now that same instinct made her hyperaware of every sound in the woods, every shift in the wind. Death surrounded them in these woods, and she felt it.
"Xavier," she called softly. "The compass?"
Xavier rode alongside her, his face half-hidden by the high collar of his coat. He pulled out the Resonance Compass, its needle glowing blue in the darkness, pointing steadily northwest.
"Still active. Getting stronger." He closed his fist around it. "We're close."
