---
Two faint glimmers, like eyes reflecting starlight, blinked once. Their pale light cut through the dark like shards of cold glass. Then they vanished, sinking back into the night as if they had never been there.
The forest held its breath.
A faint crunch of leaves whispered somewhere deeper in the shadows, followed by a soft scrape of claw against bark. The watcher had been there for a long time, hidden and unmoving. It had seen the campfire lit. It had seen the boy with the strange pet settle to rest. And now it lingered in the silence, watching. Waiting.
The fire crackled and hissed as a wet log shifted, throwing sparks into the air. John shifted in his bedroll, exhaling through his nose, but never opened his eyes. He felt the warmth, heard the whispers of the forest, and allowed his guard to drop just slightly.
