Chapter Six: The Night Before
The school felt different that evening.
Not louder, not quieter—just charged, as though the walls themselves were holding their breath.
Alex sat cross-legged on her bed at home, fingers drumming restlessly against her notebook. Her serpent-mark pulsed beneath her sleeve, a dull thrum that refused to settle. The forest was hours away, yet already it felt like it was pulling her in.
What if Nimros was waiting?
The thought tangled itself into every silence.
She stared at her packed bag—clothes, shoes, a flashlight she didn't even need since the school promised to provide everything. Still, she couldn't leave it out. It wasn't the forest she feared. It was the unknown that looked back at her through the trees.
---
Anna, meanwhile, was in her dorm, her desk lamp painting a soft glow over her open Bible and scattered notes. She hadn't studied a word. Her dormmates were buzzing with excitement—trading rumors about what kind of training the trip meant—but she tuned it all out.
For her, the fear wasn't about the forest. It was about failing her friends.
Alex had a way of leaping headfirst into danger. Raymond was reckless in his own way, hiding it beneath humor. And she? She was supposed to be the steady one. The one who didn't break.
She whispered a quiet prayer under her breath. Let me be enough.
---
Raymond sprawled across his bed, one arm thrown over his eyes. He could hear his brothers roughhousing down the hall, their voices brash and careless. For once, he didn't feel like joining.
The trip was supposed to be "training." But in Raymond's mind, it was something else entirely: a chance to prove himself. To finally stand out, not as the shadow of his brothers, but as his own person.
He grinned faintly into the dark.
"Forest or not, I'm not letting Alex or Anna outshine me."
But beneath the bravado, his stomach twisted.
---
Midnight came.
Outside, the campus grounds were swallowed by moonlight.
Claire stood beneath one of the stone arches leading to the forest path, her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her eyes scanned the line of trees that blurred into shadow. She wasn't alone.
A figure lingered beside her—just a silhouette against the night, face hidden beneath a hood.
"You really think they're ready?" the figure asked, voice low, almost a hiss.
Claire didn't answer at first. Her gaze lingered on the dorms, where faint lights still burned behind curtains. The trio.
Finally, she said, "Children don't survive exams. And now they want to survive the forest?" A bitter laugh escaped her. "No. But survival isn't the point."
The hooded figure shifted. "Then what is?"
Claire's expression hardened. "Stories. They're finally taking the first steps to theirs. And stories like these…" She let the thought trail off, her voice carrying only to the shadows. "They never end the way you hope."
The figure's silence was heavier than words.
The forest loomed, waiting.