Sally's POV
The forest stretches around us in eerie silence. Nothing stirs except leaves dancing in the gentle wind and the enforcers positioned strategically around our perimeter, their eyes scanning for threats.
Ajax shatters the stillness first. "There's something here," he says quietly, dropping to his knees beside the water's edge. "Some kind of residue. Can't tell what it is though - has no scent I recognize."
Jackson kneels beside him, pushing up his sleeves carefully. "Keep your skin away from the water," he cautions. "Even tiny amounts of this poison could kill you."
Something pulls me forward before I can think twice. The sensation is automatic, magnetic, making my heart race. The creek appears normal enough, but energy thrums beneath its surface like a buried pulse echoing through stone and earth.
I drop to my knees, brushing off Karl's sharp warning of my name, and extend my hand. The instant my fingertips break the surface, everything goes still.
