By morning, Ashmoor felt different.
The fog lifted earlier than usual, but instead of relief, it left the village exposed—every whisper clearer, every glance sharper. Lena walked through the streets with her hood pulled low, painfully aware of how much she could hear now. The murmur of voices behind closed doors. The scrape of boots on stone from streets away. Fear had settled into the village like a sickness.
People knew something was coming.
She reached the old mill by the river just as Elias emerged from the shadows beneath its broken wheel. In daylight, he looked almost ordinary—tired eyes, rough beard, shoulders heavy with years of hiding. Only the faint glow in his gaze betrayed the truth.
"You came alone," he said.
"I don't think I could hide even if I tried," Lena replied.
Elias gave a short, humorless laugh. "That's lesson one. You don't hide from the curse. You learn to stand with it."
They moved deeper into the reeds, where the river widened and the forest leaned close. Elias stopped and pressed his palm to a tree trunk. The bark rippled slightly under his touch.
"The forest listens to our blood," he said. "But it doesn't obey commands. It answers intention."
Lena copied him, placing her hand against the bark. At first, nothing happened. Then she focused—not on fear, not on control, but on belonging. The tree warmed beneath her palm, steady and alive.
Her breath caught. "It feels… familiar."
Elias nodded. "Because it remembers you."
They trained in silence at first. Elias taught her how to slow her breathing when the heat rose in her veins, how to ground herself in physical sensations—the press of earth beneath her feet, the rhythm of her heart. Each exercise left her drained but clearer, like tuning an instrument that had never been played properly.
"You're learning fast," Elias said as she steadied herself after a surge. "Faster than I ever did."
"That doesn't sound like a good thing."
"It isn't," he replied. "The stronger the bond, the higher the cost."
Before Lena could ask what that meant, a sharp crack echoed from the trees.
Elias spun, eyes blazing. He shoved Lena behind him just as Sheriff Alden stepped into view, rifle lowered but ready.
"So it's true," the sheriff said. "The Gray bloodline."
Lena stepped forward despite Elias's warning hand. "You knew," she said. "Didn't you?"
Sheriff Alden's jaw tightened. "I knew your mother begged us not to kill Elias. I knew we ignored her."
The silence that followed felt heavier than anger.
"The next full moon is tomorrow," Alden said. "The council voted. We burn Blackthorn Forest if we have to."
Lena's chest tightened. "That would destroy the village."
"It would save it," he replied.
Elias snarled softly.
"No," Lena said firmly. "It would doom us."
The sheriff studied her for a long moment, then spoke quietly. "If you truly believe you can end this… prove it."
He turned and walked away.
Elias looked at Lena, fear clear in his eyes now. "Tomorrow decides everything."
Lena stared at the river, its surface calm, hiding powerful currents beneath.
"I'll be ready," she said.
But deep down, she wasn't sure anyone ever could be.