The dense forest was wrapped in shadows, the only light coming from the flickering glow of distant fireflies. The night air was thick with moisture, and every step the trio took seemed to echo through the stillness. Something about the silence felt wrong, as if the very woods were holding their breath, waiting for something to happen.
Thea's wings stirred uneasily, the usual grace of her flight now strained, as if the air itself was too dense to move through. Her eyes darted from one darkened tree to another, theEires stood in the bright floodlights of the clearing, the sounds of her team celebrating filling the air around her. The cheers, the clapping, the excitement—it was all so loud, but it couldn’t drown the small gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was quite surprised to find that Jason was nowhere to be found.