Chapter Seven: The Eyes Beyond the Hollow

Ivy's feet wouldn't move.

She stood frozen, breathing shallowly, eyes locked on the window. In the dark they were shining eyes - rough, quiet - still there. Looking at. Reading. Waiting.

Something felt wrong about them.

Not animals. Not human.

"Get away from the window," Thorne said quickly, the voice was low and tightly as a pulled bowstring.

Ivy blinked while breaking the trance. Her hands trembling, every movement weighed by an effort that took her away from her eyes to tear it away.

She turned to Thorne, heart thudding in her chest like a warning drum. "What are they?"

"Not wolves," Ethan said behind her, his voice barely a whisper. His shoulders were tense, the lips yellow, the eyes were nervous about each shadow.

"Shades," Thorne answered . "They serve her now."

Outside, the trees moaned under a pressure Ivy couldn't see. The branches bend to some invisible force - but the wind was still. The wind had become very calm. It wasn't a natural silence. It suffocated. Heavy, like the world itself was holding its breath. the shadow writhed outside the wooden line, dancing around the edge of the cabin like they were testing its boundaries.

Thorne grabbed the coat with a hook and slid it on the shoulders of ivy without a word. She had not even realized she was shivering until the weight of it settled around her.

"We have to go," he said.

Ivy stared at him. "Where are we going?" her voice was cracked. "They are surrounding us."

"Down," Thorn said.

Before she could question him, he kicked the carpet in the middle of the cabin, revealing the old, weather-worn wood. With one hand pull, a square panel opened and exposed a trapdoor.

"You had a basement all this time?" Ethan asked.

Thorne did not answer. He fell on one knee, opened it completely, and a wave of cool air tampered with age older than rot, obsolete and thick.

Ivy came into the dark. A steep staircase descended into nothingness.

"No light," she muted.

"No time," Thorne replied, pressing the tone intensified.

Then, from the woods-

A sound cracked through the night.

A howl turned into something wrong, part screaming, part crying. Like something was taken out of his body.

They all got furious.

Ethan put his hand on his ears. Ivy's blood ran cold.

"Go," Thorne barked.

Ethan dropped first, his form vanishing into the black.

Ivy hesitated for a single heartbeat, then followed, boots hitting the stone steps with a cold thud. The air thickened with each step.

Thorne came last, and then closed the Trapdoor above them. The darkness swallowed them completely.

Then click.

A flare of orange light broke the black. Thorne burned a small oil lamp mounted on the wall, the flashing glow, long, creep of shadows off the stone.

The chamber was narrow and low ceilinged, lined with shelves warped by time. Ancient books with cracked spines, rolls tied with crispy string, and strange dust and jars filled with bone pieces rolled the walls as a collection of forgotten knowledge.

Ivy coughs against thick winds. "What is this place?"

"Old magic," said Thorne, his voice low. "Built by the first keeper of the cave. Even before my time."

Ethan ran a finger along one of the stone walls. "Why here?"

"Because this is where she can't see."

Above them, a deep thud echoed. The roof dusted down on their heads. Something had landed on the cabin.

Ivy looked at it lightly, her stomach knotting. "She's here."

Thornes face darkened. "No. This is not her. It's something else."

The flame flickered.

The walls trembled.

Then came the sound .

A growl.

Low. Wet. Not like a wolf. Not like any animal she had heard before.

It scraped at the edges of sanity.

Ethan stumbled back. "What is that?"

Thorne stepped on one of the shelves and pulled out a weapon, which Ivy had not seen before -an Obsidian blade, etched with faint runes. The air around it seems to shimmer faintly.

"She sent a shadebeast."

"What now?" Ethan asked, panic leaking into his voice.

"It's a hunter," Thorne said. "Born from shadow. It can smell the blood. Fear. Souls."

Ivy reached for the nearest weapon -an old dagger, curved as a crescent moon. The bend was cold and rusty, but it felt solid in her grip. She swallowed hard.

"Well, that's comforting ," she said.

Trapdoor crealed above them.

In a lazy flow, the dust fell from the ceiling.

Ivy turned to Thorne, heart in her throat. "We fight?"

Thorne shook her head. "No. We bait."

He crossed to the corner of the chamber and pushed his hand to a stone altar half-hidden in shadow. The stones were pulsed with unconscious light when they were ignited under the palm of the hand.

With a deep groan, the wall section tore and slipped, open, revealing a narrow tunnel beyond.

"Go," Thorne said to Ivy and Ethan.

She grabbed Ethan's hand in hesitation. "How about you?"

"I'll hold it off."

"No." Ivy's voice trembled. "You'll die."

"You have to find the grove." The real one. "

"I'm not leaving you."

"Ivy-"

"I mean it."

The trapdoor exploded.

The tree shattered. A thick fog of dust and splinters rained down. Something monstrous dropped into the chamber and took a nap-glue spread far away, bones cracking, as it moved, eyes glowing blood red.

Ethan screamed.

Thorne did not hesitate, he lunged at the beast, blade flashing.

"Run!" He shouted.

Ivy dragged Ethan into a tunnel, the stone wall sliding shut behind them, just as another uncontrolled cry tore the wind - but this time it wasn't Thorne.

It was the beast.

They ran away.

The tunnel was tight and curved, barely quite wide enough for two. The walls were slippery with moss, and the wind with each step was cold. Ivy's lungs burned, her vision was blurred, but she kept going .

She had to.

Ethan stumbled, grabbed the wall. "Where does this lead?"

"I don't know," Ivy said between the breaths. "Anywhere but there."

The tunnel suddenly expanded. Ivy stumbled forward and froze.

They had entered a chamber bathed in pale blue light .

A tree stood at the center.

Dead.

Its bark was black and split. The branches threatened like a claw. And within the origin of the trunk, a weak shiny pulsed.

"The Grove?" Ethan Whispered.

Ivy stepped closer. "No," she said softly. "This is a memory."

Something tugged at her deep in the chest. A pull she could not explain .

She reached out.

The world disappeared the moment her fingers brushed the bark.

Everything went white.

She stood in the cave. Daylight. Gold sky. Birds chirped. She looked down -small hands. she was a child.

And not alone.

Thalia knelt beside her, young and soft, voice soft. "Breathe, a little wolf. Do you hear it?"

"The song ?" The young ivy asked, wide eyed.

"Yes. It's calling you."

The child trembled. "I don't want to be like them."

"You're not," Thalia whispered. "You are stronger."

The vision wavered.

Ivy blinked -

And gasped for air, crashing back into the chamber.

Ethan caught her. "What happened?"

"I ... I knew her."

"What?"

"When I was younger. Before I even moved. She found me."

"But how? Why?"

"She planted something in me," Ivy said. "Magic. A bond."

Ethan's face went pale. "You were part of her plan all along ."

Ivy stared at the twisted roots of the tree, curled through the stone like a vein.

"She didn't just want revenge."

"She wanted you to become her."

Suddenly the chamber trembled. A deep crack split the distant wall. Cold air poured in.

And a whisper echo.

"You remember now, don't you?"

Ivy turned to the voice.

It wasn't in her head.

Thalia stood on the other side of the tree.

Real.

alive.

And smiling.