Chapter 18: Tangled Destinies

The wind howled through the narrow canyon path, carrying with it a warning only the most attuned could hear. Emma felt it in her bones a low, pulsing sense of dread that settled beneath her skin like cold ash. The world had shifted since she learned the truth about Jonathan, and now, nothing felt stable. Not time. Not trust. Not even herself.

The night air was thick with tension as she stood beside Jonathan on the edge of the old stone bridge, hidden deep within the Carroway Woods. Moonlight pooled across the mossy stones, casting eerie silver reflections in the stream below.

“They know,” Jonathan said quietly, eyes scanning the dark forest beyond. “About us.”

Emma’s throat tightened. “Who? The others like you?”

“No,” he said. “Worse. The ones who never forgot what I took from them. They’ve been waiting for an excuse, and now they think they've found one.”