Chapter 16
Chapter 16: The Shape of What Follows
Maya wakes to the footprint in the dust and the group's fractured debate over what crossed over. While Brody and Jasper scout the trail, she and Skylia confront the shape of what was taken from them. When the scouts return with news of a figure waiting at the tree line, the wire on Maya's wrist begins to smoke—the shadows are adapting faster than Hemlock predicted.
The footprint didn't fade as the sun climbed.
I watched it from the doorway, wrapped in Hemlock's wool blanket, my wrist buzzing beneath the iron wire. The print sat in the dust like a brand—bare toes, distinct heel, the dark film already drying to a rust-colored crust. Whatever left it had weight. Substance. The kind of presence that doesn't dissolve at dawn.
"It's blood," Brody said, crouched beside it. He didn't touch. Just stared. "Human blood."
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