Chapter Four of Black Thickett (ONC 2026) is now live!
"Sometimes I hear him," she whispered. "Jack. He's not the boy I remember. It's not quite his voice, but close enough that I almost answer."
Edmund felt the skin along his arms prickle.
"At night?" he asked.
"Of course. Always at night. Well, sometimes in the early morning mist, like we had today before the sun shooed it off. Mostly when it's dark, though. Feels like the woods are breathing him out."
She stared past him toward the treeline at the end of the road. Involuntarily, he followed her gaze.
"The forest takes what it wants," she said quietly, not wanting it to hear her. "It doesn't give it back."
"What does it want with you?"
It's a forest. Just trees. Nothing more. It doesn't – can't - want anything.
"Not me."
Her eyes settled on him. He could feel their weight. Measuring. Knowing.
"But it looks at you. I can tell."
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