Chapter 5 Something Beneath the Skin

Chapter Five – Something Beneath the Skin

The forest was thick with fog the next morning.

Mist curled like smoke around the tree trunks, swallowing shadows and sunlight alike. No birds sang. No breeze stirred. It was as if the entire world was holding its breath.

Aiden sat on a boulder near the edge of the clearing, staring at the treeline.

He hadn't slept.

The dream had come again.

Except this time... he wasn't watching from the outside. He was the creature in the clearing-muscles rippling beneath a form not fully his own, claws twitching with tension, breath heavy with heat and hunger. Valeria stood before him in the dream, her throat bare, her eyes full of recognition instead of fear.

He'd wanted to get closer.

He'd wanted to run.

And when he woke up, his teeth had ached like he'd been clenching them in a snarl.

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Elsewhere, Valeria sat on the root of an ancient tree, scribbling into a weathered leather-bound journal. She wasn't sketching flowers or jotting notes about plants like the others. Her pages were filled with fragments of dreams-symbols, names, shapes her mind couldn't quite hold onto after waking.

Her dreams were changing too.

She had begun to hear Aiden's voice in them.

Not speaking words-but howling.

Calling.

Her pen trembled against the paper. When she looked up, she spotted Amara across the field, staring directly at her.

There was a beat of silence-an unspoken question between them.

Valeria didn't smile.

Neither did Amara.

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After lunch, the students were split into groups again. This time, they were instructed to follow different trails and journal their findings-leaves, animal prints, strange tree markings. It was meant to be a light afternoon of observational learning.

But the moment they entered the woods, the air grew heavier.

Amara found herself in a trio with Selene and Jace, their instructor trailing several paces behind.

"You're quiet today," Jace said to Selene, nudging her shoulder playfully. "Not feeling the whole 'wilderness explorer' thing?"

"I don't like when forests go quiet," she replied.

Jace raised an eyebrow. "You mean... now?"

"Yes."

Amara turned slowly on her heel. "I feel it too. Like we're not the only ones walking here."

Jace snorted, but it wasn't convincing. "Okay, creepy forest girl mode engaged. Are we sure this isn't all just nerves?"

But then he looked over his shoulder.

And flinched.

Because, for just a second, he thought he saw something crouched between the trees-a shape too low to be a man, too still to be an animal. But when he blinked, it was gone.

"Okay," he muttered. "Maybe I'll stick a little closer to the group."

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Meanwhile, Valeria and Aiden had been paired together again.

Not by request.

Just... luck.

They walked in silence for a while, the only sound the crunch of their boots and the occasional snap of twigs beneath their steps.

"Did you dream again?" Valeria asked finally.

Aiden didn't answer.

She stopped walking. "Aiden. Don't shut me out."

He turned slowly, and for the first time, she saw it-his pupils were a little too dilated, his hands trembling slightly. He looked like someone on the verge of something. Change. Collapse. Hunger.

"I saw you," he said. "In the dream. You weren't afraid."

"I wasn't," she replied. "Because it was you."

Aiden clenched his jaw. "That's the problem."

Valeria stepped closer. "It's not a curse, Aiden. Whatever this is, it's waking up in both of us. We were drawn here. Together. For a reason."

"Don't say fate."

"I won't. But it doesn't mean we should run from it either."

They stood too close. Not touching, but tethered by something that didn't need skin to bridge the gap.

And then, deeper in the trees, a scream broke the quiet.

Not a loud one. But sharp. Cut off halfway.

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Amara's head jerked up.

"Did you hear that?" she asked, voice tight.

Selene was already moving.

They ran toward the sound-branches clawing at their clothes, leaves whipping past their faces-until they found Elias, standing just outside a twisted grove. He looked shaken, his breathing ragged.

"What happened?" Selene demanded.

Elias turned to her, pale. "Rhea. She... she saw something. Ran after it before I could stop her."

"Into the woods?" Amara asked.

He nodded.

"Damn it." Selene pushed past him and plunged into the trees. The others followed.

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They found Rhea ten minutes later.

She wasn't hurt-but she was different. Pale. Shaking. Sitting against a tree with her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

"I didn't mean to chase it," she whispered. "It looked like a wolf-but standing. It was so fast. It looked at me and I just... I couldn't stop."

"What did it look like?" Selene asked gently.

"Black," she said. "Eyes like silver. It wasn't human. But it wasn't just an animal either."

They exchanged looks.

No one said the word.

Not yet.

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That night, the teachers held the students close to camp.

No more trail hikes. No more splitting into groups. Safety protocol, they said.

But the way they kept glancing toward the forest?

They were afraid of something.

Amara watched Valeria whisper something to Aiden under her breath.

Selene curled beside Elias by the fire, her hand brushing his beneath the blanket they shared.

Rhea said nothing all evening. Just stared at the flames.

And above them all, the moon-barely more than a sliver-rose like a watchful eye in the black sky.

Whatever was coming... was close.

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