The rattling sound didn't come from the wet leaves beneath their boots. It was metallic, sharp, and unnatural—like bones scraping against steel.
Everyone froze.
"Did you hear that?" Gilbert whispered.
The group exchanged uneasy glances before Roxy cautiously motioned for silence. She tilted her head toward the dense foliage on their left. Something was moving behind it.
Evie squinted through the thick mist. Then she saw them—two glowing red orbs glinting faintly through the darkness. They weren't the wisps. The light was alive, piercing, and full of hunger.
Ragnar slowly raised his weapon. "Eyes," he muttered under his breath.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
Evie turned her head slightly and realized something chilling—the other parties that had entered the forest with them were gone. Completely gone.
They were supposed to be only a few meters apart when they crossed the boundary. But now, the forest had swallowed them whole.
