Dawn unfolded over the expedition camp not with a gentle wash of color, but with a hard, metallic brightness that cut through the thin mist layered across the Basin. The students emerged one team after another from the rows of tents, their movements slower, more cautious than the day before. Two days on the island had already reshaped all of them—attitudes tightened, voices lowered, tempers sharpened. The wilderness no longer felt like an exciting test. It felt like something watching them.
Arios stepped away from the tent he had shared with Liza and Lucy the previous night—one small moment of quiet safety before they'd returned to their separate team lodgings. He breathed in the wild air, the sharp tang of greenery mixed with faint salt carried from the coast. The first phase had tested their cooperation. The second had tested their courage. Phase Three—whatever it was evolving into—would test something far deeper.
The island was changing. He felt it.
