The air beyond the camp shifted.
Not heavier. Not thicker.
Intent gathered in the distance like something waking and slowly remembering its teeth.
Damien stopped moving first. His head tilted slightly, pupils narrowing as something unpleasant slid across his senses.
"It's closer."
Voss followed his gaze into the fog. His jaw tightened almost immediately.
"It's aware."
Felicity felt it a heartbeat later.
Not hunger, attention. The difference made her skin crawl.
It was the sensation of being measured. Not hunted. Not chased. Examined the way a blade might examine soft material before deciding how to cut.
She folded her arms around herself without realizing she had done it "It feels like I'm being watched."
Ivan flexed his fingers and blue lightning crawled briefly across his knuckles before fading.
"Good," he said quietly.
"Let it look."
Victor had already moved.
