Dawn came slowly, the light seeping through the branches and leaves that covered the shelter's entrance, turning the darkness grey, then grey-green, then something that might have been morning. David had been awake for hours, sitting against the wall with Elena's head on his shoulder and his eyes on the ladder and his hands ready for something that hadn't come.
The thing in the trees hadn't moved. He could feel it out there, the same way he'd felt the alpha waiting, the same way he'd felt the stone calling to him from the den. It was patient, whatever it was. Patient in a way that felt old, older than the forest, older than the Expanse, older than anything David had ever known.
Elena stirred beside him, her eyes opening, her voice thick with sleep. "Did you sleep?"
David shook his head. "Couldn't."
She sat up slowly, her movements careful, her face pale in the grey light. "Is it still out there?"
"I think so."
Lucas was already at the ladder, his body shifted, his hands ready. He'd been awake too, David knew, had been watching the entrance since before dawn, had been waiting for something to come down that ladder and give him something to hit. "I'm going up. See what's out there."
Erica was beside him, her bow in her hand, her arrow nocked. "I'll go first. You're too loud."
Lucas started to argue, then stopped, then nodded. Erica climbed the ladder, her movements silent, her body disappearing through the entrance without a sound. David held his breath, waited, listened.
"It's clear," she called down, her voice low. "Whatever it was, it's gone."
Mira was the next one up, her movements quick, her face set. She'd been awake too, David realized, had been sitting in the corner with her father's stone in her hand, watching the entrance, waiting for something that hadn't come.
Becca climbed after her, her shadows rising, her daggers in her hands. David helped Elena to her feet, steadied her when she swayed, waited until she was ready to move.
The forest was quiet when they emerged, the light thin, the shadows long, the air cold in a way that made David's breath steam. Lucas was already scanning the trees, his body shifted, his hands ready. Erica was at the edge of the clearing, her bow up, her eyes moving. Mira was standing where she'd climbed out, her face turned toward the trees, her hands empty for the first time since David had met her.
"It was there," she said, pointing at a tree at the edge of the clearing. "Standing right there. Watching."
David looked at the tree, saw nothing but bark and leaves and shadows. But he could feel something, a presence that had been there and was gone, a weight that had lifted but left marks behind. The ground beneath the tree was disturbed, the leaves pressed flat, the moss scraped away like something had been standing there for a very long time.
Becca moved to the tree, crouched, examined the ground. "There are tracks. Not human. Not anything I've seen before."
Lucas moved up beside her, his body shifting back to normal, his face tight. "Are they fresh?"
Becca shook her head slowly. "No. They're old. Days, maybe weeks. Whatever was standing here last night, it's been standing here for a long time. Watching."
David looked at the tracks, at the marks that didn't match anything he'd seen in the Expanse, at the thing that had been waiting for them since before they entered the forest. "It knew we were coming. It's been waiting for us."
Mira moved to his side, her father's stone in her hand, her face pale. "My father said the thing he saw in the deep Expanse, the thing that watched him, it was waiting too. Waiting for something. Waiting for someone." She looked at David. "He said it had been waiting for a very long time."
---
They walked back to First Landing in silence, the forest opening up around them, the trees thinning, the path widening. Mira led them through the shortcuts she'd learned over years of hunting, past places where the ground was soft and places where the branches hung too low and places where the gorehounds had marked their territory.
Elena was stronger now, the rest giving her back something she'd lost in the night, her steps surer, her breathing steadier. She walked beside David, not touching, not talking, just there, the way Lucas was there, the way Becca was there, the way Erica was always there, watching.
They passed the old logging road where Mira had found them, the place where she'd burst out of the trees with blood on her face and fear in her eyes. It looked different in the daylight, less threatening, less urgent, just a road that led nowhere and trees that had been growing for longer than anyone could remember.
Lucas was the first to speak since they left the shelter, his voice low, his eyes on the path ahead. "What was it? The thing in the trees. What did it want?"
Mira didn't turn around. "I don't know. My father didn't know. He just said it was waiting."
Becca moved up beside David, her voice quiet. "Your aunt. The stone she left in the den. She was waiting too. Waiting for you to find it. Waiting for you to be ready."
David thought about Lian's face in the vision, the exhaustion, the fear, the hope. "She said the egg chose me. That it's been waiting for me since before I was born. What if the thing in the trees is waiting for the same thing? What if it's waiting for the egg to wake up?"
Lucas looked at him, something shifting in his expression. "Wake up into what? What's inside that thing?"
David shook his head. "I don't know. She wouldn't tell me. She said I had to find out for myself."
Erica appeared ahead of them, coming back from wherever she'd been scouting, her bow on her back, her face calm. "First Landing is about an hour out. The safe zone is clear. No sign of the pack, no sign of anything following us."
David looked back at the forest, at the trees that were already fading into the distance, at the thing that was still out there, waiting. "They're not following us. They got what they wanted."
Mira stopped, turned, looked at him with something in her expression that might have been understanding. "You. They got you. You walked into the den, you touched the stone, you saw what your aunt left behind. Whatever was waiting, it got what it was waiting for."
David looked at her, at the woman who'd been hunting these woods for years, who'd seen things she couldn't explain, who'd been carrying her father's stone since he died. "Your father. The thing he saw in the deep Expanse. Did it come back? Did it follow him?"
Mira shook her head slowly. "No. He said it was waiting. Not for him. Not for anything he had. Just waiting."
David thought about the thing in the trees, the way it had stood there watching, the way it had let them go, the way it had been waiting for them since before they entered the forest. "It wasn't waiting for me. It was waiting for what I'm carrying. The egg. The thing my parents died to protect. That's what it wants. That's what it's been waiting for."
---
First Landing was exactly as they'd left it, the buildings low, the streets dusty, the portal shimmering at the edge of town. Mira stopped at the entrance, her father's stone in her hand, her face turned toward the forest she'd been hunting for years.
"I'm not going back," she said, her voice quiet. "Not today. Maybe not ever."
David looked at her, at the woman who'd found them in the forest, who'd led them to the shelter, who'd shown them the thing her father had left behind. "What will you do?"
Mira shrugged, the stone disappearing into her jacket, her face settling into something that might have been peace. "There's work here. Hunters who need supplies, people who need help, things that need killing. I've been running from that forest for years. Maybe it's time to stop."
Lucas moved to her side, his body back to normal, his voice gentle in a way David rarely heard. "You saved our lives back there. If you hadn't found us, if you hadn't led us to the shelter, we wouldn't have made it."
Mira looked at him, something shifting in her expression. "You would have made it. You're the Ashborn boy's people. Nothing's going to stop you."
Becca stepped forward, her voice steady. "If you need anything, if you ever need help, the Moon Clan will remember what you did for us."
Mira nodded slowly, her eyes moving from Becca to David to Lucas to Erica. "Go. Get out of this place. There's nothing here for you anymore."
She turned, walked into First Landing, disappeared between the buildings without looking back.
---
The portal was waiting, the light shimmering, the passage between worlds open. David stood at the edge of it, Elena beside him, Lucas behind him, Becca and Erica somewhere close. The forest was behind them, the thing in the trees still waiting, the den still hidden, the stone his aunt had left still calling to something that was sleeping in his shelter.
"You okay?" Lucas asked, his voice low.
David shook his head. "No. But I will be."
Elena took his hand, her grip tight, her voice steady. "We're going to find them. The people on that list. The people who killed our parents. We're going to find them and we're going to make them pay."
David looked at her, at the cousin he'd found in the darkness of his father's legacy, at the woman who'd been waiting for him her whole life. "Together."
She smiled, the first real smile he'd seen on her face since they'd entered the forest. "Together."
Lucas moved past them, toward the portal, his voice bright, his energy returning. "Can we go home now? I need a shower and a bed and about twelve hours of sleep and also some food, I'm starving, I haven't eaten since yesterday and I think I'm dying."
Becca caught up with him, her voice sharp but her face almost smiling. "You're not dying."
"I'm dying. I'm definitely dying. If I don't get food in the next hour, I'm going to collapse and you're going to have to carry me and I'm very heavy."
Erica was already through the portal, her voice echoing back. "We'll leave you here."
"You would not. You love me. You all love me. I'm very lovable."
David stepped through the portal, Elena beside him, the light swallowing them, the forest disappearing behind them.
He was home.