>>Elara (Pen's mother)
The room was still and quiet except for the sound of my husband's voice as he read aloud. His words were like knives, each one cutting deeper into the panic rising inside me.
"Pen and Val are heading to the Dark Woods."
No.
My heart pounded violently in my chest, the panic bubbling up, desperate to break free. I tried to scream, tried to shout, but nothing came out. Pen can't go there. She can't even set foot near that cursed place.
No! No! No!
They're going into Dark Woods!!?? Of all the places why there?!??!
I willed my body to move, to do anything, but all I managed was a small, pitiful sound. "Mmmm!" I tried to scream, my body trembling with the effort, but it was useless. My husband glanced at me, concern flickering in his eyes, but he didn't understand. He couldn't understand what I was trying to say.
I have to stop her. I have to warn her. I told her not to leave, I told her she'd be safe here!
