The lights vanished, leaving behind only the cold, distant stars. The forest below was a sea of blackness, silent and unmoving. For a long moment, the only sound was the hiss of the radio. It felt like the whole world was holding its breath.
"Did you... did you really see that?" Alex finally asked, his voice barely a whisper. He needed to hear her say it again. He needed to be sure.
"I saw it, Alex," Elara confirmed, her own voice tight with shock. "They were right over Greyback Ridge. It wasn't a weather balloon. It wasn't a helicopter."
They spent the next hour talking, trying to make sense of the impossible. They threw out every logical explanation they could think of—military drones, rare atmospheric phenomena, satellites burning up in the atmosphere. But none of it fit. The lights had moved with fluid, intelligent grace that defied any easy answer. They had danced.
The fear from the clicking noises had been a quiet, creeping thing. This was different. This was loud and clear and undeniable. It felt like the forest was showing off, displaying a power that they couldn't possibly understand. They stayed on the radio long after their usual sign-off time, the open channel a small comfort against the vast, terrifying darkness outside their windows. Neither of them wanted to be alone.
The next morning, the bright sun made the events of the night feel like a bizarre dream. But the fear lingered, a cold knot in Alex's stomach. He and Elara spoke about it again during their morning check-in, their conversation hushed and nervous. They were partners in a secret now, witnesses to something no one would ever believe.
The day dragged on, heavy unspoken anxiety. Alex found himself unable to focus on his book. He paced the small room of his tower, his eyes constantly scanning the trees below, half-expecting to see another impossible light.
Around three in the afternoon, the main radio channel, usually silent expect for official weather reports, crackled to life. It was a man's voice, calm and professional, but with underlying tone of urgency.
"Attention all stations in the Absaroka-Beartooth sector. We have a report of a missing hiker. Male, late twenties, last seen yesterday afternoon near the trailhead for Cascade Creek. Name is Ben Carter. He was equipped for a two-day hike. He is now twenty hours overdue."
Alex felt his blood run cold. The Cascade Creek trailhead was only about ten miles southwest of his tower.
The dispatcher continued, "All lookout personnel, please be on high alert. Report any visual signs—clothing, campfire smoke, distress signals—immediately. Search and Rescue teams are being deployed."
Soon, a new sound filled the air: the distant whump-whump-whump of helicopter blades. Alex grabbed his binoculars and scanned the sky until he found it, a small black speck moving methodically over the green canopy. The radio filled with the chatter of the search teams, their voices a strange intrusion into Alex's isolated world.
He immediately switched to the channel he and Elara used. "Did you hear that?"
"I heard it," she replied instantly. He could tell she was thinking the same thing he was. "Cascade Creek... that's between my tower and yours, isn't it?"
"Closer to my side, I think," Alex said, his stomach churning. "He went missing yesterday. That was the day we saw the lights." He didn't say the rest, but he didn't have to. And the same night the clicking started again.
A terrible thought wormed its way into his mind. The hiker, Ben Carter, had been out there in the dark, somewhere below them, when the lights were dancing in the sky. He had been out there when the strange, rhythmic clicking echoed through the trees. Had he seen them too? Had he heard the sounds?
"Alex," Elara said, her voice soft and fully of worry. "You don't think... you don't think it's connected, do you?"
"How can it not be?" he shot back, his fear turning into frustration. "This forest was perfectly normal until a few weeks ago. Now there are strange noises, impossible lights, and a guy just vanishes off the trail? It's all connected."
He felt a surge of anger and helplessness. They were sitting in their towers, seeing and hearing things they couldn't explain, while a man's life was on the line. But who could they tell? If Alex radioed the search commander and said, "Excuse me sir, you might want to search for glowing orbs instead of a lost hiker," he'd be relieved of duty before he could finish the sentence. They were trapped by their own secret.
As the sun began its slow descent, painting the sky in fiery shades of orange and red, the search was called of for the night. The helicopter flew away, and the radio chatter died down, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. The forest was once again just Alex, Elara, and the vast, unknown thing that lurked within it.
Alex stood at his window, watching the last silver of light disappear behind the mountains. He felt a fierce, desperate need to protect Elara, a woman he'd never even met. She was out there, in a tower just like his, just alone, just as exposed.
"Stay safe tonight, Elara," he whispered into the microphone.
"You too, Alex," her voice came back, a fragile thread of warmth in the growing darkness. "Keep your radio on."