The night didn't end when Nova reached her room.
Even with the door locked, curtains drawn, and the pendant clutched in her fist, she could feel them. The woods hadn't stayed behind her they lingered, pressing against the edges of her thoughts.
Her windowpane hummed faintly, almost like a heartbeat.
Nova glanced toward it, expecting the shape of a tree branch or maybe her own reflection. But instead, she saw the faint outline of claw marks etched into the glass.
Her stomach turned cold.
She stumbled backward, clutching the obsidian pendant tighter. The moment her skin touched it, the humming stopped. Silence, thick and unnatural, filled the room.
She didn't sleep that night. She couldn't.
When morning came, sunlight filtered weakly through her curtains, dull and colorless. She dressed in silence black hoodie, ripped jeans, and the pendant tucked beneath her shirt. It felt heavier than before, like it was waiting.
Downstairs, Aunt Mara stood by the counter, pouring coffee.
"You're up early," she said without looking up.
Nova hesitated. "Couldn't sleep."
"Nightmares again?"
Something about Mara's tone made her pause. It wasn't the usual gentle concern there was something knowing behind it.
"Yeah," Nova said slowly. "Nightmares."
Her aunt finally looked at her then, eyes soft but searching. "You know, your mother used to say the woods remember people. Especially the ones who don't belong there."
Nova froze mid-step. "What does that mean?"
Mara smiled faintly, the kind of smile that hides more than it says. "Just... stay out of the forest, okay?"
Nova wanted to ask more, but the kettle whistled sharply, and Mara turned away. Conversation.
By the time Nova reached Duskwood High, the world looked almost normal again sunlight glinting off the parking lot, the smell of pine needles and asphalt.
Almost.
Because standing by the bike racks, leaning casually like he belonged there, was Elijah.
His hood was down this time, and his amber eyes caught the light. A bruise marred the edge of his jaw, faint but real.
Nova's pulse jumped. She hadn't expected to see him again.
"Hey," she said, walking up, trying to sound casual. "You left me with a bunch of cryptic one-liners and a monster problem. Mind explaining?"
Luca's lips curved faintly. "You made it home alive. That's what matters."
"That's not an answer."
He studied her quietly, his gaze flicking to the pendant hidden under her hoodie. "It worked."
Nova blinked. "The pendant?"
He nodded. "They didn't cross your threshold. You're protected for now."
"For now?" she echoed. "You're really bad at comforting people, you know that?"
He didn't smile this time. "I'm not here to comfort you."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because you're changing, Nova."
Her breath hitched. "Changing?"
He took a step closer, voice lowering. "When the full moon comes, you'll feel it. The pull. The hunger. The memory of something older than you."
Nova stepped back, shaking her head. "No. I'm not whatever you think I am."
He looked at her, unblinking. "You think the forest screamed last night because of me?"
That stopped her. "What?"
"The one who called the pack wasn't after me. It was after you."
A chill rippled through her spine. "That's not possible."
"You've felt it," he said softly. "The dreams. The shadows moving when no one else sees them. The way you heal faster than you should."
Nova's throat tightened. She remembered the glass from last week the way she'd cut her palm and watched it close within minutes. She'd convinced herself it was adrenaline. Denial was easier.
Now, it wasn't.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
They stood there, locked in silence as students passed, oblivious to the storm between them.
Elijah sighed finally, glancing toward the woods beyond the school. "You have until the next moonrise to decide what you want to be. After that, nature decides for you."
Nova opened her mouth, but before she could speak, the school bell rang shrill, cutting through the air like a warning.
Elijah was gone when she looked back.
Classes blurred into static. Words on the board meant nothing. Every time Nova blinked, she saw the forest again the shapes in the fog, the amber eyes, the marks on her window.
By lunch, she couldn't take it anymore.
She slipped out the back gate, heading toward the football field where the woods began again. Her steps slowed near the tree line.
That's when she heard it a whisper, soft but clear:
"Remember."
She spun, but no one was there.
Then the air shimmered. For a split second, she saw flashes her mother standing in the same woods, holding the same pendant. A wolf behind her, enormous and silver-eyed, bowing its head like a guardian.
Nova gasped and stumbled backward. The vision vanished.
But in its place, at her feet, lay something real.
A piece of torn fabric.
Black. Smelling faintly of smoke and iron.
She picked it up and froze when she noticed the symbol burned into it. A crescent moon wrapped around a single claw mark.
The same pattern that marked Elijah's neck.
Before she could move, a voice called behind her.
"Skipping class already?"
Nova turned to see Caleb Arden, Duskwood High's star athlete and every teacher's favorite. He grinned, holding his helmet under one arm.
But his smile faded when he saw her face. "Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, just, needed air."
He looked toward the forest. "You shouldn't be here. My uncle says people go missing in these woods."
Nova frowned. "Your uncle?"
He nodded. "Sheriff Arden."
Her mind clicked. The same name she'd seen on the warning signs outside the forest border.
"Tell him to check the bridge road," she said quietly. "Something's out there."
Caleb raised a brow. "What do you mean, something?"
Before she could answer, the sky darkened fast, unnaturally so. Clouds rolled in from nowhere, swallowing the sun. The wind picked up, carrying a scent that made her stomach twist iron and pine and blood.
Caleb's expression shifted from curiosity to fear. "What the hell"
Then came the howl.
Closer this time.
Elijah's words echoed in her mind. You have until the next moonrise.
The pendant around her neck flared with cold light.
The forest answered with another howl.
Nova looked up, eyes wide, as something moved in the shadows beyond the field a shape, tall and wrong and too fast to be human.
And this time, she knew it wasn't coming for Elijah.
It was coming for her.