Lincoln’s POV:
The forest didn't change all at once.
It changed in breaths.
Just one night before, I'd watched a group of eclipse-born children sink into the earth as if the soil were soft water. They'd looked at me-straight at me-with eyes holding both dawn and darkness, and they'd known my name.
Their final whisper still clung to my mind like something half-dreamed.
Come home.
The echo remained with me long after the forest swallowed them.
So as we crossed the same path today, something in the air felt different; not darker, not colder, but expectant.
Akira was ahead, blades drawn, but lowered. Sky was beside her, fingers flexing like he expected wind to answer. The others stayed close, not because they feared me, but because they knew someone—something—had reached for me.
The s
