The silence that descended after Celeste vanished into the house was thicker than the forest’s gloom. It was a held breath. Selene stood with her brothers and Caleb at the edge of the woods, the familiar shape of her home now looking like a carefully constructed trap.
“We can’t go back in there,” Eli whispered, his voice trembling.
“We have to,” Lucian said, though he sounded unsure. “Our things. Our evidence of a normal life. If we disappear now, it confirms everything.”
Jakob’s jaw was set. “Lucian’s right. We act normal. We go in, we say nothing. We give her nothing.”
Caleb’s hand found the small of Selene’s back, a steadying point of heat. “I’m not leaving you here alone with her,” his voice murmured in her mind, a private, possessive thread.
“You have to,” she thought back, turni
