Ofelia’s POV
The sound came again.
Low.
Deep.
It rolled through the forest like something alive, something too large and too powerful to belong to any animal I had ever heard before.
I sat upright in bed, the old novel sliding from my lap onto the blanket. For several seconds, I did not move. My heart pounded so hard that I could hear it above the wind pushing against the balcony doors.
The room suddenly felt too small.
Too dark.
I reached for the lamp and switched it on, flooding the space with warm light. Nothing changed. The curtains still moved gently beside the window. The trees outside still scraped against one another. Somewhere in the distance, the river continued flowing.
Then the strange sound stopped.
Silence returned so quickly that I began questioning whether I had r
