Chapter 14: Into the Woods
240 Words
Lena found Cade before he found her.
She didn’t have to search long. She knew where he would be—where he always went when things got bad.
The woods.
She spotted him near the old fire tower, crouched low, his fingers trailing over the dirt like he was tracking something. His shirt was still torn from last night, dried blood staining the fabric.
He didn’t look up when she approached.
“You heard,” he said.
Lena crossed her arms, breath still unsteady from her sprint through town. “The Harris boy is missing.”
Cade nodded once. “Yeah.”
Lena hesitated. “Is this… was this one of yours?”
Cade’s head snapped up, golden eyes flashing. “No.”
Something in his voice made her believe him.
She exhaled, rubbing her arms. “Then what the hell are we dealing with?”
Cade stood, scanning the trees. “That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
Lena followed his gaze, unease curling in her stomach. She had grown up in these woods. She had run through them as a child, climbed their trees, hidden behind their trunks.
But today, they felt different.
Wrong.
She looked back at Cade. “Where do we start?”
He studied her for a second before tossing something at her feet.
A shoe.
Small. Mud-streaked.
A little boy’s shoe.
Lena’s breath caught.
Cade’s expression was grim. “We start here.”
- Writer
