The sky outside the temple was dark, even though it should have been morning. Clouds covered the sun, thick and heavy, and the air felt colder than before. The mist had grown darker too—dense, like smoke instead of fog.
We moved slowly through the forest, quiet except for the crunch of leaves under our boots. Every now and then, I looked back at Gage. He was walking behind Arlo, limping a little from where the guardian had thrown him. But there was something else about him too—something I couldn’t explain.
He wasn’t just angry anymore. He looked… haunted.
His eyes didn’t have the same color. They were darker, like something was moving behind them.
Asher noticed it too. I could feel it in the way he kept glancing back, his body tense, ready.
“You okay?” I asked Gage softly when we stop
