CHAPTER FOUR: Fractured silence
1686 Words
Aria took a slow step backward.
“Bring me back to where?” Her voice came out sharper than she felt.
Kieran didn’t answer immediately.
The wolves didn’t move either.
That silence between all of them felt wrong—like the forest itself had stopped breathing just to listen.
Then Kieran spoke, low.
“Not a place,” he said. “A state.”
Aria frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“It does to them.”
He nodded slightly toward the wolves.
One of them let out a sound—not quite a growl, not quite a call.
And then the air around Aria changed.
Not visually.
Something deeper.
Like a pressure pressing against her skin, testing her, searching.
Aria clutched her chest instinctively.
“What is that?” she whispered.
Kieran’s eyes darkened.
“They’re checking if you’re fully awake.”
“Fully what?”
But before he could answer—
The forest cracked with a sound like snapping bone.
Not from a tree.
From the space itself.
A ripple tore through the air near Aria, and for a split second she saw something impossible—
A version of the forest that wasn’t the forest.
Dark towers. Broken skies. Shadows moving like living things.
Then it vanished.
Aria staggered back, breathing hard.
“I saw— I saw something—”
Kieran grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t focus on it.”
“But I saw it!”
“Exactly,” he said sharply. “That’s why they’re here.”
The wolves shifted again, uneasy now.
Like her reaction confirmed something they already suspected.
Aria’s voice dropped. “I don’t understand any of this.”
Kieran exhaled through his nose, like he was making a decision he didn’t want to make.
“You will,” he said.
That wasn’t comforting.
It sounded like a warning.
Far away from the forest, in a place that still obeyed normal rules—
Aria’s home was not quiet.
Her mother stood by the kitchen counter, phone in hand, staring at the screen for the third time.
No message.
No call.
Nothing.
“She’s not picking up,” her mother said finally, voice tight.
Her father looked up from the table. “Maybe she’s studying late.”
“At midnight?”
A pause.
The kind of pause that meant worry was slowly turning into something heavier.
Her mother pressed her lips together. “She always tells me where she is.”
“Always?” her father echoed.
That made her hesitate.
Because it was true.
Aria was responsible.
Predictable.
Safe.
But today had felt… off.
Her mother turned toward the window.
Outside, Lagos lights flickered like nothing was wrong with the world.
But her chest didn’t agree.
“She said she was on campus,” her mother muttered.
“And you believe her?”
“I want to.”
That was the problem.
Back in the forest—
Aria pulled her wrist free from Kieran’s grip.
“Stop talking like I’m already part of something I don’t understand,” she said.
Kieran’s expression tightened.
“You are already part of it.”
“Since when?”
A pause.
Then—
“The day you were born.”
The words hit harder than anything else so far.
Even the wolves went still.
Aria blinked.
“That’s not funny.”
“It’s not a joke.”
She stared at him, searching for sarcasm, for exaggeration, for anything normal.
There was nothing.
Just truth.
Heavy and unpleasant.
“I don’t believe you,” she said quietly.
“You don’t have to,” Kieran replied. “Not yet.”
A wolf stepped forward again, closer this time.
Aria didn’t move away immediately.
Something in her had shifted.
Fear was still there—but now it was tangled with something else.
Anger.
“Then explain it,” she demanded. “Properly. No half-sentences. No threats. No riddles.”
Kieran looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said, “You’re not supposed to exist here.”
Aria scoffed. “I’m literally standing here.”
“That’s the problem.”
The wind picked up suddenly.
Harder this time.
The trees bent slightly.
And then—
From deeper in the forest, a new sound answered.
Not wolves.
Not wind.
A voice.
Clearer.
Colder.
Calling her name.
“Aria…”
She froze.
Her stomach dropped instantly.
Because that voice—
Wasn’t Kieran’s.
Wasn’t human in the way she understood human anymore.
The wolves lowered their heads.
Kieran’s expression changed completely.
Fear.
Not panic.
Something controlled.
But real.
“No,” he said under his breath.
Aria turned slowly toward the darkness between the trees.
“Who is that?” she whispered.
Kieran stepped forward just slightly.
Blocking her line of sight.
And for the first time since she met him—
His voice wasn’t confident at all.
“It found you faster than I thought,” he said.
Aria’s heart pounded.
“What found me?” she asked again.
Kieran didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he said something worse.
“Your past.”
Aria took a slow step backward.
“Bring me back to where?” Her voice came out sharper than she felt.
Kieran didn’t answer immediately.
The wolves didn’t move either.
That silence between all of them felt wrong—like the forest itself had stopped breathing just to listen.
Then Kieran spoke, low.
“Not a place,” he said. “A state.”
Aria frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“It does to them.”
He nodded slightly toward the wolves.
One of them let out a sound—not quite a growl, not quite a call.
And then the air around Aria changed.
Not visually.
Something deeper.
Like a pressure pressing against her skin, testing her, searching.
Aria clutched her chest instinctively.
“What is that?” she whispered.
Kieran’s eyes darkened.
“They’re checking if you’re fully awake.”
“Fully what?”
But before he could answer—
The forest cracked with a sound like snapping bone.
Not from a tree.
From the space itself.
A ripple tore through the air near Aria, and for a split second she saw something impossible—
A version of the forest that wasn’t the forest.
Dark towers. Broken skies. Shadows moving like living things.
Then it vanished.
Aria staggered back, breathing hard.
“I saw— I saw something—”
Kieran grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t focus on it.”
“But I saw it!”
“Exactly,” he said sharply. “That’s why they’re here.”
The wolves shifted again, uneasy now.
Like her reaction confirmed something they already suspected.
Aria’s voice dropped. “I don’t understand any of this.”
Kieran exhaled through his nose, like he was making a decision he didn’t want to make.
“You will,” he said.
That wasn’t comforting.
It sounded like a warning.
Far away from the forest, in a place that still obeyed normal rules—
Aria’s home was not quiet.
Her mother stood by the kitchen counter, phone in hand, staring at the screen for the third time.
No message.
No call.
Nothing.
“She’s not picking up,” her mother said finally, voice tight.
Her father looked up from the table. “Maybe she’s studying late.”
“At midnight?”
A pause.
The kind of pause that meant worry was slowly turning into something heavier.
Her mother pressed her lips together. “She always tells me where she is.”
“Always?” her father echoed.
That made her hesitate.
Because it was true.
Aria was responsible.
Predictable.
Safe.
But today had felt… off.
Her mother turned toward the window.
Outside, Lagos lights flickered like nothing was wrong with the world.
But her chest didn’t agree.
“She said she was on campus,” her mother muttered.
“And you believe her?”
“I want to.”
That was the problem.
Back in the forest—
Aria pulled her wrist free from Kieran’s grip.
“Stop talking like I’m already part of something I don’t understand,” she said.
Kieran’s expression tightened.
“You are already part of it.”
“Since when?”
A pause.
Then—
“The day you were born.”
The words hit harder than anything else so far.
Even the wolves went still.
Aria blinked.
“That’s not funny.”
“It’s not a joke.”
She stared at him, searching for sarcasm, for exaggeration, for anything normal.
There was nothing.
Just truth.
Heavy and unpleasant.
“I don’t believe you,” she said quietly.
“You don’t have to,” Kieran replied. “Not yet.”
A wolf stepped forward again, closer this time.
Aria didn’t move away immediately.
Something in her had shifted.
Fear was still there—but now it was tangled with something else.
Anger.
“Then explain it,” she demanded. “Properly. No half-sentences. No threats. No riddles.”
Kieran looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said, “You’re not supposed to exist here.”
Aria scoffed. “I’m literally standing here.”
“That’s the problem.”
The wind picked up suddenly.
Harder this time.
The trees bent slightly.
And then—
From deeper in the forest, a new sound answered.
Not wolves.
Not wind.
A voice.
Clearer.
Colder.
Calling her name.
“Aria…”
She froze.
Her stomach dropped instantly.
Because that voice—
Wasn’t Kieran’s.
Wasn’t human in the way she understood human anymore.
The wolves lowered their heads.
Kieran’s expression changed completely.
Fear.
Not panic.
Something controlled.
But real.
“No,” he said under his breath.
Aria turned slowly toward the darkness between the trees.
“Who is that?” she whispered.
Kieran stepped forward just slightly.
Blocking her line of sight.
And for the first time since she met him—
His voice wasn’t confident at all.
“It found you faster than I thought,” he said.
Aria’s heart pounded.
“What found me?” she asked again.
Kieran didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he said something worse.
“Your past.”
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