Germany did not welcome us; it swallowed us.
The transition from the open highway to the Black Forest wasn't gradual. It was like stepping through a heavy velvet curtain. One moment, the sky was a bruised twilight purple; the next, it was gone, blotting out by a canopy of pine and fir so thick it felt like a ceiling.
The road narrowed. The asphalt, which had been so unreliable at the river, gave way to a track of packed earth and ancient, gnarled roots that seemed to writhe beneath the tires of the Land Rover.
"Headlights," Adrien muttered.
He flicked the switch. The high beams cut into the darkness, but the light didn't travel far. It was swallowed by a fog that clung to the ground, a thick, white mist that swirled in unnatural patterns.
"It’s quiet," Maelle whispered from the back s
