Chapter 12
Genevieve traversed the moonlit trail more nimbly than she’d ever moved in the forest before. Each member of her community knew the Hallowed Wood well, though, in most cases, they did not journey more than a few hours toward its center. Their lorekeepers rejoiced to speak of the forest’s origins, what had once been the sacred burial ground of the ancient elves, lost in a great war that spanned the entire region and beyond. They mustn’t tread too far for fear of disturbing the resting place of these spirits.
As they grew older, Genevieve and her peers came to recognize these stories as a way of preventing children from getting lost in the forest, which would force their minders to beseech the trees’ help to find them.
But on this night, in the mystical path’s silver glow, this
