Elara's POV
The national park is pitch black when we arrive.
The drive took three hours instead of two. Sapphire sat in the passenger seat, her face pale, staring out the window as if expecting an army to materialize from the shadows. The twins sat in the back. The brooding one, Derek, didn't speak a single word the entire drive. But I could feel his eyes on me in the rearview mirror.
The wild one, Derrick, kept his hand on mine for the first hour until I finally pulled away, overwhelmed by the sheer heat radiating from his skin.
Now, parked at the end of a dirt road near a hiking trailhead, I step out of the car. The air is crisp, smelling of pine and damp earth. It’s so dark out here that I can barely see my own hands.
"Where are we?" Sapphire asks, stepping out and stretching.
"Th
