Page 16 of Rebirth

There were secrets in his eyes. Secrets so deep I know that once those truths are revealed, they can never again be forgotten.

It felt like he was going to eat me. Claw me and rip me in two. And yet, he didn’t. Such control, when he most definitely could have. And I doubt I’d have been able to cry or scream for help. Doubt I could have run. Doubt I could have survived.

I grip my chest with my other hand as I take another deep breath, pulling in air as if my lungs are a bottomless pit as I lift my gaze to the canopy.

Bits of sunshine fall between the leaves, dancing over my skin to nature’s melody and reminding me I haven’t been transported to another world.

I’m still here. Still on Earth.

Yet, while he was with me, I forgot about everything else.

I must have lost my mind.

I’m about to pull away from the tree when my gaze lands on the ground before me, the spot where He’rox had been digging still overturned.

I should go back to camp, but I falter. Staring at the spot, I draw closer, reaching for a fallen branch nearby.

I snap the branch, making a pointed end as I crouch, knees digging into the soft earth.

I want to ask myself what I’m doing. Why I’m kneeling in the dirt, making my clothes dirty as I dig for something I have no clue about. But I continue. My limbs move with little input from me as I plow the earth and make the hole bigger, and soon I’m widening it, increasing the effort he made and overturning the earth to make a small hole.

I’m about to stop, to call in my insanity, when the stick hits something that isn’t as hard as the rest of the earth around it. Softer. Smoother. The sudden change in texture enough to make me stop suddenly.

A chill goes over my spine, something sick developing in my gut as I resist the urge to shudder.

It felt like I just poked the soft body of a dead animal and as I lean to look into the hole I made, I do so hesitantly.

But what I see is not what I imagined. It’s nothing I could have imagined, and I lean forward slightly, not sure that what I’m seeing is really there. Bits of sunlight dance over the spot and I stiffen.

Nestled within the earth lies a network of roots, dark tendrils pulsing and writhing as though with stolen life. But even as I look at the phenomenon, I know these aren’t regular roots. They’re too soft. Pulsing like channels, I realize they’re veins. Like a web of shadow filled with dark substance, they thread through the soil burrowing even deeper than I’ve so far discovered.

Revulsion makes me stagger back.

This is what He’rox sensed. Why he left the camp and came to these trees. This…thing, whatever it is, makes my skin crawl and awareness makes me suddenly look up, gaze scanning the trees around me for anything out of place.

But there is nothing.

Whatever this is, the host is not here…or I can’t identify it.

On shaky legs, I rise to my feet and stagger away from the hole and toward the tree line. Wiping my palms against my jeans, I can’t get that creepy-crawly feeling off my skin.

I had questions before. But now I have even more.

The tents that mark Unity loom before me as I hurry toward them.

I need to find him.

I need to ask him what the hell that was out there.

As soon as I step into the camp, the sound of new beginnings greets me. Jarring and mismatched to the terror still running through my veins, I try to calm the erratic beating of my heart as I scan the meeting circle.

He is not there.

“Hey, Sophie!”

I jerk, Mina’s sudden appearance sending a bolt of alarm through me. Her brows furrow immediately.

“You ok, dear? You can turn in early if you want to, you know. Your bed’s already set up and no one will mind. We know it’s a lot and this is your first day.”

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