Page 58 of Fourth

The trees weren’t like Earth’s forests. Their trunks shimmered with faint bands of color, pulsing gently with inner light. Leaves glowed in shades of blue and green, casting eerie shadows across the ground. Mist slithered between roots, curling around Maya’s ankles as sheran.

Her lungs burned, each inhale harsh and tearing, as if she were breathing through smoke. Each step dragged like her legs had turned to stone, muscles burning with effort. Her heartbeat pounded like thunder, arelentless throb that swallowed every sound except the slap of her bare feet against the ground.

A flicker of movement caught her eye. Too close.

Maya threw herself sideways, stumbling behind a thick trunk. Her back hit bark hard enough to bruise. She pressed herself flat against the wood, biting back a cry as pain lanced up herside.

Silence.

The challenger’s voice slithered through the trees, threatening and dangerous as poisoned mist. “You cannot hide from me,” he growled, the words curling around her like claws closing in. “These woods are in my bones, stitched into the very fabric of my being.” His voice stretched and echoed unnaturally, as though the forest itself spoke through him, turning the shadows into something alive and waiting. Maya’s pulse hammered in her throat, the trees closing in tighter with every syllable.

Her throat closed around a sob. The image of Riv’En dropping to one knee replayed behind her eyes, sharp and unrelenting. She wasn’t just afraid. She was furious. If she gave in now, if she made a sound, it would betray both of them. She clenched her fists, nails biting into her palms. Think. Breathe. Camouflage. She knew how. She just had to remember that she did it before with Riv’En.

A whisper of silver light flickered over her skin, an echo of the camouflage she’d used against Riv’En on Earth. The shimmer wavered like heat off stone, fading almost as quickly as it appeared. Her heart was hammering too hard, her breath tearing too fast to curb. She closed her eyes, forcing her thoughts to slow, willing her mind back to the memory of Riv’En’s voice, the quiet command that had steadied her before. But the light remained faint, unstable, flickering and sputtering as her fear overwhelmed the fragile tether to hergift.

A sudden crash came to her right, like a tree trunk splintering under impossible force. Forceful footsteps thundered against the earth, shaking the ground beneath her feet. Ablur of dark skin and silver markings streaked past her hiding place, close enough to stir the mist in its wake. The challenger moved with terrifying speed and mass, not a man so much as a living storm tearing through the undergrowth, each step splitting branches and gouging deep scars into thesoil.

Maya spun away from the tree, bolting deeper into the woods. Her bare feet slipped on slick leaves. The terrain dropped suddenly—asteep embankment. She skidded down it, arms flailing, dirt and stone tearing at herlegs.

Her breath stuttered, catching halfway in her throat as if the air itself had thickened to ice. Her vision blurred, colors bleeding into one another until the glowing trees and shifting shadows became an indistinguishable haze. Her pulse hammered violently, like a second heartbeat in her skull, wild and frantic, each beat a warning bell screaming through her entire body. Each beat giving away her position and helping Brotha findher.

Then—

Silence again.

She collapsed behind another tree, dragging in ragged, burning gulps of air. Her limbs trembled. Her entire body screamed forrest.

And then—he was there.

Brotha’s hand clamped around her arm before she could make it another step. His grip was iron, unshakable, radiating heat and pressure like molten steel. Maya gasped, twisting frantically, but there was no give in his hold. His fingers wrapped fully around her upper arm, cutting off motion as if shewere no more than a sapling snapped in a storm. Every muscle in her body fought to break free, her skin prickling with cold and fire all at once, but it was like being caught by the trunk of a tree—immovable, absolute.

His silver eyes glinted down at her, mouth pulling into a slow grin that sent ice down her spine. “Such a disappointment,” he murmured, voice pitched low, as if savoring every word. “Too easy. Far too easy. Where is the thrill in that?” His fingers flexed once, holding her in place just long enough to make sure she understood.

Then he released her, shoving her backward with casual force. Maya stumbled, catching herself against a low branch, breath burning in her throat. Her heart slammed against herribs.

“Run, pathetic human. Make it fun for me.”

She didn’t hesitate. She took off, only this time, she didn’t just run blindly. Her mind snapped into focus.

If she wanted to escape him, she couldn’t rely on speed alone. Brotha knew these woods too well. He moved like he belonged here. She couldn’t outrun that. But she could out-thinkit.

Maya gathered herself. One slow breath. Her pulse steadied by sheer will. She called up the shimmer again, the faint multi-color camouflage flickering over her skin. This time, she made it stick.

She turned and vanished into the trees.

Her steps fell silent, her path sure and clear. Every step placed carefully. Her feet found quieter ground, smooth patches of moss, soft earth that didn’t betray herpath.

She weaved between glowing trunks, slipping into the deeper shadows, matching each cadence of color. She ducked low beneath hanging vines, angled herself behind natural cover. Her breath was slow now, silent, her body moving like water around obstacles.

Brotha’s voice echoed somewhere behind her, growing sharper now. “You can run, little human, but I am coming.”

Maya didn’t answer. Didn’t make a sound. She pressed closer to the bark of a wide, shimmering tree, letting the bands of light ripple over her skin and hide her completely.

Brotha moved past her position, alooming shadow cutting through the mist with the inevitability of a storm front. His presence pushed the air before him, each forceful step shifting the undergrowth with the strength of something unstoppable. Maya held her breath, her body locked in place against the bark, muscles rigid, praying the shimmer held. His silver eyes flicked once to the side, scanning, but never settling on her. Then, as if the moment hadn’t happened, he moved on, footsteps fading into the deeper shadows.

Maya waited. Counted four steady heartbeats. Then she moved again, even slower, even quieter.

A real chase had begun. And this time, it wasn’t about running.

---