I lay with my head on his shoulder, the blankets wrapped around us. He was breathing calmly, awake but still.
“Did you sleep at all?” I asked softly.
“A little. But you needed it more.”
I smiled and carefully pulled myself into a sitting position. My body protested, stiff and tired, but something else made me wake faster than expected.
There was a sound in the hut. A whisper. A faint, rasping breath.
We turned at the same time.
Sac.
He still lay where Niva had left him—pale, wounded, but... he moved. His fingers gripped the fur beneath him, as if he were dreaming.
I crawled forward. Will close behind.
“Sac?” I whispered. “Can you hear me?”
His eyes fluttered beneath closed lids. His lips moved. It was barely audible, but I could have sworn he said a name.
“Tracy…”
Will stared at me. “He said your name.”
“That can’t be… he’s been unconscious for days.”
But Sac moved again. A jerk, like something hit him from inside. Then it passed. His breathing grew calmer. Steady.
Niva woke with a start in the corner.
“I heard…” She got up immediately, rushed over to Sac and felt his forehead. “The fever’s gone. That’s impossible. He was bleeding out.”
“It’s not impossible,” Will said quietly. “Not if something helped him.”
We looked at each other. No one said Sacra’s name. But it hung in the air.
A little later, I went out with Will to fetch water. The air was cold and clear, the snow white and untouched between the trees. Birds sang faintly—as if nature whispered in the background but didn’t dare speak aloud.
We followed the path toward the frozen brook, but after just a few meters, I stopped.
“Do you see that?” I asked, pointing.
It was a tree, but the bark had been torn in a pattern—not by animals, not by weather. They were symbols. Carved in swirling spirals and half-circles. Faintly familiar, like the ones on Sacra’s staff.
Will stepped closer, examining them. “This is old writing. Not ours.”
“It looks fresh,” I said. “No more than a day old. Maybe less.”
Will looked around. The forest was still. Too still.
Then we saw it.
Further in, between the trees—a piece of cloth. Blood red. It hung from a branch as if someone had passed and snagged it. I stepped closer, touched it.
Soft. Warm. Almost alive in my hand.
“This doesn’t belong to anyone in the clan,” I said.
Will gently pushed aside some branches. On the ground: tracks. Not from wolves. Not from shoes. Just bare feet, slender. Like someone had danced across the snow without leaving deep marks.
And there—in the snow:
A small, round stone. Perfectly smooth. Black, with a pale mark in the center.
Will picked it up. Turned it in his fingers. “This symbol… it’s Sacra’s.”
I shivered. “Then she was here. Last night. Maybe even inside the hut.”
Will closed his hand around the stone. “And she touched Sac.”
“But why?” I whispered. “Why help him?”
Will looked at me with a dark, steady gaze.
“So we’ll start to trust her.”
I held my breath. For a moment, it felt like the forest was listening. And someone smiled behind the trees.
We said nothing on the way back. Only the wind and our footsteps were heard in the snow. Will walked close, as if he was constantly checking if I was breathing calmly—and I was. Despite everything. Despite the stone in his hand and the symbols on the tree. Because he was here.
When we returned to the hut, Sac was still lying motionless, but his face had changed. Softer. Relaxed. Niva sat beside him, like a shadow, worried but relieved.
“I think he’s going to make it,” she said without looking up. “Whatever you did out there… this is the first time his pulse is steady.”
Will and I exchanged a quick glance, but we said nothing. Not about the symbols. Not about the stone. It was too soon.
When evening came, the wind lay heavy over the village. No one wanted to be outside longer than necessary. I sat in the corner with a blanket around me, my back to the wall. Will sat down beside me without asking.
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He was still holding the stone. It had grown cold, but he refused to let it go.
“What if it wasn’t a threat?” I said quietly.
He looked at me. “What if it was a warning?”
“Or a reminder,” I replied. “That she still has power. And that she chooses who she touches.”
We fell silent again. I leaned my head against his shoulder, like the night before. As if our bodies already knew what we needed.
“We don’t say anything yet,” I said. “Not to Rex. Not to Niva. They have enough to worry about.”
Will nodded. “It’s just us.”
“Just us,” I repeated, and smiled faintly.
His hand found mine again, without hesitation this time. Our fingers intertwined, naturally. Like something we’d always done.
And though the world around us seemed to shift… I felt no doubt at all.
Night fell with a strange calm. The hut was quiet. Will had fallen asleep with his back against the wall, but his hand was still in mine. I closed my eyes to the sound of his steady breathing. The warmth of his skin remained like a promise on my own.
But the darkness came quickly. And with it—the dream.
I stood in the forest, but it wasn’t like our forest. The trees were taller, their bark silver-white, the branches blooming with pale gold. The ground beneath my feet was soft like moss, and the air smelled of… safety. The light was warm, dancing like sunlight through water.
“Tracy.”
The voice came from nowhere, but it was beautiful. Clear. Almost like music.
I turned around.
She stood there.
Dressed in white, barefoot, with long hair glittering with frost. Her face was soft, her eyes bright—so bright I couldn’t tell the color. She looked at me like a mother looks at her child.
“You’ve come far,” she said. “Farther than most. You are strong.”
I said nothing. I couldn’t.
She took a step closer. The ground sang beneath her feet.
“You carry something beautiful, Tracy. A power you haven’t yet understood. I can show you.”
I wanted to ask who she was, but the words died in my throat. I already knew. Somewhere deep inside, I knew.
Sacra.
“You are not alone,” she continued. “All the darkness you’ve faced… it was necessary. But now the time has come to see the truth. Come.”
She reached out her hand.
Behind her, the forest opened—a path of light, leading to a glade I couldn’t see the end of. It was beautiful. Safe. Inviting.
But when I looked at her hand… I saw something else.
The fingers were too long. Pointed. The shadow on the ground didn’t match her movements.
I stepped back.
Her smile faltered. Just for a moment. But it was enough.
“Tracy,” she said again, but her voice sounded different now. Still beautiful—but with an echo, like from a deep well.
I took another step back.
And then the world shifted. The trees withered. The light faded. The ground turned cold.
I woke with a start. My heart pounding.
Will was already sitting up, his gaze on me. “You were dreaming,” he said. “I saw you moving.”
I nodded. Tried to breathe. “It was her.”
“Sacra?”
“She’s trying to lead us. Or… pretend to lead us. She thinks we don’t know.”
Will held my hand tighter. “Then we keep playing along. Until we know more.”
I met his eyes. And for the first time, I didn’t feel fear—only clarity.
“She doesn’t know we’ve already seen through her.”
Will was still holding my hand as I tried to steady my breath. The warmth of his skin was the only thing that felt real right now.
“She was there,” I said. “Not as a shadow. Not as an enemy. She looked… radiant. Almost holy.”
Will was silent for a moment. “But it wasn’t real, was it?”
I shook my head. “No. She said I carried something. That I had a power. That she could help me understand. But when she reached out her hand… there was something wrong with her fingers. Too long. Shadowy. And the ground sank beneath her feet.”
He nodded, serious. “She’s trying to deceive you. She thinks you don’t know who she is.”
“She thinks we still believe she’s dead,” I whispered. “That we follow her as some guiding light. That’s why she appears like that—beautiful, good, almost like a goddess.”
Will leaned closer. “But you saw through it.”
I nodded. “Thanks to Vaelmark. The words he spoke to me that time, through Sac… they’re still with me. ‘You carry the future in your hands.’ And: ‘You must choose your own path, not theirs.’”
Will looked at me for a long time. “You’re the link between us and the truth, Tracy. She’s trying to reach you because she knows you’re dangerous.”
I swallowed. “Then it’s time we tell them. Niva and Rex need to know.”
The fire had died completely now, and the light of dawn began to seep through the cracks in the wall. The hut was still, but there was no rest left in me.
Will was still holding my hand as I tried to steady my breathing. The warmth of his skin was the only thing that felt real right now.
“She was there,” I said. “Not like a shadow. Not like an enemy. She looked… radiant. Almost holy.”
Will was quiet for a moment. “But it wasn’t real, was it?”
I shook my head. “No. She said I carried something. That I had a power. That she could help me understand. But when she reached out her hand… there was something about her fingers. Too long. Shadowy. And the ground sank beneath where she stood.”
He nodded, serious. “She’s trying to trick you. She thinks you don’t know who she is.”
“She thinks we still believe she’s dead,” I whispered. “That we’re following her like some guiding light. That’s why she appears that way – beautiful, kind, almost like a goddess.”
Will leaned closer. “But you saw through it.”
I nodded. “Thanks to Vaelmark. The words he spoke to me that time, through Sac… they’re still with me. ‘You carry the future in your hands.’ And: ‘You must choose your own path, not theirs.’”
Will looked at me for a long time. “You’re the link between us and the truth, Tracy. She’s reaching for you because she knows you’re dangerous.”
I swallowed. “Then it’s time we tell them. Niva and Rex need to know.”
Will understood immediately. We went to Niva first. She was curled up under a blanket in the corner but woke instantly when I touched her shoulder. Rex was lying by the wall, and Will woke him with a light touch to his shoulder. They both sat up with tired eyes, but something in our demeanor made them alert right away.
“What is it?” Rex asked, still with a sleepy voice but watchful eyes.
I crouched in front of them. “It’s about Sacra,” I began. “And about the darkness.”
Niva glanced quickly at Will, then back at me. “What happened?”
I hesitated for a moment. But then I told them everything. About the dream. About how Sacra had appeared to me – beautiful, radiant, almost otherworldly. How she had tried to lead me into the light. And how something about her felt wrong.
“There was something in her movements,” I said. “In the shadows. She’s trying to deceive us. Make us believe she’s on our side.”
“But she’s not,” Will added. “And Vaelmark warned Tracy before. He said the curse was a wall of protection. Not something to break. And that Sacra isn’t dead.”
Silence.
Rex looked like he was trying to process something that didn’t quite fit in his mind.
“You’re saying Sacra is alive?” he said finally.
I nodded. “And that she’s the source of what we’re fighting against. Vaelmark said she’s hiding in the dark. That all of this… comes from her.”
“And there’s more,” I added, my voice regaining strength. “It wasn’t just a dream. Vaelmark… he spoke through Sac. When he was unconscious.”
Niva’s eyes widened. “Through Sac? You mean… he possessed him?”
“Yes,” I said. “It was that night when everything changed. He looked at me with eyes that weren’t Sac’s. The voice was his, but the words… they were something else. Vaelmark used him to reach me.”
Will nodded. “He told her about the curse. That it was never meant to be broken, only held together. That what we call a curse was actually a protection – against something far greater.”
Niva stared at the ground, as if something was finally falling into place within her.
“That explains the dreams,” she murmured. “What started coming to me after the winter solstice. Voices I didn’t recognize, whispers about light and guilt and choice.”
I met her gaze. “Vaelmark also said I have to choose my own path – not the pack’s, not the darkness’. Mine.”
The silence that followed was heavy – but not with disbelief. With realization.
At last, Rex said in a low voice, “If that really was Vaelmark… then this is bigger than we ever imagined.”
Will stood. “That’s why we need to act now. We know where the children and Amelia are. We need to get there before the darkness turns them into part of itself.”
Niva stood too. The usual hesitation in her eyes was gone. “Then let’s make a plan. We have to move fast.”