The voice slid down Drew's spine like a cold blade.
He didn't turn.
He couldn't.
Jax clutched his arm, trembling so violently Drew felt it through his bones.
Lena raised what remained of her melted gun—pointless, but she lifted it anyway. Her voice was barely a breath.
"Drew… don't move."
He couldn't have moved if he wanted to.
The presence behind him wasn't just close.
It was touching him.
Breathing against the back of his neck—a breath too slow, too steady, too deliberate to belong to anything human.
Jax whispered, "Drew… please don't look…"
Drew swallowed hard. "I'm not."
The cold breath moved closer, grazing his skin.
Almost curious.
Almost intimate.
"You don't belong out here anymore."
The whisper brushed his ear.
Drew's knees buckled.
Lena hissed, "Step away from him. Now."
The voice didn't respond.
It laughed.
A soft, low, horrifying sound that vibrated through Drew's chest.
Then it spoke again:
"…he still thinks you're real."
Drew froze.
Lena whispered sharply, "Ignore it."
Jax's voice was barely audible. "Drew… don't listen. They want to break you."
The voice whispered again, softer this time:
"She remembers you."
Drew's breath hitched.
Something inside him cracked at those words.
He couldn't help it—he turned.
He shouldn't have.
He knew he shouldn't have.
But he did.
Slowly. Terrified. Compelled.
And he saw—
Nothing.
Empty air.
Silence.
The presence was gone.
Just trees. Shadows. Darkness.
Lena swore under her breath. "It's phasing. They do that when they want to trap a target's attention."
Drew stared into the darkness, chest shuddering. "It… it was right there."
"Exactly," Lena snapped. "That's why you don't turn around."
Jax sagged against the tree behind him, breath shallow. "Drew… we need to move. Now."
But Drew wasn't moving.
Because something else changed.
The air.
The ground.
The silence.
Behind them, the forest felt like it inhaled.
And the hum returned.
Not loud.
Soft.
A pulse.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Lena grabbed Drew's shoulder. "Move."
"What is that?" he whispered.
"Locator pulses. They marked you."
Drew stiffened. "What does that mean?"
Jax answered with a broken, defeated whisper.
"It means they can track you anywhere."
Drew felt the world tilt.
"They marked me when?"
Jax closed his eyes. "When you touched the gate."
Drew blinked. "What gate?"
Lena's jaw clenched. "He doesn't remember."
"Remember what?" Drew demanded.
But Lena didn't get to answer.
Something moved through the trees.
Not the figure from before.
Not the woman.
Something smaller.
Quieter.
Faster.
Drew took a step back.
Lena flinched—and if she flinched, Drew knew the situation was worse than he understood.
Jax whispered, "No… not this… not now…"
Drew scanned the dark. "What is—"
A shape slipped between the tree trunks.
Low to the ground.
Smooth.
Like a shadow crawling with intent.
Lena's voice trembled for the first time. "Sentinels."
Drew swallowed hard. "Sentinels?"
Jax's grip tightened on his sleeve. "Run."
"We can't outrun—" Lena started.
A low metallic growl cut her off.
Drew froze.
It was close.
Right behind the nearest tree.
He didn't breathe.
Didn't blink.
The Sentinel stepped out.
It wasn't human.
Or animal.
Or anything he had words for.
Its body was dark and slick like polished stone, limbs too long, moving with unnatural quiet. Glowing silver veins pulsed beneath its skin. Its head tilted like it was listening to a frequency Drew couldn't hear.
Then—it snapped its gaze to him.
Instant.
Sharp.
Hungry.
Lena whispered, "Don't make a sound."
The Sentinel took one step.
Drew's heart slammed against his ribs.
Another step.
Lena raised her melted gun—useless, but defiant.
The Sentinel's silver veins brightened.
It hissed.
Drew's voice cracked. "What does it want?"
Lena didn't look away from the creature.
"It's not after you."
Drew blinked. "Then—?"
The Sentinel moved unbelievably fast, lunging—
Straight for Jax.
"NO!" Drew shouted.
He grabbed Jax, yanking him out of the way as the Sentinel slammed into the ground where Jax had been sitting a second before. Dirt exploded. The creature's limbs stabbed into the soil like spears.
Jax screamed in pain as he hit the ground hard.
Lena fired—an empty click.
The Sentinel turned its head, sensing the sound.
Lena threw the useless gun aside. "MOVE!"
Drew dragged Jax up, adrenaline drowning his fear.
The Sentinel reoriented, its limbs cracking the earth as it pivoted sharply.
It lunged again.
Drew shoved Jax behind him—
The Sentinel stopped.
Frozen.
As if someone had pressed pause.
Its eyes flicked upward.
Drew followed its gaze.
And his blood ran cold.
Because a figure stood on the cliff above the forest.
Unmoving.
Watching.
Silhouette only.
But unmistakably feminine.
Hair whipping in the wind.
Face shadowed.
Body still.
The figure raised a hand.
Not waving.
Commanding.
The Sentinel lowered its head—submissive.
Drew whisper-breathed: "Aria…?"
Lena grabbed his arm violently. "NO. Don't say her name. NOT LIKE THAT."
Jax coughed, voice cracking, "That's not her—"
The figure tilted her head.
As if she heard him.
Then she stepped forward—
And vanished.
Not faded.
Not disappeared into trees.
Vanished.
Instant.
Like she'd never been there at all.
The Sentinel pulsed once with silver light and shot into the forest with inhuman speed—gone within seconds.
The silence was unbearable.
Drew collapsed to his knees, shaking. "What the hell is happening…"
Lena knelt beside them, breathing hard. "They're escalating. They usually don't send Sentinels until—"
She stopped talking.
Her face drained of color.
Jax's eyes widened. "Until what?"
Lena swallowed.
Then whispered:
"Until the original wakes up."
Drew frowned. "Who is the original?"
Lena stared at the forest.
Her voice hollow.
Terrified.
"Aria."
Drew's breath hitched. "She's alive?"
Lena didn't blink. "Alive isn't the right word."
A twig snapped behind them.
All three turned.
A small light glowed between the trees—a flicker of something bright and unnatural.
Lena's eyes widened. "No… not another one—"
Jax grabbed Drew's arm. "Don't move. Don't even breathe."
The light grew larger.
Closer.
Then—
A voice drifted through the trees.
A voice Drew knew better than his own heartbeat.
Soft.
Warm.
Impossible.
"Drew?"
His chest cracked.
His eyes stung.
Jax whispered, "Drew. That's not—"
But Drew wasn't listening.
He stepped forward.
Lena grabbed him. "STOP—"
Drew shook her off.
The light shimmered again.
And a figure appeared.
A woman.
Hair cascading over her shoulders.
Eyes soft.
Lips trembling.
A face Drew knew better than any face in the world.
Aria.
His Aria.
Standing ten feet away.
Alive.
Breathing.
Crying.
"Drew," she whispered, taking a step toward him, "please… I need you."
His world collapsed.
Jax screamed, "DREW, NO!"
Lena reached for him—
But Drew was already stepping forward.
Already breaking toward her.
Already drowning in the shock of seeing her alive.
"Aria…" he whispered.
But as he moved closer—
The light behind her flickered.
Faded.
And her eyes changed.
Only for a second.
A flash of silver.
Metallic.
Inhuman.
Lena screamed, "DREW, BACK AWAY—IT'S NOT—"
Aria smiled.
A slow, trembling smile.
And whispered:
"Found you."
Then everything went dark.