Ellie POV
The dream began the same way it always did—with mist.
Pale gray fog drifted through the trees, soft and endless, swallowing sound until all I could hear was the thud of my own heartbeat. I knew this place. I’d seen it so many times that the air itself felt familiar. Somewhere ahead, two small figures giggled—a sound that had once comforted me but now filled me with dread.
I knew that something was off. They were too big, too old. But that hazy dream logic made that fact seem unimportant as I moved through the fog to reach them.
“Boys?” My voice came out thin and uncertain.
No answer. Only laughter again, a little farther away. When the mist thinned, I saw them—two flashes of movement darting between the trees, chasing after something I couldn’t see.
“August! Ian!”
They di
