The days that followed were quiet, but not the good kind of quiet. It was the kind that made your skin crawl, like something bad was waiting right around the corner.
Arlo still hadn’t been himself. He spoke less, slept even less, and when he did, he tossed and turned like he was fighting something in his dreams. I tried to sit with him a few times, but half the time he didn’t even seem to know I was there. The shadow’s pull on him was getting stronger, and we were running out of time to stop it.
Meanwhile, Asher and I kept a close eye on Lilly. She hadn’t done anything obviously wrong yet—no strange words, no late-night walks into the woods—but something about her felt off. Her smile never reached her eyes, and she always seemed to be listening when no one was talking.
Gage didn’t see i
