Mia never realized how loud the forest could be until she was walking through it, heart pounding, shadows stretching like fingers across the dirt path. Every crack of a twig, every flutter of wings in the dark made her flinch.
Liam walked ahead, hands in the pockets of his jacket, like this was just a casual stroll and not a horror movie intro.
"So," she said, mostly to break the silence. "How far is town?"
"About three miles, give or take," he said. "Shorter if we cut through the old orchard."
"Is that a real orchard, or, like, a cemetery people call an orchard to feel better about it?"
He laughed once, quick. "It's real. Or it was."
The wind carried a faint smell—apples, maybe. But also something else. Damp wood and rust.
Mia pulled her phone from her pocket. No signal. Of course.
She tapped through her texts again. Still there:
Don't trust the boy with the book.
You shouldn't have stayed.
No name. No context.
"Hey, Liam?"
"Yeah?"
"Is there any reason someone would prank me about you?"
He slowed. Turned to face her. "What do you mean?"
"I got texts. About you. From a number I don't know."
He frowned. "Like what?"
She hesitated. "Telling me not to trust you."
Liam didn't laugh this time. He looked past her, into the trees.
"People say a lot of things," he said. "Especially out here."
"That's not an answer."
He met her eyes. "You want the truth?"
"Preferably."
"There's something about East Hollow. Something off. I don't know what exactly, but I've felt it since I was a kid. My uncle used to say it was the ground—that it remembers things."
"That's… cryptic."
"He was a cryptic guy."
They reached a break in the trees. A clearing with a few stumps and an old, crumbling stone wall. Beyond it, rows of apple trees stretched into the dark.
"This is the orchard?" Mia asked.
Liam nodded. "Shortcut."
Mia stepped through the gap in the wall. The air changed again—cooler, sharper. She shivered.
"Why do you come out here?"
"I don't, usually. But the book—my uncle left instructions. Notes about places. He wanted me to check them out after he… disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
Liam nodded. "Last year. Went for a walk. Never came back. Cops said probably a bear. Or he just ran off. But he wouldn't do that."
"You think he's still out here?"
"I think something is."
They walked in silence again. A leaf brushed Mia's cheek and she startled, heart racing.
V Ahead, something glinted in the moonlight.
A metal sign, rusted and bent: BARN CLOSED - DO NOT ENTER
The barn behind it was sagging with age, half-swallowed by vines. Mia slowed.
Liam moved toward it.
"Seriously?" she said.
"I need to check something."
He disappeared inside without waiting.
Mia cursed under her breath, then followed.
---
The barn smelled like mold and dust. Light filtered in through gaps in the roof, streaking the space in silver. Liam stood near the center, staring at the ground.
"What is it?"
He crouched and brushed away debris, revealing a carved symbol—an eye inside a triangle.
"Seen this before," he murmured.
Mia crouched beside him. "Where?
"In the book. My uncle said it marks places where the veil is thin."
"Veil?"
"Between here and… somewhere else."
She gave him a look.
"You don't have to believe it," he said. "But people used to. And sometimes I think the only thing that keeps something dead is everyone forgetting it."
Something creaked behind them.
Mia stood sharply, eyes scanning the rafters.
"Let's go," she said.
Liam didn't argue.
They stepped outside—and froze.
The path they'd taken was gone.
The trees looked the same in every direction, gnarled and thick, their branches pressing close like arms.
"Did we… turn wrong?"
"No," Liam said quietly. "This happens sometimes."
"What does that mean, this happens?"
"The orchard… it moves."
Mia stared. "That's insane."
"I didn't say it made sense. Just that it's true."
A low sound rolled through the air then—a hum, deep and strange, like something tuning itself.
Mia backed away from the trees. "Okay. So how do we un-move it?"
Liam pulled the book from his jacket. Opened it.
Pages flipped like they had a will of their own until he stopped on one near the back.
"A map," he said. "Sort of."
The page showed a sketch of the orchard—but not as it was. It shifted as they watched, lines rearranging, paths appearing and vanishing.
"It changes," Liam whispered. "But it's reacting to something."
Mia pointed. "There. That symbol again."
They turned.
A tree stood at the edge of the clearing, bark blackened, roots twisting above ground. At its base, carved deep, was the eye-in-triangle.
Liam approached it slowly. Laid his palm over the symbol.
The wind stopped
Leaves froze in the air like a paused video.
Then a low click echoed—stone grinding on stone.
Behind the tree, a part of the wall had shifted. A new gap. A way out.
"Run," Liam said.
They didn't need to be told twice.
---
They broke through the trees, stumbling onto a paved road. Mia bent over, catching her breath.
"Tell me that was some elaborate, messed up Halloween ride."
"I wish," Liam said.
She looked around. The road stretched both ways into the dark. A single street sign leaned at an angle: Hollow Road.
"Where the hell are we now?"
"Closer," he said. "But not safe yet."
Mia frowned. "What do you mean?"
Liam didn't answer. He held up the book.
New text had appeared on the page. Handwritten. Ink still drying.
She saw the sign. The road bent, but not toward home.
Mia read it. "That wasn't there before."
"No. It updates."
"Like it's writing us?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Nope. That's too much."
Liam tore the page out and folded it. "Look. I didn't mean to drag you into this. I thought I was just following clues. I didn't expect..."
"That the orchard would try to eat us?"
He gave her a tired smile. "Yeah. That."
A car's headlights appeared in the distance.
They both stepped off the road, watching.
As it passed, Mia caught a glimpse of the driver.
It was the bus driver.
He didn't look at them. Didn't stop. Just kept driving into the dark.
"What the…" she whispered.
Liam took a shaky breath. "He was supposed to leave us there."
"What do you mean?"
He looked at her. Really looked. "That bus doesn't run that route anymore. Not since last year. It was shut down after—"
"After your uncle vanished?"
He nodded.
"Why was it there tonight?"
"I don't know."
The wind picked up again.
Behind them, in the woods, something howled. Not a wolf. Not anything she could name.
Mia swallowed hard. "We need to go."
Liam nodded. "Follow me."
They started down the road.
And behind them, the book pulsed faintly in his hand.
Like a heartbeat.