The circle glowed faintly underfoot, a pale halo of protection etched into the dirt. Logan sat cross-legged beside Juno, his breath steaming in the cold air. The pulse inside him hadn't quieted. If anything, it was louder now, pounding against his ribs like fists on a locked door.
Lila worked fast, laying out small objects around the circle: shards of bone, scraps of blackened cloth, a vial of thick red liquid. Her lips moved in low, steady whispers. He couldn't make out the words.
Beyond the circle, the shadows pressed closer. Logan felt them watching. Felt their hunger, their patience.
"How long will it take?" he asked.
"As long as it takes," Lila replied without looking up.
"Not exactly comforting."
"Wasn't meant to be."
Juno shivered beneath her blanket. "They're closer now."
Logan followed her gaze. The treeline was barely visible through the gathering mist. But he knew she wasn't seeing with her eyes. Not entirely.
"What do they want from you?" he asked gently.
She hesitated. "They… they don't want me. They want what's inside me."
He frowned. "What's inside you?"
She wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't know."
Lightning flickered somewhere deep in the clouds, casting a brief silver flash over the ruins. The stones seemed to shimmer, their carved symbols rippling like water.
Lila stabbed the machete into the ground beside her, standing over the ritual circle. "They're testing the wards."
Logan felt the air shift—a subtle ripple, like the drop in pressure before a storm.
He clenched his fists, feeling his nails dig into his palms. "If they break through?"
"Then we fight," Lila said grimly.
The first howl came again—low, mournful, stretching out across the woods like a call to prayer. It wasn't alone this time. Other voices joined it, layered and discordant, weaving together in an eerie, bone-deep chorus.
Juno whimpered softly. "It's calling them."
"The Hollow?" Logan asked.
She nodded. "It's waking them up."
A flicker of movement caught his eye at the edge of the circle. A shape. Slender, impossibly tall, with limbs that bent wrong. It stood just beyond the line, staring.
Logan met its gaze—and for a brief second, he saw his own face reflected in those black, mirror-like eyes.
"You know me," he murmured.
The shape tilted its head. Then faded into the mist.
"Logan." Lila's voice snapped him back. "Don't look at them. They'll pull you out."
He swallowed hard. "Too late."
She cursed under her breath and threw a handful of ash into the air. The circle flared brighter, pushing the mist back a few feet.
Juno curled tighter against his side. "Is it true?" she whispered. "What they said about you?"
"What did they say?"
"That you're not really one of them. Or one of us."
He hesitated. "I don't know what I am."
The pulse in his chest deepened into a low hum, vibrating his bones. His vision blurred around the edges. His skin felt too tight.
"They're waiting for you to choose," Juno whispered. "That's why they haven't attacked."
"Choose what?"
She looked up at him, eyes wide and luminous. "Who you're going to be."
Lila's chant rose in intensity, her voice cutting sharp through the cold. She drew new lines in the dirt, symbols overlapping, forming strange patterns. Sparks leapt from the ground where the symbols crossed.
The air grew heavy. Logan felt it pressing down on his shoulders, a weight that made it harder to breathe.
"They won't hold much longer," Lila warned.
The mist swirled at the edge of the circle. Something massive paced there—its footsteps shaking the ground, though Logan could see no shape. Only the indentations left behind in the mud.
Juno reached for his hand. "You have to stop it."
"I don't know how."
"Yes, you do."
Her voice wasn't entirely hers. Something older spoke through her, layered beneath her words.
Logan's vision sharpened suddenly. The pulse inside him surged. His teeth ached again, his gums swelling. His hands trembled, nails lengthening further.
Not now. Not yet.
He forced himself to breathe slowly, fighting the change back down.
"Lila," he rasped, "is this sanctuary really protecting us… or keeping us out?"
She didn't answer right away.
Then: "Both."
Lightning cracked again, closer this time. Thunder rolled low and long.
The mist coiled tighter around the circle. Whispers drifted from the dark. Logan couldn't understand them, but they made his skin crawl.
The ground trembled beneath him.
A crack split the earth just outside the circle. Something stirred beneath the dirt—a faint glow leaking through the fissure.
"Lila?" he called.
She turned, alarm flashing across her face. "It's opening."
"What's opening?"
"The Hollow."
The glow intensified. A sulfurous smell filled the air. Logan's eyes watered from it.
Lila grabbed her rifle, leveling it toward the fissure. "We're out of time."
The circle's light flickered. Dimmed.
Juno pressed closer to Logan. "Don't let them take me," she whispered.
"I won't," he promised.
The first claw emerged from the crack—long, black, chitinous, tipped with something that glistened wetly. It scrabbled against the earth, pulling something larger behind it.
Logan rose to his feet, every muscle tight with adrenaline. "You said the sanctuary wouldn't let her in. Can it keep that thing out?"
Lila shook her head grimly. "It wasn't made for what's coming."
The claw withdrew. Silence.
Then the ground split wider. A shape rose from the earth, hunched and hulking, its body covered in thick black plates, steam hissing from its joints. Its face was a mask of bone and shadow, hollow-eyed and grinning.
It stepped toward the circle—and stopped just shy of the line. Smoke curled from where its foot nearly touched the ward.
It smiled wider.
"Logan Wren," it rumbled, voice deep and layered with echoes. "I've been waiting."
Logan swallowed hard. "Yeah? Who the hell are you?"
The thing chuckled, a sound like cracking ice. "Not who. What."
Its gaze shifted to Juno. "And the girl. The key."
"Stay away from her," Logan growled.
"You're standing between what must be and what is," it said. "The Hollow calls. Blood answers."
The glow from the fissure flared brighter. The symbols on the sanctuary stones shimmered in response, vibrating in place.
The ground shook again. A low moan rose from beneath them, as if the earth itself was waking.
"Logan," Lila called sharply. "If you're going to do something, do it now."
He stared at his hands—half-changed, veins dark beneath the skin. His heartbeat roared in his ears.
Juno looked up at him, tears shining in her eyes. "Please."
He stepped forward, planting himself between her and the thing beyond the circle.
"I don't know what I am," Logan said hoarsely. "But I know what I'm not."
He took another step. The pulse inside him surged. His skin rippled. His spine popped.
"I'm not yours."
The creature tilted its head. "Then be theirs."
It raised its clawed hand toward the circle—
—and Logan stepped beyond the line.
The light shattered around him.
And the Hollow swallowed him whole.