Chapter 57: Shadows of the Past.

The dim light of the moon filtered down through the canopy, casting a surreal glow over the clearing in the forest where Chloe was seated, lost in thought. Not far away, her lupine companions slept, and the only sound that broke the tranquil reverie around them was their calm breaths. And yet, in this stillness, Chloe's mind was a tempest of disquiet. Since the second she collided with Jonas, the ranger's parting words had dug a splinter into her thoughts like an insistent splinter, nagging away at her with relentless persistence. "Take care of yourself out there. and take care of this place." Surfacely, his sentiment seemed easy enough—a kindly caution born of his custodial responsibility to preserve the sanctity of the wild spaces under his charge. There was an undercurrent to his tone that Chloe couldn't quite put her finger on—some melancholic intimation that spoke of darker forces lying in wait beyond the forest's sheltering boughs. The wolfkin woman answered with a quiet whin