Run: 2026-02-19-01KHTRAF8R5YMBV2PJZEAEJ9F0

Aurora Carter slipped beneath the arch of twisted oak branches and froze. Moonlight fractured through wildflower petals that bloomed pale silver in the clearing. The ancient stones stood in a rough circle, gnarled bark spiraling skyward. No breeze stirred, but the air felt dense—like damp velvet pressed to her skin. She fingered the Heartstone Pendant at her throat. The crimson gem pulsed against her palm, warmth seeping through cool silk. She pressed forward, blades of grass whispering beneath her boots. Her breath came in shallow bursts; the ordinary thrum of cicadas had vanished. “Hello?” Her voice cracked. It echoed between standing stones carved by centuries of roots. Silence answered. A twig snapped behind her. She spun, heart hammering. Shadow pooled between the oaks. She held the pendant higher, its faint glow illuminating knotted bark. Nothing moved. She swallowed. “This is ridiculous.” She bent and brushed damp earth from her thigh. The pendant throbbed in time with her pulse. She had come for this—this place where Earth met Fae, where a Hel portal might bleed through. Eva had warned her: don’t go alone. Carter had shrugged it off. Now the Grove looked like a trap. A soft rustle to her right. She pivoted, chest tight. The wildflowers at the circle’s edge quivered, petals tilting as though listening. Aurora advanced one step, then another, until she stood at the lip of ancient stones. Each oak pillar carried knots shaped like half-hidden faces. Faces that sunken eyes might have drifted through her dreams. The pendant pulsed faster. Hot. She drew a slow breath. “All I want is a sign. Something to tell me I’m not…” Her words died. The firm soil beneath her boot shifted. She half-expected roots to snake up and trip her. They did not. She knelt beside a stone. Silver light veined the wood. A low hum pressed against her eardrums. Not in her head—it bubbled from the grove itself. She pressed her hand to the oak, fingertips burning. The hum intensified. Leaves overhead trembled. A whisper curled around her, delicate as breath. Laila. Her own alias. The world twisted; the standing stones rippled. She leapt back, yanking the pendant free. Its glow flared, driving the hum into a roar. “Rory?” A voice, distant and urgent, cut through the racket. It came from every direction. Aurora clenched her jaw, eyes scanning. No silhouette stood among the trunks, but the voice called again, nearer, tinny. “Rory, come back.” Her mother’s lullaby? She hadn’t heard it since childhood. A scarlet memory curled in her veins. She stepped toward a clearing where moonlight pooled like mercury. The hum receded, replaced by silence so total it felt abrasive. She charged forward, lungs burning. Mist curled across the grass, silver threads beneath her boots. She stumbled. The pendant warmed against her palm, heartbeat quickening. The murmured name returned. “Stop.” Her own voice, brittle. She let the pendant hang, eyeing the stones. Moonlight carved sharp shadows that spread like fingers across the grove floor. Something shifted at the edge of her vision—a dark shape pooling behind a pillar. She pivoted. The shape dissolved. She lunged toward the center of the circle. The air in the clearing grew taut, as if the grove held its breath. A leaf fluttered. Aurora froze. One leaf. Not a breeze, nothing stirred above. The leaf drifted down, but in slow motion, as though caught in syrup. It landed at her boot tip and paused, quivering. Then it bolted forward, skimming grass and burying itself beneath her heel. She recoiled, stumbling back against the rough bark of a standing stone. Her palm left damp prints. The pendant pulsed bright. She held it up. Pale crimson light washed her face. All color drained from the wildflowers. Petals wilted in a single heartbeat, folding inward like closing eyes. Then everything snapped back. The flower heads lifted, bright white again, trembling. The hum returned—a single sustained note. Aurora backed away, toes slipping in dew. She heard a footstep, soft, on grass behind her. Not hers. She whirled. Silver chain wrapped around a stone trunk as though someone had yanked it free. The pendant dragged her forward. She yanked with both hands. Something resisted. Words blossomed across the gem’s surface, letters formed of living blood: “Welcome.” Her breath caught. She pressed the Heartstone to her chest. The words faded. The hum deepened into a chord of three notes that rose then fell, fracturing into silence. She let go. Chain clattered. The pendant rested against her heart, calm again. She squared her shoulders. “Show yourself.” No response. Only shadows pooling in the spaces between trees. The Grove felt narrower now, the stones leaning in. Moonlight wavered. A tall figure stepped from behind the nearest oak—thin as a sapling, limbs elongated. Pale skin gleamed under silver light. It tilted its head, as though curious. Its eyes, dark wells, rippled like oil. Aurora’s heartbeat hammered. She swallowed. “Who are you?” It cocked its head the other way, lips curling into a smile that drew too-wide across its face. It didn’t move, but the air around it quivered. A soft laugh, hollow and distant, echoed among the stones. The figure shifted forward on one spindly foot. Grasses flattened beneath it even though no weight pressed down. Aurora raised a hand, the pendant settling against her palm. Cold seeped into her fingertips. She felt time stretch. Here, a minute could feel like hours. Somewhere outside the boundary, minutes ticked past. Inside the Grove, the night could last forever. “Why am I here?” She jammed words past a dry throat. The figure shrugged. Branch-like shoulders creaked. Then it lunged. Auditory illusion or real impact—Aurora stumbled back, heart in her throat. The figure vanished as though melted into shadow. Silence fell like a guillotine. She pressed her back against the oak. Rain beads sprung from branches, clattering across standing stones. The pendant pulsed again—urgent. She bent, grabbed chain, swung it around the tree. Silver struck bark with a metallic ping. The whisper came again, low as wind threading through roots. Aurora pulled free. Her boots creaked. She counted her pulse in her ears. Then another shape emerged between two stones—a second creature, shorter, hunched. It held a single silver leaf in its hand. It crouched, offering the leaf, head bowed. She swallowed past dry axes in her throat. She did not expect mercy. She did not trust this offering. But she recognized something in the slight tilt of its head. Curiosity? Hunger? A question? She held the Heartstone out. Light pooled in its gem, deepening red. The creature froze. It waited. A distant thrumming crawled beneath the ground. Aurora felt it in her bones. The Fae Grove shifted, as though stirred by something vast waking beneath the standing stones. The small creature straightened. Its eyes flared amber in the pendant’s glow. She dropped her guard. She knelt. Light flared bright. The trees leaned closer. The tall shadow reappeared at the circle’s edge, watching. The hum grew into a tone that penetrated her mind, pressing old fears free. The ground trembled. Aurora squeezed her eyes shut and counted—one heartbeat, two, three. She opened her eyes. The creature inched forward. The blade of silver leaf glinted. Aurora rose to her feet. She raised the pendant chest-high, light pulsing in time with her heart. The oak pillars glowed faintly in response, veins of white shifting across bark. The hum shattered. The tall figure advanced, limbs unfurling as if the night itself had grown arms. The smaller creature waited at its side, leaf trembling in its grasp. Aurora’s pulse raced. She stood her ground. A branch snapped overhead. Fog rolled into the grove, curling around her ankles, pushing her toward the center. The stones began to hum again, low and insistent. Aurora squared her shoulders and fixed her gaze on the tall figure. It stopped a step away, silent except for the rustle of mist. The smaller being raised the silver leaf. A single droplet of dew slid along its edge, falling in slow motion. Aurora’s breath hitched. The Heartstone flame inside her chest pulsed brighter, hotter. She met those dark eyes. The leaf dropped. It completed its fall once it passed beyond the figure’s shadow. She braced herself. The Grove held its breath with her.