Ezra's stomach let out a loud, pitiful growl—loud enough to make both of them freeze.
The sound echoed just a little too long in the silence.
He doubled over, clutching his abdomen with a grimace as the embarrassment set in, hot and immediate. His knees gave out, and he slumped against a nearby tree with a low, miserable groan. Hunger hit him not like a pang, but like a blow—hard and sudden and strangely personal. His body, wrung out from fighting, now felt like a paper husk rattling in the wind.
Leaves. Grass. Even tree bark was starting to look vaguely edible.
Asli glanced over, frowning slightly. "Are you hungry?"
Ezra lifted his head just enough to squint at him.
'I swear, if I had the strength, I'd slap that question right out of your mouth.'
"Yes," he muttered, somewhere between defeated and homicidal.
Asli tilted his head again, blinking like a confused owl. "…Do you perhaps want food?"
Ezra blinked. Once. Twice.
He looked Asli up and down. Long-sleeved shirt. Combat trousers. No backpack. No belt pouch. No visible gear of any kind. Ezra would've bet money the guy didn't even have pockets deep enough to hold a protein bar, let alone a meal.
He opened his mouth. "I'm getting ann—"
But then Asli crouched and reached—straight into Ezra's shadow.
Ezra froze. His breath caught as the other boy's arm passed through the dark smear on the forest floor like it was liquid, not cast light.
The shadow rippled unnaturally as Asli dug deeper, his hand vanishing past the wrist. Then—he started pulling things out.
Sandwiches. Bottled water. Vacuum-packed meals. Chocolate. Jerky. Wrapped rice balls. Energy bars.
A goddamn feast began stacking neatly between them.
Ezra gawked as Asli calmly sat cross-legged on the grass and began arranging the food like he was prepping a lunch spread in a park instead of a monster-infested, deathtrap forest.
Asli scratched the back of his neck, modest. "Uhh… you can take whatever you want."
Ezra didn't respond. His brain short-circuited somewhere between the sandwich and the trail mix.
And—silently—he thanked every star above that he hadn't finished that sentence.
Maybe this guy is useful after all.
————
The two moved again, weaving through thick undergrowth, vaulting fallen logs, sidestepping sinkholes in the sodden forest floor. Birds chirped somewhere above, and the air smelled like rain-soaked moss and lingering smoke. Ezra was too full to complain, which felt like a minor miracle.
A few minutes passed in comfortable quiet.
Then, without breaking stride, Asli yawned.
A soft, lazy thing.
Ezra glanced at him. And that's when he noticed it.
Something moved—gliding just behind a tree, dark and formless. A shadow, but not his.
It drifted silently toward them, detached from any physical body, then slipped beneath Asli's feet like a loyal hound returning to heel.
Ezra narrowed his eyes. "What was that?"
Asli didn't look up. "My shadow. It was scouting."
Ezra stopped in his tracks. "Wait—what?"
"It's draining my Aether, though, so I'll stop."
Ezra stared, slack-jawed.
"You mean while I was crawling under bushes, flinching at every leaf rustle like a lunatic—you had that thing doing recon?"
Asli shrugged. Slipped an earbud back in like they were debating music genres, not mortal peril.
"I thought we were playing hide and seek."
Ezra's hands flew up. "Hide and seek with who, Asli?!"
Asli paused, thoughtful. "How would I know?"
Ezra looked skyward, visibly praying for strength.
"Alright, listen here, you little sh—"
Ezra looked ready to combust when a sharp beep sliced through the air.
Their trackers.
Both froze. Their eyes met. Then they pivoted, scanning the foliage.
Branches rustled. Leaves shook.
A shadow lunged.
Ezra tensed, half-formed chains flickering to life at his fingertips. Asli's stance shifted fluidly—relaxed but alert, like someone who knew exactly how many steps it would take to kill you.
But instead of an enemy—something else crashed through the underbrush.
A tangle of limbs, snarled red hair, and ragged breathing.
The figure skidded to a stop in a heap at their feet.
Vitiligo-splashed skin. Orange-highlighted hair. Arms inked with the kind of tattoos you only get after surviving two emotional breakdowns and a bar fight.
She groaned, sitting up, brushing twigs from her hair like nothing had happened.
Ezra blinked.
"Nora…? What the hell are you doing here?"
She looked up, gave him a crooked grin.
"What does it look like, dumbass? I'm surviving."
Ezra was too tired to argue.
Beside him, Asli remained still, watching her like one might a star falling just a little too fast.
The three of them stood in the clearing, breathing uneven. The wind stirred again.
And somewhere—not far enough—a new ripple moved through the trees.
Not prey. Not another participant.
Something else.
Something hunting.