The hum was gone.
So was the light.
But the silence it left behind was louder than anything I'd heard all day.
I stood at the edge of the camp, the fire behind me, the jungle ahead. The last traces of twilight faded into blue-black shadows that tangled between the trees like smoke. My ribs ached, my legs trembled from the effort of staying upright, but I didn't move.
The air felt... charged. Like something was waiting. Like the breath the island had been holding all day had finally been exhaled into this moment.
Sienna returned with Evelyn not long after. They came fast—Sienna half-running, Evelyn pacing behind her with her staff gripped tight in one hand and her eyes avoiding mine and instead scanning the tree line.
"What did you see?" Evelyn asked immediately as she put her blindfold back on.
