Sophia’s Pov

I left the house before sunset.

Brian tried to ask where I was going, but I did not answer him. There was nothing left to say to him. My father only watched me from his chair with tired eyes and said nothing. I stepped out into the cooling air and walked toward the eastern forest without looking back.

The old oak stood alone near the tree line, its thick branches spreading wide. I arrived just as the sky began to turn orange and gray. For a moment I wondered if I had been foolish to come. Then a figure stepped out from behind the tree.

I recognized him...