ELIRA
I froze when I heard the words, but the voice that followed sent a chill through my bones.
Clapping echoed through the heavy trees.
"Are you our new mama?" the voice mocked, laughing cruelly.
A tall figure stepped from the shadows of the forest, slow and mocking.
It was not a child.
It was a man.
Older, with cold eyes and a twisted smile that did not reach his face.
He mimicked the child's innocent words, voice sharp like broken glass.
He clapped again slowly, as if I were a performer he had been waiting to watch fail.
"Bravo," he said, his boots crunching over the dead leaves. "Really touching."
I stiffened, standing between him and the children.
My heart screamed at me—danger.
I knew right away he was not just another soldier.
There was power oozing from him, dark and heavy.
The children whimpered behind me.
Their fear coated the air.
I knelt low, whispering to the eldest boy, "Take them. Follow this light."
