We exited the Sagittarius gates just after sunrise.

  Two pieces of gold were demanded as exit tax.

  Matt paid without complaint, pressing the coins into the guard's palm.

  "The Watcher's due," the man said casually.

  I barely reacted-but Nuru did.

  He paused for a fraction of a second. His eyes lifted toward the gates, then somewhere beyond them, as if listening to something no one else could hear. His smile remained, but something unseen tightened beneath it.

  That tax wasn't meant for the Watcher.

  Everyone knew that.

  Yet Nuru said nothing.

  He simply continued walking.

  The land changed as we moved farther from the city. The heat thinned, replaced by a heavy stillness. Trees twisted closer together, their roots clawing out of the ground like broken bones.

  "The Devil's Foot Forest," Sarah whispered.

  A place claimed by no kingdom.

  A path anyone could take-Tower-bound or not.

  They said the forest stretched for a thousand kilometers.

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  They said people entered and came out... altered.

  As we walked, I found myself drifting closer to Nuru without realizing it.

  "Can I ask you something?" I said.

  He glanced at me. "You already have."

  "How does the Watcher look?"

  His smile curved faintly. "No one has seen his face and lived."

  My chest tightened.

  "Except Arie," he added. "His closest companion. Some say his assistant. Others say his anchor."

  "How old is he?" I asked.

  Nuru's gaze lifted to the canopy above us.

  "He has lived a very long time," he said quietly. "Centuries have passed. He is the oldest being in this world. And yet... they say he looks no older than twenty."

  "O-okay," I muttered.

  Something about the way he said it unsettled me.

  Stephen slowed his steps and groaned softly.

  "Can we stop? I'm tired. And hungry."

  Matt turned instantly. "Yeah. Let's rest. Come on-sit. My boy's exhausted."

  Stephen smiled at him-small, warm, private.

  I looked away.

  We had barely been seated for two minutes when I heard it.

  Footsteps.

  Too fast.

  Too many.

  Not human.

  Nuru stood at once. "Everyone-go."

  "What?" I said sharply. "No. We go together."

  "I will stall them," he said calmly.

  "No," I snapped. "We don't leave people behind."

  He looked at me then-really looked at me.

  For a heartbeat, it felt like standing before something vast. Ancient. Dangerous.

  "Tavari," Matt said urgently, gripping my arm. "Let's go. He's doing his job."

  My body moved, but my chest resisted.

  We ran.

  Branches tore at my clothes as the sound behind us grew louder-inhuman breathing, pounding steps shaking the ground.

  I ran until my lungs burned.

  When I finally dared to look back, Nuru was gone.

  Only the forest remained.

  We reached a narrow river not long after, its water dark and cold. Beside it stood a small, half-collapsed dangen-old, abandoned, forgotten. We drank from the river in silence, letting the panic settle into something heavier.

  "We should wait for Nuru," I said.

  Matt shook his head immediately. "No. We keep moving."

  Stephen looked up at him. "No, Matt," he said softly. "Let's wait for him."

  Matt hesitated-then sighed. He leaned down and kissed Stephen's forehead.

  "Everything for you," he murmured.

  I turned away.

  Some things were too fragile to witness in a world like this.