CHAPTER 4: The Whispering Stones

The forest got darker as we walked. Shadows twisted around tree trunks that looked older than time itself. I kept stealing glances at Kieran, trying to figure him out. He was like a locked box with no key.

He moved like a soldier. Quiet. Always watching. Even when he wasn't talking, his presence felt heavy next to me. As a storm that is going to break.

"How long have you been following me?" I asked.

Kieran didn't look at me. "Long enough."

"Do you follow everyone who sprouts claws and howls at the moon?"

"Just the important ones."

I frowned. "So I'm important?"

"To them." He paused, glancing at me. "And to me, maybe."

I didn't know what to say to that. The roughness of the way he said it, as though it startled him also, gave my heart a skip. There was something unsettling about how he looked at me. Not hungry, not mean but alert. This is in ways I did not understand like I mattered.

You talk about them all the time. The Council, huh? The ones who made me?"

"Not made. Altered," Kieran corrected. "You were born like the rest of us. But your wolf was engineered. Sealed until it was needed."

"And now it's needed?"

"Yes."

We walked through a section where the trees seemed to lean in toward us. The ground changed from soft dirt to flat stones, cracked and ancient. Like the roots had been trying to swallow the past.

I touched one of the stones as we passed. Symbols were carved into it, faded but real. Someone had put them there on purpose.

"What is this place?" I asked.

Kieran slowed down. "The Old Path."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"Yeah."

I crouched down and ran my fingers over one of the markings. It pulsed under my touch, warm like skin.

I jerked my hand back. "What was that?"

"The stones remember," Kieran said quietly. "The old systems still breathe beneath the earth."

"You say creepy things, you know that?"

"It's not meant to be creepy. It's meant to be true."

I stood up, wiping my hands on my pants. My fingers tingled from touching the stone. Such as a static in my skin.

I caught him watching me. Not only looking, but also studying.

"What?"

"You felt it, didn't you?"

I hesitated. "I don't know what I felt."

"That's because you're still waking up."

"I'm not a computer."

"No," Kieran said, his voice low. "You're more dangerous than one."

I crossed my arms. "You really suck at pep talks."

We kept walking in silence. The forest got stranger with every step. The trees were huge here, their trunks as wide as cars. Their branches twisted together to block out the fading sunlight. Moss glowed faintly on the bark, casting everything in a greenish light.

Then the trees opened into a clearing.

I became motionless.

At the center stood a circle of tall, jagged stones. Each one was marked with more of those glowing symbols. The ground around them was burned in a perfect ring.

"This is where it happened," Kieran said.

"Where? What happened?"

"Where the First Shift failed."

I turned to him. "You mean my shift?"

"No." His voice dropped. "Another one. Before you. Another subject."

A shiver ran up my spine. "What happened to them?"

"They didn't survive."

The air felt colder suddenly. The shadows went on longer.

"They were a prototype," Kieran continued. "Too many wolves, not enough humans. When the seal broke, they couldn't hold themselves together. The result was carnage."

I swallowed hard. "And you brought me here because?"

"Because you're not like them," Kieran said. "You're the first who's shifted without the moon, without tech assistance, without complete breakdown."

"Yay me."

Kieran stepped toward the stones and placed his palm on one of them. It lit up under his touch.

"Do you know what this place is really called?" he asked.

"Tell me."

"The Memory Gate."

I raised an eyebrow. "That's subtle."

He ignored my sarcasm. "The Council built these as fail-safes. Each one is connected to the subjects. They can record your emotional surges, track your progress, and store your memories."

"They were watching us even before we knew we existed," I whispered.

Kieran nodded. "And now, they're waiting to see what you become."

I turned in a slow circle, my heart pounding. "And what if I become like the prototype? What if I lose control?"

"You won't."

"You sound very sure of that."

"I am."

I stared at him. "Why?"

"Because I knew you before," he said.

My breath caught.

"I was there," Kieran added, softer now. "In the labs. I was a few years older, but I remember you. You used to sing under your breath when the others cried at night. You weren't like the rest. You never broke."

I took a step back, overwhelmed. "No. I don't remember…"

"You will."

The air between us crackled with something that wasn't just memory. My heart thudded. I hadn't expected this. This soft echo of a past life, this link forged in pain but tinged with something warmer. Something such as closeness.

I looked into his eyes. "If you knew me before, why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Because I wasn't sure if you were ready to remember. And because I didn't want you to think I was lying."

"Are you?"

"No." A pause. "But I've been hiding things."

"That's reassuring."

"I didn't want to scare you off."

"You brought me to a death site!"

Kieran almost smiled. "You're still here, aren't you?"

I huffed, folding my arms. "Barely."

"You're stronger than you know," he said. "But the memories will come back, Kaia. And when they do, I need you to be ready."

"For what?"

"For the truth. About you. About me. About all of us."

A breeze stirred the circle, rustling the moss and kicking up a whisper from the stones. I felt it inside my bones… A warning, a welcome, a call.

My wolf shifted beneath my skin, restless but not afraid.

"What now?" I asked.

"Now we would go somewhere safer. Rest. Then, I will introduce you to others like us."

"Which others? Where are they?"

Kieran nodded. "Some are broken. Some awakened. But all of them are waiting."

I looked at the stone one more time, then followed him out of the circle.

I didn't know where we were going or who we would meet.

But I knew one thing for certain:

Whatever path I'd started walking, there was no turning back.