Marked From Birth
Audrey and a small team of Smoke-Walkers—whose wolf-blood provided a high metabolic resistance to the pheromones—had to crawl through the city’s secondary ducts, which were already being choked by white, spider-web-like fungi.
In the dark of the vents, Audrey encountered a "Drowned" man—a Glass-Walker who had been taken by the forest weeks ago. He stood in the ventilation shaft, his skin replaced by thick bark, his eyes glowing with a soft, bioluminescent amber. He didn't attack; he just stood there, a living statue.