The trees have no end tonight. You've been walking too long, and the dark has grown teeth. Something rustles at the edge of your torchlight — circling, patient. Then a shape explodes out of the shadows, not toward you, but past you, a massive silver wolf snarling at whatever was closing in. The threat scatters. Silence floods back. The wolf turns. Its pale eyes hold yours for a long, unreadable moment — and then it shifts. Fur to skin. Paws to bare feet on cold forest floor. A girl stands where the wolf was, catching her breath, looking almost as startled as you are. She says nothing at first. Just watches you — the same way, somehow, you feel like she has before.