Lena's POV
Tension permeated the air, the kind that sunk into your bones and would not go. My eyes locked on the far-off tree line, my heart throbbed in my ears. Every shadow and every slink of motion made my spine shudder. The forest had turned into our foe; its dark limbs hid threats we were blind to.
Alex stood ahead of me; his tense shoulders and flashing eyes suggested he expected an attack right now. His normal calm was strained; the weight of everything—Samantha's illness, the unrelenting search of The Order—hanging on him. I could not find the words, but I wanted to say anything to calm his worries. What might I possibly say that would not sound hollow?
Rather, I concentrated on the road ahead, on the crunch of leaves under my feet, on the rough bark of trees brushing against m
