Monday: The Calm Before
The morning light streamed through the cabin’s small windows, but it didn’t quite feel like the beginning of a regular day. Jas, still groggy, glanced out at the horizon, seeing something that made them pause—a rainbow, stretching brightly across the sky, as if the world itself had paused to take a breath. It was beautiful, but there was something unsettling about it too, like the calm before a storm.
Ivy Mae stood beside them, gazing at the colors with an unreadable expression. She didn’t speak at first. Instead, her eyes followed the arc of the rainbow until it disappeared into the distance, swallowed by the mountains. “It’s a good sign,” she said softly, but there was doubt in her voice.
Jas wasn’t so sure. Everything about the rainbow felt... off, like it was signaling something, warning them of something they couldn’t see yet. And the dreams, the strange, vivid dreams they all had. Last night, the trio had slept fitfully, each one of them waking from a dream that left them unsettled. The same feeling hung in the air—like something was coming. Something big.
Jas tried to shake off the unease. They had enough to worry about without adding superstition to the list. But as they stepped outside, the sensation only deepened.
It was then they noticed it: Two eagles appeared in the sky, soaring high and weaving in the air with a kind of synchronicity that made Jas’s skin prickle. They circled above, their call echoing across the mountains, a sharp, piercing sound that seemed to pull the air taut around them.
And then, as if on cue, the howling began. The low, mournful cry of a wolf echoed from deep in the forest. It was the kind of sound that made the hairs on the back of their neck stand up. Ivy Mae’s eyes met Jas’s, both of them knowing without words that this wasn’t just a coincidence. The animals—those eagles, the wolf—were here for a reason.
A chill ran through the air as the rainbow faded, and for a moment, everything seemed to stand still. The kind of stillness that made the world feel both terrifying and sacred.
They stood together, the weight of the moment pressing down, and none of them could shake the feeling that something was about to change. Whatever was coming, it was close.