Chapter 40
On the anniversary of the morning Jake found Noah, they returned to the oak.
No crisis.
No call.
No teenager accidentally shifting.
Just them.
Jake brought the original gray hoodie.
Noah stared.
“You kept another one?”
“That’s mine.”
“Mine says Miller too.”
“Because you stole it.”
“You gave it to me.”
“Historical revisionism.”
They sat on the fallen trunk.
The boundary beneath them felt quiet.
Jake had learned quiet did not mean dead.
That was fine.
Noah touched the compass at his keys.
“A year.”
Jake nodded.
“You were terrible company.”
“I was unconscious.”
“Exactly.”
Noah leaned against him.
“Do you ever wish you took the other trail?”
Jake thought about it.
The question deserved more than instinct.
His life had become dangerous.
Complicated.
Full of things he could never unknow.
Daniel.
Wardens.
The Circle.
The thing beneath the earth.
He had also gained Noah.
Marcus somehow more than before.
Sofia.
Elena.
Claire.
Ethan.
Caleb.
A family that had expanded instead of shattered.
“No,” Jake said.
Noah nodded.
“Me neither.”
Jake looked at him.
“You didn’t have a trail choice. You were naked.”
Noah shoved him off the log.
Jake landed in leaves laughing.
Noah stood over him.
“One year and you’re still doing this.”
Jake held out his hand.
“Eighty.”
Noah rolled his eyes.
Then pulled him up.