Chapter 26 Beau
Beau
“I am never going camping again.”
Noelle’s declaration was met with a chorus of agreement from everyone as we packed up our stuff in a hurry—even Holden, who was still insistent that we’d imagined the whole thing.
He was already coming up with excuses for why we’d all flown into a blind panic last night and had somehow sprinted ten fucking miles away from the campsite.
The rest of us knew the truth—we’d gone out on the night of the new moon, and we’d met a creature none of us were prepared for.
Which was why, as Noelle said, we were never going camping again.
“You know, I don’t even know if I can do an episode on this,” Shane muttered, shaking his head. “Like…at what point am I responsible for getting people killed? What if somebody who doesn’t have a ghost cat watching them tries their luck at tracking down the Glo—”
Flora shot him a look.
“…the Glorious Antler Man?” Shane finished.
She seemed satisfied with that.
We’d all woken up just after dawn, Flora already preparing breakfast, Pickles standing on Holden’s chest like she’d conquered him by waiting for him to fall asleep.
After a quick meal of grits and coffee, Flora had taken us out to her truck—parked on a road I didn’t even know existed—and we piled into the back.
I wrapped my arm around Noelle and curled her into my chest as the wind whipped past us, Milo closing his eyes and inhaling the fresh autumn air.
Back at the campsite, it all looked untouched. Our tents were still there, coolers still packed, fire pit still half-full of ash. You never would’ve guessed we’d run screaming from this place like it was hell itself. If anything, it looked peaceful.
Too peaceful.
Noelle shivered beside me. I didn’t think it was from the cold.
We broke the campsite down in a hurry, grabbing what we needed and tossing it into trunks without a lot of talk. Flora didn’t linger. She walked the perimeter while we worked, eyes fixed on the tree line, every so often humming under her breath.
She’d brought her shotgun with her and never put it down.
I didn’t love that.
“Did she drive us ten miles out just to drop us here again?” Shane muttered. “How did we even end up this far out?”
“I told you,” Flora said, not turning around. “It’s not that the woods pulled you in. It’s that they let you back out.”
“Cool. Love that. Thanks,” Shane said.
“You know you sound fucking nuts, right?” Holden asked.
Flora huffed as if she couldn’t care less about his opinions. “I’m not the one who was screaming half-dressed in the woods last night.”
Holden flushed and muttered something under his breath, pretending to adjust the straps on his backpack.
Flora didn’t press the point. She just kept watching the trees like she was waiting for them to blink.
I finished rolling up our sleeping bags and stowed them in the back of my truck.
Whit and Delilah were working in tandem, folding chairs and kicking dirt over the fire pit.
Shane was busy looking at the trail cams we’d hastily collected—all of which had gone mysteriously dead.
Noelle stayed close to me, one hand resting on Milo’s head.
I zipped the last bag and straightened, stretching the tension out of my shoulders.
“So…” I said, coming closer to Noelle. “Do you think the whole ring thing was just a symptom of being lost in the magical woods?”
She gave me a flat look. “You want to joke about this now?”
“Not joking,” I said. “Just trying to gauge whether you still want it.”
Her hand tensed slightly on Milo’s head. “I didn’t put the ring on by accident, Beau.”
“I know.” I reached up and brushed my thumb just under her jaw. “But if you want to take it off…”
“I don’t.”
I nodded. That was all I needed to hear.
She leaned into me for a second, letting herself settle. Her voice dropped low enough that no one else could hear. “I don’t think it was just the woods. I think I wanted it before we even got lost. I just didn’t know how to admit it.”
I swallowed hard, feeling something in my chest shift. “Okay,” I said quietly. “Then we’ll figure the rest out whenever you’re ready.”
Her fingers slipped into mine again, squeezing once. “I’m already halfway there.”
Flora’s voice cut across the clearing. “We done?”
“Yeah,” Whit said, brushing dirt from his hands. “I think that’s it.”
We all stood there for a second longer than we needed to, like no one wanted to turn their back on the trees. The quiet was too thick. Too expectant. I’d seen a lot of shit in this town, a hell of a lot more in the past few years than ever before…but this?
This was the strangest thing yet.
And I had a feeling it was just going to get stranger.
We walked back to the trailhead in silence, loaded up with our backpacks and gear, Milo trotting ahead alongside an incredibly out-of-place Pickles.
Flora brought up the rear, still watching the woods like something might follow us out.
Every few minutes, she paused to listen, her hands braced on her shotgun.
When we reached the trucks, nobody rushed to get in. We all just stood there for a moment, looking at each other.
“Y’all good to drive?” Flora asked, glancing over at me.
I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks for coming to find us.”
“I didn’t find you,” she said. “You came to me. That’s different.”
She didn’t explain further. Just turned to climb into her truck.
And that was that.
I helped Noelle into the passenger seat and loaded Milo into the back. Then I stood for a second with the door open, watching the woods.
That’s when I saw it.
Just inside the first line of trees…closer to us than it had any right to be. It was perched high in the branches, curled into the leaves, wings flat against its back, tail twitching, and moonstone eyes gleaming.
Unmistakable.
The Shadow Painter.
It didn’t move…didn’t make a sound. Just watched us.
Like it was making sure she got back safe.
I couldn’t really see it that well—just a shape in the trees, lit from within.
But I could feel it. The same feeling I’d gotten when it stepped between us and the Gloamstrider.
The same feeling I’d had that first night in the woods, when I heard something pacing the edge of the campsite and felt an arm wrap around me in my sleep.
Noelle’s arm had been around me.
But something else had been out there too.
Noelle…she talked tough, but she’d walked with death for most of her life—I knew that now.
The way she brushed it off, the way she talked openly about losing her brother, not ever having her parents, barely having her grandmother…
it was all just her. The only constant had been this creature, chasing her through the world.
Chasing her to me.
I took a step toward the trees and nodded.
Whispered, “Thank you.”
The Shadow Painter blinked. Then it turned, disappearing deeper into the canopy. Silent as fog. Gone before the others even noticed.
I climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the door.
Noelle looked over. “Everything okay?”
I didn’t smile. Just reached for her hand. “Yeah. It is now.”
She squeezed my fingers, and we pulled away from the trailhead.
The forest didn’t follow. But I knew it hadn’t let go of us either.
It had just…decided to share.