Page 35 of Fade With Me

As if my words had just sunk in, he asked, “Take you out?” His brow furrowed, expression twisting in confusion. “You think I’m trying tokillyou?”

The horror in his eyes looked real,so realthat for a second,I wavered.

But unease crept like frost through my veins. Whatever flashed across his face didn’t change the bitter, metallic fear curling in my gut.

He stepped forward, voice calm but firm. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to—”

I didn’t let him finish.

Panic surged, hot and blinding. I was already moving.

I ran.

My feet pounded the earth, matching the frantic rhythm pulsing inside me. Branches slapped my face, underbrush tearing at my legs as I tore through the woods.

Get away. Get away!

Then, just as my fear reached its peak—I saw him.

One second, the path ahead was empty. The next, he stood directly in front of me, as if he’d stepped out of thin air.

I skidded to a halt, heart battering my ribs. He stood impossibly still, towering with eerie calm. My pulse thundered. My limbs locked.

My mind screamed, but no sound came out. I pressed my hands to my mouth, choking back the raw cry rising in my throat.

How did he—how was he there?

Breaths came fast and shallow. I backed away, eyes never leaving him, every nerve ablaze. My foot hit a tree root, jolting me to a stop.

“That’s impossible...” I gasped, the words tumbling out, ragged. “How did you move so fast?”

My hands flew to my temples. The world tilted, reality cracking around me.

Zeke took a measured step forward, closing the distance with slow, electric purpose. He loomed, his presence heavy—ancient. Dark.

Every part of me screamed stay away, but I couldn’t move.

I needed to understand.

“I’ll tell you everything, I swear,” he said, voice pleading, posture rigid, like he was holding himself back from reaching for me. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

For a moment, his eyes softened, and I saw something human beneath the mask. Unease stirred inside me. Could I believe that? Trust him, after everything? His words felt rehearsed, too perfect, like a snare waiting to spring.

Every instinct in me screamed to run. To vanish into the trees and never look back. But I knew better now. I would never make it. Still, I couldn’t look away. A knot tightened in my chest. My legs were heavy, numb, caught between terror and the desperate need for answers.

But I wouldn’t let him get close again.

“Don’t take another step!” I snapped, my voice sharp. I pointed at him, my arm trembling but firm, the onlything between us. It felt like a shield, a warning even I wasn’t sure I believed.

He halted, arms rising slowly in surrender, palms open, fingers spread, to show he was unarmed. Harmless.

“First, explain how you justappearedout of thin air,” I challenged, my grip tightening, desperate to steady myself.

Zeke’s expression darkened. He slipped his hands into his pockets, his posture straightening like he was bracing to drop something monumental. He exhaled a slow breath, his eyes locking onto mine with unsettling calm. It was the kind of gaze that pinned me in place.

“Everything you think you know is a lie. All of it.”

He let the silence stretch, thick and heavy. His stare never wavered, studying me with an intensity that made the world around us feel smaller.

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