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Not adapting. Learning. I grab my tablet and begin recording everything. Every movement. Every reaction. Every moment the creature changes shape after Rhett attacks. A pattern begins emerging.

Every time Rhett partially shifts further…

The entity hesitates. Not fear. Recognition. It recoils for less than a second. Just enough.

"Sayer."

"Watch."

He follows my finger toward the yard.

"What do you see?"

His breathing slows.

"It..."

He narrows his eyes.

"...doesn't like him."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Then his expression changes.

"No."

"What?"

"It knows him."

The realization slams into me. Not just Rhett. The wolf . Whatever this thing is…

It has encountered wolves before. Maybe centuries before. Maybe this isn't the first time this battle has happened.

Rhett drives the entity backward nearly 15 feet. Somehow…

It gives ground. Not much. Enough. Then it turns. Not away. Toward me. Toward the window. Toward the house. Its shape sharpens just enough for me to make out what almost resembles a face. Empty. Ancient. Hungry. And somehow…

Familiar.

Our eyes meet. The pressure returns. Not physical. Mental. Images explode through my mind. A hospital room. Bright lights. Someone carrying away a crying infant. Hands signing paperwork. A woman screaming that her baby wasn't dead. The vision disappears as quickly as it came. I stumble backward.

"Carys!"

Rhett's voice cuts through the fog in my mind. He sees me. The distraction costs him. The entity strikes. Darkness slams into his chest, driving him backward across the yard. He crashes into the old maple tree hard enough to split bark from the trunk.

"Rhett!"

Before I can move, he's already back on his feet. Blood runs from a cut above his eyebrow. His lip curls. Not in anger. Determination. The wolf refuses to yield. With one explosive surge forward, he drives the entity away from the porch. Away from the house.

Away from us.

The distortion shudders violently. Its outline loses cohesion. For just a second, sunlight breaks through the clouds overhead. The entity recoils. Then vanishes. Not fleeing. Simply... gone.

The yard falls silent. The wind stops. The pressure lifts. Even the Halloween decorations become still again.