The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across Camp Moon's gravel parking lot. Kevin Lebowski slumped in the backseat of his parents' SUV, his face cast in an eerie blue glow from his tablet, the light catching on his furrowed brow as he zoomed in on the circuit diagram. The screen displayed a series of complex schematics that he'd been tweaking for weeks. Not that his parents would understand—they thought he was just playing games.

  "We're here!" His father's booming voice broke through Kevin's concentration. "Last one out has to pitch the tent!"

  Kevin glanced up from his screen, taking in the rustic wooden sign that marked the entrance to Camp Moon. Great. Three days of mosquito bites, bland camp food, and his parents' attempts to "reconnect him with nature." He'd rather be back home working on his detector.

  "Kevin," his mother called, already halfway out of the car. "Put that thing away and help with the cooler."

  With a sigh, Kevin tucked his tablet into his backpack, making sure his most prized possession—the supernatural detector he'd built for the science fair—was tucked securely between folded shirts and jeans. He'd spent months on the device, a fact his science teacher had appreciated enough to give him an A, but not enough to believe it actually worked.

  Their campsite was a small clearing surrounded by towering pines. Beyond the designated camping area, the forest grew dense and dark, trees packed so tightly together they formed what looked like an impenetrable wall. Something about those woods made the hair on Kevin's arms stand up.

  "Beautiful, isn't it?" His father clapped a hand on his shoulder, nearly knocking Kevin off balance. "Much better than being cooped up inside all day with your computers."

  Kevin forced a smile. "Yeah, great."

  The next few hours passed in a blur of activity—pitching tents, gathering firewood, and listening to his father's increasingly embellished stories about his own camping adventures as a kid. By the time dinner was over, Kevin's patience had worn thin. He needed space.

  "I'm going to take a walk," he announced, rising from the log where they'd been eating.

  His mother frowned. "It's getting dark, Kevin. We'll be roasting marshmallows soon."

  "Just around the campground," he lied. "I won't go far."

  His father waved a dismissive hand. "Let the boy stretch his legs. He's seventeen, not seven."

  Kevin grabbed his backpack before his mother could protest further and headed toward the edge of the campsite. Once he was out of sight, he veered away from the designated trails and found a fallen log where he could sit undisturbed. The forest was quiet here, the chatter of other campers reduced to a distant murmur.

  He pulled out his detector, a compact device about the size of a handheld gaming console. Its casing was a mess of soldered metal and duct tape, but the screen glowed with purpose as he switched it on. A series of readings flickered across the display—electromagnetic fields, temperature fluctuations, and other variables most people never considered.

  Normal readings. Nothing supernatural about Camp Moon after all.

  Kevin was about to power down when the detector emitted a soft beep. The needle on one of the gauges twitched, then jumped sharply to the right. He frowned, tapping the casing to make sure it wasn't just a glitch.

  The needle held steady, pointing deeper into the forest.

  "No way," Kevin muttered, adjusting the sensitivity. But the reading remained, a definite energy signature unlike anything he'd picked up before.

  He stood, hesitating only briefly before stepping off the fallen log and moving toward the source of the reading. Just a quick look, he told himself. Just to see what was causing the anomaly.

  The forest grew denser as he walked, branches reaching overhead to blot out the fading daylight. His detector's beeping grew more insistent, the needle swinging further right. Whatever he was tracking, it was getting stronger.

  A tendril of fog curled around his ankles, seeming to appear from nowhere. Kevin paused, glancing back the way he'd come. The path looked different somehow—trees he didn't remember passing, turns he didn't recall taking.

  "It's fine," he said aloud, the sound of his voice oddly muffled in the thickening air. "I can follow my tracks back."

  But when he looked down, his footprints had vanished from the soft earth, as if the ground itself had swallowed them.

  The detector beeped again, louder this time. The screen flickered, numbers and readings spiking wildly. This was it—whatever "it" was.

  The fog closed in around him, thick enough now that he could barely see a few feet ahead. The temperature dropped sharply, his breath forming small clouds in front of his face.

  Kevin's heart thumped against his ribs. This wasn't right. The logical part of his brain—the part that had built the detector in the first place—knew that fog didn't form this way, that temperatures didn't drop this quickly, that forests didn't swallow footprints.

  "Hello?" he called out, immediately regretting it when his voice echoed strangely, as if bouncing off walls that weren't there.

  No answer came, but the fog seemed to shift, coalescing into shapes that vanished when he tried to focus on them.

  He needed to get back to camp. Kevin turned, orienting himself using the detector's built-in compass, and began walking in what should have been the direction of the campsite.

  Ten minutes later, he was still walking.

  Twenty minutes, and nothing looked familiar.

  Thirty minutes, and the detector's compass began to spin wildly, as if magnetized by an unseen force.

  "This isn't happening," Kevin muttered, trying to keep the panic from his voice. He switched the detector to its tracking function, hoping to pick up signs of human activity—his parents, other campers, anyone.

  The screen flickered, then displayed a single blip moving toward him.

  His shoulders dropped an inch, a flicker of hope sparking in his chest—someone else was out here. Maybe a park ranger or another camper who could help him find his way back.

  Then he realized the blip was moving too fast. Way too fast for a human.

  A low rumble shook the ground beneath his feet. The detector's readings went haywire, numbers and gauges spiking beyond their programmed limits. Something was coming.

  The roots of a nearby tree suddenly writhed, bursting from the earth like serpents. They reached for him, twisting and grasping at his ankles. Kevin jerked his foot back just as the root scraped his ankle, missing its grasp by a hair's breadth, but stumbled over another root that hadn't been there a moment before.

  He scrambled to his feet, clutching the detector to his chest. Between the trees, shadows moved, detaching from the trunks and drifting toward him. They had no definite shape, just darker patches of darkness slipping between the fog.

  "Stay back!" he shouted, brandishing the detector like a weapon, though he knew it was useless against whatever these things were.

  The shadows paused, as if confused by his outburst, then resumed their approach. More roots erupted from the ground, forming a cage around him. The fog thickened until he could barely see his own hands in front of his face.

  Kevin ran. He dodged between trees, leaped over reaching roots, and swatted at the clinging fog. His lungs burned, and his legs threatened to give out, but terror kept him moving. The shadows pursued, silent but relentless.

  A root snagged his foot, sending him sprawling face-first into the damp earth. His detector flew from his grasp, landing somewhere in the fog. The root tightened around his ankle, dragging him backward.

  This was it. Whatever these things were, they had him now.

  Then a blur of crimson cut through the fog—not a cloak as he first thought, but what appeared to be moss-covered leather dyed blood-red, hanging in tatters from the shoulders of a figure moving with inhuman grace. The figure twisted between the reaching roots as if dancing with them, familiar with their patterns.

  The figure moved with surprising speed, slashing at the root with what looked like a blade fashioned from a deer's antler. The root recoiled with a hiss that shouldn't come from plant matter, releasing Kevin's ankle. The shadows retreated, melting back into the trees as if frightened of the newcomer.

  The figure turned to Kevin and extended a weather-worn hand. Only then did Kevin see the face beneath the hood—human, but barely so, with skin pulled tight across sharp cheekbones and eyes that reflected light like a cat's.

  "Come," a raspy male voice commanded. "Quickly, before they return."

  Kevin hesitated, eyes darting to where his detector had fallen.

  "Leave it," the man urged. "Unless you wish to join the forest's collection."

  The roots were already beginning to stir again. Kevin made his choice. He grabbed the stranger's hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

  "This way," the man said, already moving.

  They ran through the fog, the stranger leading with confidence that suggested intimate knowledge of the terrain. Kevin tried to keep track of their turns, mentally mapping their route, but it was impossible—the forest seemed to shift around them, paths appearing and disappearing without logic.

  After what felt like hours but could have been minutes, they reached a rock face partly hidden by hanging vines. The stranger pushed aside the greenery to reveal a narrow crevice, just wide enough for a person to slip through.

  "In," he commanded.

  Kevin squeezed through the opening, finding himself in a small cave. The air was stale but dry, and mercifully free of fog. A small fire burned in a pit at the center, casting dancing shadows on the stone walls.

  The strange man followed, letting the vines fall back into place behind them. Only then did he lower his hood, revealing a gaunt face with skin as pale as paper. His eyes were deep-set and haunted, his beard long and unkempt. He looked...old. Not elderly, but worn, as if he'd lived far longer than his body was meant to.

  "You are fortunate I was nearby," the man said, his speech oddly formal. "The forest rarely releases what it grasps."

  Kevin backed away until his shoulders hit the cave wall. "Who are you? What was that out there?"

  The man sat cross-legged by the fire, gesturing for Kevin to do the same. "I am Hammond Crane, once of Moon Valley."

  "Hammond Crane?" Kevin remained standing. "The man who disappeared in the woods three hundred years ago during Valentine's Day?"

  Hammond's lips twitched in what might have been a smile. "Yes. Three hundred years?" He poked at the fire with a stick. "I couldn't tell…"

  He took a deep breath and glanced at Kevin. "What do they call you, boy?"

  "Kevin. Kevin Lebowski."

  "Well, Master Lebowski, you have wandered into what the locals of my time called the Lost Woods. A most unfortunate decision."

  Kevin's scientific mind rebelled against the implications. "Lost Woods? Like, haunted woods? How?”

  Hammond raised an eyebrow. "Tell that to the roots that nearly dragged you to your doom."

  "There has to be a rational explanation," Kevin insisted, though his voice lacked conviction. "Maybe hallucinogens in the fog, or—"

  "Your strange device," Hammond interrupted. "The one you were forced to abandon. What manner of witchcraft powered it?"

  "Witchcraft? It's not—it's technology. Electronics. Battery-powered." Kevin realized he was babbling and forced himself to stop. "Wait, how can you be alive here for centuries?"

  Hammond stared into the fire. "Time passes differently in the Lost Woods. I have seen many moons wax and wane. Many winters come and go." He looked up, his eyes reflecting the flames. "The last year I recall with certainty was 1721. I never aged or even starve to death."

  Kevin's knees weakened, and he sank to the ground. "Wow... Everyone thought you died and returned as a ghost called the Red Phantom."

  "The Red Phantom?" Hammond laughed, a hollow sound like wind through dead branches. "I would love to scare away those bastards who taunted me for years. But this forest is cursed. It doesn't just take away your freedom, but time itself."

  Goosebumps rose on Kevin's arms despite the cave's musty warmth, and his mouth went dry as Hammond's words sank in. "How?"

  "I don't know, but the forest does not release its victims," Hammond said solemnly. "It keeps them alive until they become part of it."

  "Part of it? What does that mean?"

  Hammond gestured toward the cave entrance. "The shadows you saw. The moving roots. They were people once. Travelers, hunters, lost children. The forest claimed them, and over time, they transformed."

  "No," Kevin shook his head. "No, that's not possible. I need to get back to my parents. They'll be worried."

  "Your concern is misplaced," Hammond said. "Time moves differently here, as I said. What feels like days within the Lost Woods might be mere hours in the world beyond. Or it might be years. There is no way to know."

  Kevin's mind raced. This couldn't be happening. There had to be a way out, a scientific explanation, a solution. He was good at solutions. It's why he'd built the detector in the first place—to prove that the world made sense, that every mystery had a logical answer.

  But the memory of those reaching roots, those formless shadows... That defied everything he thought he knew.

  "Why did you help me?" Kevin asked suddenly.

  Hammond's expression softened slightly. "Because I remember what it is to be human. Most who have been here as long as I have... they forget."

  "Is there a way out?" Kevin whispered, afraid to hear the answer.

  "I have searched for one my entire imprisonment," Hammond replied. "I have found paths that seemed promising, only to discover they led deeper into the trap. The forest is cunning. It learns from each escape attempt."

  Kevin thought of his detector, now lost in the fog. If he could recover it, maybe he could find a weakness in whatever force controlled this place. His mind was already calculating possibilities, forming hypotheses.

  "I see the thoughts behind your eyes," Hammond said. "You believe your knowledge or your device might succeed where all others have failed."

  "Maybe they will," Kevin said, a spark of defiance in his voice.

  Hammond studied him for a long moment, then nodded. "Perhaps. You are unlike others I have encountered here. Your strange device... it seemed to predict the forest's attacks."

  A thin thread of hope wormed its way into Kevin's chest. "My detector. It measures electromagnetic fields, temperature variations, atmospheric pressure—things most people never notice. If the forest operates on some kind of energy pattern..."

  "Then your magic might detect weaknesses," Hammond finished. "A bold theory."

  "Not magic. Science," Kevin corrected automatically. His mind was fully engaged now, the initial panic receding as he tackled the problem like an equation to be solved. "But I'd need to get my detector back first."

  "A dangerous task," Hammond warned. "The forest will be watching for you now. It does not easily surrender what it claims."

  Kevin looked toward the cave entrance, where the vines hung like a curtain between safety and danger. Beyond them lay either freedom or an eternity trapped in this nightmare. The choice seemed obvious—he had to try to escape, to find his way back to his parents and the normal world.

  But a small voice in the back of his mind whispered a terrible alternative: What if there was no way out? What if, like Hammond, he was destined to wander these woods until he forgot what it meant to be human?

  Kevin squared his shoulders. "I need to try. I can't just give up."

  Hammond watched him with those ancient eyes, then nodded slowly. "Then you have made your choice, Master Lebowski. Rest now. When you are ready, I will help you retrieve your device." He paused, adding softly, "Though I warn you—few choices in the Lost Woods lead where one hopes they might."

  Outside the cave, the fog swirled and thickened, as if the forest itself were listening to their plans. Within its depths, shadows moved with purpose, and roots stirred beneath the earth, waiting for their prey to venture out once more.

  *****

  Kevin found his device beneath the root of a tree and picked it up. The detector's pale blue glow cast eerie shadows across the ancient pines whose gnarled branches interlocked overhead like clasped fingers, strangling what little moonlight dared to enter. He hunched over the device, his breath fogging the flickering display. His fingers, still trembling after barely slipping between the stone sentinels that had nearly crushed them both, fumbled with the delicate controls.

  "You truly believe that contraption can save us?" Hammond breathed the words into the damp air, his skepticism hanging between them like the persistent fog.

  Kevin glanced up. The man—if he could even be called that anymore—sat cross-legged on a smooth stone, his faded crimson cloak spread across the stone—the last vibrant thing in a world that had long ago leached all color from his existence. The detector's glow caught only the sunken pits where his eyes belonged, two pale blue embers burning in a face weathered beyond humanity.

  "This 'contraption' picked up the forest's energy signature before I even stepped foot in here," Kevin said, tapping the screen. "If the Lost Woods is some kind of supernatural anomaly, it has to have weak points—holes in its... I don't know, its control."

  "Holes," Hammond repeated, testing the word like a foreign food. "In all my years, I've never known these woods to have... holes."

  Kevin's throat tightened as Hammond's words sank in, the forest suddenly feeling infinitely vaster and more ancient around him. All my years. Hammond claimed he'd been trapped here for centuries, and though Kevin's rational mind rejected the idea, the evidence sat right in front of him—a man who stared at Kevin's flashlight like it was magic, who spoke in rhythms and patterns that belonged to another time entirely.

  "I wish I could tell what time it is here," Kevin complained, mostly to distract himself from the growing dread.

  Hammond's laugh rattled in his chest like something forgotten in an ancient music box, wound too tight and left to rust. "Time has no meaning in the Lost Woods, boy. But I walked these paths when Moon Valley was naught but a collection of wooden homes, when people still feared witches and spoke of the old gods." He leaned forward. "I've watched many try to escape. None have succeeded."

  "Yeah, well," Kevin squared his shoulders and raised his chin, even as his voice cracked on the final word, "they didn't have twenty-first century quantum field detection technology, did they?" He brandished the device like a talisman. "I've got something! A fluctuation in the energy field about half a mile northeast. If I'm right, it could be a weak point."

  Hammond stared at him for a long moment, skepticism etched in every line of his weathered face. Finally, he stood, joints creaking like old hinges.

  "Very well. But stay close. The forest is... temperamental."

  *****

  Kevin's detector hummed softly in his hands, guiding them through the unnaturally still trees. No birds sang. No insects buzzed. Only the occasional creak of wood and rustle of leaves fractured the silence.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "This way," Kevin's voice barely disturbed the air as he followed the strengthening signal. Each step forward felt like wading through invisible molasses, the forest itself resisting their progress.

  "The trees," Hammond's voice caught in his throat, "they're watching us."

  Kevin nearly laughed—trees couldn't watch anything—but when he glanced up, the knots and whorls in the bark resembled eyes, tracking their movement. A chill crawled up his spine as he quickened his pace.

  "We're getting closer," he said, voice tightening like a bowstring. "Just another hundred yards."

  The detector's beeping intensified as they approached a small clearing. At its center stood an ancient oak, its massive trunk split down the middle. Between the two halves, a shimmer in the air danced like heat rising from pavement.

  "That's it!" Kevin forgot himself, his voice echoing among the trees. "A tear in whatever's holding this place together!"

  He lunged forward, but Hammond's grip seized his arm with surprising strength for someone so gaunt.

  "Wait," the cloaked man hissed. "It's never this easy."

  As if responding to his words, the forest around them shifted. Impenetrable brush swallowed the path they'd followed. Trees that had been behind them now stood in front, identical yet somehow different. Kevin spun around, the world tilting beneath his feet.

  "What's happening?"

  "The woods," Hammond's mouth thinned to a grim line. "They're changing the rules."

  The detector's screen flickered as he checked it again. The signal remained strong but now pointed backward. Kevin spun around—somehow the split oak clearing now stood behind them.

  "This is impossible," he muttered, sweat beading on his forehead despite the chill air.

  "No," Hammond corrected. "This is the Lost Woods."

  They adjusted course, heading for the clearing once more. Three times they approached, and three times the forest rearranged itself, keeping the weak point just out of reach. Kevin's jaw clenched tighter with each attempt, his knuckles whitening around the detector's plastic casing.

  "We need to be smarter than a bunch of trees," he growled, studying the detector's readings. "There's a pattern here. The forest isn't just moving randomly—it's responding to our movement. If we can predict it..."

  He scrawled a quick calculation on the back of his hand with a pen from his pocket, then jabbed his finger to their left.

  "This way. If we approach from an angle it's not expecting..."

  Hammond's nod was a funeral gesture as he followed Kevin's lead. They crept through the dense underbrush, circling wide around their target. Kevin's heart hammered against his ribs as the clearing came into view once more. The split oak waited, the shimmer between its halves now pulsing with faint blue light.

  "Run!" Kevin shouted, bolting forward.

  They tore across the clearing, feet pounding against the spongy earth. The shimmer grew brighter as they approached, expanding to form what looked like a doorway of light. Kevin reached out, fingers stretching toward freedom—

  An invisible force slammed into them like a concrete wall. The impact hurled Kevin backward, stealing the breath from his lungs as he crashed to the ground. His detector went flying, landing several feet away with a crack of breaking plastic.

  "No!" he gasped, clawing toward it.

  A rumble shook the earth beneath them. The split oak twisted, its bark rippling like water. Branches shot outward, no longer wooden limbs but serpentine whips lashing through the air. One caught Kevin across the back, tearing his jacket and the skin beneath. He cried out, rolling away as another branch speared the ground where he'd just been.

  "Hammond!" he shouted, scanning frantically for his companion.

  The cloaked man stood frozen, staring not at the attacking tree but at something in the fog beyond. Kevin followed his gaze and ice flooded his veins.

  Figures emerged from the mist—humanoid shapes made of shadow and vapor. They drifted closer, their forms shifting and solidifying. One took the shape of a woman in an old-fashioned dress, her face beautiful but carved with malice.

  "Hammond," the shadow-woman called, her voice echoing like wind through dead branches. "My love, why didn't you come meet me here? I told you where to find me."

  Hammond lurched toward her, his weathered face transforming—mouth parted mid-breath, eyes glistening with centuries of unspent tears.

  "Eleanor," he whispered. "It cannot be."

  "It's not real!" Kevin shouted, diving for his detector. "Hammond, snap out of it!"

  But the man stumbled forward, entranced, arms outstretched toward the specter. Meanwhile, the ground beneath Kevin erupted. Roots burst upward, snaring his ankles and yanking him downward. He twisted desperately, fingernails breaking against the dirt as the roots dragged him deeper.

  "No!" The scream tore from his throat as his fingers found purchase on the cracked casing of his detector. He clutched it close, jamming his thumb against the emergency override—a piercing sound designed to disrupt supernatural frequencies.

  A high-pitched whine cut through the air. The shadow figures wavered, their forms destabilizing. The woman reaching for Hammond dissolved into wisps of dark smoke. The roots around Kevin's legs loosened just enough for him to wrench free, tearing his jeans and leaving his skin raw and bleeding.

  "Hammond!" he called again, stumbling toward the man who still stood motionless, gaze fixed on the empty air where the apparition had been. "We have to move!"

  Kevin seized Hammond's arm, dragging him back toward the cave. The older man moved mechanically, eyes vacant as fog. Behind them, the forest continued its assault, branches snapping at their heels, roots erupting in their path. Kevin ducked and swerved, half-carrying Hammond alongside him.

  They collapsed inside the cave entrance, lungs burning for air. Kevin's back throbbed where the branch had struck him, and his ankles pulsed with pain from the roots' grip. He examined his detector—the screen flickered weakly, the casing cracked down one side.

  "Made it," he wheezed, collapsing against Hammond.

  The man sat with his back against the cave wall, knees drawn to his chest. The cave's shadows carved deep hollows beneath his cheekbones, his skin like parchment stretched over bone—a man dessicated by countless seasons of despair.

  "I saw her," Hammond's words floated like dust motes. "After all this time, I saw Eleanor."

  "It wasn't real," Kevin's words cut through the air, brooking no argument. "The forest was playing tricks, trying to stop us from reaching the weak point."

  Hammond's head swayed slowly from side to side. "No, boy. You don't understand. The forest doesn't create illusions—it uses what's already here." His hollow eyes met Kevin's. "The shadows you saw... they were people. People the Lost Woods has claimed over the centuries."

  Kevin swallowed hard. "I know that."

  "The Lost Woods doesn't just trap people," Hammond continued, voice flat as still water. "It absorbs them. Body and soul. The longer you stay, the more you become part of it. First, your sense of time slips away. Then your memories begin to fade. Finally, your physical form dissolves, leaving only a shadow of consciousness bound to the trees."

  Kevin stared at him, cold realization spreading through his chest. "Is that... is that happening to you?"

  Hammond splayed his fingers before his face. In the blue light of the detector, they appeared semi-transparent, like smoke given temporary form.

  "I've resisted longer than most," he said simply. "But yes. Every day, another piece of me dissolves into the air."

  Kevin's mind raced, processing this new information as dread coiled in his stomach. "Then we don't just need to escape," he said, throat constricting. "We need to escape soon, or we'll end up like those... those things out there."

  Hammond's face confirmed the truth without words.

  Kevin looked down at his damaged detector. The screen flickered once, twice, then darkened completely. He shook it, panic rising through his chest like floodwater.

  "No, no, no," he muttered, jabbing the power button repeatedly. The device remained lifeless, its battery drained by the forest's supernatural interference and the emergency override.

  "My detector," he croaked. "It's dead."

  Hammond sat motionless, but his expression spoke volumes. Without the detector to locate weak points, their chances of escape had plummeted from slim to virtually none.

  Kevin slumped against the cold stone wall, exhaustion washing over him in waves. He closed his eyes, struggling to think past the fear and fatigue clouding his mind.

  "I can fix this," he said, more to himself than Hammond. "I just need to... to recharge the battery somehow, or bypass the damaged circuits."

  Even as the words left his mouth, he recognized their hollowness. He had no tools, no spare parts, no power source—just a broken device and the growing certainty that he, like Hammond, might never leave these woods.

  "I was a fool to think we could outsmart it," Hammond whispered. "The forest has had centuries to perfect its traps. We are nothing to it—just more souls to feed its endless hunger."

  Kevin wanted to argue, to summon some defiant speech about never giving up, but the words died unspoken. Instead, he stared at the detector in his hands, the device that had been his pride and joy, his ticket to scientific recognition. Now just a useless hunk of plastic and circuitry.

  Outside the cave, fog curled like spectral fingers, reaching toward them. The trees creaked and swayed though no wind stirred the air. And somewhere in the distance, a woman's voice called Hammond's name, soft and seductive, promising release from centuries of torment.

  Kevin clutched the dead detector to his chest and tried not to think about how long it would take before his parents noticed he was missing, or how many days—weeks?—might pass in the real world while he slowly dissolved into shadow here in the Lost Woods.

  "There has to be another way," he whispered, but darkness crawled across the forest beyond the cave, devouring the last fragments of his hope.

  *****

  Kevin hunched over his device in the half-light of Hammond's refuge, the dampness seeping through his clothes. The detector's thin metal casing felt clammy beneath his fingertips, slick with condensation from the forest's unnatural humidity.

  "Come on, you worthless piece of—" His words dissolved into a hiss as the readings flickered and died for the third time. He tapped the screen with enough force to whiten his fingernail. The detector sputtered briefly to life—wavering numbers and oscillating patterns danced across the screen before shorting out again.

  A curse died in his throat. Without this device functioning, they were as good as corpses—or worse, permanent captives of this nightmare woods.

  Hammond loomed behind him, a crimson silhouette against the cave wall. Despite the hollows beneath his cheekbones and the sunken quality of his eyes, dignity radiated from his posture—a nobility that centuries of imprisonment hadn't managed to erode.

  "Your contraption appears unwell," Hammond observed, studying the device from a careful distance, as though the gadget might snap at his fingers should he venture too close.

  A bark of laughter escaped Kevin's throat. "It's not unwell. It's being jammed by whatever frequency this forest operates on." He struck the side of the detector, metal meeting palm with a dull smack. "The supernatural interference is corrupting the readings."

  Outside, the wind wailed—though Kevin had begun to doubt it was wind at all. The sound carried too much purpose, too much malice to be mere weather. It resembled breath more than breeze, the forest itself inhaling, scenting their trail, waiting for a misstep.

  "Perhaps," Hammond's words emerged measured and deliberate, his archaic speech patterns still jarring to Kevin's ear, "we approach this challenge incorrectly."

  Kevin's head snapped up, a muscle twitching at the corner of his jaw. "What's that supposed to mean? This detector is our only shot at finding a way out."

  "The forest, while most assuredly malevolent, adheres to patterns." Hammond's weathered fingers traced invisible symbols in the air, sketching shapes only he could see. "I have observed its movements for... for longer than any mind should endure. There exists rhythm to its malice."

  "A pattern?" Kevin straightened, his scientific mind latching onto the concept like a lifeline. "You mean predictable behavior?"

  Hammond's chin dipped once, the hollow sockets of his eyes briefly kindling with a spark that might have been hope. "The Lost Woods shifts and changes, yes, but not randomly. Like tides. Like phases of the moon." His voice dropped, barely audible. "Like a heartbeat."

  Kevin's gaze returned to the useless device. If Hammond spoke truth—if the forest's supernatural activity followed discernible patterns—perhaps he could modify the detector to track those patterns instead of fighting against them.

  "Show me," Kevin said, the first flicker of genuine possibility warming his chest. "Tell me everything about these patterns. Every detail matters."

  For the next hour, Hammond spoke while Kevin worked, fingers dancing across circuits with practiced precision. He stripped wires, recalibrated sensors, reprogrammed algorithms, all while absorbing Hammond's centuries of observation.

  "The weak points," Hammond explained, pacing the cramped confines of their shelter, "form and dissolve like bubbles on disturbed water. Never in identical locations, but always following the forest's rhythm."

  Kevin's tongue pressed against his teeth as he focused on the delicate wiring. "If I can get this thing to track energy shifts instead of fighting them, we might predict where the next weak spot will appear."

  The silence that followed hung heavy. Kevin looked up to find Hammond frozen, staring fixedly at the cave entrance, his profile etched against the gloom.

  "Hey," Kevin said, "you still with me?"

  Hammond's expression remained distant, lost in memory. "A girl loved me once," he murmured, the words seeming to rise from some deep well within him. "Eleanor was her name."

  Kevin blinked at the abrupt shift. "Oh?"

  "Hair like copper catching sunlight." Hammond's voice took on a dreamlike quality. "On Valentine's Day, she bid me meet her in the woods after nightfall, promising a gift I would never forget. So I donned this cloak"—his fingers brushed the tattered red fabric—"and ventured into the forest, searching for her. And then..."

  Understanding crept over Kevin like a cold shadow. "You got lost."

  Hammond's chin lowered in acknowledgment, his gaze fixed on some middle distance. "At first, I believed Eleanor had truly loved me." His laugh emerged hollow, devoid of mirth. "The fool I was. By the time I understood Eleanor had betrayed me—that she never desired my affections at all—I had wandered too far."

  Kevin's hands stilled on his device. "You'd entered the Lost Woods."

  "So I had." Hammond turned at last, pain etched into the lines around his eyes like ancient carvings. "The forest claimed me, warping time around my form as a vine strangles a sapling. I wandered endless paths, losing count of seasons, lifetimes... centuries." He drifted closer, intensity radiating from his gaunt frame. "But you, Kevin Lebowski, possess something I have not witnessed in all my countless days."

  "What's that?" Kevin asked, unnerved by the desperate hunger in Hammond's gaze.

  "A true chance at freedom."

  The device in Kevin's hands chirped, its display stabilizing with steady, pulsing readings. He glanced down, surprise widening his eyes.

  "It works!" Wonder threaded through his voice, momentarily eclipsing Hammond's grim tale. The screen displayed energy flows coursing through the forest, merging and splitting in hypnotic, complex patterns. "Look at this—your observations were correct."

  He angled the device, allowing Hammond to view the display. The gaunt man examined it with guarded fascination.

  "These energy readings," Kevin explained, indicating a pulsing point on the screen, "show a weak spot forming." His finger traced a path across the digital map. "On the far side of the forest."

  Hammond's features tightened. "A treacherous journey awaits. The heart of the Lost Woods lies between us and that point."

  "Well," Kevin rose, tucking the device into his backpack, "staying put amounts to a death sentence regardless." He shouldered his pack, suddenly appearing younger than his seventeen years. "Coming?"

  Hammond hesitated only a moment before nodding. "So it shall be."

  The forest waited beyond the cave mouth. Fog coiled around ancient trunks like pale serpents, thicker than before. Kevin consulted his detector, fixing their heading toward the weak spot.

  "This way," he said, forcing steel into his voice. "We need to move—according to the readings, the weak point will destabilize soon."

  Hammond drew his tattered crimson cloak tighter across his shoulders, a gesture Kevin suspected had become reflexive after centuries. "The forest will resist our departure."

  "Yeah, well, it hasn't encountered my brand of stubbornness before," Kevin muttered, taking the first step into the mist.

  They moved as swiftly as caution allowed through the twisted landscape. The detector guided them, its soft beeping a counterpoint to the forest's oppressive silence. Too much silence, Kevin realized with mounting unease. Even the ghostly whispers that had plagued them earlier had fallen quiet, as if the entire woods had paused mid-breath.

  "I don't like this," Kevin whispered as they pushed through a thicket of thorns that parted with reluctance. "Too quiet."

  Hammond's face hardened. "The stillness before the storm breaks."

  As if conjured by his words, a tremor rippled through the earth beneath their feet. Kevin stumbled, catching himself against a tree trunk—only to recoil when the bark writhed against his palm like living flesh.

  "Run!" Hammond abandoned all pretense of stealth, his voice echoing against twisted trunks. "It knows!"

  They bolted as the forest erupted into motion around them. Trees that had stood sentinel now tore free of the ground, their trunks coiling like serpents to block the path ahead. Roots burst from the soil, grasping for Kevin's ankles with deliberate purpose.

  Kevin vaulted over a reaching tendril, pulse thrumming like the wings of a trapped moth against the cage of his chest. The detector in his hand beeped frantically, still pointing them toward salvation. They were closing the distance.

  "There!" Kevin gasped, pointing to a faint luminescence penetrating the fog. "That has to be it!"

  Between them and freedom stood a wall of animated trees, branches interlocking like fingers. Worse—shadowy forms began to coalesce from the mist, taking human shape as they advanced.

  Kevin skidded to a halt, Hammond nearly colliding with him. "Are those—"

  "Lost souls," Hammond confirmed, his face draining of what little color it possessed.

  The shadows approached, features sharpening until Kevin made out faces—men and women clothed in garments from different eras, all sharing the same hollow, ravenous eyes. A woman in an old-fashioned dress stepped toward Hammond.

  "Eleanor," Hammond whispered, his voice splintering on the name.

  The shadow-woman extended her hand, her lips forming words Kevin couldn't hear. Hammond took a half-step toward her, torn between ancient yearning and present horror.

  "Hammond, stop!" Kevin clutched the older man's arm. "It's not her. Just another trick!"

  The warning came a heartbeat too late. Kevin lurched forward—or tried to. Something snagged his ankle, biting into flesh. He glanced down. Roots, pale as bleached bone, had coiled around both feet, tightening with each subtle movement. Another whipped around his wrist, yanking him off-balance. He crashed to the ground, the detector flying from his grasp.

  "No!" He stretched his fingers toward the device, his reach falling inches short.

  Hammond struggled against his own bonds, gaze never leaving the shadow of his lost love. "You must go on!" he called to Kevin. "The exit—within reach!"

  Kevin twisted against the roots, feeling them constrict with each attempt at freedom. "I won't leave you!"

  The earth beneath them convulsed. Between them and the glowing exit, something massive heaved upward. Soil and stone erupted skyward as a colossal tree trunk burst through the surface, its bark gnarled and twisted into the grotesque approximation of a face. Limbs like giant arms unfurled, completely blocking their path.

  "The Tree Guardian," Hammond breathed, awe and terror mingling in his voice. "We arrive too late."

  The monstrous entity towered above them, wooden features contorting with rage. Branches whipped through the air like tentacles, searching, hunting. One massive limb slammed into the earth mere feet from where Kevin struggled.

  "My device!" Kevin called, spotting it just beyond his fingertips. "If I can just—"

  With a surge born of desperation, he tore one arm free and stretched toward the detector. His fingers brushed against its casing, pushing it further from reach.

  "Damn it!"

  Hammond materialized beside him, crimson cloak in tatters. Somehow, he'd broken his bonds. Without hesitation, he scooped up the detector and pressed it into Kevin's palm.

  "Go," Hammond commanded. "I shall hold it back."

  Kevin stared in disbelief. "That's suicide! It'll tear you apart!"

  An uncanny calm settled over Hammond's features. "I have nothing awaiting me in your world, Kevin Lebowski. I am the one who should have perished an age ago. But you—you possess everything. Friends. Family. A future." His sunken eyes softened with acceptance. "I cannot permit another soul to join the forest's collection."

  Before Kevin could protest further, Hammond strode toward the Tree Guardian, tattered cloak billowing behind him like a banner of defiance.

  "Hammond, wait!" Kevin shouted, wrenching against the remaining roots. "There has to be another way!"

  But Hammond marched onward without turning back. He stood before the massive entity, appearing taller, more substantial than the gaunt figure Kevin had come to know.

  "You have imprisoned me long enough, forest!" Hammond's voice rang out, stronger than Kevin had ever heard it. "You shall claim nothing more from me!"

  The Tree Guardian roared—a sound like a thousand ancient trunks splintering at once—and lashed out. Hammond dodged with uncanny agility, drawing the monster's attention from Kevin.

  With a final wrench, Kevin tore free from the last root. The exit glowed just yards away, a rent of golden light piercing the forest's gloom. Freedom. Safety. Home.

  But Hammond—

  Kevin froze, loyalty warring with survival. Hammond fought valiantly, but the outcome appeared inevitable. Already the Guardian's roots rose around him, weaving a cage of living wood.

  "Go!" Hammond commanded again, catching Kevin's eye for the briefest moment. "Tell my story, Kevin Lebowski! Remember the Lost Woods!"

  The Tree Guardian surged forward, roots and branches engulfing Hammond. Kevin glimpsed the man's face one last time—serene, almost smiling—before he vanished beneath the wooden onslaught.

  Time ran short. The forest shifted focus, earth trembling as fresh roots sought Kevin. The exit shrank visibly, golden light dimming by the second.

  With a cry that held both grief and determination, Kevin made his choice. He sprinted toward the light, Hammond's final words echoing through his mind. The forest threw everything against him—branches lashing his back, roots clawing at his legs, shadows wailing in his ears—but Kevin never slowed.

  Three strides. Two. One.

  With a final, desperate lunge, Kevin hurled himself into the golden light. A moment of blinding brilliance engulfed him, sensation of falling, and then—

  The world burst into clarity.

  Kevin tumbled through the shimmering portal, limbs flailing as he crashed onto the forest floor. Twigs and dead leaves crunched beneath his weight. His lungs burned as he gulped air, the crisp afternoon scent of pine filling his nostrils. Disoriented, he squinted against sunlight—real sunlight, not the murky half-light of the Lost Woods.

  "What the—" He pushed himself up on trembling arms, debris clinging to his clothes. His glasses hung crooked across his face; he straightened them, fingers vibrating against the plastic frames.

  The forest around him appeared... normal. Gloriously, beautifully ordinary. Light slanted through branches in golden shafts, illuminating dust motes that danced in the air. Birds called overhead, their melodies jarring after the unnatural silence of the Lost Woods. No moving trees. No grasping roots. No eyes glinting from shadows.

  Kevin glanced at his detector. The screen flickered weakly, battery nearly depleted, but readings had stabilized. No anomalous activity detected. Just an ordinary forest in late afternoon.

  "I made it," he whispered, voice scraping his throat. "I actually escaped."

  But Hammond hadn't. The image of the man being devoured by the Tree Guardian's roots seared through Kevin's mind, sending ice through his veins despite the sunshine's warmth. Hammond had sacrificed himself so Kevin could flee.

  "Hey, there he is! Back from his adventure!"

  Kevin's head jerked up at his father's booming voice. Through the trees, their campsite came into view. His parents sat around a crackling fire, his dad holding a marshmallow over the flames while his mom arranged graham crackers and chocolate bars on a plate.

  It couldn't be. Had he imagined the entire ordeal?

  He staggered upright on wobbly legs. His watch read 7:42 PM. Impossible. He'd spent days in the Lost Woods—hadn't he? It had felt like days. Perhaps weeks. Time had blurred in that twisted place.

  "Welcome back!" His mom waved a skewer in his direction. "Dessert's almost ready!"

  Kevin trudged toward camp, thoughts spinning. His parents behaved as if nothing unusual had occurred, as if he hadn't vanished for days. His ninety-minute absence hadn't even concerned them.

  "You okay, son?" His dad's brow furrowed as Kevin approached. "Look like you've been wrestling with a bear."

  Kevin glanced down at himself. His clothes hung in tatters, filthy with dirt, moss, and dried blood from countless scratches. His hands were raw, skin scraped from palms, and heat radiated from his cheek where a branch had left its mark.

  "Fell," he mumbled, collapsing onto a chair. "Nothing serious."

  His mom peered over her glasses. "Those cuts need attention. Let me get the first aid—"

  "I'm fine," Kevin cut her off, then softened his tone. "Really. Nothing a shower won't fix when we get home."

  His dad placed a plate of s'mores before him. "Eat up. You look drained."

  Kevin stared at the food. When had he last eaten? Memory failed him. In the Lost Woods, hunger had become irrelevant compared to survival. Now, the sight of actual food triggered a growl from his stomach that seemed to rise from his very core.

  He devoured three s'mores in rapid succession, barely registering their taste. His parents exchanged glances but asked nothing further.

  "So," his dad said, settling opposite him with his own plate, "find anything interesting out there? I know camping isn't your favorite, but maybe the wilderness won you over?"

  A laugh bubbled up before Kevin could suppress it. If only they knew.

  "It was... educational," he managed.

  While his parents discussed tomorrow's plans—hiking to Eagle Point, fishing at the river—Kevin's attention drifted. Hammond's final words echoed: "Tell my story, Kevin Lebowski! Remember the Lost Woods!"

  His gaze strayed toward the tree line encircling their camp. For an instant, he glimpsed a flash of crimson among the green—a tattered cloak disappearing behind a trunk. He blinked, and nothing remained.

  "Kevin?" His mom's voice pulled him back. "You're staring. What's caught your eye?"

  He shook his head. "Nothing. Just... thinking."

  "About what?"

  "About how some places should remain unexplored," he said quietly.

  His dad laughed. "Doesn't sound like my son. You're usually first to investigate everything."

  Kevin forced his lips into a smile. "Yeah, well. Even I have limits."

  The red cloak fluttered once more at the edge of his vision, then vanished into gathering dusk.