The creature did not attack the thing outside the gate.
It held it back.
That was the first truth Elena learned.
The second was worse.
There had once been a man beneath those horns.
His name was Cael.
And Elena's father had known him.
The truth came from an old journal hidden beneath the floor of the village chapel.
Elena found it after Rowan finally admitted that the elders had lied about her father's disappearance.
Eleven years earlier, six hunters had entered the northern forest.
Only Cael returned.
But he wasn't human anymore.
According to the journal, the hunters had discovered an underground chamber beneath the forest.
Inside was a wall covered with hundreds of handprints.
The handprints were different sizes.
Men.
Women.
Children.
And beneath them was a single warning carved into stone:
THE FOREST DOES NOT TAKE PEOPLE.
The next line had been scratched away.
Elena stared at the page.
"What happened to the others?"
Rowan looked down.
"They came back."
"What?"
"Your father came back three days later."
"Alive?"
Rowan nodded.
"But he wasn't alone."
Elena remembered the voice outside the gate.
Her father's voice.
"What was with him?"
Rowan didn't answer.
The creature did.
It walked toward them.
For the first time, Elena saw the scars covering its body.
Long scars across its chest.
Old burns around its wrists.
A deep mark across its throat.
Elena touched one of the scars.
Cael didn't move.
"You were human."
He nodded.
"Who did this to you?"
Cael pointed toward the forest.
Then toward the chapel.
Elena followed his hand.
"The elders?"
Cael nodded again.
Rowan closed his eyes.
"They tried to stop your father from telling the village what he'd seen."
"What did he see?"
Cael looked toward Elena.
Then he touched the pendant in her hand.
He spoke one sentence.
"Your father is still alive."
Elena's world seemed to stop.
"No."
Cael nodded.
"Where?"
He pointed beyond the northern gate.
Elena stepped toward it.
Rowan blocked her.
"You can't go there."
"He's my father."
"You don't understand."
"Then explain it."
Rowan's voice broke.
"Your father isn't the one calling you."
Elena stared at him.
The voice outside the village came again.
"Elena..."
This time it sounded closer.
Rowan whispered:
"Whatever is outside learned his voice eleven years ago."
Elena looked at Cael.
He was trembling.
The creature that had faced an entire armed village without fear was now staring at the darkness like a terrified man.
Then the chapel bell rang.
Nobody had touched it.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Cael suddenly grabbed Elena's hand.
He pulled her toward the chapel.
Rowan followed.
Inside the chapel, the old stone floor began to shake.
A crack appeared beneath the altar.
Elena looked down.
Something was moving underneath.
Then a hand slowly pushed through the stone.
A human hand.
A familiar silver ring was wrapped around its finger.
Elena recognized it immediately.
Her father's ring.
The hand curled around the edge of the crack.
And her father's voice whispered from beneath the floor:
"Elena..."
"Open the door."