Chapter 75 Shadows From A Distance

• Lena's POV
• Tension permeated the air, the kind that sunk into your bones and would not go. My eyes locked on the far-off tree line, my heart throbbed in my ears. Every shadow and every slink of motion made my spine shudder. The forest had turned into our foe; its dark limbs hid threats we were blind to.
• Alex stood ahead of me; his tense shoulders and flashing eyes suggested he expected an attack right now. His normal calm was strained; the weight of everything—Samantha's illness, the unrelenting search of The Order—hanging on him. I could not find the words, but I wanted to say anything to calm his worries. What might I possibly say that would not sound hollow?