Got Everything Ready

Maeve's boots crunched against the uneven forest floor, her pace steady as she popped another sweet chestnut into her mouth. The trek back through the dense timber felt significantly easier than her terrifying near-death experience on the cliffs that morning. Suddenly, her heightened senses flared. A drifting, gray-green cloud of gas hung low over the dirt path ahead. The instinctual warning, a li