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"You’re looking for sticks, the thicker the better," she said, snapping the twig in half and handing each of us a burlap bag "Meet me back here in two hours And don’t be late, or you’ll be in the woods after dark I’ll be waiting by the entrance If you need help, just holler" With that, she waddled back to the guard’s hut by the gate

I turned to Dante, wondering if he was angry, if he would forgive ize, but before I could say anything, he looked away and ventured into the woods, leavingby his coldness, I waited until he was a few paces ahead, then headed through the trees in the opposite direction

The ground was covered in snohich I sunk in up tointo the sky like fingers Oddly shapedyellow staircases that spiraled up the bark Taking giant strides, I walked into the confusingway," Dante called out toway"

Shaking his head, he changed his course to h the trees I walked toward it As I approached, the number of trees diminished until there were barely any It wasn’t until I was standing directly in front of it that I realized that it wasn’t a clearing It was the Dead Forest

I stopped at its outskirts The landscape was vast and desolate, the snow peppered with splintered wood The trees hite, and had no branches or leaves They littered the horizon like toothpicks Decaying stumps stood beside them, their bark charred a permanent black

"The Dead Forest," Dante said beside oing the wrong way"

"What are you talking about? This place is full of wood"

"It’s all rotten," he said We exchanged an uncoed forward

"So it’s true," I said softly,as I stopped beneath the trunk of a tree that leaned tenuously over the ground like the lip of a bridge

Dante stepped closer "That I could hurt you?"

He took another step "That I would never hurt you?"

Everything was silent except for the hollow echo of the wind "Yes," he said

My hair blew around my face in the wind "That you feel sensation around all humans?" I asked

He reached out to touch my face, but let his hand hover just inches away "No Only you"

I let out a breath, unsure of whether or not I should believe hiently it could have been the wind

"The paper cut The séance The night in Attica Falls It’s all true?"