The next day, Sylva got up at dawn, freshened up, and packed her gear.
By exactly 6 a.m., she stepped into the briefing hall. A handful of students were already there, clutching thermoses and half-flipped notebooks. She spotted her group member, Nathan Collins, near the front—tall, wiry, and blinking sleep from his eyes as he flipped through yesterday's terrain maps. But there was no sign of Acacia.
Of course not.
"Hey, good morning," Nathan said as she approached.
Sylva nodded. "Morning."
"I don't think we've talked before this, right?" he asked, shifting his pack to one shoulder.
Sylva frowned slightly but shook her head, slipping her backpack on.
He gave a friendly smile, undeterred. "Cool. I'm Nathan. We're in the same habitat team—woodland."
"Right," Sylva replied. "I remember your name from the whiteboard."
He nodded. "Anyway, you deployed the bat detector last night, yeah?"
"I did," she said. "But it was a solo project. Outside of our assigned grid."
"Oh—got it," he said quickly. "No worries. I just figured it might give us a head start."
Sylva hesitated, then added, "I'll still check the data today. Might be useful if we get assigned that sector."
Nathan nodded again, then leaned in slightly. "So… random question. Did you hear anything weird last night?"
Sylva's gaze sharpened. "Why?"
"I was on the north ridge, running a test setup with Mina and Josh. Around midnight, we heard something moving through the trees. Fast and didn't feel like an anime to me. At least not one that was supposed to be here."
Sylva didn't answer immediately. Her pulse quickened, but her expression stayed even. "Could've been a badger or a boar. Maybe one of the other teams."
Nathan shrugged, unconvinced. "Sure. Just felt… off."
Before Sylva could respond, the door swung open with a loud squeak.
Acacia strutted in, sunglasses on despite the weak light filtering through the barn's dusty windows. "Ugh. Mornings," she muttered, dragging her bag behind her like a sulking cat.
"You're late," the supervisor called from the front, not looking up from her clipboard.
"Yeah, yeah, blame the sun for rising too early."
Sylva rolled her eyes. Nathan gave her a look that clearly said fuck you, and Sylva simply ignored her.
The supervisor clapped her hands once. "Okay, listen up. Today is field orientation—real tracking work. You'll each be assigned a partner and a sector. Full gear, radio check-ins every ninety minutes, and log everything. I don't care if it's scat, scratches, or fur on a fence post—document it."
She began reading names and pairings.
"Sylva Smith and Nathan Collins—northern woodland edge. Grid B-3."
Nathan shot her a quick thumbs up. Sylva nodded once.
"Acacia Lovell," the supervisor continued, tone flat, "you'll be shadowing me today."
Acacia groaned. "Seriously?"
"Yes. You've missed enough briefings to warrant supervision. Consider it a refresher."
A few people chuckled.
The supervisor continued without pause. "Everyone else, check your maps, gather your kits, and be out by 6:30. Return by dusk."
Sylva and Nathan moved toward the gear lockers, loading up motion-sensor cameras, sample bags, GPS, and a field notebook.
As they headed toward the trailhead, Nathan adjusted his harness. "So, how creepy is Grid B-3 on a scale from one to haunted?"
Sylva paused. "It's dense. Silent. And yesterday, I saw something I shouldn't have."
Nathan blinked. "What do you mean?"
She didn't answer right away.
Instead, she pulled the folded terrain map from her pocket and handed it to him. "Let's just get the cameras set."
"Alright."
Nathan didn't press further. He unfolded the map as they walked, tracing their route with a finger while Sylva set a brisk pace toward the northern woodland boundary.
Grid B-3 turned out to be steeper than it looked on paper. The terrain sloped downward into a shallow valley, thick with moss-draped trunks and fallen branches that snapped underfoot. The early sun filtered through the canopy in slanted beams, making dust motes shimmer like ash in the air.
By 7:15, they'd reached the heart of the sector and got to work.
Sylva took the lead, methodically choosing camera trap locations while Nathan recorded GPS coordinates and flagged the trees with biodegradable tape. Every twenty meters, they stopped to check for burrows or feeding signs, brushing away leaves to examine scat, scrape marks, and broken branches.
"Over here," Nathan called softly mid-morning. "Fresh tracks. Maybe fox?"
Sylva crouched beside him. "Too big. That's badger—or a small roe deer."
Nathan squinted at the spacing. "Weird gate pattern."
"Yeah," Sylva muttered. "Uneven."
They marked the site and moved on.
At around 10:30, they stopped beneath a leaning beech tree for a quick break. Nathan dug out two protein bars and passed one to Sylva.
"Didn't peg you as the type to skip breakfast," he said between bites.
"I didn't," Sylva said. "Just didn't want to eat in the barn."
Nathan chuckled. "Fair. Acacia's presence is like drinking coffee next to a blender full of bees."
Sylva snorted and sipped from her water bottle.
For a moment, the forest felt still again. Not ominously quiet—just… hushed. Like the trees were listening.
"Hey," Nathan said slowly, lowering his bar. "Do you feel that?"
Sylva stiffened. "Feel what?"
He glanced around. "Like… we're not alone."
Sylva didn't respond. Because she had felt something—just for a second. A twitch of instinct, the same pulse in her bones from last night. But it passed, and the woods returned to normal.
She stood. "Let's finish the ridge sweep."
They worked until noon, setting two more motion sensors and collecting soil samples near an uprooted log. The ground there was unusually disturbed—deep claw-like ruts gouged into the dirt. But there were no clear prints. No fur. Just raw earth and broken stone.
Nathan stared at the marks. "That doesn't look natural."
"It doesn't look anything," Sylva replied. "No track symmetry. Not hooves. Not paws."
They snapped photos and backed away.
By 1:00, they found a clearing on the upper slope and sat down for a proper lunch. The view overlooked the moorland below—wide stretches of yellowing grass, dark shrub patches, and the tiny shape of the field station in the distance.
Nathan lay back on his pack. "You ever wonder if they pick these field sites on purpose?"
Sylva raised a brow.
"Like, some old researcher pissed off the locals, and now every station gets stuck in a haunted forest out of spite."
Sylva smirked. "Haunted moor. Don't exaggerate."
He sat up, eyes flicking to the woods behind them. "I'm just saying. If I go missing out here, make sure Acacia isn't in charge of my eulogy."
"Deal."
They laughed lightly, but the sound didn't carry far.
By late afternoon, they were deeper into the grid, documenting scat trails and marking the last set of camera placements. The light had shifted again—cooler now, silver-tinted, shadows growing long between trees.
They worked efficiently, slipping into a quiet rhythm. Sylva flagged GPS coordinates and adjusted camera angles while Nathan handled the logs and sample bags. The woods here were thicker, with low arching branches and the occasional rustle of birds in the canopy. Nothing strange.
At one point, Nathan crouched to collect fur snagged on a branch. "Deer, maybe?" he asked.
Sylva peered over his shoulder. "Could be. Might also be badger. We'll check under the scope later."
They passed a patch of bluebells tucked into the base of a shallow gully and stopped just long enough to snap a photo for documentation—Nathan took a wide-angle while Sylva noted the coordinates. A woodpecker started tapping somewhere overhead. The quiet of the afternoon wrapped around them, peaceful and steady.
At 5:00, they paused for a second break. They sat near a stream that trickled gently over smooth stones, the sound mixing with the breeze through the trees. Sylva took out a cereal bar. Nathan munched on an apple, checking the day's notes.
"Honestly?" he said between bites. "This was kind of great. I was expecting way more bugs, way more complaints, and at least one twisted ankle."
Sylva gave a dry smile. "Still time."
"True," he laughed, standing to stretch. "You always this thorough in the field?"
"I like clean data," she said simply, brushing her hands on her pants.
They packed up and spent the last hour rechecking their trail markers and sweeping one final pass through a thinned section of the woodland. Everything stayed quiet. No sudden noises. No strange footprints. Just cool wind and the fading warmth of sunlight filtering through green.
At 6:30 sharp, they emerged from the northern edge of the woodland zone, packs heavier with samples and a full set of deployed equipment checked off their list.
Nathan exhaled, grinning. "Day one: conquered."
Sylva glanced at her GPS and gave a satisfied nod. "Let's report in."
They headed back toward the station, boots crunching over gravel, the woods settling quietly behind them.
———
While the others were still at work or checking equipment, Acacia slipped out the back of the west barn with Olivia in tow. The sun had dipped low behind the hills, casting long streaks of amber across the clearing as the wind picked up, tugging at their jackets.
They walked past the equipment shed, down a gravel path that faded into a worn trail at the edge of the forest—just far enough to be out of sight, but still close enough to make it back before anyone noticed they were missing.
Acacia pulled out her phone and dialed.
The call connected.
"You ready?" she said, voice cool and clipped. "She should be on her way back now. With the idiot she got paired with—whatever. Doesn't matter. Just make sure she doesn't leave that forest. I don't want her injured. I don't want her frightened. I want her erased."
A pause.
Then a low voice answered, amused. "Relax, girl. We know the job. Stop barking orders like you're running shit."
Acacia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Are you doing it or not?"
"You said we could do whatever we wanted as long as she ends up dead. That still stands?"
"I don't give a fuck what you do," Acacia snapped. "Torture her. Rip her apart. Make it slow if you want. Just make sure no one else gets hurt. That'll stir up questions I don't need."
"Fine. We'll keep it clean. You'll get your result. Just don't call again."
Click.
The line went dead.
Acacia slipped her phone back into her jacket pocket, turning around to find Olivia still standing silently behind her.
"Well?" Olivia asked, stepping forward.
Acacia's lips curved into a satisfied smile.
"By tomorrow," she said slowly, "a loud scream will echo through the forest. And once we all get there…" She tilted her head, eyes gleaming. "We'll find a student—probably Nathan, poor thing—standing over Sylva's mangled body."
Olivia's brows lifted slightly. "You think anyone will suspect?"
"Of course not," Acacia replied. "I'll be mourning with the rest of them."