The woman’s heart pounded as she stepped off the road and into the forest. The fox stayed just ahead, never too far away, always stopping to make sure she was still following. Clutched in her hands was the worn rabbit toy her daughter had lost three days earlier during a family trip.

The deeper they went, the stranger things became. Small footprints appeared in the snow—but they didn’t lead away. They circled the same area repeatedly, as if someone had been waiting there.

Then the fox stopped beside a fallen pine tree. Beneath its branches lay a small backpack. It belonged to her daughter.

Relief rushed through her for only a second.

Inside the backpack was a folded note she had never seen before.

The handwriting wasn’t her daughter’s.

As she opened it with shaking hands, the fox suddenly growled and stared deeper into the woods.

That’s when another voice answered from the darkness.

And it wasn’t the child’s