Chapter 12: The Mistake

Aden had come a long way. This was the path, he thought. The road to memory. Somehow, some way, Aden knew how to drive. Abel let him borrow his old pickup truck that could barely even brake. He had remembered, when the white dog gazed at his eyes during the family’s ritual. There was a flash in it. Some kind of map. The next step. That was all he had to go on as he left the family and the yellow house. As he left the forest. He was now in Laguna, as the signs read. And he knew nothing but the map in his head. Just a map. And a vision.

A cave. Inside it, a temple. Abel had given him enough food for the travel. And clothes, too. Along with his final promise. “Continue the path,” Abel had said. “You will reach the promise.”

Those were the last words. That was the end of Aden’s time in the forest. He had left the sanctuary. And now the path had led him elsewhere. Beyond. Specifically, the Kadlum.

His guide was nothing but a dog. Soundless and strict. The white, r