The house was quiet.
Too quiet.
Lila had moved before. A lot, actually. Her dad’s job in the military meant new homes, new schools, new everything — over and over again.
But this move was supposed to be different.
“The last one,” he promised.
And yet, that silence still followed her. Not fear. Not sadness. Just… blankness.
She tried to fill it with books, drawing, and walking around the backyard that somehow felt too familiar… like someone else had left behind memories in the grass.
And then she heard it.
A bark.
Not a normal bark. A blast. Like someone had taken a rocket launcher of personality and squeezed it into a dog’s chest.
Lila looked up, confused. The woods rustled. And then —
“Y’all better RUN! I’m Uno and this is MY SIDE OF THE FENCE!”
A charcoal gray and white blur zoomed past, knocking over a rake, a flowerpot, and nearly a trash can.
“What… was that?” Lila whispered.
She took a step forward.
And from somewhere deep in the woods, she heard another voice.
“Uno! We talked about this! Not EVERYBODY needs to be tackled!”
Lila blinked.
The Forest was not quiet anymore.
Are you ready Lila? Enter at your own risk
She didn’t know it yet…
But she was standing at the edge of something wild, and real, and healing.
The Forest of Friends had just noticed her.
Meet Lila in book 8, when she moves into Tank’s old house. There is a lot of trauma for Tank there in that house. Will the house newest pet give him the healing he needs.