✦Dolly✦
I made it halfway home before the world broke. Not fully. Not enough for anyone else to notice at first. But I felt it. One moment, I was walking down the road with my hands shoved deep into my pockets, trying not to think about Riven, Cybil, gates, hunters, or the fact that everyone I loved seemed to have a secret tucked away deep within the closet. The next moment, the air split cold. I stopped so suddenly that my boots scraped against the gravel. The road ahead of me shimmered. Only slightly. It was like heat rising off the ground. Except it was cold. So cold my breath fogged in front of me.
“No,” I whispered. The whisper answered.
“Vaelyra,” I closed my eyes.
“Go away,” the voice came again, softer this time. Not from beside me. Not from the road. From inside.
“Vaelyra,” m
