Callie’s POV
The forest wasn’t the same anymore.
Or maybe… I wasn’t the same.
“You’re starting to understand,” Bellona said, with that calm tone I was beginning to recognize as hers.
I didn’t answer right away. I just kept walking, letting the sound of my own footsteps blend with the whisper of the wind.
“I’m not understanding anything,” I muttered at last.
“You’re feeling it. That’s different.”
I frowned slightly.
“And that’s supposed to reassure me?”
“It should.”
I let out a short, humorless laugh.
“Of course. Because hearing things I shouldn’t, feeling… this,” I made a vague gesture, as if I could point to what was happening inside me, “is completely normal.”
Bellona fell silent for a moment.
“Not normal. Natural.”
That word stayed with me.
Natural.
“It doesn’t feel like
