Callie’s POV
“She was the First.”
The words hung between us.
The embers crackled softly in the center of the abandoned station while the night wind slipped through the gaps in the old wooden walls.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Neither did I.
Because something inside me already knew that answer would only create more questions.
And for the first time since all of this had begun, I wanted to ask them.
Really ask them.
Not because I was afraid.
Not because I needed to survive.
Because I needed to understand.
I stared at Aurek.
“What was her name?”
The silence that followed was strange.
Not uncomfortable.
Surprised.
As if that wasn’t the question he had expected to hear.
Rain continued falling outside.
Light.
Steady.
Aurek slowly lowered his gaze toward the embers.
