CARMEN
The moment I realized the feather was real, my entire body trembled.
Not just from fear, but also from recognition.
The black feather rested in my shaking hand, soft and impossibly dark beneath the silver moonlight spilling through the bedroom window. Tiny black beads and braided leather strands hung from the quill exactly as they had in my dream. The same feather worn by the terrifying woman in the forest.
The same woman whose voice still echoed through my head.
It is time to ascend.
A chill crawled over my skin, yet beneath it something else stirred deep inside me. Something ancient. Proud. Relieved.
Like a part of me had been waiting years to finally be seen.
The sensation rolled through my chest in a warm pulse, almost like another heartbeat awakening beneath my own. It
