(Mirabel's POV)
Something answered.
Not me.
Not exactly.
Something deeper.
Something buried beneath names.
Beneath memories.
Beneath existence.
The voice echoed through me.
Ancient.
Patient.
Waiting.
And for one impossible moment—
I remembered.
Not a life.
Not a childhood.
Not a world.
A silence.
An endless silence.
Before stars.
Before stories.
Before beginnings.
I gasped.
The vision vanished instantly.
But the feeling remained.
The feeling of having forgotten something enormous.
Something impossible.
The eye in the horizon watched.
Unblinking.
The impossible child squeezed my hand.
Hard.
"Don't."
Her voice shook.
"Don't remember too fast."
I stared at her.
"What does that mean?"
The child looked away.
Because she couldn't answer.
Or wouldn't.
The di
