The silver bled into black.
The world was... different when I opened my eyes. Every breath tasted of ash and starlight as the air pulsed like a living creature. This time, I didn't resist the whispering shadows that scuttled across my arms. Now they were submissive, quieter—waiting for instructions.
Moving light made up the ceiling above me. Flashes of everything I had left behind appeared as it folded in on itself and shimmered. The pack. Thorn. The forest aflame. Mira's hand reaching. A reflection of me standing perfectly still appeared behind everything else. Watching. Waiting.
"Finally," she said in a gentle yet poisonous tone. "You stopped running."
Like a ripple turning into flesh, her image emerged from the wall of light. Only…. she wasn't the same reflection I had seen before.
