chapter three: the man in the shadows
219 Words
Sleep didn’t come easy. Lila tossed and turned, her mind trapped in loops of Cassian’s voice and the ominous message on her phone. By morning, her eyes were puffy, and her nerves frayed. She dragged herself out of bed, half hoping it had all been some vivid, twisted dream.
But when she opened her phone, the message was still there.
She didn't reply.
Not yet.
At the campus library, she tried to focus on her shift, shelving books and answering occasional questions from students. But every whisper, every sudden chill in the air, made her flinch. Something wasn’t right—she could feel it in her bones.
“Looking for something?”
Lila froze, the book nearly slipping from her fingers. That voice—calm, smooth, haunting.
She turned, and there he was.
Cassian.
He stood in the reading aisle like he belonged there, dressed in dark clothes that somehow absorbed the light around him. His eyes—still glowing faintly—met hers, unreadable.
“You’re following me,” she whispered, backing a step away.
“I’m protecting you,” he corrected gently.
“From what?”
Cassian looked past her, toward the window, where shadows seemed unnaturally long.
“From everything that’s coming.”
Lila's heart dropped. She wasn’t imagining it.
This was real.
All of it
- Writer
