Tamara fell asleep in Smith's car as they drove north. The engine's hum and Kai's warm hand in hers made her drowsy. She didn't mean to sleep. But her body was tired from using shadow power.
She closed her eyes for just a second.
When she opened them, she wasn't in the car anymore.
She stood on ground made of black glass. Above her, the sky danced with colors like the northern lights, but wrong. Purple and silver and dark green, moving like living things. The air smelled like old books left in the rain. Like flowers at a funeral. Like the moment before lightning strikes.
"Hello?" Her voice echoed strange. Like it bounced off things that weren't there.
Whispers answered. Hundreds of them. Thousands. All around her but far away. She couldn't understand the words, but they sounded sad. S
