The silence of the secluded house was stifling.
Outside, the forest whispered under the moonlight — leaves rustling like hushed voices just beyond reach, the wind a cold breath against the wooden walls. Inside, the room was dim and oppressive. A single shaft of moonlight spilled through the narrow window, casting long shadows across the bed.
Lyra lay still beneath the thin blanket, eyes shut tight, her breaths shallow. But sleep, when it came, was not kind.
It began the same way it always did. Smoking and screaming and then a woman’s voice desperately telling her. “Lyra, baby, run! Don’t look back, do you hear me?!”
The world burned around them. The sky glowed red with fire as the house crumbled around them. Her small hands clung to a stuffed rabbit, its fur singed at the edges. The ai
