Night fell slowly over the island.
The village rested far from the shoreline, separated by the unseen boundary of the Queen’s curse—a line no one crossed, a presence no one ignored.
Even from a distance, the ocean felt… wrong.
Not loud.
Not welcoming.
Just there.
Waiting.
---
Inside Konin’s house—
Sleep did not come easily.
---
Tracy sat near the window, her arms wrapped around herself, her thoughts restless and heavy.
Everything that had happened replayed in her mind again and again.
Her mother’s face.
Her voice.
The pain she had felt in that other world.
---
It didn’t feel like a dream.
It never had.
---
Behind her, the room was quiet.
Elisabeth and Shalom had fallen asleep not long after everything settled, exhaustion finally taking over.
Mama Mira had gone to her
