LILA’S POV
Darkness clawed at me.
It wasn’t the forest. Not the camp. Not even the fire that had reduced our defenses to ash. This was her my twin inside my mind, bending it, folding it, breaking it like a fragile toy.
I screamed, and yet no sound came. My body in the real world sagged; golden wings drooped weakly. Sara shook my shoulder, panic in her eyes.
“Lila! You have to fight! Stay with us!”
But the world inside my mind was a storm of red and black, swirling around me, impossible to escape. My twin’s laughter echoed, layered and cruel.
“You’ve always been predictable,” she hissed, each word slicing through my soul. “You protect. You love. You cling. And that’s why you’ll fail.”
I fell to my knees on the warped ground, clutching my head. The darkness pressed against my skull, s
