"You saw her, didn't you?" Noah's voice was barely a whisper, but it hit Jade like a punch to the ribs.
Her mouth went dry. Her heartbeat slammed against her skull. She didn't answer. She couldn't.
"You saw the mask," he said softly. "She's getting closer."
Jade's hands gripped the window frame so tight her knuckles turned white. "Who is she?" she finally croaked. "Why does she look like me?"
Noah's gaze darkened. His usual eerie calm cracked for a moment, just a flicker, like even he was afraid of saying it out loud.
"She's... you," he said. "But not. She's what's left when the loops fracture too much. A shadow of all the versions of you that didn't make it."
Jade's breath hitched.
A shadow. Of me.
"That doesn't make any sense," she snapped. "I'm still here! I'm still..."
"You're here now," he cut in, voice firmer. "But the more you loop, the more unstable the timeline gets. Your memory gaps? The drawings you don't remember? That voice you heard? It's all because she's bleeding through."
Jade staggered back from the window like his words physically shoved her.
Her head spun. Her thoughts crashed into each other like glitchy pop-up ads she couldn't close.
"She's already inside."
That sentence she wrote without knowing... was it a warning? A confession? Or something worse?
Noah saw the panic rise in her eyes. He reached out through the window, his voice gentler now. "Listen to me. You still have time to fix this. But not much."
Her eyes narrowed. "Why should I trust you? You barely tell me anything. You sneak around. You knew I was looping before I even did!"
"I'm trying to protect you."
"By hiding everything?"
"If I tell you too much too soon, it accelerates the destabilization." He lowered his hand, voice breaking just slightly. "I've lost you too many times already, Jade. I won't lose you again."
The way he said it. Like he'd been through this not once, but countless times.
Like he'd watched her die again and again.
Her throat tightened.
"...How many times have I looped?" she whispered.
Noah hesitated. That pause was longer than she wanted it to be.
"Four... in this thread," he said softly. "But in the others? Hundreds. Maybe more."
Her stomach flipped. Hundreds?
Her knees gave out and she slumped onto the floor beneath the window, hugging herself like her body might come apart if she didn't hold it together.
"Why me?" she whispered.
Noah's voice was barely audible now. "Because you're not supposed to exist."
For a while, neither of them spoke.
The only sound was the faint buzz of a streetlight glitching outside.
Then Noah's voice returned, colder this time. More urgent.
"Listen carefully, Jade. The mask is a symptom. But she's not your real enemy."
Jade looked up at him. "Then who is?"
Noah hesitated again.
"The Queen."
Jade's skin prickled. Her heartbeat froze for a second.
"The Queen?" she repeated.
"Your original self. The one from Timeline Zero. The one who controls the loops now. She's hunting you. She's erasing versions of herself that refuse to merge."
Jade's mouth was dry. "She wants to… absorb me?"
Noah nodded grimly. "And the more unstable you become, the easier it'll be."
The wind shifted. The night grew colder.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed again.
[Blocked Number: Subject Anomaly Approaching. Proximity Breach: 30 meters.]
Jade's breath caught.
She looked back at Noah, eyes wide. "She's coming?"
Noah's jaw clenched. "You need to leave. Now."
"But where?!"
He cut her off. "There's someone who can help. Go to the old observatory outside town. Tonight. Don't wait."
Jade scrambled to her feet, mind racing.
"What about you?" she asked.
Noah gave her the faintest smile. "I'll buy you some time."
Before she could respond, another knock echoed through the house. But not from her window.
From the front door.
Heavy. Rhythmic.
[THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.]
Her dad's voice, muffled from downstairs: "Jade? There's someone here asking for you..."
Noah's expression hardened. "Go. Now."
Her phone buzzed one last time:
[Blocked Number: LOOP CRITICAL. STABILITY 41%.]
Jade bolted for her bedroom door as Noah disappeared once again into the shadows of the fire escape.