I woke up in the middle of the night with a shiver crawling down my spine.
Something had pulled me from sleep. Not a sound exactly-but a feeling. Like someone was watching me.
Then I heard it.
A whisper.
Taty.
My name, soft and broken, echoed from somewhere down the hall.
I sat up, heart pounding, the room drowned in shadows. The house was silent. Still. But the air felt charged-like the moment before a storm breaks.
Then I heard it again.
Taty...
It was coming from Cyra's room.
I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and stepped out, the wooden floor cold beneath my feet. Every part of me screamed to turn back, but my body moved on its own.
Her door was slightly ajar.
I pushed it gently.
Moonlight spilled across the floor, casting pale silver on her face.
She lay still. Eyes closed. Peaceful.
Too peaceful.
Then-her eyes flew open.
Vivid. Glowing. Purple.
"Cyra?" I whispered, frozen in place.
Her lips moved, but the voice that came out wasn't hers. It was layered-fragile and thunderous all at once.
"You have to save me," she breathed. "Save him."
I stepped closer. "What-who?"
"Dreck. He's slipping. I can't hold on much longer."
"What are you talking about?" My voice shook. "Cyra, what's happening to you?"
Her eyes locked onto mine-those beautiful, terrifying, unnatural eyes.
"You're the key, Taty.
The only one who can save us both."
Then she gasped-a sharp, wrenching sound like air being ripped from her lungs-and her body arched off the bed.
"Cyra!" I rushed toward her-
And jolted awake. Back in bed. Drenched in sweat, my heart thundering against my ribs like a warning drum.
It had been a dream.
But her voice still rang in my ears.
Calling me.
And then it hit me.
It was the same voice I'd heard from the wall.
I threw off the blanket and hurried down the hall to her room. She was still there. Still sealed in the glass capsule.
In the dream, she'd been lying on a white bed.
She looked exactly the same. Peaceful. Still.
I stepped closer and pressed my hands to the glass.
"Cyra," I whispered, barely breathing. "Can you hear me?"
Silence.
"What am I doing..." I whispered again, turning to leave-
"Taty."
I gasped and spun back.
"Cyra?! I can hear you!" I rushed to the glass. "Cyra?"
Silence again.
"Please... Please..." I begged like my words could reach her, could shake her free.
"Taty?"
That voice wasn't hers.
It was a man's.
Confused. Familiar.
I turned.
Dreck.
He stood in the moonlight, wearing only sweatpants. His bare skin glowed faintly in the light flooding through the window. It was past midnight. How long had I been asleep?
He tilted his head. "Done admiring your favorite part of a man's body?"
I didn't snap back. Not this time.
I just looked. Studied him. Especially his eyes.
Not for beauty.
For danger.
"Why are you awake?" he asked, walking calmly into the room.
I didn't answer. I backed away-toward Cyra. He stopped.
"It's late. Go back to sleep," he said, and I saw it-the faint glow of his tattoo.
Like mine.
He turned and stormed out of the room.
I looked back at Cyra, pressing my hand gently to the glass.
"Sorry," I whispered. "But I can't trust him. Not yet."
I walked out of the room.
Back in bed, I fell asleep like a child. No nightmares. Just silence.
When I woke, sunlight streamed through the curtains, and birdsong filled the air.
I hadn't dreamed. I'd slept peacefully.
I walked to Cyra's room " good morning" I gently whispered.
Before heading downstairs I looked at the wall, where I heard Cyra called yesterday. Where the door was in the dream. But this time, there was nothing but silence.
Downstairs, Dreck was gone. Only a breakfast spread and a note waited for me on the table:
I have things to deal with. Will be back before lunch. Since I can't trust you with cooking.
Asshole.
I went upstairs, showered, and brushed my teeth.
Yes, I brush before and after breakfast. If you don't, you're disgusting.
I wrapped myself in a towel. I wasn't about to wear the same sweaty clothes again-and I wasn't about to snoop through Dreck's closet either.
God knows what I'd find there.
Sex magazines?
I padded downstairs in the towel and started eating breakfast.
Everything I loved was there-pancakes, strawberry cake, mango juice, fresh fruit. He'd even cut the crusts off the bread.
He remembered. I hated the crusts.
After eating, I searched for my phone in the clothes I'd come in-the ones I'd run away in.
Nowhere.
Shit.
I couldn't even remember the last time I'd had it. Not after the hospital.
I needed to call Mom. She must've already called the police by now. Emmeline would be freaking out too.
What the hell was I thinking? Running away like that?
Mom would be horrified. Dad would lose his mind.
I'd been too tired. Too scared. I wanted answers so badly I hadn't stopped to think.
Selfish.
I had to go back.
Then I heard it-
The front door creaking open.
I rushed downstairs, ready to tell Dreck I had to leave.
But it wasn't Dreck.
It was someone else.
A woman.