Lyanna… Lyanna… mm."
"Get up! Your exam is about to start!"
Mom's voice rang from the next room, insistent and sharp, repeating the command as if the words alone could make me move faster. But this time, I wasn't panicking. I had a plan.
A faint, mischievous smile curved my lips.
Lyanna POV:
I rose quickly, alert but careful, making sure not to let the heat or the stifling lack of electricity overwhelm me. Today, I would face it differently.
School unfolded like it always did. Naya called out, the teacher arrived after a brief delay, and—predictably—the lights went out again about an hour later. A dull headache started creeping in, but it wasn't as bad this time. My lighter dress helped, and I quietly sipped water from my bag, refusing to let panic take over.
The teacher glanced at me, a flicker of surprise in her eyes, while everyone else scribbled frantically. I lowered my head onto the bench, closing my eyes, willing the throbbing in my temples to fade.
Then… it wasn't the classroom anymore.
I was somewhere else entirely—a black, suffocating room. Shadows clung to every corner, thick and crawling like living insects. Surfaces gleamed with a sticky darkness that threatened to cut through my skin. My heart raced. How had I ended up here?
I screamed. "Where… am I? What is this?"
A deep, echoing voice answered from behind:
"Lyanna…"
I turned slightly, heart pounding. A figure—ethereal, shadowy, impossibly elegant—seemed to emerge from the darkness, as if it had been waiting for me for centuries. When I tried to focus on it, a sudden flash of white light enveloped me, blinding, suffocating, pulling me into its glow.
Then… reality snapped back.
"Lyanna! Lyanna, get up! Your exam!"
My heart jumped. The teacher? Here, in the hall? What did it mean? Was that shadow trying to protect me—or something else entirely? My thoughts spun in chaos.
"Uhh… Mam, sorry… my head was hurting," I mumbled.
"Your head? During the exam? After staying up all night studying?" Mam's voice was sharp, but not cruel. The class laughed at her words. I lowered my head, cheeks burning, but when I glanced back, Naya was smiling with everyone else. Her smile… it pricked something deep in me, a strange ache I couldn't name.
I returned to my work, though the hall no longer felt ordinary.Birds darted across the open windows, their cries echoing off the walls as if the room itself were alive. Dozens circled in the air. Their sound grew sharper, filling the room like a warning.
Suddenly, two of them darted inside through the open window. One struck the teacher, the other flew at Naya.
Before anyone could react, the hall turned into chaos—flapping wings, feathers scattered, and then…
Blood....
Blood spread across the floor, screams filled the air, and I sat frozen in my seat. But through the chaos, I saw it—behind the crows, in the corner of the hall, stood the same shadow from my dream… watching me.
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