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🌑 CHAPTER THREE — "The Boy Who Should've Burned" 🔥🎶
Aria didn't breathe at first.
Couldn't.
Eli Ward was sitting right there on the cracked stone fountain, rain sliding down his hoodie, dripping off his eyelashes like he'd stepped out of a bad dream.
No—
Like he'd stepped out of her dream.
She took one shaky step forward. "Eli?"
He lifted his head slowly… too slowly.
His smile was crooked—familiar—but something about it felt wrong.
Like it didn't fit his face anymore.
"Miss me, Fire Girl?" he murmured. 🔥
Her heart slammed against her ribs. Nobody called her that. Not anymore. Not since the fire. Not since the rumors, the whispers, the glances from people praying she wouldn't look their way.
Aria swallowed. "You… you're alive?"
Eli blinked at her, raindrops clinging to his lashes like glass.
"Alive," he echoed. "Sure. Let's go with that."
Something cold curled through her veins.
His clothes—she noticed them now.
Edges darkened.
Fabric stiff, like it had been soaked in smoke.
Like he'd walked through a fire and never bothered to brush the embers off.
She stepped back.
He didn't.
Instead, he hummed.
Soft.
Low.
That same tune.
The tune she'd been hearing in strangers' voices for a year.
The tune she heard when she closed her eyes.
🎶 Light the fire… feed the flame…
🎶 Whisper the names… the ashes claim…
Aria slapped her hands over her ears.
"No—stop—stop!"
The fountain water rippled violently, like something beneath it was pushing to the surface.
The lamps flickered.
The air grew hotter.
Eli stopped humming… but the melody kept going.
Somewhere behind her.
Somewhere in the rain.
Somewhere inside her bones.
He leaned forward, voice a whisper.
"You left me there, Aria."
Her chest tightened painfully.
"That's not true— I looked for you— I screamed—"
"And yet," he said softly, "you walked out. And I didn't."
He smiled again—too sharp.
"Tell me why, Fire Girl."
Her throat locked.
Because she didn't know.
Because she didn't remember the last five minutes before the roof collapsed.
She only remembered the song.
A crack broke through the courtyard—
like ice splitting.
Like bone breaking.
The fountain lights sputtered out.
Rain froze in the air for a heartbeat.
Eli's eyes flicked behind her, widening.
"Aria," he whispered.
"Don't turn around." ❗
Her breath caught.
"What… what is it?"
His face drained of color.
"Just don't—"
Too late.
A voice—soft, feminine, familiar—hummed right behind her ear.
🎶 Sing, Fire Girl… the chorus starts with you.
Aria's blood turned to ice.
She spun around—
And the chapter ends here.
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