POV Avery
Waking up was brutal.
I sat up with a jolt, breath torn from me, as if I'd just surfaced after drowning.
My chest was rising too fast.
Too hard.
The air—
wasn't coming in right.
— …!
My hand pressed against my chest.
Something was wrong.
Not like pain.
Not like an injury.
Something else.
Deeper.
More… present.
I breathed in again.
With difficulty.
Then again.
Again.
Until my breath found something like a rhythm.
The silence of my room wrapped around me.
Heavy.
Abnormal.
Too calm.
I scanned the room.
My nightstand.
My bed.
The half-open window.
Everything was in its place.
But—
something had changed.
I could feel it.
Under my skin.
In my head.
Like an invisible trace.
A residue.
I swallowed.
Slowly.
Trying to put my thoughts back in order.
But—
they kept slipping.
As if something had shifted them.
Altered them.
A shiver ran up the back of my neck.
And without really thinking—
my hand rose to my throat.
Right where—
I froze.
A lingering sensation.
As if fingers had closed around it.
As if—
it had really just happened.
— No…
My voice was weak.
Unsteady.
I shook my head.
It was a dream.
It had to be.
Just a dream.
But—
my heart sped up.
Because deep down—
I knew.
That it wasn't one.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Trying to gather myself.
But instead of calm—
pain exploded.
Brutal.
A migraine.
Violent.
As if something was striking from the inside.
I opened my eyes again immediately.
And the room—
wavered.
The walls seemed to move.
Breathe.
Slowly warp.
I gripped the sheets.
Heart racing.
— What is…
My voice trailed off.
Everything was swaying.
As if the floor was no longer stable.
As if I were… somewhere else.
I sat up anyway.
Slowly.
Every movement made me nauseous.
I needed to splash water on my face.
Get my bearings back.
I dragged myself to the bathroom.
Every step uncertain.
Blurred.
Then—
I looked up at the mirror.
And froze.
That wasn't me.
Not completely.
For a fraction of a second—
someone else was looking back.
A face.
Almost mine.
But—
warped.
Altered.
Like… at Derrick's party.
The memory hit me full force.
And with it—
the nausea.
Violent.
Uncontrollable.
I rushed to the toilet.
And threw up.
Everything.
Again.
Again.
Until there was nothing left.
My body was shaking.
My hands gripped the porcelain as if it were the only real thing.
Then—
I looked down.
And my breath caught.
What I had just brought up…
wasn't normal.
The color—
too dark.
Thick.
Almost black.
Like stagnant water.
But worse.
Something… dead.
A shiver ran through me.
— What's happening to me…?
A murmur.
Broken.
I no longer even had the strength to be afraid.
I was…
empty.
Completely.
As if something had drained me from the inside.
I barely managed to stand.
Unsteady.
And that's when—
a burning.
Sudden.
Violent.
At my wrist.
I let out a sharp breath.
The mark.
It was pulsing.
Under my skin.
Alive.
As if it were breathing.
As if—
it were reacting.
I stared at it.
Horrified.
The lines seemed to move.
Contract.
Come alive.
— No…
The floor gave way beneath me.
My vision blurred.
Black crept in at the edges.
And this time—
I didn't fight it.
I collapsed.
---
Meanwhile—
Far from the still-restless streets of the city…
Far from the Lake House.
Far from the invisible chaos that had just unfolded there—
The nature reserve rested in an almost unreal silence.
The night was thicker there.
Deeper.
The towering trees formed a living barrier, cutting off the outside world as if it had never existed.
But behind that wild façade—
something else was hidden.
A modern hamlet.
Discreet.
Organized.
Perfectly controlled.
Houses of glass and steel rose among the shadows, their cold lights cutting sharply against the surrounding darkness.
A sanctuary.
Or a cage.
Hard to say.
At the center of it all—
one residence loomed over all the others.
Larger.
More imposing.
As if everything converged toward it.
As if everything depended on it.
And inside—
the tension was no less.
---
Two men crossed through the building's doors.
The contrast was immediate.
Warmth.
Light.
Controlled silence.
Staff approached at once, efficient, discreet, helping them out of their coats still steeped in the cold night air.
But they had barely taken a few steps into the main living room when—
— Can you explain to me what got into you?
The voice cracked.
Sharp.
Restrained.
Jackson stopped.
His uncle wasn't shouting.
He didn't need to.
— Now you're on the sheriff's radar.
A silence.
Heavy.
— And that…
he added, stepping slightly closer,
is clearly a problem you didn't anticipate.
Jackson didn't answer right away.
Because that wasn't what worried him.
His mind was elsewhere.
Stuck on an image.
Avery.
In Gabriel's arms.
Breath shattered.
And that thing—
he couldn't explain.
— I'm listening, Jackson.
But this time—
he knew he wouldn't be able to lie.
Not completely.
---