I sat up before my eyes were fully open.
"Mia."
The name felt like a reflex, a desperate prayer. My memory hit me like a physical blow—Mia on her knees, the blood on her face, her voice whispering.
Save me, Leo.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed. I didn't feel the cold stone against my bare feet. I only felt the panic. I had to go. I had to save them before it was too late. I stood up, but the room spun. My balance was gone. My mind refused to process the empty space.
The children.
They had taken the children. Lily. Tobin. Sera. All of them dragged away by the shadow figures while I lay in a pool of my own blood and watched.
I have to save them...
I looked around the room for the first time.
It was small and grey, with stone walls and a single window that let in pale morning light. A wooden chair sat in the corner. A pitcher of water rested on a table by the bed. My clothes were folded neatly on a chest at the foot of the mattress—not my old clothes, but new ones.
