And I realize what I’m looking at.
Us.
A little girl under a tree.
Golden hair. Shadows pooling around her like they’re already hers. A small cat curled in her lap.
She’s terrified. Crying. Lost. Nothing but a necklace and shadows in a world she doesn’t know.
My chest cracks.
Because I remember this. The moment. The feeling.
“That’s me,” I whisper. “I was…”
The image shifts before I can finish.
The academy. Sharp and imposing against a gray sky.
A girl walks toward the gates. Shoulders tight. Trying to look like she’s not terrified.
And on the roof — a figure with wild hair throws himself off the edge. Chaos magic sparking as he falls.
I choke on something between a laugh and a sob. “Finn.”
“In my defense,” he says behind me, “I stuck the landing.”
“You almost broke your ankle.”
“I stuck theemotionallanding. You noticed me.”
“I thought you were insane.”
“Same thing.”
An arena.
Three figures against a man. Another behind him, Thorne. Nightwraiths attacking.
And in the center — me. Terrified. Magic ripping out of me without permission.
Wings erupt from my back. Dark and light. Massive.
The first time.
Malrik inhales sharply. “I remember that.”
“We all do,” Darian says. Quiet.
I remember too. The fear. The power. The moment everything changed.
A doorway made of light.
Absentia on the other side. Beautiful and broken and impossible.
We step through together.
Monsters. Teeth. Things that shouldn’t exist outside nightmares.
