She never stayed long, but I knew she was mine.
I missed daddy.
I peeked around the half-open door.
Daddy was inside, speaking in hushed whispers with someone. I thought it was a woman, but I wasn’t sure—her voice was soft, floaty, like the wind through curtains.
Then he did something to the bookshelf. Pressed a little button, maybe. I couldn't quite see.
A small door swung open behind the shelf.
He placed something inside. Something small. I tried to lean in, to see what it was—
But I couldn’t.
And then he looked up.
Our eyes met.
And just like that, the hidden door slammed shut.
The dream shifted around me. I was playing outside in the garden. Someone approached me. A man. He was tall and cloaked and it felt cold. He stared at me and I shivered, looking up.
“Hello, pretty girl,” he said, his voice echoing in my mind.
“Hello,” I said, my voice polite.
“I have a present for you.” He held out a bloody red rose. “I saw this and thought of you…”
I pulled my cloak tighter around me. But I took it anyway. “Thank you,” I said formally, holding the rose gingerly like it might bite me.
The man smiled, his eyes too bright.
“Elira!”
Someone yelled for me.
“I have to go.”
“Stay.” The word was soft, but it slithered under my skin.
Elira! Elira!
I tried to get up and run, but the garden twisted around me, the air turning heavy, syrup-thick.
His hand clamped around my arm—long, talon-like fingers digging in, anchoring me in place.
“Stay forever,” he whispered.
I ripped my arm free and it hurt! Beneath me the world cracked apart. Giant crevasses formed under my feet. I was shaking, I was sliding.
I was falling.
I stumbled down, down, down through darkness so black it was suffocating. When I finally landed I was in a room But I wasn’t alone.
Thorne lay on the ground, surrounded by mirrors. He was muttering to himself, over and over again.
“Elira… I have to.. save them all.. no… not real! Kill… kill me..”
