The morning smelled of damp earth.
It had rained during the night, and puddles lay like dark mirrors across the schoolyard.
She paused briefly at the entrance and stared into one of them, as if she might find her own face there – a face that had become unfamiliar to her in recent days.
Less color.
Less laughter.
More questions.
"Are you coming?" her friend asked quietly.
She nodded and stepped onto the wet asphalt. Each footstep sounded too loud for a day when she would have preferred to be invisible.
---
The air hung heavy in the foyer.
Backpacks thumped against benches, voices echoed, somewhere a ball squeaked against the wall.
And then – that look.
She felt it on the back of her neck before she saw it: sharp, focused, like a beam that pinned her in place.
Slowly she raised her head.
Elara stood on the staircase to the upper floor.
This time not alone.
Next to her – him.
Her heart stumbled.
Alaric.
He was back.
