Chapter Four: Secrets in the Dark
Elara didn't sleep that night.
Not because she was afraid—though she was—but because something in her chest wouldn't stop buzzing. Like static beneath her ribs. Like magic that didn't know what to do with itself.
She lay in bed with the blankets pulled up to her chin, eyes locked on the sliver of the moon outside her window. It shimmered again—faintly violet, like a bruise in the sky. Like a warning.
The crescent-shaped mark on her wrist pulsed faintly, a heartbeat in silver. Every time she tried to ignore it, it flared again, reminding her that the boy in the woods wasn't a dream.
She had summoned something.
And now something else was coming.
Around 3 a.m., the mirror in her room cracked.
No sound. No impact. Just a long, thin line down the center of the glass. As if it had split open under pressure.
Elara screamed, loud enough to wake the entire house—but when her mom and brother came running, they saw nothing.
No crack. No glow. No mark.
Just Elara, shaking under her covers, whispering "It was real. I swear it was real," over and over.
The next morning, she walked to school. Alone. Avoiding Rina's texts and calls. Avoiding her reflection in windows. Avoiding everything.
At lunch, she sat under the bleachers, where no one would bother her.
Kairo found her there.
He moved silently, like he belonged in shadows. She didn't even hear him until he sat beside her, knees pulled up to his chest like a boy trying to look smaller than he was.
"You weren't wrong about the mirror," she said flatly.
"I know."
"What was it?"
"A warning."
"From what?"
He didn't answer right away. "There are beings that dwell between this world and the next. They feed on imbalance. On magic. When your spell reached into the veil and dragged me out… it left the door cracked. And now others want through."
"You said they'd come for me."
"They already are."
She shivered.
"But I won't let them have you," he added, voice quieter.
Elara turned to look at him, really look at him. For the first time, she noticed that he looked tired. Not just physically—there was a weight in his shoulders, a sadness in the lines around his mouth. Like he was constantly fighting something inside himself.
"What are you really?" she asked.
Kairo closed his eyes. "A boy. A curse. A weapon. A mistake."
"That's not an answer."
"No," he agreed. "But it's the truth."
A silence settled between them. Not awkward. Not heavy. Just… there. Like a shared breath.
"I'm sorry," Elara said after a while. "For pulling you out. For tying you to me."
He opened his eyes. "Don't be. You didn't curse me. You freed me. I'd rather be bound to you than buried in silence for another hundred years."
The words hit her like soft thunder. Her heart did something strange—twisted, maybe. Or bloomed.
"I don't know what I'm doing," she admitted. "I don't even know how I did the spell."
Kairo smiled, the smallest tilt of his lips. "Magic doesn't care if you understand it. It only cares if you feel it."
"I felt… desperate."
"Then it listened."
He stood, offering her a hand. "There's something I need to show you."
Elara hesitated. "Where?"
"The place where you called me."
"The willow?"
He nodded. "It's changing. Like the magic left a scar."
As she took his hand, something warm sparked between their skin. Familiar and terrifying all at once.
Together, they walked toward the edge of the world they knew—into the place where shadows whispered secrets, and nothing was ever truly dead.