After Sasha's turn, next was Sienna.
Sienna sat alone in her apartment later that night, the jar now resting on her kitchen counter. The lights flickered once—then again. She reached for her wine, but froze as the jar let out the softest hum, almost like a breath. She backed away slowly, heart racing. And then she saw it—etched faintly beneath the base, a new symbol that hadn't been there before... and it pulsed like it was alive.
The days that followed felt like walking through fog.
At work, Sasha kept her eyes fixed on her screen, pretending not to feel the heat of Kian's gaze every time he passed her desk. Her body still remembered him ,every touch, every breath , but her mind screamed restraint. What had they done?
She sipped her coffee, hands trembling slightly. Her inbox was flooding, the pressure of her new position intensifying. Everyone congratulated her, but beneath the smiles were whispers. Office gossip had always been sharp — but now, it was razor-edged.
Across the floor, Lex didn't look at her. Not even once.
He had seen. Alani didn't know how, but she felt it in the sudden distance, the way his laugh no longer reached her corner. That selfie had cost her more than she imagined.
Elsewhere, Sienna's night had been far from restful.
She jolted awake in her bed, heart pounding. Her room was silent, but she could feel it again — the pressure. Like something had been sitting on her chest while she slept.
Her sheets were tangled. The jar sat innocently on her nightstand, its etched patterns faintly glowing as moonlight spilled over it.
But what really disturbed her was the mark.
Faint. Circular. It looked like it had been burned into her wrist — a swirling shape she'd never seen before.
Her phone buzzed.
Alani :Hey... I just woke up crying again. No dreams this time. Just... sadness.*
Naya: Same. Felt like someone whispered in my ear. The jar moved on its own.*
Alani: sat up straighter.
They had agreed to rotate the jar, observe and compare. But this… this was accelerating.
In the office, Kian paced inside his glass-walled corner. His wife had been oddly quiet lately — overly kind. Too understanding. It unsettled him. And Alani… she haunted his thoughts.
She looked fragile, yet unreachable, like glass pulled into a thread. The guilt gnawed at him, but so did the hunger.
He stepped out of his office and paused when he saw Lex whispering with Adrian near the break room. Lex's eyes flicked to Kian — unreadable.
Adrian stopped mid-sentence.
Kian knew they knew. He didn't need confirmation. He just turned away, jaw tight.
That evening, Sienna set up her phone camera on the shelf facing her bed. Just to be sure.Sleep came in restless waves, but the recording ran until dawn.
When she awoke, her feet were dirty — as if she'd walked through soil. The jar had moved from the nightstand to the window sill.
Her phone's battery had died mid-recording. She plugged it in, waited.
When the video finally loaded, her stomach dropped.
She watched herself sit up around 2:39 a.m., eyes wide open, mouth moving in whispers. And then—she tilted her head sharply, like listening.
She paused.
Rewound.
This time, she heard it clearly — a name.
Not hers.
"Ilaira."
And in the far-right corner of the screen, shadows shifted — the unmistakable silhouette of a figure behind her. Watching.
The hooded figure watched from the alley across the street.
Another call.
"She's waking up. The mark is complete on the second vessel."
No reply. Just a soft hiss from the other end.
Sienna locked the door, clutching her phone with trembling fingers. Her reflection in the mirror flickered. For just a split second… it wasn't her face.