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Chapter 3 - The Whisper and the Wound

Twenty-Four Years Later...

Now 54, Anika wore her age like the moonlight—graceful, calm, and luminous. Her covert past was buried beneath years of healing. She had reinvented herself as a Spiritual Practitioner, guiding others through emotional rebirth. Between healing retreats and sacred ceremonies, she had also become a traveling professor—lecturing on astrology, cosmic events, and metaphysics at universities around the world.

"California, here I come!" she beamed, practically bouncing in her seat. "I've been craving some real pasta... and the Bottega Louie is calling my name."

She had been invited to guest lecture later that week at Pacific University, a prestigious liberal arts college tucked just outside downtown Los Angeles.

Anika glanced at her boarding pass one last time—Flight 555 | Departure Time: 2:22 PM. Her eyes lingered on the numbers. It had been a few years since she'd seen numbers.

The airplane wheels screeched against the LAX runway, abruptly stirring Dr. Anika from her nap. She blinked, trying to hold onto the remnants of a dream she couldn't quite remember. Only the warmth of starlight... and a whisper in her ear:

"It's time."

She adjusted her oversized sunglasses, gazing out the window as the California sun gilded the horizon in amber and gold. A soft, knowing sigh escaped her lips.

The city always carried a certain rhythm. Fast, bright, almost arrogant in its beauty. As her car pulled away from the airport, Anika watched the skyline roll by like a living painting: palm trees stretching high the smell of salt and jasmine in the air, and the low hum of life vibrating through the streets.

Los Angeles was alive. And it was humming louder than usual since her last visit back during basic training many years ago. 

The hotel was nice and cool, minimalist, and smelled faintly of sage and eucalyptus. Anika checked in and seen she had been assigned room number 222.

There it was again. She didn't ignore it this time. Instead, she whispered under her breath, "I see, and I receive the message."

She had barely unpacked before collapsing onto the bed, limbs stretched across the crisp linen sheets. The silence of the room wrapped around her like a cocoon.

The city buzzed softly outside the window. She reached for the TV remote and flipped it on without thinking.

Channel 222.

It flickered to life. Ironically an astrology documentary was playing, mid-narration:

"...and during moments of cosmic activation, chosen vessels often feel an inner pull, a knowing, as if they've been summoned."

Anika froze.

Her pendant pulsed once beneath her blouse.

She sat up slowly.

Her phone vibrated with a soft ping. She glanced at her Apple Watch, an alert from her cosmic energy tracker app.

Minor fluctuation in astral frequency. Sector: West L.A. Spike: 6.2%.

She raised a brow. Not abnormal, but curious timing.

A loud screech of tires sounded. Anika looked out of her window seeing a black car dash down the road not too far from a car wash. Shortly after a Silver Jeep was zooming up the road the opposite way.

Her watch pinged again this time showing a 222% surge in the data reading.

"Hmm, that was strange" Anika said to herself. "Something is definitely off abou—"

Her phone rang.

She answered, already knowing the name on the screen: Dean Collings from Pacific University.

"Dr. Anika, just wanted to touch base about your seminar next week..."

"Of course," she said, adjusting her tone, trying to tuck away the alert still blinking on her wrist. "I'm all checked in and settling now. Looking forward to it."

Even as she spoke, her mind wandered, half on the conversation, half still pulled toward the strange spike, the cars. Something was happening in this city.

And it was starting before she was ready.

The next day arrived and dusk had fallen.

Jet lagged and exhausted from a late night of studying and preparing for her lecture. Anika had slept most of the day.

She glanced at the time 5:22 PM.

Her stomach rumbled.

"Ugh I need to shower and get dressed so I can enjoy some dinner!" "Pasta here I come!!" She cheered happily.

Bottega Louie was alive with Friday night energy—glasses clinking, candles flickering, the scent of fresh truffle oil hanging in the air. Anika stepped inside, her aura quiet but commanding. She was escorted to a corner table near the window, the lights of downtown twinkling behind her like stardust.

She was just lifting a forkful of linguine when it happened.

Her necklace burned.

She winced, gripping the amethyst stone as it radiated heat. An activation, ancient and unmistakable. It pulsed three times.

She looked up, her gaze scanning the room.

There.

Across the restaurant just beyond the flicker of candlelight, sat a young woman, mid-twenties, radiant and composed, her deep brown skin glowing beneath soft golden light. Long coiled curls framed her face like a crown, and beside her sat a sharply dressed man, her fiancé, by the way he looked at her.

But it wasn't her beauty that caught Anika's attention.

It was the frequency.

Something in her gut stirred, sharp and sudden. She couldn't explain it. Only that she had to move. Anika reached for her purse, tossing a few bills on the table, her appetite vanishing beneath a wave of unease.

She exited the restaurant just as the couple stepped out behind her, their laughter still lingering in the air.

And then it happened.

A pulse.

The energy hit her like a tidal wave, low and vibrating, accompanied by a deep, unnatural low pitched ringing in her ears. Everything around her slowed to a crawl, as if the universe had sucked the sound out of the city.

Anika spun around.

A flash of light—crack!

The white shirt of the young man bloomed red.

The woman's scream was silent in the vacuum of Anika's perception. Blood poured as he crumpled into her arms, and she dropped to the pavement with him, sobbing, her voice a silent howl in the chaos.

Anika froze, clutching her amethyst pendant. Her instincts screamed, This wasn't random.

Another flash—shatter!

A bullet tore through the restaurant's glass window, grazing Anika's arm. She gasped, pain searing down to the bone. She hit the ground and crawled toward the couple.

"Hold on!" she shouted, grabbing the woman's arm just as another shot rang out.

But then the air changed.

A wind, unnatural and electric, surged around them.

The young woman's eyes lit up, golden and wild. Her aura expanded, and then split into two shimmering, ghost-like doppelgängers appeared in front of her.

They moved with incredible speed and grace.

One of the phantoms launched forward, dashing into the distance across the street toward a nearby building. It solidified mid-air and crystallized into a full-bodied version of her. Just as it collided with a crouching sniper on the rooftop.

The assassin barely had time to react. Reaching for his knife he went for the attack but she was quicker than him. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it forcing him to drop the knife. He grunted in pain, and right after the doppelgänger went for a violent kick to his knees shattering them.

The assassin screamed in agony, but she continued her attack and slammed him against the wall, her strength inhuman. She grabbed his head forcefully and snapped his neck. His body dropped lifelessly to the floor.

The second phantom projection dashed gracefully toward the back alley, where a second assassin had ran. He was running to a black van. She caught up to him in seconds, her translucent form hardening into crystallized physical copy like the other.

The assassin took another shot at her, but she gracefully phased out of the bullets way quickly going in for an attack. She punched the assassin in the side cracking some of his ribs. He screamed in pain. Just as she went for the final blow, she started glitching . The assassin slipped free, and ran to a black van as it screeched away.

Both ghostly projections collapsed into beams of light and snapped back into her body. The woman stumbled, her energy drained.

She dropped down to her fiancé tears filling her eyes. "Babe?"She whimpered.

Anika softly embraced and lifted her up, pulling her away from her lifeless fiancé.

"Come with me sweetie please!," Anika whispered. "You're not safe here."

The woman hesitated and then with acceptance she turned away. They moved quickly through side streets, hearts pounding, blood on their hands and shirts. The sounds of the city returned sirens wailing in the distance.

By the time they reached the hotel, the woman barely had strength to stand. Anika slid the keycard into Room 222, and the door opened almost like it had been expecting them all along.

Sitting the young woman down in the chair, Anika grabbed the first aid kit with one hand and opened her laptop with the other. The energy readings in her area had spiked—off the charts.

"She has to be one of the Starseeds," Anika whispered, eyes scanning the data. "I can't believe it..."

She turned toward the young woman, who sat trembling, her hands stained with blood.

"What's your name sweetie?" Anika asked gently.

The woman blinked through the tears, voice cracking as she answered.

"Jor—Jor'danna. Jor'danna Coweathers..."

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