Elle's Pov
It's been two days since the ritual. My second eye has fully awakened. Now the world splits into layers. I see threads of intention trailing from people like faint smoke. Truth clings to their expressions in delicate colors. The walls breathe with memory, holding echoes of voices that once passed through. It's as if the surface of things has been stripped away and only I can see beneath it.
But no matter how far I push this sight, I can't reach Leora. She's folded into a place I can't enter. It's silent, shielded and deliberately blind. Knowing her, that means she's not hiding; she's moving pieces where I can't see them.
"You're thinking too much," Nana murmurs weakly.
"I'm just thinking enough," I try to joke, but it falls flat.
