The office was too quiet. The only sound was the tap of Leo’s fingers on his laptop keyboard. He wasn’t really working. He was just staring at numbers that didn’t mean anything.The door pushed open. Chloe stood there holding two glasses of orange juice. She walked in and set one down on a clear spot on his desk.“Thanks,” Leo muttered. He took a sip but didn’t look up from the screen.Chloe didn’t leave. She just stood there. He could feel her watching him.“Don't you think we should talk,” she said finally.“About what?” He kept his eyes on the laptop.“Come on, Leo. You know about what. About… all of it.”He let out a short breath, almost a laugh, but not a happy one. “You didn’t want to talk before. When I was asking. When it was actually happening. So maybe we just don’t. I'm over it anyways.”“That’s not fair,” she said. Her voice was quiet but tight. “You're not over it. You’re still mad. You’re sitting there all closed up. You haven’t really looked at me in days.”Now he did l

The name hung in the air between them. Iden felt like the ground had tilted. Liana. She hadn’t changed. Not really. Her smile was the same. It cut through centuries of time and felt like yesterday.She slid off the car hood and threw her arms around him. He stood stiffly, his arms at his sides. “Iden! I found you. After all this time,” she said, her voice full of a bright, familiar music.She pulled back, still holding his shoulders, and went to kiss him. He turned his head sharply. Her lips brushed his cheek.She froze. Her smile faded. “Why do you pull away?” she asked, searching his face. “It has been so long. Ages.”“It has,” he said. His voice was rough. He couldn’t meet her eyes. He looked at the ground, at the car door, anywhere but at her.“It is because of her, isn’t it?” Liana said. Her voice was softer now, probing.“Who?” Iden said, the word too quick.“You tell me. The woman you just left. In the little metal box.” She said it calmly, but her eyes were sharp. “I felt your

Leo’s words, “We need a plan,” hung in the air for only a second before Maria pushed off the wall, her posture all business. “A plan? No. We need to kill it.” The cold finality of it made the room feel colder. Iden’s head snapped up, his expression hardening. “No. We will not.” “You said it yourself,” Maria countered, her cop voice leaving no room for argument. “It hunts. It breaks. It doesn’t stop. That’s not a person, that’s a predator. And predators get put down.” “She is a person,” Iden insisted, his voice low and strained. “Beneath the Storm-Skin, she is still Liana. We should look for a way to help her, not end her.” Chloe let out a short, humorless laugh. “Help her? How? You just finished telling us no one’s ever defeated her. The only way to make her stop is to give her what she wants, which is you, and you say that’s not an option. So what’s left?” “No one has tried,” Iden said, a desperate edge creeping into his tone. “Not to understand, not to reach her. They onl

The sound of Chloe’s ragged voice hung in the library air. Iden stared at the book in front of him like it was written in poison. Maria broke the silence, her cop-patience gone.“Okay, professor. Spill it. Did you find a ‘how-to’ or not?”Iden’s finger tapped a line of spidery script. “It speaks of the Storm-Skin. It is not her. It is a thing that grew from her… her rage. Her rejection. A parasite of emotion.”“Great,” Leo muttered, leaning against a bookshelf, his ankle throbbing. “So we need an exorcist?”“In a manner.” Iden’s voice was low. “It says the skin can be separated from the host. But only if the host… lets it go.”Chloe barked a laugh. “Let’s it go? You heard her, Iden! She’s not in a letting-go mood! She’s in a tearing-doors-off mood!”“There is a ritual,” Iden pressed on. “Words. A binding chant. It can weaken the tie, make the separation possible. But it only works if the host’s true self hears it. If there is a flicker of the person left inside the storm.”Bella spoke

The morning sun was way too cheerful. It poured across Bella's bedroom floor, this bright yellow square that felt like it was mocking her. Chloe held onto her for a long time, not saying much, just holding tight until Bella's shaking finally quit. Leo came in with a glass of water. Bella's hands were useless, so he had to help her tip it back. Iden just stood in the doorway. He didn't come in. His face was white and closed off. He looked so guilty it was like he was made of it."Only a dream," Chloe kept whispering, her hand on Bella's hair. "Your mind's just dealing with all the crazy stuff. Processing."But it didn't feel processed. It felt stuck in her. Like a splinter of pure fear, shoved right into her brain.They made breakfast because that's what you do. You try to be normal. Leo did the eggs. Chloe managed to burn every piece of toast. Iden sat at the tiny kitchen table like someone had glued him there. He didn't drink his coffee. Nobody talked much. The only sounds were the c