“Are you sure you brought it back? I don’t remember seeing it on you when they carried you in,” Mom says, her voice tight as she rifles through my jewelry drawer for what must be the tenth time.
“I don’t know, Mom,” I reply, the frustration creeping into my voice. “It was fight or flight over there. I wasn’t exactly looking at my hands.”
She pauses and gives me a sharp look.
I instantly deflate. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I’m just—stressed. And paranoid. School’s starting soon, and everything’s just... a mess in my head.” I let out a long, shaky sigh and fall back onto my bed.
Mom closes the drawer and walks over, sitting gently beside me. She takes my hand, brushing her thumb over my knuckles before pressing a kiss to it.
“I know, darling. I know it’s a lot. But you’ve got to stay grounded. You need to be Winter. The rare hybrid. The powerful girl who made even your father believe in the impossible. Don’t let fear drown her. Don’t feed the shadows.”
Her words press against someth
