LOGINLola sat motionless for what felt like forever. The room was silent except for the faint hum of electricity and the shallow rhythm of her breathing. Liam stood by the window, every muscle in his body locked tight, watching for movement that didn’t come. When the whisper finally faded, Lola dared to
Liam didn’t move for a long moment after dropping the mirror shard. It lay between them on the floor, still catching fragments of morning light, still showing nothing but their distorted reflections. But Lola could feel it something had changed. The air felt thicker now, charged, as if a storm were
By midmorning, Lola and Liam were still sitting in silence. The broken mirror lay face down on the carpet between them, as though even the shards carried too much danger to look at. Lola’s dorm room was bright with sunlight now, but it didn’t chase the chill from her spine. The warmth of the day di
By the time dawn slipped through the blinds, Lola hadn’t closed her eyes again. Neither had Liam. They sat across from each other on her bed she with her legs crossed and his hoodie drowning her frame, he with his elbows on his knees, exhaustion shadowing his face. But it wasn’t the sleeplessness t
Lola didn’t realize how tightly she was hugging her knees until Liam gently pried her arms loose and pulled the blanket around her shoulders. He didn’t push her to lie down, didn’t force calm he just sat beside her, his presence warm and steady in the dim room. Outside, the campus was quiet. Too qu
For a long moment, neither of them moved. Liam’s fingers still hovered near Lola’s hand, where the glow had been his expression shifting through confusion, fear, disbelief… and then something far more protective. Lola pulled her hand to her chest, curling her fingers into a fist as if she could hi







