Chapter 9

Aria’s POV

The first thing I felt that morning was the weight. It wasn’t just pressing on my chest though that was there too it was everywhere. In the air. In my bones. In the silence itself. The kind of silence that doesn’t feel peaceful… the kind that makes you wonder if the world is holding its breath for something it knows is coming.

I sat curled up by the window, my knees drawn to my chest, my chin resting lightly on top of them. My breath fogged the glass in short, uneven bursts. Out beyond the walls, the world was shrouded in a pale, silver mist, curling and weaving over the pines. The sun hadn’t yet fully risen, and the light that managed to slip through the clouds was thin as if the sky wasn’t sure it wanted to touch the earth today. I hadn’t slept well. Again.

The dreams were worse now. Thick with whispers. They wrapped around me like smoke, curling in my ears, sinking into my skin. I could never see faces only flashes of pale eyes and long shadows stretching across a fo