DELILAH I arrived at the orphanage the next morning with Viktor at my side, the air thick with a tension I could not quite name. The moment my eyes landed on the building, my steps slowed.The vines had grown.What had been a creeping infestation the day before had now become something far more aggressive. Thick, dark tendrils coiled around the walls, crawling up the stone like veins pulsing with rot. They twisted over windows and doorframes, their surfaces slick and faintly glistening, as though alive in the most unnatural way.A frown pulled at my lips.“This is worse,” I murmured.Viktor said nothing, but I felt his gaze on me. When I glanced at him, I caught the sharp edge of his attention, watchful and tense, like he expected me to do something reckless. Like reaching out and touching the vines.I rolled my eyes. As much as they called to my curiosity, I knew better.Instead, I folded my arms and looked back at the building. “Did you evacuate the others?”He was silent at first,
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