THE NIGHT SHADOW
Without saying a word, she hurried out of the ring and made a straight line for the privacy of the shower room.
As the lukewarm water cascaded over her tense shoulders, rinsing away the layer of sweat and grime, her mind refused to quiet down. The memory of that split-second counter-attack replayed on a loop behind her eyelids. Over the past few weeks, strange things had been happening to her—subtle shifts in her perception, sudden bursts of strength, and reflexes that defied the limits of what she had been taught. It was an anomaly she couldn't explain, a hidden well of instinct that felt both terrifyingly alien and intimately familiar.
Bab Populer