The next few days passed like a fever dream... each one too bright, too fast, and too heavy for Shyla's chest to hold.
Ash was everywhere.
At first, she thought it was coincidence: he appeared near the cafeteria line, smiling faintly when their eyes met. Then at the library, flipping through a book he clearly wasn't reading. Once, he even passed by her lecture hall just as she stepped out, his expression polite, effortless... as though fate itself kept arranging their crossings.
Every time, the same strange warmth unfurled in her chest, followed immediately by the pulse of her locket... frantic and angry.
Leo's voice haunted her more than ever.
"He is weaving threads, Shyla. Do not mistake attention for care. They charm before they consume."
She tried to listen. She tried to pull back.But when Ash smiled, really smiled... it was like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. Her mind knew better; her heart didn't.
That afternoon, the college courtyard hummed with late classes and laughter. Shyla sat on a low stone bench, sketching mindlessly in her notebook... curves, lines, faces that felt half-familiar. When a shadow fell across the page, she knew before looking up.
"Ash," she breathed, the name like a confession.
He tilted his head slightly, amusement flickering in his eyes. "You sound surprised. Should I not be here?"
She shut her notebook quickly, clutching it to her chest. "You always seem to be… around."
He smiled, slow and deliberate. "Maybe the universe is trying to tell you something."
"The universe," she repeated, the word tasting strange on her tongue. "Or you?"
Ash chuckled softly. "Maybe both."
He sat beside her without asking, close enough that she could feel the faint chill radiating from him. The locket burned against her skin in protest, but she ignored it, caught in the quiet rhythm of his presence.
"You look tired," he said after a moment, studying her face. "Nightmares?"
Her pulse stuttered. "How would you—?"
He shrugged, gaze distant. "You carry the look of someone who dreams too much."
Her throat tightened. "Do you?"
Ash's lips curved faintly. "Once. But my dreams were taken from me long ago."
There was a sorrow in his voice... too practiced, too real. Shyla didn't know which frightened her more.
That evening, she returned home quieter than usual. Dinner blurred past in fragments—Nora's stories, Lily's soft laughter, John's steady presence. But Shyla barely heard any of it. When night fell, she retreated to her room, pressing her palm against the locket.
"Leo," she whispered. "He said he lost his dreams."
The locket's pulse quickened sharply.
"He is lying. They do not dream… they invade them."
Shyla frowned, sitting by the window. "Then why does he feel so… real? Why does it hurt when I doubt him?"
Leo's voice darkened, vibrating like thunder.
"Because he is making you forget what is yours. Your memories, your bond, your truth… he is unraveling it thread by thread."
Her eyes burned. "Then tell me! Who am I? Who is Nickolas to me?"
A long pause. The air around her thickened.
"Nickolas was your oath-bound. Your protector. Your husband. His soul was bound to yours before the veil fell. But he is far from this world now, and you are the key that can bring the balance back. You are destined to be the Queen."
Shyla froze. "Balance? Between what? And… what Queen?"
"Light and shadow. You are the key for peace between the Witch Kingdom and the Vampire Kingdom. Alex was no ordinary vampire, and your mother... she was the future empress of the Witch Empire before she died."
Leo's voice faltered suddenly, static searing through the link.
"He's near… Master, don't... let him in—"
The lights flickered. The window shuddered as wind whipped through the street below.
And then she heard it... soft, distant, yet unmistakable.
Her name. "Shyla."
Her breath caught. Leo's revelation was a bomb... now what was happening? She turned toward the window, but there was no one there… only the city, silent and shimmering.
The locket's glow dimmed, flickering like a fading heartbeat. Leo's voice was gone. She could clearly hear her own heartbeat.
"Leo," she whispered in her mind. "Why is all this happening to me? Nickolas is my husband… and I am destined for him. My dad being a vampire... that too powerful, wasn't all this enough? Now my mom was a witch? You're joking…"
Far away, on a rooftop cloaked in mist, Ash lowered his hand from the wind, a faint smirk curling his lips.
"She's listening now, ignoring Leo's warning," he murmured to the night. "Good. Let her believe the echoes. The deeper she feels… the easier she'll fall."
Behind him, the sky cracked with distant thunder... Ash unaware that Shyla already possessed a mind-reading gift.
And in the darkness of her room, Shyla whispered to the silence, "Nickolas… if you're real, please… find me before I'm lost."