AELIA REVA
The world spits me out with a violent lurch.
The suffocating void dissolves, and I stagger forward, boots sinking into damp grass. Cool night air slashes into my lungs like a knife after drowning. I gasp, clutching my wrist where Wixar's grip has burned a phantom brand into my skin.
We are no longer in nothingness.
The castle looms behind me, jagged towers clawing at a bruised, storm-colored sky. Its black stone radiates menace, every shadow stretching too far across the vast open lawn. The air hums with the echo of magic, the residue of the void still clinging to me.
"Aelia!"
Elias's cry rips through the night, my brother's voice. I snap my head toward it. He's standing with Hayden in their human forms again. I don't even want to think about how they got their clothes after shifting.
