Natalie~
We landed with a violent ripple of light, the world snapping back into focus around us. My shoes sank into the plush rug of Katrina's bedroom—the one woven with tiny silver threads that caught the glow of the chandelier overhead. The first thing that hit me wasn't the sight but the smell: lavender, sharp and calming, spilling from the half-burnt candles she loved to keep lit. It tugged at me, grounding me for a fleeting second, whispering home.
Her room was frozen in time, almost defiantly normal compared to the chaos we'd just escaped. The walls were cluttered with parchment posters of ancient prophecies, their edges curled and browned with age. A crystal goblet sat on her desk, red juice staining its rim beside a forgotten bowl of half-eaten strawberries, now wilted and sticky. Her four-poster bed loomed in the corner, sheets tangled like someone had wrestled with sleep and lost before slipping away into the night.
