I tiptoe closer, pressing myself against the hallway wall, trying not to breathe too loudly. The voices drift out—the man's is deep, steady, and somehow feels ancient, like it belongs in a different world.
"She doesn't suspect anything?" he asks.
Aunt Mirabel sighs. "Lucy has no idea. She thinks she's just... ordinary. But she's turning twenty-two. The signs are only going to get stronger."
My hands shake as I clutch the bag of cake. Ordinary? That's the last word I'd use to describe my life. I glance down, noticing a soft shimmer across my skin in the sliver of morning light—wait, was that always there?
The woman's voice softens. "When the time is right, the way will open. Heaven's laws cannot be broken, not even for her. Chef Amaru is growing restless. It's not safe here anymore."
A floorboard creaks beneath me. Instantly, the voices stop. The door swings open and Aunt Mirabel's face appears—concerned but trying to look normal.
"There you are! Did you get chocolate?" she asks in her brightest, most fake voice ever.
I try to smile, but my world feels like it's spinning. "I... yeah. I got chocolate. And vanilla. Auntie, who were you talking to?"
Nobody answers—the man and woman are just… gone. As if I imagined them. Aunt Mirabel takes the bags from my hands, her eyes lingering on mine a bit too long.
"Come, help me with the party," she says gently. But I can't stop thinking: Kingdoms? Bloodlines? Heaven's laws? And why, for the first time, does my skin seem to shimmer where the sunlight hits?
As I help spread icing on the cake, I wonder if maybe, just maybe, those birthday dreams aren't dreams at all—but messages from a place I can't remember… yet.