The greenhouse was heavy with a suffocating silence, broken only by the faint clinking of the chains around the chest. Every thud from inside echoed like a funeral drum.
Kaelis kept her dagger drawn, her muscles tense like a bowstring. Selene, meanwhile, had stepped between us, her blue eyes glowing with resolve.
"We have to destroy it," Kaelis declared, her voice as sharp as the blade she held.
"No!" I answered too quickly, the cry bursting from my throat like instinct.
Kaelis stared at me in disbelief."Are you even listening to me, Nyx? That thing is feeding on you! It's invading your mind."
Selene, though clearly worried, shook her head."We can't make a rushed decision. If that doll contains a soul, destroying it would be murder."
"Murder?" Kaelis scoffed. "It's a cursed husk. If we leave it near her, Nyx won't be the one controlling it… it'll be the one controlling Nyx."
The shadows at my feet coiled like serpents, agitated by my emotions. I felt the pressure of the chest in my mind, like an insistent whisper.
"I'm not your enemy… I'm your reflection. They don't understand. But you do…"
I pressed a hand to my forehead, trying to silence the voice."Stop… shut up…"
Selene stepped closer, gently taking my shoulders."Nyx, look at me," she whispered. "You don't have to listen to it. I'm here."
For a moment, her eyes were an anchor. But the doll did not relent. The chains rattled again, and a chilling murmur swept through the greenhouse, audible to all three of us.
"Do you want to stop being weak? I can give you what they can't. Strength. Power. Freedom."
Kaelis stepped forward, dagger aimed at the chest."That's it. If you won't do it, I will."
"No!" I stepped between them, extending a shadow that wrapped around the dagger's blade and tore it from her grasp.
The silence that followed was worse. Even I froze at what I had done. My shadows had reacted—not to protect me, but to protect the doll.
Kaelis looked at me as though her worst fears had just been confirmed."You see, Selene. It's already begun."
Selene pressed her lips together, trembling."Nyx… do you… want to keep it?"
I didn't know how to answer. The whisper in my mind was like an echo of my own buried desires. The doll didn't speak like a stranger; it spoke as if it knew every wound, every resentment, every hunger for power.
Kaelis lowered her dagger, though her eyes still burned with fury."If you choose to keep it, Nyx, remember my words: you're not only gambling with your life. You're gambling with ours."
Selene held me tightly, her hand trembling in mine."Whatever you decide, don't face it alone."
The chest struck once more, harder than before, as if celebrating that the dilemma was tearing me apart from the inside.
And deep down… I knew I could no longer pull away from it.