The moment my soul slammed back into my body, the world went pitch black for two whole seconds. It felt as if one of my lungs had vanished; I couldn't breathe—then suddenly, with a sharp, violent inhale, I returned to myself.
Stale paint.Metal. Machine oil.The dim light of Harper's workshop.
Everything… was back.
But I was still there.On the dead sands.Princess Olympia's cold blade under my chin.Harper's screams.The monster's breath.The fog.That dark, suffocating fog…
My hands trembled. I felt as if grains of sand were still stuck between my fingers; they curled involuntarily. My heart thundered against my ribs, as though one more beat might shatter them.
Beside me, Harper let out a strangled gasp followed by a sharp, panicked sound.
"What… what was that?" she said, her voice shaking. "What the hell was that, Jessica?!"
I couldn't answer.Because I still couldn't answer myself.
I only swallowed, hard.
Harper shook her head; her messy blonde hair stuck to her forehead as she steadied herself against the workbench.
"It wasn't a dream." she muttered. "It wasn't. I could smell things. Hear things. That sword was against your face. That monster was real. My eyes still burn. This… actually happened."
Her voice was rising with every word.
"We almost died, Jessica!"
I stayed silent.
Because if I spoke… I would break.
Harper clearly didn't understand that my silence was the only thing holding me together. Instead, it only pushed her further.
"Say something!" she yelled. "For god's sake just say something! I need to understand what we just lived through!"
I took a deep breath.I wasn't in a state to do this, but I had to.
"I don't know, Harper." I whispered. "I really don't."
"Liar!" she snapped. "You know something. You've been like this since we got back! There's no other explanation for how calm you are!"
Me? Calm?When my heart was trying to rip its way out?When my hands were still shaking?When fear sat like a stone in my stomach?
But that damn mask I'd carried for years…It slipped back onto my face without permission.
"I'm just—" I began, unable to finish.
"Oh cut the crap!" she shouted. "You shattered the ground there, Jessica! I saw it! You screamed and that… thing died!"
Something sharp twisted inside me.Fear.Denial.A pain somewhere in between.
I screamed and the world broke.
Harper spread her hands, breathing erratically, eyes wide with panic and fury.
"And I… I changed the air in that fog." she whispered. "How do I even… how could I do something like that?"
Her voice cracked.
"What are we, Jessica?"
That question…Sent a freezing shiver down my spine.
I wanted to run.From the feelings, the question, the truth.
But Harper didn't let me.
"Talk!" she hissed. "Don't you dare shut down on me right now. Don't hide behind that wall again. Not now. Not ever now."
I stepped back.
Harper saw it—and snapped.
"Seriously?! You're shutting down now? While I'm losing my mind you're just going to stare at me like nothing happened?!"
"I—"
"What?!"
The knot in my throat tore open.
"Harper, stop!" I shouted.
My voice rang through the workshop like metal against metal. Harper's eyes widened; she'd never heard me shout like that.
But she didn't stop.She never stopped.
"What is wrong with you?!" she yelled back. "You were like this there too! Now again! Everything's falling apart and you act emotionless! I'm terrified—do you understand?!"
"I'm scared too!" I shouted, my voice trembling.It was the most honest thing I had ever said.And the moment I spoke it, my anger rose with it.
"Do you hear me, Harper? I'm scared. Maybe more than you! But yelling won't magically give you answers!"
Harper clenched her fists.
"You always do this. Always! The moment something happens, you run. You shut down. You act like you're alone in everything!"
"Because I am!" I yelled.
And the instant the words left my mouth—Something happened.
The air inside the workshop… shuddered.
Not a breeze.Not a chill.
The air twisted—as if a living thing was baring its fangs and lashing out at us.
Harper's hair lifted in a sudden gust.Papers flew from the shelves.
"Harper…" I breathed.
She looked at me, terror widening her eyes.
"I'm not doing this…" she said.
But she was.Her anger had turned the air into a storm.
I stepped forward—and the ground beneath my feet cracked.
Cracked.
Thin fractures spread across the concrete floor like a spiderweb.
All the color drained from my face.
"This… isn't me," I whispered.
But it was.My rage.My emotions.That cursed pit inside me was splitting the world open again.
Harper looked around, panicked.
"Jessica… stop."
"I am stopping!" I cried. "I'm not doing anything!"
And then the workshop doors slammed shut.Glass rattled violently.Tools crashed from the shelves.
The entire building… was shaking.
Actually shaking.
Harper shielded her face with her arm.I gripped the table as hard as I could.
The storm grew.The floor cracked wider.The walls groaned.
Our emotions—combined—had become a disaster.
"Harper, stop!" I screamed. "Calm down! Breathe! Breathe, Harper!"
"You stop first!" she screamed back. "You stop!"
We looked at each other.
Two panic-stricken gazes.Two storms.Two forces waking up.
Then—Everything collapsed inward at once.
Not with an explosion.Not with a crash.
With a fading.
The workshop suddenly fell silent.The air stilled.The floor stilled.The shaking stopped.
Harper dropped to her knees.I clung to the table, breath fractured, lungs burning.
And in that heavy silence…Harper looked up at me and whispered:
"What are we becoming, Jessica?"
I couldn't answer.
Because this time—truly—I had no answer.
And inside me, one sentence still echoed from the dead sands:
"The Exiled… the cursed ones."
Maybe she was right.Maybe it wasn't just our powers awakening.
Maybe it was our curse.