Morning arrived like a lie.
Sunlight spilled across the campus lawns, students crowded the walkways, and laughter drifted through the air as if the city hadn't tried to erase her the night before. Liora walked among them, every sense stretched thin, the small stabilizer warm against her skin.
It was working, mostly.
The echoes were quieter, distant murmurs instead of screaming voices. But the awareness remained. The feeling that something was wrong sat just beneath her ribs, constant and unyielding.
Aiden followed a few steps behind her, dressed casually enough to blend in, though he stood out anyway. He always did. His eyes never stopped moving, tracking reflections in windows, lingering on corners that looked too empty.
"You don't have to hover," Liora muttered without turning around.
"I'm not hovering," he replied. "I'm existing strategically."
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Inside the journalism building, the noise wrapped around her like static. She took her usual seat, pulling out her notebook, trying to focus on the lecture. For ten full minutes, nothing happened.
Then the room tilted.
It was subtle just a flicker at the edge of her vision but it was enough. The stabilizer grew hot, a warning pulse against her palm.
Across the room, a girl in the third row froze mid-sentence.
Her smile faded.
Her eyes went empty.
No one noticed.
Liora's breath caught. She watched as the girl blinked once, then slowly looked around like she didn't recognize where she was or who she was sitting next to.
A whisper brushed Liora's mind.
Too close.
She stood abruptly, chair scraping against the floor.
Aiden was there instantly. "You see something."
"She's being pulled," Liora whispered. "Right now."
The girl let out a small, confused laugh. "Sorry," she said to no one in particular. "I… what class is this again?"
Cold spread through Liora's veins.
This wasn't an echo.
This was happening.
Aiden swore under his breath. "They're testing boundaries."
"On campus?" Liora asked. "In daylight?"
"They're adapting," Seren's voice cut in from behind them. She stood in the doorway, eyes sharp, expression stripped of humor. "And they're not being subtle anymore."
The girl in the third row suddenly went still.
Too still.
For half a second, Liora saw it the shadow curling around her, tightening like a hand around a flame.
"Stop," Liora whispered.
The stabilizer flared.
The shadow hesitated.
Every instinct screamed at her to sit down, to look away, to survive. Instead, Liora focused really focused on the girl's presence. Her name, her weight, her existence.
The shadow recoiled.
The girl gasped, clutching her desk, color rushing back into her face.
"What just happened?" she asked, laughing nervously. "I feel like I spaced out."
The lecture continued.
No one questioned it.
But Aiden was staring at Liora like she'd just crossed another line.
Seren smiled slowly. "Well," she said, "that answers one question."
Liora swallowed hard. "What question?"
Seren leaned closer. "You don't just see erased people."
"You interfere."