Elara sat slumped against her locked dorm door, her knees drawn tightly to her chest as her breathing gradually slowed.
A minute of silence.
Then her mind rewinded to the promises she had made in the shadows of the woods— her frantic pledges to reach out to the red-haired twins, to yield, to officially sign her name into their community (cults) organization.
She had sworn to submit just to make the nightmare stop.
Now that she thinks about it… She actually hasn't reached out. She 'deliberately,' refused to send a single message to Ceryn or Celia.
Instead, she chose absolute evasive warfare: complete and total ghosting. Her brilliant master plan was simply to vanish from Rex Knox's sight for two solid days.
Fate, however, had a deeply twisted sense of humor.
On the first day, Elara was mindlessly navigating the crowded academic hallway, trying to look unobtrusive, when a tall, messy-haired silhouette stepped into view near the stairwell.
