(POV Velka)
I stood motionless in the quiet dormitory, heart thundering in my chest long after Elyzara, Mara, and Elira had disappeared through the grand, arched doorway. The air felt colder now, emptier, as though their presence had left a vacuum behind, a silence thick enough to suffocate.
I couldn't shake the hollow feeling gnawing at my insides a restlessness that prickled beneath my skin, whispering that something wasn't quite right. The shadows seemed longer, darker, stretching like skeletal fingers across the worn stone floor, reminding me of the unease curling tightly inside my chest.
With a sigh, I moved toward Elyzara's bedside table, half expecting her ridiculous enchanted hairbrush or sarcastic talking mirror to leap out and mock my unease. I picked up a small, ornate mirror she'd left behind. My reflection stared back, pale and wary, eyes sharp as polished rubies.
