(Rachelle’s POV)
Later that evening
The night is soft and heavy with the scent of pine and late-blooming jasmine. The wind hums outside my window, stirring the curtains like a lullaby. It should be calming.
But I’m wired.
Because they didn’t push me away today.
Hazel didn’t glare as hard. Asher actually asked me a question. It was small, meaningless to someone who doesn’t know what to listen for—but to me? It was everything.
“Can you do magic too?”
A casual question from a curious boy, sure. But it meant he was wondering. Wondering if he could learn something from me. Wondering if I had answers that no one else had given him. And most of all—if I was different from the grown-ups who only saw his power as something to control.
That’s how it starts.
It always starts with wonder.
Ha
