The hum didn’t stop this time.
It started before dawn—if dawn even existed here—and never faded. It pulsed in waves, rattling the air like distant thunder. Avery pressed her palms to her ears, but it was inside her head now, resonating through bone instead of sound.
Anchor. Will. Purpose.
She tried to recite the mantra, but the words tangled, slipping through her grasp like smoke.
Something inside her tethered chest was changing—stretching, fracturing. Each pulse seemed to pull her inward, as though her own heartbeat belonged to someone else.
And then she realized it wasn’t just her heartbeat. It was two.
One faster, panicked—hers.
The other slower, deliberate—alien.
The lights in the room flickered. Once. Twice. Then held steady, though too bright. The air shimmered, bending aroun
