THE THREAD OF SHADOWS

y streets stretched before her, bustling with early morning commuters, but something felt off. The air was t

ned in her coat pocket, a constant reminder of Lena's fate and the warning Lucie

forces. She controlled her own fate, always had. But as the city hummed around he

s an old building, the kind that had seen better days, with rusted fire escapes

s a "safe place." If Lena had been researching the Thread, there might be something here. Something that

-

's Apa

ad been here in weeks. Dust coated the floors, and the smell of mildew hun

e for some time. The furniture was sparse: a bed pushed against the far wall, a ricket

her-bound volumes with titles in languages she couldn't un

ost of it was indecipherable, scrawled in frantic handwriting, but one page stood out

else made sense. Symbols she couldn't place. Names of people she di

to the shelf, someth

her like smoke. Sienna's body tensed. It was the same so

, but there was nothing. The room was still. The shadows, ho

forced herself to breathe, to think. She

its way through the air. It flickered, barely visible, but unmistakable. Sienna reache

-

Visi

Lena's apart

crawled across the ground, shifting and writhing like living things. And in the

, but it was different. The walls were covered in thick, pulsing veins of shadow, and th

n, she

e

he ceiling. Thin red threads snaked around her arms, twisting and binding her like a pupp

her voice echoed, distant

e darkness. Sienna took a step forward, her body tense, but as she reached for Lena, th

-

n the Re

back in Lena's apartment, the journal lying on the floor next to her. Her heart

,* she told hers

the Thread of Shadows. But what was worse, Sienna r

were coming

f the haze. She pulled it out, her fingers still s

enn

ce was tense, urgent.

d still reeling from th

ing you need to see. But y

ched her ja

ld temple. The on

place in years. It was abandoned, a relic of an o

ice was gri

-

e Te

outskirts of the city, long forgotten by most, buried beneath the endless sprawl of urban decay. But Sienna had been he

k, his arms crossed over his chest. He didn't say anything as

haven't you?" h

wed her eyes

e felt it. You've

mind. She had seen the Thread. She had felt its pull. And now,

rely above a whisper. "I saw her.

he Thread of Shadows isn't just some ancient magic-it's alive. And it

run down her spine.

he turned toward the entrance of the tem

nally. "And we find out ho