Ink and Embers

the light, his mask hiding his features completely, leaving only his glowing eyes visible. Eliana felt a

shattered, replaced by something primal, something desper

e hisse

d closer, his presence pressing down on the room like a suffocating weight, sh

ow but urgent. "Do not look ba

nsify, crackling in the air between them. The masked figure didn't speak. He simply

ickly, their footsteps echoing in the quiet of the department. Eliana's mind raced, but s

e started, but he c

e snapped. "Jus

m. There was a weight to the air, a sense that something was about to snap. They reached the stairs leadin

uth side of the campus, and do

the confusion ev

oice thick with warning. "They want you, Eliana.

ng of dread that had been building in her chest

a brief moment, almost as though he

u from the truth, Eliana. He was trying to pr

ss cut her off again, this time with a sharp shake of his

ve time for t

She could see the panic in his eyes, a raw emotion she'd never

said, her voice firm despite the

ed with something unreadable. Then, with a sharp no

ind still spinning with the realization that everything

way through the campus, her footsteps quick and uneven. She could still feel the weight of Dr. Voss'

d what had her father r

her shoulder, the shadows seemed to grow longer, more threatening. But when she turned t

ence building, that she allowed herself to slow down. She was out of breath

earings, she heard a faint rustling behind he

, she

th

just th

ain, she heard the sound of footste

quickened. Sh

oorway, watching her disappear into the nigh

imself, his voice barely audible. "But

per into the building, v