Chapter 121

Harper

It whispered again.

Closer this time.

“Don’t leave me…”

Every instinct in me screamed run.

The voice had the softness of a memory, but the sound didn’t belong to anything alive. It stretched too long on the edges, like it was mimicking the way humans spoke but hadn’t quite learned how to sound human.

I took one step back, slow, keeping the dagger raised. The fog rippled in front of me—like