Chapter 154

Maren

The first thing I learn is that stillness feels different now.

Not heavier. Not lighter.

Wider.

I stand on the slick rocks at the lake’s edge, water still streaming off my skin in slow rivulets, moonlight breaking across the surface behind me like fractured glass. My heart is beating hard, but it’s not panicked. My breath comes deep and steady, filling space I didn’t realize had always been