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And I know what she sees. Me, standing still while the world pulses and churns and changes around me. Me, looking like I’ve been dropped from another era—because I have.
My hand twitches at my side, the urge to touch something,claimsomething, rising like it always does when I feel small. But I clench my fists instead.
“I look like an idiot,” I mutter.
Luna turns her head slowly, eyebrows lifting with exaggerated patience. “Youarean idiot.”
I shoot her a look, and she smirks. Shrugs. “But you’re wearing it well.”
I exhale through my nose. “You brought your sass all the way to town. How generous of you.”
“I brought my survival instincts,” she counters. “This place smells weird and there’s a sign in that bakery window that saysHaunted Goods: Buy One, Banish One Free.” Her mouth quirks. “What the hell does that even mean?”
I blink up at the sign. It’s hand-lettered in curling, chaotic script. Below it is a ghost sticker giving a thumbs-up.
“Marketing,” I say.
She gives me a look. “It’s cursed pastries.”
“That’s what marketingis.”
Luna snorts. “You’ve been out for five minutes and you’re already spiraling.”
She starts walking. I follow, because of course I do.
The air here is wrong. Not bad. Just…alive.And it makes my skin crawl with the knowledge that I am not. Not in the way they are. These humans—with their plastic bags and their mechanical laughter and their music spilling from open doorways—they think they’re living.
Luna stops in front of a glass storefront—dim, cluttered, a secondhand bookstore that still smells of ink and secrets even through the door. She peers in, and the light catches her cheekbone in a way that makes me want to do unspeakable things.
“This was a good idea,” she says quietly.
I narrow my eyes. “It wasn’t a peace offering.”
“I know.”
“I’m not apologizing.”
She turns toward me. “I wouldn’t believe you if you did.”
I step closer. Close enough that I can see the reflection of the street in her eyes. It moves too fast. Too sharp. And still—she’s steady.
“Then why did you come?”
Luna tilts her head. “Because I wanted to see how the world breaksyou.”
Her words are casual. Light. But they hit like a blade pressed to bone.
I let a slow smile curl my lips. “It won’t.”
She leans in, and I smell her again—smoke and magic and something deeper. “We’ll see.”
We step inside together.
And the bell above the door doesn’t chime.
Itscreams.
Luna