Chapter 13: Flicker and Flight

Leo’s POV

The apartment was small. Cracked window, one crooked bookshelf, and a couch that wheezed every time I moved.

Still… it was the safest I’d felt in years. And that scared me more than anything. Because I knew what happened when I let myself feel safe.

Zane had left for food. Said he’d be back in an hour. He didn’t ask if I wanted to come. Just told me to lock the door after he left and don’t open it unless I want to see the wrong kind of people. I think that was his way of saying “I care.”

The silence buzzed.

I paced. Couldn’t sit still. The static in my chest was growing again, thick and warm and wrong. Like something was rising, trying to claw its way out.

I stood by the window, careful not to be seen. The streets looked normal. But I wasn’t stupid. I felt it. Someone was looking for me.

When I turned away from the window, I caught my reflection in the cracked mirror across the room.

White hair. Eyes too light. A tired mouth.

I didn’t recognize the boy looking back. He looked… breakable.

Like one sharp word could snap his spine. Maybe because he was.

I sat down on the floor, knees pulled to my chest. Closed my eyes. Tried not to think. But I couldn’t help it.

I thought about her, Ivara, the first girl I ever kissed. I was fifteen. She kissed me behind the greenhouse and told me I tasted like summer wine.

She also told everyone the next day that I begged for it.

I didn’t.

And Devin, the one I thought would be different. The one who smiled soft and sweet, until he didn’t. Until he used my name like a key, and my skin like a currency.

When he left, he took my voice with him.