FAYE
I woke up before the rest of the house did.
At first, I thought it was just one of those restless mornings where sleep refuses to fully leave you. My eyes stayed on the ceiling, my body still heavy, my mind half-caught between dreams and reality.
Then I felt it.
The mark.
At first, it was faint. Almost nothing. Just a warm spot on my wrist I could have ignored if I tried hard enough. But the longer I stayed still, the more it settled into something… noticeable.
Not pain.
Not exactly.
More like a presence.
Like something under my skin had decided it was awake before I was.
I frowned slightly and lifted my hand to look at it.
It looked the same.
Nothing visibly different.
But it didn’t feel the same.
I sat up slowly, brushing it off at first. Maybe I slept on it wrong. May
