Morning light sliced through the curtains, sharp and unforgiving. It hit the nightstand, illuminating the shell. It sat there like a wound on the wood. Black. Spiral. Pulsing with a rhythm that didn't match the clock on the wall.
Lena woke with a taste in her mouth. Iron. Dried blood. She touched her upper lip. Her finger came away red. She wiped it on the sheet.
Ezra was already up. The side of the bed was cold.
She sat up. The room spun. A vertigo spike, sharp and sudden. She gripped the mattress. Her knuckles turned white. The pressure behind her eyes hadn't left. It felt like someone had packed her sinuses with wet sand.
She stood. Her legs held, but barely. She walked to the nightstand. She didn't touch the shell. She just looked.
The ripples in the water glass had stopped. The h
