Isla’s POV
Darkness began to creep into my bones like fear.
The lights don’t dim or flicker first. They cut out completely, plunging the structure into a black so deep it feels like something solid pressing against my face.
I stop breathing.
For a second—maybe two—there’s nothing but the ringing in my ears and the soft tick of the engine cooling beneath me. The sound is too loud in the stillness, like it’s also absorbing my panic.
I don’t move. Something in me knows better.
My hands are clenched around the steering wheel, fingers numb, pulse hammering so hard I feel it in my throat. I stare straight ahead, even though I can’t see a thing.
Then—
A sound.
Not footsteps or movements, just the unmistakable awareness that someone is now closer to me than they’ve ever been before. The
