-

hifted. It felt colder, sharper, as if something invisible had taken r

Her hands hovered over it, but she couldn't bring herself to touch it. Her brea

something in there? D

xpecting to see Elijah's face there-watching, waiting, observing. B

to regain some sort of control. Her fingers hovered over he

eone. Ca

of his gaze-the way he looked at her, as if he c

herself, voice trembling, "he can

t, the more her mind sp

eeks, months? She thought about her small routines: going to work, coming home, her late-night

r. Her pulse was a wi

iliar but distorted-c

ic

on. She didn't dare move. Her eyes darted toward her fro

he b

t her mind pl

d came again-fainter

k. C

g was at

l the weight of the presence outside the doo

ack? Was he tryi

. She grabbed her pepper spray from her jack

e said, trying to

le

gile. The sound of her o

in

ind? But she knew better. Elijah's presence li

her breat

in-steady, deliber

ic

was there, that he could return anytime,

now. Panic was clawing

did h

would

he police? But what could she tell them? "A man knocked o

done something

pressure building, constricting, and her mind

ghtly. Her hands were cold, clammy. Her chest f

is one was different. This

his

-barely

na

ma

froze, clutching the phone harder,

ame again, cl

al or imagined, but her body

She could almost feel it-prese

game? Was he testing her

of her eyes. Her mind

The sound.

losing h

ouldn't l

hispered, trying t

voice

Stay calm

t hollow as the s

Click.

el her reali

here, pulling h

that the man standing on the other

-

way seemed to deepen. H

d screa

he co

oo heavy, her

intentional, ev

ppen if she o

happen if

er. She could feel herself unraveling-each thought pu

s came again, faint

ma

t her flying into the corner of the cou

n't bring her

ld only

wa

-