Lyra's POV
I gave him a small nod. "Yes, it happened."
Kaelen's fingers stayed intertwined with mine as he waited. The lake water brushed against our ankles in gentle waves.
"I can't make sense of it myself." I drew my legs up, circling my free arm around my knees. "She wasn't some ghostly vision. She seemed completely solid. Completely there."
The image flickered through my mind again. That strange woman standing in the road, and the unsettling way she'd looked at me.
"It felt like..." I struggled to find the right explanation. "Like something inside me demanded I help her? This overwhelming need to protect her swept over me."
Kaelen's thumb drew slow patterns across my knuckles. He stayed quiet, letting me speak.
"That's when everything went wrong." The words came out emotionless. They seemed inadequate to describe what had actually happened, but I couldn't think of better ones.
"Someone cast powerful magic on you." Kaelen's muscles tensed. "Any idea who?"
