Elle's Pov
Mom is still clutching me, trembling. The room is swallowed in darkness until Nana clicks her fingers once.
A wall-lantern flares to life softly, pushing the shadows back just enough to reveal our faces.
Mom leans close, voice shaking. "Elle… did you see only Damian? Only him?"
"Yes."
Her brows knit and I know that look; when her worry starts turning into panic. She was about to ask; Did you search for Leora? Did you try? Why didn't you...
"Elle," she presses, "you should have tried to..."
But Nana cuts through the air. "That's enough, Dorothy."
It isn't loud but it freezes mom immediately.
Her mouth shuts like a door slamming.
The temperature drops, and the stone walls almost seem to exhale.
Nana's gaze drifts over the candles… the melted wax patterns… and finally on me.
"If the Second Eye revealed only this," she says quietly, "there are two possibilities."
Her voice deepens in an old, weighty but certain kind of way.
