Lila didn't sleep that night.
Sleep in prison felt like a fragile bird too afraid to land, too quick to fly away. Every clang of metal, every echoing laugh from the corridor, every distant shout seemed to scratch her nerves raw. By dawn, her eyes burned as if dipped in saltwater.
She sat on her bunk, knees pulled to her chest, staring at the grey wall that looked like it had swallowed a hundred silent screams. Her thoughts circled like vultures slow, heavy, patient.
Why her? Why this? Why now?
She wanted answers, but in Coldstone Prison, questions were dangerous currency.
A sudden thud broke her spiral. Her cell door slid open and a guard barked, "Inmate Harper. Laundry duty. Move."
Laundry duty.
A small mercy, she guessed. Anything was better than the suffocating silence of her cell.
She walked behind the guard, her footsteps echoing on the concrete like hesitant heartbeats. As they passed the dining hall, she saw inmates gathering some laughing, some glaring, some whispering like snakes braided together.
Then she saw her.
Raven Cross.
She didn't enter the room. She didn't need to. She absorbed it.
She stood leaning against a pillar, her presence as sharp as a winter storm. Other inmates naturally shifted around her, the way waves bend around a jagged rock. Raven's eyes cold, steady, unreadable were focused on Lila's direction.
Not on her.
Through her.
Like she was studying a puzzle piece that didn't belong to the box.
A chill crawled down Lila's spine. Not fear exactly more like the feeling you get when someone touches the part of you you thought was invisible.
The guard nudged her forward. "Don't stare. That's Cross. You don't want her attention."
But it was too late.
Raven had already noticed.
The laundry room was warmer than the hallways, steam rising from the ancient machines like ghosts stretching their limbs. Lila worked quietly, her hands trembling as she scrubbed uniforms that smelled of sweat, bleach, and hopelessness.
She was alone until a voice cut through the steam.
"You're doing it wrong."
Lila flinched, turning sharply.
Raven stood in the doorway.
How did such a dangerous woman move so silently?
Raven stepped inside, her boots making soft, controlled sounds like a predator choosing which branch not to snap. Up close, she looked even more intimidating. Raven wasn't beautiful in the ordinary sense, but she had a face that demanded attention a face carved from storms and secrets. Sharp jaw. Dark hair braided loosely. A long scar that kissed the edge of her jaw.
But her eyes…
They were the strange part.
Cold at a glance, but holding something ancient, something tired, something human beneath the steel.
Lila swallowed. "I… I'm just washing them."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "You're drowning them."
Lila looked down. Foam overflowed from the washbasin like a soft avalanche.
"Oh."
A small smirk tugged at Raven's mouth not mocking, more like the ghost of amusement. Something so subtle it almost didn't exist.
"You're new," Raven said, walking closer.
Lila's instinct told her to back away. But the wall was behind her, and Raven's presence filled the cramped room like the air had thickened around them.
"Yes," Lila whispered. "Three days."
"I know."
A pause.
"Everyone knows."
That didn't comfort her.
Raven picked up a soaked shirt from the basin, wrung it effortlessly, and placed it into the dryer. Her hands were steady, practiced, confidentbthe hands of someone who had survived far too much.
"Why are you here, Lila Harper?"
The question was too sharp. Too personal. Too soon.
Lila shook her head. "I didn't do what they said."
Raven hummed. Not disbelief, not belief. Something in between. "In here," she said, "truth matters less than who's willing to believe it."
Their eyes met.
For the first time, Lila saw something soft flicker behind Raven's cold exterior like a candle daring to live in a storm.
But it disappeared quickly.
Raven moved toward the door. Lila thought she was leaving, but Raven stopped, her back still facing her.
And in a low voice, like a warning whispered by the wind, she said:
"You're being watched."
Lila froze. "By who?"
Raven didn't turn. "Marrow's crew. The ones who cornered you yesterday."
Lila's heartbeat stumbled. "They won't let it go?"
Raven's silence was louder than a yes.
Then, finally, Raven tilted her head slightly. "Stay close to crowded areas. Don't walk alone. And don't talk to anyone who smiles too easily."
Lila frowned. "Why are you telling me this?"
Raven hesitated.
Just a beat.
Enough to make it feel like a truth slipping through a crack in her armor.
Then she looked over her shoulder, and her expression was unreadable again.
"Because you're not built for this place," she said softly. "And Coldstone eats people like you."
Before Lila could respond, Raven stepped out, disappearing like a shadow dissolving into the corridor.
Lila exhaled shakily.
Her hands were trembling again, but not from fear this time.
From something else.
Something she couldn't yet name.