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Chapter Ten: The Gathering Storm
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Eli kept to himself, stocking shelves, double-checking orders, pretending his world wasn't crumbling beneath the weight of secrets he didn't understand. But by the time the sun dipped low on the horizon, painting the sky in a wash of crimson and gold, his nerves were threadbare.
He closed the bookstore early.
Couldn't risk being watched. Again.
Back in his apartment, he locked the door and pulled the curtains tight. The symbol haunted his thoughts. So did Rael's words. To see if you remember.
A knock startled him.
Eli froze, blood going cold.
It wasn't loud. Just one soft rap on the door.
Then another.
He crept toward it, heart slamming against his ribs. Peered through the peephole—
No one.
A whisper of wind slid beneath the doorframe, bringing with it the scent of petrichor and... something else.
Ash.
And then, something scraped across his front door—a faint symbol etched by unseen fingers. The same one from the alley.
Eli stumbled back, panic rising like a tide.
His phone buzzed on the table.
A message from an unknown number: Do not trust the ones in shadow. He is not the only one who remembers you.
The room spun.
And for the first time since Rael arrived, Eli wasn't sure who he feared more:
The man who claimed to love him...
Or the ones who never stopped hunting him.