Darkness thinned.
Not all at once, slowly, like mist peeling away from the surface of the sea. A warmth pressed against my cheek, soft and steady, and for a moment I thought I was still dreaming.
Then a voice, low, gentle, impossibly close.
“Carlosa. Wake.”
My eyes snapped open.
Giovanna knelt beside me, her hand hovering just above my face, not touching but close enough that the air between us hummed. Her hair fell around her like stormlight, glowing faintly in the dimness. The cliffs behind her were quiet now, and the mist settled at her feet like a loyal animal.
I sucked in a breath. “You— you stayed.”
Her lips curved into a small, soft smile. “I didn’t leave.”
“You disappeared.”
“I stepped back,” she said. “You fell.”
“You caught me.”
Her eyes warmed. “Of course I did.”
My shadow curled around her ankle, trembling like it wanted to climb into her skin. She didn’t flinch. She looked down at it with something like recognition or affection.
I pushed myself upright, breath unsteady. “What are you?”
Giovanna’s smile faded. Not in fear, in honesty.
“I don’t know anymore.”
The wind shifted, brushing her hair across her cheek. She didn’t move to fix it. She just watched me, as if memorizing the shape of my face.
“You said you were waiting for me,” I whispered.
“I was.”
“Why?”
Her gaze softened, deepened, and sharpened all at once. “Because you’re the only one who can walk beside me.”
My heart stuttered. “Walk where?”
She looked out over the sea, the waves bowing toward her even now, as if the water itself recognized her.
“Where Fate is pulling me,” she said. “Where I’m meant to go.”
“And where is that?”
She turned back to me.
“Saminda.”
The word hit me like a blow.
“Saminda?” I repeated. “Why—”
“Because something is waking there,” she said. “Something tied to me. Something tied to you.”
My breath caught. “You want to go back?”
She nodded once. “Yes.”
“Why?”
Her eyes flickered, fear, longing, certainty, all tangled together.
“Because I don’t want to walk this alone,” she said. “And because you came for me.”
The cliffs groaned beneath us, a deep, resonant sound like stone acknowledging truth.
I swallowed hard. “I don’t even know you.”
“You will,” she said softly.
My shadow pressed against her foot again, trembling. She reached down, slowly, reverently, and let her fingers hover just above it. The shadow stilled, as if soothed.
Giovanna looked up at me.
“Come with me,” she said. “To Saminda.”
I stared at her, at the girl who moved the sea, who caught me from the edge of death, who spoke my name like she’d known it for lifetimes.
“You’re asking me to follow you,” I said.
“No,” she whispered. “I’m asking you to walk beside me.”
The pull inside my chest tightened, not painful this time.
Right.
I stood.
Giovanna rose with me, the mist swirling around her ankles as if it belonged to her.
I held out my hand.
She didn’t hesitate.
Her fingers slid into mine, warm, steady, real.
“Saminda, then,” I said.
She nodded, eyes bright. “Saminda.”
The sea surged behind us, bowing one last time.
And together, we stepped away from the cliffs.