Calder didn’t leave her alone after the accident.
He didn’t hover. He didn’t crowd her. He didn’t demand anything.
But he was always there.
In the hallway. In the cafeteria. In the quiet spaces between classes.
Watching her with that same steady, unsettling focus — as if she were a puzzle he was determined to solve.
El tried to ignore him. She tried to keep her emotions locked down. She tried to pretend the world wasn’t listening.
But the world didn’t care what she wanted.
It cared what she felt.
And lately, it felt everything.
The Town Changes
It started small.
A woman at the grocery store snapped at a stranger for no reason. A man at the petrol station threw his keys on the ground and stormed off. Two kids got into a fight outside the bakery — not the usual shoving, but something sharper, more frantic.
People were tense. Irritable. On edge.
El felt it every time she walked outside — a hum beneath the air, a pressure behind her ribs, a whisper in the back of her mind.
The world was leaning.
And it wasn’t just leaning toward her.
It was leaning toward everyone.
The Incident at School
On Thursday, a teacher slammed a stack of papers onto her desk so hard the class jumped. She muttered something under her breath — something angry, something bitter — before storming out of the room.
The students stared at each other, stunned.
El felt her pulse spike.
She hadn’t wished for anything. She hadn’t felt anything sharp. She hadn’t even been thinking about the teacher.
But the pressure was there anyway.
Growing. Spreading. Reaching.
Calder watched her from across the room, his expression unreadable.
Not surprised. Not confused. Not afraid.
Expectant.
As if he’d been waiting for this.
The Confrontation
He approached her after class, walking with purpose, his steps quiet but deliberate.
“El,” he said, “we need to talk.”
She stiffened. “I don’t want to.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
She flinched. “Calder—”
He lowered his voice. “It’s spreading.”
Her breath caught.
“What is?”
“Your power.”
El shook her head violently. “No. No, I didn’t wish for anything. I didn’t feel anything.”
Calder stepped closer, eyes sharp.
“That’s the problem,” he said. “It’s not just reacting to your wishes anymore. It’s reacting to your emotions. Your memories. Your fear.”
El’s stomach twisted. “I’m not doing anything.”
“You don’t have to.”
Calder’s voice softened — not kindly, but with a strange, unsettling sympathy.
“You’re the center of this. The world bends around you. And right now, it’s bending too far.”
El swallowed hard. “What do you want me to do?”
Calder hesitated.
For the first time, he looked uncertain.
“I want you to let me help you,” he said. “But I also need you to understand something.”
El’s pulse hammered. “What?”
Calder exhaled slowly.
“I’m not just connected to your power,” he said. “I think I’m amplifying it.”
El froze.
Her heartbeat stopped for a moment.
“What do you mean?” she whispered.
Calder looked down at his hands, flexing them slowly as if feeling something beneath his skin.
“When you feel something,” he said, “I feel it too. And when I feel it… it gets stronger.”
El stepped back instinctively.
Calder didn’t move.
“El,” he said softly, “I think I’m making it worse.”
Her breath shook.
She didn’t know if he was confessing…
…or warning her.
Calder’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“And I don’t know how to stop.”
The Realization
El felt the world tighten around her — the familiar pressure, the familiar pull, the familiar danger.
But this time, it wasn’t coming from her.
It was coming from Calder.
His emotions were sharp. His thoughts were loud. His presence was heavy.
And the world was listening to him too.
El’s voice trembled. “Calder… what are you?”
He looked up, eyes bright with something she couldn’t name.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I know what you are.”
El’s breath caught.
Calder stepped closer, his voice barely above a whisper.
“You’re the one the world listens to.”
He paused.
“And I’m the one who hears it.”
El’s pulse hammered.
She didn’t speak.
She couldn’t.
Calder leaned in, his expression intense, almost reverent.
“We’re not separate,” he said. “We’re connected. And if we don’t figure out how… this town is going to tear itself apart.”
El felt the pressure surge — not from fear, not from anger, but from the terrible, overwhelming truth settling inside her.
Her power was growing.
Calder’s influence was growing.
And the world was changing.
Because of both of them.
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and then Add to home screen.