Amara froze at the base of the stairs, gasping for breath.

“She’s going to school overseas,” her mother had told her. Lilith’s words still rang in her ears. Her heart was thudding as she entered the room.

“You’re sending me away?” Amara asked, almost whispering the words. Lilith turned around confused, the phone falling from her hand and making a loud noise when it landed on the counter top. “Amara—”

“You’re sending me away?” Amara repeated, louder now. Her eyes were searing, but not from the wrist. “To some random school? Without telling me?”

Lilith snapped back, holding her mouth tight. “It’s not random. And it’s final.”

“You’re not even going to ask me how I feel about it?” Her voice cracked.

“I’m protecting you,” Lilith said. “You’ll understand later.”

“No,” Amara snapped. “You don’t get to say that. That’s not an explanation. That’s a dismissal!”

Lilith’s face darkened. “Lower your voice.”

“Why? So nobody can hear how you’re wrecking my goddamn life?’

Lilith took a step forward, her voice hardening. “I won’t even argue with you. You’re leaving. The arrangements have been made.”

“Why?” Amara shouted in confusion and anger. “What happened? What aren’t you telling me?” Lilith hesitated.

“I keep saying, it’s for your safety,” she said.

“My safety?” Amara laughed, but it sounded thin. “You’ve been acting strange for days. I’ve had fire in my wrist and then — then today, yesterday, I felt a— something. Something wrong. You think sending me away will fix it?”

Lilith’s expression faltered. “You’re not well, Amara. You need time away. A little distance from things.”

“What things?” Lilith opened her mouth then closed it again.

That was all the proof Amara needed. There was something they weren’t telling her. She moved closer, her eyes fixed to her mother’s. “You know. You realize something is happening to me. Don’t you?”

Lilith looked down. “This isn’t the time.”

“No! It is! You want to ship me off to Europe. I deserve the truth, Mom. I have a right to know why my life is being turned upside down without a warning!”

Lilith sighed heavily and massaged her forehead. “There are things I can’t tell you yet.”

Amara’s hands shook. “Can’t? Or won’t?”

“Enough,” Lilith snapped. “This is for your own good.”

Tears bit at Amara’s eyes, but she blinked them away. “At least let me go to prom.”

Lilith looked up sharply. “What?”

“Prom,” Amara said softly. “You said I could go. You promised this would be the one thing I got to do before I graduated. Before whatever came next.”

“That was before—”

“Before what? Before I became a threat? Before my wrist went all goddamn bonfire?”

Lilith exhaled, her posture hardening. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“I just want one night,” Amara begged. “One night to feel normal. To go with Ethan. To feel like I fit in somewhere, if only for a few short hours.”

“Ethan is the guy who asked you to the dance?” Lilith asked warily.

Amara nodded. “He doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t have to. Just let me have this.” Lilith looked at her for a long, strained moment.

“I’m not asking you to stop whatever you’re doing,” Amara went on, her voice actually trembling. “I just … I want to wear a dress. Dance. Laugh. Just for one night.”

Amara swallowed. “Please, Mom. Don’t take this away too.”

Lilith’s jaw clenched. Her voice was soft when she finally responded. “Fine.”

Amara blinked. “What?”

“You may go,” said Lilith, her arms folded. “But after that, you’re leaving. The next day. No arguments.”

Relief rushed through Amara’s chest. “Yes. Okay. I promise. Just… thank you.”

“I mean it, Amara. One night. No mistakes. No drama. You go, you come back, and then you pack.’

“Deal,” Amara breathed, nodding quickly. “I swear.”

Lilith sighed, bending down to lift her fallen phone. “This doesn’t change anything.”

“I know.”

But for her it changed everything. Amara went into the kitchen, wiping her eyes. She rested against the counter, cupping her wrist in her free hand. It still ached. Not nearly so much, but enough to make her believe it was real.

“I don’t know what you are doing,” she murmured, rubbing it gently. “And yet at prom you better behave.”

Her fingers brushed a hotter spot, and she winced. She looked over at the coffee machine to her side. Steam lazily curled around the top — time for a cup. Automatically, she reached for it. The instant she made contact with it, the machine exploded in a spray of sparks and smoke shooting straight up at her face.

“AHHH!” Amara shrieked, staggered back and covered her face with both hands.

“AMARA!” There was the sound of Lilith’s voice from the next room. But Amara couldn’t speak. She stared at her wrist. It was glowing.

Lilith burst into the room, high heels clicking on the marble. “Amara—what happened?! ”

“I-I only touched it,” Amara stammered. “I swear, I didn’t do anything! I just — my wrist, I was rubbing it, and it scraped against the side of the machine, and then...” Lilith’s eyes darted to the smoking worksurface, and then to her daughter’s shaking posture.

She didn’t run to hold her. All that she said was, “Did anybody else see?”

Amara blinked. “What?”

“Did anyone else witness this occur?”

“No! I’m the only one here, I—shit, why the fuck are you not asking me if I’m hurt?! ”

Lilith pressed her lips together. “Go upstairs. Now.”

“Mom—”

“Now, Amara. Clean up. Stay out of the kitchen. Do not talk to anyone about this. Not a word.”

Amara froze for a moment, and then she left the room. She glared at her mother and then, wordlessly, she turned and went upstairs.

The morning passed in a blur.

By the time she arrived at school, her fingers were shaking and her heart was still racing. No one else knew. There were no other witnesses to the explosion. But she felt it. Something was happening to her. Something unnatural. Something not human. But what frightened her most was that Lilith knew.

All day long, she kept the hoodie sleeve tugged down, avoiding eye contact with everyone outside. Then when she was walking to the classroom, someone blocked her path.

Seraphina.

Their shoulders brushed and a jolt of pain shot through Amara’s wrist the moment they made contact. She hissed, recoiling slightly.

Seraphina stilled as well with an unreadable expression but she didn’t say a word. One flick of her hair, and she walked past and left the scent of expensive perfume in her wake as a warning. Amara didn’t even glance back.

By midday, her head felt as if it were splitting. Her body was at school, but her mind couldn’t seem to get off all the rest of it — all the bright skin, the explosion, the way Seraphina had been staring at her yesterday after the hallway fight.

Something wasn't right. With her body. With her mother. With this whole damn week.

Math class was ponderous and quiet, the sort of quiet that bore down on her temples. Mr. Nolan droned at the front of the room, writing a complicated equation across the whiteboard. Amara stared at it blankly. She didn’t write. Didn’t move. She kept thinking about her wrist. How she couldn’t trust her body any longer. Or her mother. Then, her vision blurred slightly. She blinked and rubbed at her eyes. But when she looked up again—

The world had stopped.

Amara froze. There was Mr. Nolan, motionless, in the middle of a sentence as his marker stopped touching the board. Her classmates stared in silence — some leaning forward, pen hovering in the air, while others had frozen mid turn in their chairs.

She turned slowly, barely breathing. Everyone. Everyone was frozen. Except one. Seraphina. She sat in the back of the classroom, looking at Amara in a way that wasn’t hateful anymore. They locked eyes but neither of them moved. Seraphina rose to her feet slowly, the folding chair squeaking as it moved back from her. Amara swallowed hard. “What… what is this?”

“I don’t know,” Seraphina murmured. “What did you do?”

“Nothing. I swear. I didn’t do anything.”

Seraphina's eyes darted to Amara's wrist. “Then why is your wrist shining like that?”

Amara flinched. “You see it?”

“Yes.” Amara rose, pushing her chair to the floor. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know!” Seraphina snapped. “What are you?! ”

“I’m not—! I’m not anything!” Amara cried. The heat surged again. She grabbed her wrist, and now the pain blared, sharp and deep, as if her bones were melting from within. She found herself stumbling across a desk, reaching out to touch a frozen classmate—Ashley, she thought—but as her hand closed over frigid skin, a line of heat scalded the skin on her wrist.

“AH!” she gasped, doubling over.

Seraphina backed up, eyes wide. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“I don’t know!” Amara screamed.

She couldn’t take it. She ran out of the classroom, the door slamming open so forcefully that it echoed down the hall.