ETHAN'S POV

I heard the air leave Sophia’s lungs as she dropped to her knees, the sound like a twig snapping underfoot. “What…” she managed to whisper, voice thin and ragged, each breath a fight. Her hands trembled against her thighs; the panic in her chest was almost visible.

“How can that be possible?” she asked again, as if asking would force an explanation into being.

That was the thing: no explanation made sense. Nothing fit the neat, controllable pattern I’d always worked ...