Rachel's POV
"Ymir," Luka shouted, cutting through the commotion of the room. It was the first time since our little meeting that he had spoken to me directly. I froze, every part of me awake. Now there was no turning back. His look was piercing, as if he wanted me to grasp something unspoken, a challenge lurking under the surface. "Do you agree with this or are you just another quiet observer?" The room fell quiet. I was no longer merely a student; I was involved in this, pulled in by his presence. Though the words eluded me, I was prepared to respond. Locking eyes with him made my heart race. Luka's stare seems to stab me, challenging my will. He was hoping for me to say something to relieve the strain. Though the heat of the room was pushing in on me, all I could concentrate on was him. Then, without thinking, I spoke. "I, " His demeanour changed, and I saw I had just stepped into a trap I unprepared for. Luka moved nearer, his presence overpowering. Leaning in, his breath touched my ear; the distance between us was narrowing with a force that made the room seem smaller and the air thinner. "Don't confuse my patience for weakness," he said quietly, his voice a deep threat. His words lingered in the air like an inescapable threat. Though I hadn't heard him come, his presence was inescapable. Stepping inside the circle, he moved purposefully and kept his eyes on me. Where Luka was calm and controlled, Mika was raw energy, erratic, hazardous in a way I couldn't quite grasp. Mika's gaze flicked over me before looking at his brother. There was a crackling in the air between them. Though they may have been twins, the contrast between them could not have been more obvious. Luka stepped back, his jaw clenching and his gaze fixed on me. Mika, on the other hand? He was already there, his presence like a heavy fog falling. He was now closer, next to me, and the intensity of his stare was sufficient to raise my pulse. Luka, don't you believe you've talked enough? Mika's voice was a deep rumble, and I could sense the struggle in every word. He wasn't only challenging Luka; he was asserting his ownership, stating unequivocally that, regardless of past events, Luka had no say over this time. Nervously looking between the two of them, I sensed something in the air was definitely uncomfortable even if I had no idea what was going on. I was standing directly in the middle of something dark and hazardous happening in front of me. Mika moved closer and stared at me, his eyes narrowing. I could not turn away. It was like a storm brewing in his eyes, but unlike Luka's calm, Mika's energy was wild, uncontrolled, and totally unpredictable. Mika snarled, his words pointed and warning-laden, "Touch her again, Luka, and you'll regret it." I didn't know what to do or what to believe. The distance between the three of us was charged with something primitive I couldn't grasp. Though their presence was alluring and I was caught in the draw of their universe, I wanted to distance myself from both of them. I did not fit here. I understood that. Luka was impatient and Mika's protective attitude was dangerously erratic. But there was something else. Deeper under the surface, a force beyond their enmity. It was their gaze on me, their intuition of me. As like I belonged to something far greater than my mind could conceive. I stepped back, but my legs felt shaky, as though they weren't completely under my control. The air was thick with tension, suffocating, and I had to go before I lost myself in whatever this was. The landscape around me changed, though, as I turned to depart. My eyesight became hazy and I was suddenly no longer there in the packed room surrounded by the twins and their fight. I was in a dark, other location. I saw it plainly. The blood's flashes. The cries. My parents' expressions, their corpses folded on the frigid floor. Hoping the solitude would soothe my anxiety, I rounded a corner close to the old library. Stepping into the shadow of the huge oak trees made me freeze. One person. At first I couldn't see his face, but the presence was clear. His posture in the shadows, just outside the reach of the light, struck me as something familiar. The same unease crept through me, the same chill I always felt when the cult was close. Then I heard his voice, soft and intentional like a breath held too long. "Rachel." I didn't have to see to know who it was. Every syllable contorted my insides, so the air around me appeared to thicken. Gideon I become rigid. Once more, he stood just outside the campus safety. His mere presence made me feel a jolt of dread, the burden of the past slamming back into my chest. Though every movement seemed too slow, as if my body wouldn't cooperate, I turned slowly. Gideon advanced from the shadows, his form more threatening in the low light. Though I recognised it well, his face was only visible in the severe shadows, partly hidden by the hood of his cloak. I had seen it much too frequently in my nightmares. Rachel, you cannot run away, he whispered quietly but forcefully. My heart raced in my ears and I gulped hard. I had known it was only a question of time, but the reality of it, the pure certainty of his presence, made the earth beneath me feel like it was sliding away. I could not turn away from his gaze. His gaze was intense, as if he knew all about me, including the stuff I wasn't prepared to confront. He murmured, "You can run all you want, but your true identity is about to be exposed." I was no more standing on the calm college path. I was back in the location I had been fleeing, the one where the cult had come for me. The stony walls of my former residence. The strong aroma of incense. The icy, masked people circling me had hidden eyes but obvious purpose. Then I saw him once again. The cult member who had pursued me from my house, the one who had always tormented my dreams. Though his face was covered, his eyes, full of anger and purpose, pierced the gloom like daggers. He moved towards me, his presence consuming all around us. "Rachel Bloodrose, the Luna," the figure murmured, his voice piercing the ringing silence in my ears. His chilly breath on my flesh seemed like the touch of death itself. I fell back, my knees buckling, but there was no place to run. His fingertips touched my cheek and the feeling was too real, too overwhelming. It was the same as before, the same as that night when everything was taken from me. "Rachel... you are the key," he said almost tenderly, as though he had every right to be close to me. The vision broke. The world came back into focus, and I was again on the frigid stone walk, breathless. Dazed, I blinked quickly but could still hear his voice resonating in my thoughts. Luna