From Evangeline's view, everything felt wrong the moment the star gem was brought before her.
At first, it was only a faint feeling. A strange pull sitting at the back of her mind like a thread winding itself around her thoughts. The gem itself was beautiful in an unsettling way, pale silver light trapped beneath its surface as though fragments of a frozen night sky had been buried inside it. She noticed what looked like a thin scratch near the center and without meaning to, her gaze lingered there for far too long.
The longer she stared, the more the mark no longer resembled a scratch at all.
It looked like an eye and the closer she looked at it, she realized that the eye was locked on her. The gaze was so wide and filled with so much of fear and desperation.
A cold shiver crawled down Evangeline's spine.
She should have looked away. She knew she should have. Yet something deep inside her chest tightened instead, urging her closer. Closer.
