As the elevator sealed Phei and Maya inside its metallic sovereignty, the world outside narrowed into silence, polished walls, soft golden lighting and the faint upward pull of movement. The doors had closed with a hush too elegant to be called mechanical, trapping them together in a private little chamber of mirrored steel and quiet tension.
Maya stood beside him with her hand curled around his arm, her softness leaning into him as naturally as moonlight leaning across water, and Phei, despite all the warmth of her presence, found himself uncertain where to place the question clawing at the back of his throat.
He was curious.
More than curious.
Something had happened to Maya. Something had happened around Maya, reached into his soul, Maddie's memory, Eira's perception and everyone's awareness, and carved her presence out so cleanly that only a hollow ache had remained. He could not stop thinking about it.
