Maya didn't sleep that night.
She sat curled on the floor with her knees drawn to her chest, the poetry book clutched in her hand, the silver blade never far from reach. The feather, the notes, the missing photo—everything felt like pieces of a game she didn't know she was playing.
But someone else did.
By sunrise, she had made up her mind.
She got dressed, tied her hair back, and walked to the art museum.
It was empty at that hour, but the security guard recognized her and let her in. She walked past the sculpture hall, past the portraits, all the way to the piece she had been standing in front of the first time he saw her.
The Raven Woman.
A black-winged statue with sorrow carved into her marble expression. Maya stared into its eyes like they held answers. Her heartbeat slowed. Her breath steadied.
"I know you're watching," she said aloud.
The echo of her voice against the museum walls was eerie—but freeing.
"I'm not afraid of ghosts anymore."
"You should be," a voice said behind her.
She froze.
Slowly, she turned.
And there he was.
J.
Tall. Cloaked in black. Those same intense eyes that haunted her dreams—but this time, they weren't cold.
They were broken.
"Why?" she whispered, heart pounding.
He stepped closer. "Because the truth doesn't just set you free. Sometimes it burns everything in its path."
Maya didn't move. "Then let it burn."
He looked at her, something shifting in his face—pain, admiration, and the unmistakable weight of shared history.
"I didn't come to hurt you," he said. "I came because you deserve to remember who you are… before they stole it from you."