Page 77 of Dark Bonds

I take a deep breath, steeling myself. “Then I opened a door to somewhere else. Somewhere... impossible.”

The words hang in the air, heavy and ominous. Leo and Matteo exchange glances again, their expressions a mix of confusion and growing alarm. The background noise of the locker room seems to fade away, leaving us in a bubble of tense silence.

“Somewhere impossible?” Leo repeats, his voice low and cautious, a far cry from his usual jovial tone. “What do you mean, Frankie?”

I close my eyes, trying to find the right words. When I open them again, I see both boys watching me intently, their bodies tense, as if ready for action.

“I opened a freaking portal to the shadow realm,” I blurt out, the words tumbling over each other. “Like, one minute I’m about to get my ass handed to me by the Plastics, and the next, bam! Shadow central. In the middle of campus. During lunch hour. Because apparently my life wasn’t complicated enough already.”

Matteo’s sharp intake of breath is audible. Leo’s eyes widen, a flicker of something passing across his face.

“That’s not possible,” Matteo says, but his voice lacks conviction. His brow furrows in concentration as he tries to reconcile this new information with his existing knowledge. “We can’t open a portal to the shadow realm from here. We have to drop in. It’s?—”

“Impossible,” I finish for him. “I know, but it happened, and that’s not even the worst part.”

I start to shake again, the memory of what came next threatening to overwhelm me. Leo’s hand finds mine, squeezing gently. The warmth of his skin anchors me, giving me the courage to continue.

“She was there,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “Nyx. The goddess herself.”

The effect of my words is immediate. Leo’s hand tightens on mine to the point of pain. Matteo takes a step back, his face pale.

“Nyx?” he repeats, disbelief coloring his tone. “You saw... You spoke to Nyx?”

I nod, unable to form words. The memory of those fathomless eyes, that voice that seemed to resonate through the very fabric of reality, sends a shiver down my spine.

“What did she say?” Leo asks, his voice tight with tension, all traces of his usual lightheartedness gone.

I swallow hard, trying to recall the exact words through the haze of fear and adrenaline. “She said... She said I have the power to bridge worlds. That it’s a rare gift, but also dangerous.”

The boys exchange another loaded glance. There’s something in their eyes I can’t quite read—a mixture of fear, awe, and something else that looks almost like... hunger.

“Frankie,” Matteo says slowly, “do you understand what this means?”

I shake my head, feeling lost and overwhelmed. “I don’t understand any of this. I didn’t mean to do it. I was just trying to protect myself from Amanda and Chloe, and then suddenly?—”

“No,” Leo interrupts, his voice gentle but firm. “What Matteo means is... do you understand how powerful you are? To be able to open a portal to the shadow realm and speak with Nyx herself... That’s beyond anything we’ve ever heard of.”

I blink, taken aback by his words. “Powerful? But I can’t control it. I didn’t even know I could do it until it happened.”

Matteo steps closer, his eyes intense. “But you did do it, and if you did it once...”

“You can learn to do it again,” Leo finishes, a hint of his usual excitement creeping back into his voice. “Deliberately this time.”

Their words send a chill through me. Learn to do it again? Deliberately open a portal to that terrifying realm? The thought makes me feel sick.

“I don’t know if I want to,” I admit, my voice small. “It was... It was terrifying.”

Leo’s hand squeezes mine again, gentler this time. His touch sends a warm tingle up my arm, and I find myself leaning into him almost unconsciously. “We understand,” he says softly, his breath tickling my ear. “But Frankie, this is huge. It changes everything.” I glance at Matteo, expecting to feel guilty about myreaction to Leo, but the intensity in Matteo’s eyes as he watches us makes my heart do a little flip. God, I’m in trouble.

“What do you mean?” I ask, a sense of foreboding creeping over me.

Matteo’s eyes gleam now, a mix of excitement and something darker. “It means you’re not just any shadow shifter. You’re something... more. Something special.”

The way he saysspecialsends a shiver down my spine. There’s a suggestion to his words that I can’t quite decipher, a weight to them that feels significant.

“And that means,” Leo adds, his voice low, “that everything is about to change for all of us.”

So here I am, standing in the guys’ locker room, wrapped in a towel that’s seen better days, with Leo and Matteo looking at me like I’ve grown a second head. Maybe I have, because nothing makes sense anymore. It’s like the world’s gone sideways, and somehow, I’m at the center of it all.

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