Chapter 9 · Mom Says It Again

I couldn't sleep.

Kira's confession kept looping in my head. My mom. Her guardian. The woman who was supposed to keep her safe just—what, stood there? Let her walk into some shadow nest alone?

I rolled over, kicked off the blanket. The apartment was too quiet. Usually I liked quiet. Tonight it felt like the walls were holding their breath.

I sat up. Grabbed my phone off the nightstand. 3:47 a.m. My shift didn't start until ten tonight, but my brain wasn't shutting down anytime soon.

I pulled up the voicemail again. The one that came through two nights ago. Unknown number. Static, then Mom's voice. Come home, baby.

My thumb hovered over the play button. I'd listened to it maybe twenty times already. Each time I told myself it was fake. A recording. Some shadow creature trick like Kira said.

But it sounded so much like her.

I pressed play.

Static crackled through the speaker. Then her voice, soft and tired, like she'd just woken up. "Layla, baby. I need you to come home."

A pause. Background noise—wind, maybe. Or something breathing.

"The tower, sweetheart. You know where."

Then it cut off.

I sat there staring at the screen.