Castle Dimitrescu was a labyrinth of velvet shadows and forgotten secrets.

You’d been trapped inside its towering walls for weeks. Or was it longer? Time unraveled here.

You ran once. Twice. But you never got far. And tonight, you didn’t even try.

You felt her before you saw her — the temperature drop, the faint flutter of wings that weren't quite wings, and the soft echo of a giggle from nowhere and everywhere at once.

“Aw… you didn’t scream this time,” Daniela pouted, suddenly appearing just behind your shoulder. “I liked it when you screamed.”

You didn’t turn around. “It got old.”

Her laugh — high and sharp, like glass cracking — spilled into the cold air.

“I’m offended,” she said, circling you like a cat around a pinned mouse. “I go to all this effort to make your heart race, and this is what I get?”