8:42 a.m. — Shared Apartment, Kitchen

  The window was still open.

  No one had dared to close it yet.

  Kali sat on the counter with a cup of coffee in her hands, legs dangling, wearing a Nirvana t-shirt and her hair still messy. Dahlia leaned against the wall, arms crossed, black coffee in hand, eyes fixed on the floor. Nicco, shirtless and in sweatpants, paced the kitchen with slow steps, as if searching for answers in the tiles.

  —We slept for two days —Kali said, her voice still hoarse from sleep.

  —All three of us had dreams... and they all involved something —added Dahlia, unmoving.

  —And you electrocuted me —Kali pointed at Nicco, somewhere between annoyed and amused.

  —It wasn't on purpose! —he defended, raising his hands—. I feel like something... woke up in me when I dreamt of that storm.

  —I was in a cave —said Kali—. Dark. Torches lighting themselves. And at the end... a necklace.

  —A necklace? —Dahlia asked, lifting her gaze.

  —With a black crystal. It was calling me. Like it belonged to me.

  Dahlia swallowed hard.

  —I dreamt of a necklace too. But mine had a hanging crow. It was trapped among the roots of a massive tree. It was beautiful... and it called me. But I couldn't not touch it.

  Silence.

  —So it's not a coincidence —Nicco said—. In my dream... a bolt of lightning struck me. Straight to the chest. And when I woke up, bam! A spark. What if... this is real?

  —Magic? —Kali asked, raising an eyebrow—. Are we really saying that?

  —What other explanation is there? —Dahlia interjected—. We slept for 48 hours, dreamed about necklaces... and you produced electricity. None of that is normal.

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  —And the window —Kali added quietly—. That window was closed.

  The three looked at each other. A different tension, electric. But also... a decision forming in the air.

  —We need to understand what's happening to us —Dahlia said.

  —Yeah, investigate. And fast —added Nicco.

  And, almost as if they were one, they both bent down at the same time to pick up the empty mugs from the floor.

  —Huh? —they said in unison.

  They looked at each other, surprised. Then a smile slipped out of both of them.

  —Creepy —Kali laughed—. You're synced! Like clones!

  —Must be the shared bad attitude —joked Nicco.

  —Or shared trauma —Dahlia replied with a dry smile.

  The three of them laughed, and for the first time in hours, the air felt a little lighter.

  ...

  The laptop sat open, surrounded by papers and books Dahlia had brought from university. A candle burned for some reason no one questioned. Kali sat cross-legged on the bed, jotting notes into a notebook. Nicco leaned against the wall, phone in hand, searching keywords in the dark corners of the internet.

  —There are too many references to magical necklaces —Dahlia said—. But look at this... —She turned the screen—. This symbol, the tree with spiral roots, appeared in an ancient Eastern European civilization. It supposedly connected the living to the reincarnations of their ancestors. Or at least that's what this says.

  —That would match the dreams —murmured Kali—. And that weird feeling I've had since I met you.

  —Feeling? —Nicco asked, raising an eyebrow.

  —Like I already knew her. Like... our souls have spoken before.

  Silence. Dahlia didn't respond, but her gaze dropped slowly to her hands.

  —I've felt the same —she finally admitted—. Since the first day.

  Nicco watched them, brow slightly furrowed.

  —What if... you two are connected? And I'm... part of it too?

  —You're more part of this than you think —Kali said, pointing at him with her pen—. You're dreaming too. You've changed too.

  —And don't forget the lightning. Dreams are usually symbolic, but yours was literal —added Dahlia—. Electricity, impact, awakening. Something activated.

  Nicco exhaled sharply.

  —Well, if I'm a human battery, I hope I can at least charge phones.

  Kali laughed. Dahlia too.

  —Hey, what if we go to the old Aarush library tomorrow? —Dahlia suggested—. They say it has city archives going back centuries. Stuff that's not online. There might be something... older there.

  —I like the sound of that —Kali responded—. We can go together, research as a team.

  —And steal cookies from the teacher's lounge —added Nicco.

  —Only if you share them this time —Dahlia said, tapping him with the notebook.

  Their eyes met. The kind of look that said more than what words could. It wasn't just fear or necessity. It was connection.

  They didn't yet know if they'd dream again that night... They feared it, but wanted answers.

  Just three young people, sharing laughter and coffee, trying to understand something far bigger than themselves. But for now, they had something even more important than answers:

  They had each other.

  And that, though they didn't know it yet, would save them more than once.