8:24 PM – Shared apartment

  The silence grew thick as the wendigo's dust floated through the air, falling slowly like cursed ash. The living room was dimly lit. Kali breathed heavily, still on the floor. Nicco stayed close to her, arms slightly trembling, blue sparks fading from his fingers.

  Dahlia stood frozen for a few seconds, staring at the place where the creature had vanished.

  —"What was that?" —Nicco asked, not taking his eyes off the dust.

  Kali shook her head.

  —"I don't know... I've never seen anything like it. It wasn't human. And it wasn't just an animal."

  —"I do know it," —Dahlia murmured, her tone making the other two look at her immediately— "I've read about it. In ancient texts. Manuscripts I translated for an elective. Almost no one took them seriously... but they talked about beings like that."

  She knelt slowly, carefully touching the spot where the ashes had landed.

  —"A wendigo," —she said softly.

  —"A what?" —Kali asked, frowning.

  —"Wendigo," —Dahlia repeated—. "A creature from North American indigenous folklore, but... in some of the texts I studied, it was referenced in a much broader context. As if it didn't belong to just one culture, but to a realm. A being that feeds on the soul, on fear, on despair. It represents eternal hunger. The void."

  —"And what was it doing here?" —Nicco asked, standing up.

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  —"Hunting us, probably," —Dahlia answered firmly—. "I don't think it came by accident. Someone —or something— sent it."

  —"Who?" —Kali whispered—. "And why now?"

  No one answered. But the weight of the question lingered in the air.

  —"Just pack the essentials," —Nicco ordered after a moment—. "Only what we need. We're not coming back. This place is no longer safe."

  9:52 PM – Car, on the way back to the mansion

  The sky was nearly black when they left the building. The lit streetlights threw orange flickers across the windshield, while the city seemed to drift farther behind them, as if it was closing its doors.

  Kali sat in the passenger seat, hugging her backpack. Dahlia in the back, her eyes lost in the passing scenery. Nicco drove in silence, tension showing in his clenched knuckles.

  —"Why exactly when we went to get our things?" —Kali asked at last—. "What if they knew we'd go?"

  —"They're watching us," —Dahlia said without hesitation—. "And not just from the outside."

  —"What do you mean?" —Nicco asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

  —"That maybe we're carrying something. Something that links us."

  Silence.

  Kali glanced toward the inside pocket of Nicco's jacket.

  —"Do you still have the earring?"

  —"Yes," —he replied, eyes still on the road—. "I always carry it."

  —"Maybe that's it," —Dahlia murmured—. "Or maybe it's just one more piece of the puzzle."

  10:14 PM – Rossi Estate

  Enrique opened the door without surprise, as if he already knew something had happened.

  —"Are you all right?" —he asked in a low, serious tone.

  —"Alive," —Nicco replied—. "That's enough for now."

  —"Understood. The rooms are ready," —he said, looking at them one by one with the most serious expression they'd ever seen on him.

  They went straight up to the study. Nicco placed the earring on the desk, among old books and scattered papers. The napkin that had wrapped it was slightly burned at one corner.

  —"We're being hunted," —Dahlia said, sitting on the sofa.

  —"Why us?" —Kali asked.

  —"Maybe it's not because of who we are," —Nicco said, leaning against the window—. "But because of what we're going to discover."

  And in that moment, they all understood the same thing:

  Viki hadn't disappeared by chance.

  The earring wasn't just a memento.

  And the wendigo attack... was only the beginning.