𝓓𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓮

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝑵𝒆𝒔𝒕

𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⭑
‧₊˚ ⋅ જ⁀➴๋࣭ ⭑๋࣭ ⭑

It has been thirty days. Thirty days since the night Dominic was claimed. Thirty days since I learned my prophecy. But peace doesn't last long when you're a demigod. Something's always waiting-watching.

We were supposed to be training. I'd been trying to teach Dominic how to shadow travel, but we clearly hadn't gotten it right. He was still struggling, trying to travel shadows without ending up in some random part of the world-or worse, the Underworld.

But somehow, despite all my attempts to guide him, we ended up here.

San Francisco. I have no idea how we got here. One minute, we were practicing in the hotel in Florida, and the next, I was stumbling out of a dark shadow into the middle of an alley. The warm air hit me like a punch in the face, and the smell of the city, thick with fast food grease and exhaust fumes, wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind.

Adrien looked around in disgust, his eyes narrowing at the spray-painted walls and the half-abandoned buildings that lined the alley.

"Okay," I muttered, brushing off the dirt clinging to my clothes. "This isn't exactly where I wanted to end up."

"That's pretty obvious, pretty girl. We went from one disaster to another," Adrien commented, brushing the grime off his knees with exaggerated care.

Dominic's voice was flat as he crossed his arms. "You're the one who couldn't stop talking about Disneyland in California."

Adrien scoffed, scanning the rundown alley with a mix of annoyance and amusement. "Hey, at least we're in the right state. But if you were trying to take me to some tourist trap, you could've picked a better spot than these sketchy backstreets of San Francisco."

None of us responded, but I could tell Dominic was cursing himself silently. He'd been trying so hard to get the shadow travel right, and this detour definitely wasn't helping.

Dominic's lips curled into a small grin. "Kitten," he said casually, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

I gave him a pointed look. "I thought we agreed you weren't going to call me any more weird nicknames."

Dominic raised an eyebrow, eyes twinkling with mischief. "No, no. I meant an actual kitten."

I stared at him, confused. "What?"

"Look," he said, gesturing toward the kitten, which was now sitting at my feet, staring up at me expectantly.

I hesitated, bending down to get a closer look. Sure enough, it wasn't just a regular stray. The fur was too sleek, the posture too composed for any random alley cat.

Then, to my utter shock, I noticed something else-a small rolled-up piece of parchment tied neatly around its collar. The kitten let out another soft meow and nudged the letter toward me.