I stepped forward, and this time the laughter did not remain scattered around me, because it gathered in front of me as if it had finally made up its mind to exist, while the air itself bent inward like something invisible was being pressed into shape.
Slowly, a figure formed where there had been nothing, standing there with such quiet certainty that it felt less like an arrival and more like I had simply failed to notice something that had always been there.
At first glance, it looked human, but that impression faded the longer I watched.
Its posture was too relaxed for a situation like this, its smile stretched just a little too wide to mean anything good, and its eyes carried a kind of calm amusement that did not belong to anything bound by normal rules.
"You look tired."
I let out a slow breath and rolled my shoulders, as if I had only gone through a mild inconvenience instead of being dragged through something that had tried to peel my mind apart piece by piece.
