Chapter Four: The Stripped Light

“Then your body remembers me. More faithful than memory, and more foolish.” He snapped his fingers. Every figure on the poster tower closed its eyes, and the street lost its neon. Three Erasure Hounds slid from behind the billboards and sprang at Lin Mi. She did not retreat. She caught a falling childhood drawing and held it overhead. In it, her nine-year-old self held Daystar's hand beneath the crooked words: SHE WILL COME. “I see you now!” Lin shouted toward the roof. “You're not me, and you're not an advertisement. You're Daystar!” The paper began to glow. Daystar opened her eyes. Shen moved at once. The tower's edge became a closed border. Lin and Daystar occupied opposite sides of the frame, with the stolen sheet of light between them.