Ilya didn't speak at first. She simply stood there, her green eyes glinting in the dim light, her expression unreadable.
"Do you know what's happening here?" she asked after a long silence.
I didn't answer immediately. Part of me wanted to deny everything, to pretend I didn't know that something was wrong. But the truth was, I had no idea what was happening. The events at the academy, the strange occurrences, the shifting reality—it was all beyond my understanding.
"I don't know," I said, my voice steady. "But I know this world isn't mine."
Ilya nodded. "I thought so. That's why I've been watching you. We're not so different, you and I."
Her words hung in the air, heavy with meaning. She was offering an alliance—one I didn't understand.
"Why me?" I asked.
"Because you've already broken the rules," she replied. "And because, like me, you're not bound by this world. You can see it for what it is."
For the first time since I arrived in this strange place, I felt like I wasn't entirely alone. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way out of this madness.