**(Dora's POV – First Day of Freshman Year)**
The locker smelled like rust and hope.
Dora pressed the folded note to the metal interior, her fingers leaving smudges on the paper.
*"Make a wish,"* her mother had said years ago, tapping their apartment's crooked doorframe. *"But be specific, mija. Magic listens to the details."*
So Dora wrote:
**>>I wish to belong here.<<**
She didn't sign it. Didn't need to.
The locker's hinges groaned as she shut it—a sound almost like a sigh.
Somewhere in the school, the ledger's first page *itched.*
---
**(Elle's POV – Present Day, School Basement)**
The furnace roared as Elle gripped the ledger, its pages fluttering like trapped birds.
*"It won't burn,"* Callum warned, gripping her wrist. *"Not unless—"*
*"Unless it's *fed* first,"* Mr. Halden finished, emerging from the shadows. *"One name, written in blood. *Then* it'll burn."*
Elle stared at the open page. Her name gleamed wetly.
Dora materialized beside the furnace, her gray eyes desperate. *"Do it,"* she whispered. *"Or I'll never be free."*
Nina's voice crackled through Elle's earpiece: *"The ledger's a *loop*, Elle. It *wants* you to—"*
Static.
The lights went out.
In the dark, something cold pressed a pen into Elle's hand.