Chapter 60 Panic Attacks

• Patricia’s POV
• So I hadn’t imagined it. She had truly been there yesterday—as if she had never vanished at all. The memory of that sight unfurled inside me like a hot, unwelcome tide. For a long moment I stood rooted in place, the world narrowing until all I could see was her profile and the slow, steady way her head remained lifted, regal and composed. Her aura—if that’s what humans also called it—had shifted. Where before she had been ordinary Lucy Foster, now there was something almost royal about her carriage, a confidence that should have belonged to someone with a crown. It made blood sting behind my eyes.
• My chest tightened until I felt I might not get enough air. The classroom suddenly felt too small, the air in my lungs too thin. I had to get out. I excused myself fumblingly—my voice probably trembled, but I didn’t care—and fled down the corridor. The tile floor echoed my heels like a metronome beating out my panic. I sprinted to the bathroom and slammed the door behind me, breathing so fast I thought the mirror would fog.