Continue.

Cerina’s hand trembled as she stared at the strange object. Her pulse thudded in her ears, but even as her mind screamed at her to leave it alone, her curiosity overpowered the unease curling in her stomach. She needed to know what this thing was—what it could do, what it meant.

Slowly, as if drawn by an invisible string, she reached out again. Her fingers brushed the surface, and the warmth greeted her once more. She lifted the object from the desk, and though it remained solid, it almost seemed as if there was a shifting of weight inside it.

The instant both hands closed around it, the pulsing returned, stronger now, flooding through her with a resurgent ****. The strange churning sensation in her core deepened, twisting tighter, and she flexed her stomach, struggling to steady herself.

The object began to vibrate faintly in her hands. For a moment, she thought she felt it expand, pressing outward as if testing the limits of its own form. Her vision flickered, and the slender shapes she had glimpsed earlier returned, this time filling the edges of her awareness like ghostly imprints.

Cerina staggered back, the object still in her grip. Her knees hit the bed, and she sat down hard, her breathing shallow. The tubular sphere seemed to shift slightly in her hands, its texture impossibly smooth, as though it wasn’t made of stone at all.

Then the pulse changed. It wasn’t random anymore—it was deliberate, rhythmic. Cerina realized, with a jolt, that it was matching her heartbeat.

Her chest tightened as an unknown presence brushed the edges of her mind. Was it the voice? Or was it her imagination?

Her fingers tightened around the object as panic rose in her throat. “Who’s there?” she whispered, her voice shaking.

But there was only silence. And the stone shape being stretched beneath her grip, extending in rhythmic waves that matched the beat of her heart.

Cerina’s eyes gaped at the object in her hands. As it lengthened, it continued to pulse faintly, as if urging her to act. Then, with a sudden start, she realize she hadn’t eaten anything since she arrived. A strange thought.