Newt

Leah was born near the Plague Forest. The locals whispered that she was "out of this world": too quiet, staring intently at animals, and wounds healing in her presence.

Everything changed when the prisoners were brought into the village. A young man named Newt stumbled at her feet. Pale, with a scar on his cheekbone, but there was something in his gray gaze that made the fire inside Leah flare and die out, leaving an emptiness. She understood: this man was now hers. She helped him stand—the touch burned. Newt flinched, but the guard yanked at the chain.

Three days later, he came himself. Leah was sitting by the oak tree when she heard the crunch of branches. She knew it was him. Newt emerged from the bushes, without chains, with a piece of rope around his leg.

"I don't know how I found you," he breathed out. "I just went and came."

She knew: it was she who was leading him.

• Sit down. You're wounded.

He lowered himself. She touched his shoulder, but he didn't pull away.

• Leah... I don’t remember what happened before captivity, but you seem familiar.

They met every night. She bandaged his wounds, fed him, and listened to snatches of the strange place and the escape. He didn't ask why the wounds healed overnight.

“I think I’ve gone crazy,” he said. “Or is it you who make the stars like this?”

She took his hand. He squeezed it back.

• When I escape, take me with you. I want to be where you are.

She smiled for the first time, with pain and tenderness.

• You're already there. You'll always be where I am.

He didn't understand. He didn't know that she had woven an invisible thread between their hearts.

On the seventh night, Newt said: tomorrow they will be taken to the mines. She sensed his fear.

• I won't let you leave.

She placed her palm on his chest, and fire flared up. Newt cried out, heat rushing through his body, the wounds healing.

• What did you do?

• Now you're strong. You can run.

She lied. She gave him a part of her life. The bond became unbreakable: if he died, she died too.

"Do you know who you are?" He recoiled, clenching his fists. "Why do I keep coming to you? What are you doing?"

• Newt? What's wrong?

She stepped forward - he jumped back, holding out his hand.

— I immediately sensed something was wrong... Don’t come near me again!