Silver Eyes Girl

The storm hit the village without warning. Wind slammed against wooden rooftops, rattling windows like angry fists. Avalora pressed her palm against the shutters, trying to keep them shut, but a strange heat pulsed under her skin, right at the center of her wrist. Not again! She pulled back her sleeve.

The mark she'd spent her whole life hiding, three thin lines twisted into a circle, was glowing softly, like embers of fire trapped beneath her skin. "No, no, not tonight," she whispered. The glow brightened. A cold shiver ran down her spine, sharp enough to steal her breath. For twenty-two years, the mark had been nothing but a silent curse her mother warned her never to reveal. But now...it felt alive. Outside, the wind suddenly stopped. Silence swallowed the world. Too quiet. Too wrong. She stepped back, heart pounding.

The air thickened, turning heavy, electric. Magic-dark magic, pushed at the edges of her senses. Something was coming. A shadow flashed past her window. Avalora's breath hitched. She grabbed a knife from the table-not that it would help against whatever could make the air feel like this. The mark burned. A voice, a low, dangerous growl, whispered from behind her. "You should not have awakened it."

 Avalora spun.