The screen flickered, empty where Niki had just been. Selindra’s fingers hovered over her keyboard, trembling, as if touching it might bring her back. “She… she’s gone,” she whispered, her voice small and fragile. Her words hung in the air, heavy and impossible. Rina’s jaw clenched, her eyes wide and unfocused. “No… no, this isn’t real. She can’t just… disappear!” Panic made her voice sharp, slicing through the quiet of their rooms.

  Azura leaned back in her chair, running both hands through her hair as her sharp gaze flicked between the screens. “It’s the necklace. It’s… it did something. But why? How?” Her words were laced with tension, her usual calm edged by uncertainty. Zorya, the anchor of their group, rubbed her temples slowly, muttering, “Think. Breathe. We need to figure out what just happened.” Her voice was low but urgent, carrying a steadiness the others clung to even as fear coiled in their stomachs.

  Notifications pinged on the devices, tiny reminders of the world outside, but Niki’s absence swallowed their importance. The familiar chatter of the app, the usual laughter and teasing, even the sound of the city beyond their windows—it all seemed impossibly far away. Their homes felt smaller, the walls closing in as the reality of the event pressed on them.

  Selindra’s hands trembled as she leaned closer to the screen. “We have to… we have to do something. We can’t just sit here!” Her voice cracked on the last words, full of desperate energy, but even as she spoke, doubt gnawed at her confidence. What could they do? What could anyone do when magic—something alive, something beyond comprehension—had taken their friend somewhere else entirely?

  Rina’s shoulders shook as she sat forward, fists clenching and unclenching in her lap. “She’s okay. She has to be. Niki wouldn’t just… just leave us. Not like this.” Her bravado sounded hollow even to herself. Selindra reached out to Rina’s screen, as if proximity could bridge the gap between them and Niki, but it didn’t help. Azura’s eyes darted around the room, scanning corners as if the answer might somehow be hiding in the shadows.

  The humming from their necklaces was faint but persistent, a subtle reminder of the connection they shared with Niki. It was almost like the feathers themselves were urging them to act, to pay attention, to understand. The pulsing warmth seemed to echo the fear in their hearts. They sat frozen, each of them grappling with a mixture of panic, awe, and disbelief. Niki was gone, the ordinary world untouched outside, and the girls were left staring at screens, caught between helplessness and the faint glimmer of hope that this was just the beginning of something far bigger than they could yet understand.

  Zorya leaned back in her chair, eyes narrowing as she stared at the faintly glowing feather resting against her collarbone. The hum of the necklace vibrated softly, almost like a heartbeat, echoing in her chest. Her mind raced. Niki… she was gone the moment she touched it. Could it be… the necklace pulled her into somewhere else?

  The other girls watched her closely, their faces a mixture of fear and curiosity. Selindra bit her lip, whispering, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Rina crossed her arms, brows furrowed, but her voice betrayed her nervousness. “You’re not… you’re not going to do it, right?”

  Zorya hesitated. The thought of leaving her body, of stepping into the unknown the necklace promised, sent shivers down her spine. But the memory of Niki—disappearing into a swirl of light, the pulse of the necklace merging with her essence—was too vivid, too urgent to ignore. “I… I have to,” Zorya said softly. “If we don’t understand this, if we don’t know what happened to her… we’ll never find her.”

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  Selindra’s hand hovered over her own feather, trembling. Azura’s sharp eyes flicked from Zorya to the necklace, tense. Rina shifted in her chair, silent but uneasy. The room held its breath as Zorya slowly reached out. Her fingers grazed the feather, feeling warmth surge immediately through her palm. The hum intensified, vibrating through her bones, rising like a tide.

  The world around her blurred. Her vision wavered, walls melting into light. The screen, her room, her friends—all dissolved in a dizzying whirl of silver, violet, and gold. The sensation was weightless, yet impossibly vast. Her heartbeat thundered, echoing in tandem with the pulsing necklace.

  And then, as suddenly as it had begun, her body lifted, soft and trembling, as if it were made of the same delicate material as the feather itself. Zorya gasped, realizing with both awe and terror that she was becoming something else, something impossibly light, impossibly alive. The currents of energy pulled her deeper, drawing her forward, wrapping her in a warm, radiant embrace.

  Niki’s experience flashed before her mind—floating, dissolved into color and light, swept away by invisible currents. And now, Zorya understood: this was exactly what had happened to Niki. The pulse wasn’t just protective—it was calling, selecting, and transforming those who touched it.

  Her fingers clutched the feather instinctively. For a heartbeat, panic surged. But then clarity came, sharp and certain: she was alive in a way she had never been before, and the path to Niki lay through this light. The hum wrapped around her, merging with her own heartbeat, and Zorya surrendered to the pull, leaving the ordinary world behind.

  The girls froze in place, staring at the empty screens where Niki had been. Their breaths came fast, shallow, each one trapped in a swirl of panic. Selindra’s fingers shook over her keyboard. “She… she’s gone. Just like that.”

  Rina’s eyes widened. “This… this is insane. How is this even possible?” Her voice trembled, but the fear wasn’t just in her words—it seeped into the room, infecting everyone. Azura leaned forward, hands pressed against her desk, knuckles white. “It’s the necklace. It has to be.”

  Zorya’s calm gaze cut through the panic, thoughts sharp and quick. Niki said this happened when she touched it… The memory struck them all at once, as if the thought alone illuminated the answer. If Niki had disappeared the moment she embraced the feather, then maybe… maybe they could follow.

  Selindra hesitated, biting her lip. Her fingers hovered over the soft feather at her collarbone. “Do we… really want to do this?” she whispered. The others exchanged tense glances, fear mingling with curiosity. Rina took a shaky breath, muttering, “If we don’t, we’ll never see her again.” Azura’s sharp gaze hardened. “No excuses. We have to try. Now.”

  Slowly, deliberately, they each reached for their necklaces. The feathers pulsed immediately, warmth spreading through their palms, humming faintly against their skin. At first, their surroundings shimmered, reality wavering, walls dissolving into a blur of color. Panic surged, but then it was replaced by awe, by a strange, thrilling weightlessness.

  One by one, their bodies lifted, trembling, becoming impossibly light. Each heartbeat resonated with the necklace’s hum, merging them with the pulsing rhythm of energy. The familiar world disappeared. The city, the screens, even their own rooms—they all vanished into the dizzying swirl of silver, violet, and gold.

  Fear gave way to exhilaration. Every girl felt it at once: the pull, the warmth, the alive, urgent whisper of the necklace guiding them. And then, almost simultaneously, they realized the truth. What had happened to Niki—the dissolving into light, the floating, the transformation into something beyond their bodies—was now happening to them.

  They tumbled through currents of color, weightless and trembling, senses alive in ways they had never imagined. Light and energy enveloped them, tugging them forward, pulling them beyond anything ordinary, into a space that was not quite reality but not completely dream either. And then, as if guided by some invisible hand, the swirling currents slowed, depositing them gently onto solid ground.

  They looked up, blinking against the glow, and for a moment the world was silent and still. Before them stood a magnificent structure, gleaming pure and untouched, its walls white as snow. On either side, white feathered wings stretched gracefully into the sky, catching the light in shimmering arcs.

  They landed in front of a white castle with white feathered wings on the side.