Mira stood alone in the room, her breath shallow, her skin prickled with cold even though the morning heat had begun to rise.

She ran a hand over the space where the girl had been, fingertips hovering above the tiled floor. Nothing. Just dust motes dancing in the glow of a shifting light — a light that was no longer shimmering, but ordinary.

The spell had passed. But it left behind a tremor in her chest, like the echo of a lullaby that had once meant everything.

"She still remembers."

The words rang louder now than the melody itself.

Mira didn't know who she was meant to be. Herself? Her daughter? Her mother? Or someone even older?

She backed out of the room slowly, as if afraid that turning her back on it would make her forget the entire thing. But her mind held fast. Not just the girl, but the feeling — like something had been waiting for her. Watching. Guiding.

As she reentered her room, Solana was awake.

She wasn't crying or calling out. Just sitting on the mattress, legs folded beneath her, her hair sticking up wildly like a crown of static. She was holding one of her soft cloth books upside down, babbling to herself in her made-up language.

Mira's breath caught.

Because Solana was humming.

Not a Cocomelon tune. Not Wheels on the Bus. Not Baby Shark.

It was the melody.

The melody.

The one Mira had heard inside her dreams. The one the mystery child had hummed in the hallway. The one she wasn't supposed to forget.

Solana looked up, mid-hum, and met her mother's eyes.

Her smile was slow. Gentle. Like she'd been waiting, too.

"You..." Mira whispered, falling to her knees beside her. "Where did you learn that?"

Solana didn't answer, of course.

She just reached out and patted Mira's chest with her tiny hand — right above her heart.

And in that exact moment, Mira remembered something else.

A voice from long ago.

Her mother's voice, soft and close and real:

"One day, you'll hear it too. In a dream, or a song, or the way your daughter laughs. That's how you'll know you're ready."

Mira blinked, tears spilling before she could stop them.

Solana giggled and leaned forward to press her forehead against hers, babbling happily, their breath mingling. The melody was gone from her lips now, replaced by sweet nonsense sounds, but Mira no longer needed to hear it to believe.

It was already inside her.

Like magic.

Like memory.

Like motherhood.

⸻

End of Chapter One.