Chapter 93

CLAUDIA. Somehow, I feel it in the air before it could even come. A certain drop in temperature. The absence of pressure I didn't know was there before. A specific kind of energy that lingers, not requiring my attention until now. All at once, the same way all the oxygen in the air gets sucked out when a bomb is dropped, I lose my connection to Achilles. I've been looking at him this whole time. I know he was about to speak. But his words don't ever come. It's almost as though he's voiceless again. But this time, I don't hear him either. I don't have the special capacity to hear him. The shock of it makes my chest hurt. I thought I was just being lost again like I was all night. Maybe I'm just drifting away. Maybe I'm just getting pulled by the gravity of my thoughts. But no. The muscles in Achilles's neck start to stiffen as he struggles to be heard. I try my best to focus on him, to see what he wants to say like I'm normally able to do. He looks at me in total confusion, but a