Chapter 14. Fever

The rain hadn’t begun with thunder or any grand announcement—only a soft susurration in the air, as though the sky had quietly changed its mind. Alyssa was halfway across the wide, cobblestoned plaza when the first fine droplets began to fall. They were light and scattered at first, almost harmless: a delicate curtain drawn between her and the afternoon sun.

She had just left the art supply shop, her tote heavy with graphite pencils, charcoal sticks, and a pristine sketchpad she didn’t need but had coveted anyway. She’d still planned to stop by the electronics store for a charger she couldn’t find, and the almond croissant she’d talked herself into craving had proved sold out. It wasn’t a bad day—just one of those drifting afternoons when the world neither fully agreed nor refused, but hovered somewhere in between.

Then, all at once, the sky broke. Not gently. Not politely. The drizzle turned into a torrential downpour, as if the clouds had shattered above her. She dart