Man in Cloak

Summer's pov

“Who are you...?”

The man tilted his head ever so slightly, as though he were studying me, and then he turned. His long cloak swirled around him as he disappeared into the darkness without a sound. 

I took a step forward, my instincts screaming at me to follow, but something held me back. My pulse pounded in my ears as I stared down the hallway, where the stranger had just stood. 

Who was he? And why did it feel like he was waiting for me? 

The air seemed to shift, growing colder and heavier, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something—or someone—was watching me still. 

"Hilda..." I whispered to myself, my thoughts spiraling. Was this connected to her banishment? To me? 

I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling exposed. I wanted answers, but not tonight. Not like this. Turning on my heel, I hurried back to my room, the echo of my footsteps trailing behind me. 

As I closed the door behind me, locking it tightly, I leaned against the wood and took a deep, shaky breath. Dominic might think he could control everything, but he couldn’t control this. 

Because whatever was happening, whatever danger was lurking in the shadows, it was far bigger than either of us.

I stayed leaning against the door longer than I should have, my heart still pounding, my mind spinning with questions. The hallway had seemed so still, so silent, yet that man’s presence had felt like a thunderclap. His image was seared into my memory: the way he tilted his head, as if he was studying me, calculating something. 

Dominic’s voice echoed in my head, low and resolute. 

"You don’t understand the dangers out there, Summer. If you had succeeded in escaping, you wouldn’t have lasted a day."

Was that what he meant? Was the cloaked man one of the dangers Dominic had tried so hard to protect me from? The thought sent a chill down my spine, but I shook it off. No. Dominic hadn’t seen him, hadn’t been there. If he had, he wouldn’t have walked away so easily. 

Would he? 

I pushed away from the door and walked across the room to the vanity, my bare feet silent against the cold floor. I looked into the mirror, my own reflection staring back at me, pale and drawn. My hair was a tangled mess, my eyes red-rimmed from crying earlier, and my lips pressed into a thin, trembling line. 

Dominic’s words played in my mind again, sharper this time. 

“You think I want to punish you? Everything I’ve done, every decision I’ve made, has been to keep you safe."

I clenched my fists, anger flickering in my chest again. Safe. That was the word he kept throwing at me, as if it was enough to justify everything. As if his idea of safety excused him from locking me away, from banishing Hilda. 

But was it enough? 

I closed my eyes, exhaling shakily. My fingers found their way to the chain around my neck, tugging gently until the familiar weight of the locket rested in my palm. I opened my eyes and stared at it, the silver glinting in the dim light. 

It was all I had left of my old life; of the world I’d been ripped away from. The delicate engraving on the front—a swirling pattern of vines and leaves—seemed to shimmer as I turned it over in my hand. 

I thumbed the tiny latch and opened it, revealing the picture inside. My parents, their smiles frozen in time, their arms around a younger version of me. My chest ached at the sight. 

*"You don’t belong here,"* I’d told Dominic. 

And I didn’t. 

The locket snapped shut in my hand, the sound startling me. I stared at it, the metal cool against my skin. I wanted answers—about the man in the cloak, about what Dominic was really trying to protect me from, about why any of this was happening to me. But the answers seemed as unreachable as the life I’d left behind. 

Turning back to the mirror, I studied my reflection again. There was something different in my eyes now—something sharper, more determined. Dominic wasn’t going to give me the freedom I craved, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t find it myself. 

And yet… the man in the cloak. 

The memory of him lingered like a shadow, unsettling and impossible to ignore. Who was he? Why had he been there? And why did I feel like he’d been watching me for far longer than I realized? 

As I stared at myself, lost in thought, a sudden noise jolted me back to reality. The sound was sharp, like something hitting the floor, and it sent a chill racing up my spine. I spun around, my heart leaping into my throat. 

For a moment, the room seemed eerily still, the silence almost deafening. My eyes darted around, searching for the source of the noise. And then I saw it—a small, dark shape scurrying across the floor. 

A rat. 

I let out a shaky breath, relief flooding through me as I watched it disappear into a crack in the wall. Just a rat. Nothing more. But my heart didn’t seem to get the message; it continued to hammer against my ribs, refusing to calm down. 

"Get it together, Summer," I whispered to myself, running a hand through my hair. 

But as I turned back to the mirror, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. The man in the cloak, the noise, the rat—they felt connected somehow, even though I knew it was irrational. 

I let out a shaky breath, my fingers tightening around the locket. If Dominic thought I needed protecting, maybe he was right. But not from the world outside. From whatever was lurking in the shadows of this place. 

And from him. 

As I stared into the mirror, a resolve I didn’t know I had begun to build inside me. I wouldn’t let Dominic or anyone else decide my fate. Whatever was coming, whatever dangers were out there, I would face them on my own terms. 

But first, I had to find out who the cloaked man was—and what he wanted.