The morning came with fog hanging low over the trees, wrapping the town in silence and damp gray light.
Kane stood barefoot on the back deck of his house, bare chest rising and falling with steady, controlled breaths. His body was still, like stone carved from the earth but beneath the surface, tension coiled like a spring.
They were stirring.
All of them.
He could feel it now not just Alice. Not just one.
The others had started to shift, their energy brushing faintly against his own like invisible threads tugging at the edge of awareness.
Kane rolled his shoulders, slow and deliberate. The wood beneath his feet creaked as he moved.
He didn't smile.
Not exactly.
But the corners of his mouth twitched like he was pleased with something. Something inevitable.
He walked back inside.
The house was quiet. No noise except the hum of the fridge and the occasional creak of the old floorboards. Simple. Empty. But it served its purpose.
He didn't need much.
He never had.
Kane stood in the center of the room, eyes closing for a moment as he inhaled deeply.
There.
Rosalie.
Sharp. Coiled. Angry but curious. Trying to convince herself she didn't care, but the tension in her energy was undeniable.
Jasmine.
Softer. Watching from a distance, uncertain but drawn. Her presence lingered at the edge of his awareness like smoke, quiet and steady.
Emily.
Controlled. Focused. She'd felt it the moment Alice returned. She wouldn't act yet, but the seed had been planted. It was only a matter of time.
Esme and Carla?
Older. Wiser. They'd seen more, felt more but even they weren't immune.
And Edith?
Kane opened his eyes.
Edith was the most guarded. The most resistant.
But he'd seen it.
That flicker.
That brief moment her eyes had lingered on him longer than they should have. The way her body had stiffened when Alice returned.
She felt it too.
Kane stepped into the kitchen, poured a glass of water, and drank slowly. He didn't rush. There was no need.
Fate didn't move in a straight line.
It curled. Twisted. Circled.
And eventually, it always came back to where it was meant to go.
He leaned against the counter and stared out the window, watching the fog roll through the trees.
He didn't think about where he came from.
Didn't think about death.
Or God.
Or the moment he woke up in this body with strength beyond comprehension and $500 in his pocket.
None of that mattered.
This was his life now.
This was his world.
And they?
They were his.
They didn't know it yet.
But they would.
Kane closed his eyes again, letting his senses reach outward. Not just the sounds or smells but something deeper. The pulse beneath the surface.
Alice had been the first.
The others were coming.
Whether they wanted to or not.
He tilted his head slightly as if listening to the wind.
No words.
No thoughts.
Just instinct.
And something inside him growled with satisfaction.
It was happening.
The storm was gathering.
And Kane Hanma stood in the eye of it silent, strong, and ready.