Steele Dad — Valerica

“You grew up,” he said. Voice rough, like stones tumbling in a current.

A long silence. Then he reached into his coat and pulled out a small glass vial, half-filled with what looked like liquid moonlight. “I found what I was looking for, Val. The door between worlds? It’s real. But it doesn’t open both ways unless someone holds it from the other side.” valerica steele dad

He’d spent fifteen years proving everything was. “You grew up,” he said