Page 50

Dani

The air is crisp and still, a heavy silence encompassing the world around me.

The rain has been hesitant, lingering in the clouds yet to release its grip.

With quiet determination, I step outside, venturing into the embrace of the woods.

Though I can’t pinpoint what compels me to walk barefoot and alone through the underbrush, an inexplicable pull drives me onward.

The cold, damp earth greets my feet with a refreshing bite; invigorating yet grounding.

I press deeper into the forest, navigating a labyrinth of ancient trees.

Their contorted branches, garnished with morning dew, bow beneath the weight of nature’s jewels, beckoning me to duck and weave as I explore.

A twig snaps sharply to my left, the sound slicing through the stillness of the woods. Instantly, I whirl around, my heart racing with the anticipation of seeing a shadowmire lurking.

Nothing.

Just as I resume my path, a frigid hand suddenly clamps down on my arm, sending an electric jolt of fear coursing through me. The unexpected grip feels like ice against my skin, startling me to my core and momentarily freezing me in place.

Her emerald-green eyes shimmer with a lively intensity, yet they’re clouded with concern. “Suzanna! You scared me,” I gasp, instinctively pressing my palm against my pounding heart, feeling it thump in sync with the gentle sway of my necklace.

Suzanna glances down, noticing my hand resting over my chest, and tenderly lays her hand on top of mine. A warmth now radiates from her touch .

This is the first time I’ve truly felt her… Usually, she seems to dissolve like a mist whenever I try to reach for her.

“Ignite the fire that makes your heart race…”

She keeps repeating that...

“Do I have to set the necklace on fire or something?” I ask her as she takes my hand in hers. She gazes at me with a smile, a hint of wisdom shining in her eyes. “It is not your fire...”

“What does that even mean, not my fire?!”

“I cannot provide you with the answers you seek,” she replies softly. “I can only offer guidance, my dear Danika, to help you find your own path.”

“Are you a relative of mine?” I already know the answer, but I ask anyway to see what she knows.

She nods slowly, the rhythmic motion betraying an underlying tension that steals the vibrancy from her smile.

“The one who shares our blood is deceiving,” she warns, her voice low and tinged with urgency.

“Do not trust her. She harbors intentions that are far from good.”

“Are you talking about my mother, Elanie?” I ask, my heart racing with the weight of her words. She brushes past me, her gaze fixed on the shadowy path ahead as I instinctively follow her, curiosity and concern battling within me.

“You are like me, Dani,” she continues, her voice both comforting and haunting, filling me with an electric charge. “You can feel things, sense things that others cannot. Trust your intuitions; they will guide you to the path that awaits you. These are trying times.”

“What does it mean to ignite the fire that makes my heart race?” I press, my voice tinged with desperation, needing clarity.

But instead of a reply, she keeps moving, her figure receding further into the embrace of the forest. The trees whisper secrets with every rustle of their leaves, and I am left standing on the threshold of a darkening path. My pulse quickens.

“How do I break the curse of the necklace?”

Nothing.

“Suzanna! Please!” I call out hastily, my voice rolling through the stillness of the forest, bouncing off the ancient trees surrounding us.

She halts abruptly.

Slowly, she pivots to face me, her expression filled with urgency. With a delicate gesture, she presses her finger against her lips, urging silence. Then, gently yet firmly, she takes hold of my head, cradling my temples.

My vision blurs instantly, and everything around me fades to an unsettling blackness.

Flames burst into view, engulfing the town in a chaotic inferno. Towering buildings are reduced to twisted heaps of rubble, dissolving into clouds of ash. The acrid smell of smoke and the haunting, anguish cries of innocent people pierce through the chaos, echoing ominously in my mind.

Then, amid this nightmare, I see myself. I am collapsed on my knees, the world around me a blur of horror, as I scream at the top of my lungs, yet no sound escapes my parched lips. My face is smeared with dirt and streaked with tears, a canvas of despair.

In my trembling arms, I rock a lifeless man, the weight of my grief pulling me down into an abyss of sorrow, my heart aching with the longing to shield them from the devastation unfolding around us. His lifeless body hangs limp.

Suddenly, his face comes into view.

Carter. I am holding Carter’s dead body as I scream. My heart breaks in my chest.

The scenery shifts rapidly, and I find myself at the Keepers of the Mist community. There stands my mother, her young figure vibrant, yet haunting, as she stands there. Her laughter rings like a warped melody as she delicately pours a dark brew into a mug, the liquid swirling .

Lying sprawled on the wooden floor of her house is… me, lifeless and still. A teacup sits in my hand, its brown liquid spilt on the floor, as a mixture of blood and foam comes out of my mouth.

My gaze shifts, fueled by a tempest of rage toward my mother—no, not my mother, but Octavia. She stands before me, a spectral figure cloaked in shadows, rendering me immobile as dread grips my heart. Around her neck, sits Adonis’ necklace.

Covering my ears, I implore the universe, “No, no, no!! This can’t be real! Suzanna, please! Help me escape this nightmare!” My voice trembles, a fragile plea against the relentless tide of despair.

“You stupid fool!” Octavia yells, her wicked laughter surrounding me. She twirls Adonis’ necklace in her hands. “I told you, Danika, they belong to me! I thank you, though…” She walks towards me, reaching out and touching my face. I try to turn my head, but she has me stuck in place.

Tears stream down my face. “If it weren’t for you chanting that spell, I wouldn’t have been able to return. So, as a token of my appreciation, I’ll kill you last. But only after you watch me take my mate back…”

Adonis .

“You fucking bitch!” I curse at her. “They are MY mates! What do you want from us?!” I demand answers from her.

She slaps me across the face.

I lick the blood from my lip and spit on her, trying to move every limb of my body so I can scratch her fucking eyes out.

I don’t move.

“So brave for a human…” she circles me. “Your mother was an excellent servant, bringing me your hair so I could make the perfect potion…” Octavia drinks something from a vial and then slams it on the ground.

Glass shatters at my feet as she begins to morph.

She shrinks down to my height and her black hair turns auburn .

What in the…

Suddenly, I am staring at myself.

My hair… Elaine must have snagged a strand when her fingers brushed against me.

A vivid flash of memory sweeps over me. I can see it so clearly: after she touched me, I instinctively pulled back, creating a moment of tension between us.

That’s when she took a strand of hair from me.

Then, with a casual flick, she tucked her hands into her pockets, keeping the strand safe and concealed.

My eyes widen in realization as the connections snap together in my mind.

Suddenly, without warning, I’m yanked from this deep recollection and thrust back into the woods alongside Suzanna.

“You see, Dani,” she says softly, her voice a melodic whisper against the backdrop of nature, “this is you, not me. I merely guide you, but within your veins flows the very essence of power.”

As her words linger in the air, I watch as Suzanna begins to fade, her form becoming translucent like morning mist. “No! Wait! Please,” I plead, an urgent desperation clawing at my chest. I reach out, my fingers stretching toward her, yet they slip through her arm as if she were nothing but a wisp of smoke.

“You are not lost, Danika. The answers are within. Remember, when you are most vulnerable, you may shed your blood and break the curse where it all began. All is not as it seems….”

Suzanna is gone. Just like that, she has vanished into the shadows.

I call for her, my voice echoing in the quiet, each plea growing more desperate than the last. My entire body begins to tremble, an electric jolt of fear coursing through me as I hear my name, faint yet insistent, drift through the night.

I glance around, but the air is thick with silence and emptiness .

“Dani!”

“Killian?” I cry out, my heart racing as I search for any sign of him.

Suddenly, my eyes snap open, and I find myself surrounded by Killian, Dax, and Adonis, their worried faces looming above me in the shadows of my room.

Confusion swirling in my mind, I’m propped against Dax’s warm chest. The walls, cloaked in darkness, seem to close around me, and I realize it’s the middle of the night.

“Gods, Dani! Are you okay?” Dax says as he rubs my back.

“You wouldn’t wake up…” Killian adds, pulling my hair back into a ponytail.

I’m drenched in sweat.

“You were lost in a dream, drifting through shadows and light. I entered your mind and saw… everything,” Adonis says, a deep concern lacing his voice.

Tears spill from my eyes. Adonis reaches over, wiping them away.

Dax wraps his strong arms around me, pulling me tightly against his chest. “Shhh, it’s okay, little dove,” he murmurs, his voice a soothing balm. “We won’t let anything happen to you.”

Fatigue weighs heavily upon me, and my mind spins, heavy with the remnants of the night’s alcohol. I continue to weep into Dax’s comforting embrace, the world around me fading as Killian gently cradles my head, his hands cool against my temples.

With tender, deliberate strokes, he guides me back into the gentle embrace of sleep.