Chapter 228
I was frozen in my spot outside of the light. My words seemed to bounce back to me, almost as if to mock me.” What the fuck is going on here?” I couldn’t stop the words from leaving my mouth again. But I was invisible to those in front of me, so it didn’t matter.
Another call went out, but being so close this time, now I understood. It was a normal howl. A call from a shifted. wolf, that the walls bounced back, echoes layering onto it, making it sound like some deranged beast.
But it was just wolves, a lot of wolves, in the circle of light. And now everything I knew about the dead caves, ΟΙ thought I knew about the dead caves, seemed to be just the horror stories of a child.
There were no dead here, no specters of the wronged flying around these caves. Just a pack of wolves, desecrating the land of the dead.
Tombs were smashed open, robbed of anything good, the bones of the deceased thrown about. I walked closer to the light, and I saw one man drinking from a skull.
I froze as someone caught my eye. Someone I never thought I would see again.
I followed behind them, weaving through the people as if I was truly there and I didn’t want to touch anyone. But someone stumbled into me and they passed right through the. I watched as their skin pebbled and they paled, as if they felt something, but it was just a passing change. My soul touched theirs and they didn’t like it.
I continued behind the person and it wasn’t until they turned around that I realized that the chain I was holding tight to ended around their neck. They sat down on a sofa that was bright and fluffy, something that didn’t look like it belonged down here. And then she called out. “Garrer.”
A man walked from inside a tent nearby. “Yes, my love?”
She smiled as she laid back against the side of the sofa. “Bring me a blanket…I want to nap.” She pulled a necklace from her neck, a black chain that matched the one I had my hand wrapped around. It had a black stone hanging from a link in the center.
“The spell? Is it still draining you?” He slipped inside the tent and came back with a blanket and a pillow.
Amara nodded. “She is still fighting. And it’s getting on my last nerve.” She groaned as he slid the pillow behind her head and tucked her in. “Why won’t she just die?”
“She’s an alpha. Killing her wolf will take longer.” The man, Garren, offered, But Amara pouted.
“She isn’t that strong. She should be dead by now.” She pulled the necklace out again to stare at. I felt the chain throb and the burning in my chest became excruciating. I felt the chain links sear into the flesh of my hand, but I refused to let go. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I let go now.
I pulled my magic to me. I needed to fight against whatever this was. But I needed to be smart about it. I thought through the entire Book of Shadows, and I kept coming back to the cleaving, but it wasn’t a perfect match.
“You can add to a spell.” I turned to face my grandmother, who seemed more substantial here.
“You knew?” She nodded. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because there are rules. The goddess allows us to guide, not interfere.”
“They were attacking us, killing us.” I pointed to the huge rogue encampment.
“And 1 wept every attack, but I cannot go against the rules or else I won’t be allowed to come and help when you needed me to.”
+25 BONUS
Chapter 228
The truth hit me in the chest. “You held you tongue because of me?” She nodded again. 1
“I knew you would need me to fulfil your path. And no matter how much I wanted to tell your father about the filth in our caves, I could not.” She walked over to me. “You needed me more.”
I felt her kiss my brow. “Grandma…I don’t know what to do!”
“Start with the cleaving. And think about what you have done so far. The problems you have overcome already.” Then she was gone.
I turned back to the sleeping Amara and all the problems her family has caused. Her sister and grandmother were dead, a fact I knew, after I ripped the necklaces from their necks, breaking the spells held there.
I want to say the realization was instant, but it took far too long for my brain to catch up to what my memories held. The key to breaking the hex Amara laid on me was in the memory of her grandmother, and the way the power shattered the moment her necklaces did.
