I couldn't get rid of that haunted feeling as I walked beside Orion and Damon down the darkened halls of the academy. My voice, my head still echoed even the memory of it sent shivers down my spine. You can't hide. Not from me. It wasn't a whisper; it was a warning, a promise.
Or every other second, Orion would turn to me, scowling, his face seeming to scream that he knew some storm brewed in my belly. Yet not a word escaped his lips while the silence did scream loud. Damon didn't bat an eye, only his stare forward, jaw rigidly clenched. The air was heavy and stifling.
We stopped in front of the doors that opened out into the courtyard. Orion didn't open them but turned toward me instead. "We need to talk."
I had nothing to say. I couldn't. Too much had happened: the creature, the power surge, and now this… voice. What was it? Why did it feel so much like it was a part of me?
Damon spun to me, his eyes gentle yet piercingly intense. "Ava, what just happened back there?"
I swallowed hard, trying to find my voice. "I don't know. I didn't mean to-"
"You didn't mean to unleash that kind of power?" Damon cut in, sharp. "Ava, you didn't just tap into something, it's like you became it. The darkness, the power-it's in you.
I felt my chest constrict at his words. "What do you mean? What is it? Where did it come from?"
Orion stepped forward, his face grim. "It's part of your bloodline, Ava. Part of you that had lain dormant for generations. The power that you unleashed. it's not just magic. It's older. Darker.
I shook my head. "I don't understand. How can it be a part of me? I'm just… me."
Damon's eyes gentled, but there was no comfort in them. "You're not just anyone, Ava. You're a descendant of an ancient bloodline-one that's been hidden away for centuries. And now, that bloodline is awakening."
The words hung In the air, heavy with truth and fear. I was the descendant of something ancient, something powerful. But why had I never known? Why had no one told me? My whole life has been a lie?
Orions's voice came low, even as he closed the distance between them. "Ava, your bloodline is tied to an ancient force, older than the packs, a force that shall help unite or tear the packs apart and now is stirring inside you.
His words fell onto my shoulders like an anchor, like a burden being thrown at me. This power that had been building and bursting within me, this inky darkness, I knew it now as a matter of my lineage. But what did that have to do with me? What was that supposed to mean to the people surrounding me?
His eyes never left mine. "You're the key, Ava. You always have been. But you need to learn how to control it. If you don't, it will consume you. And the packs will fall."
I could feel the fear rising in my chest. Control. How was I to control something that I didn't even understand? How was I to control this darkness now in me?
Orion's voice was firm. "We need to take you somewhere safe. Somewhere you can learn to harness this power before it consumes you. Before it consumes us all."
I nodded, though I had no idea where we were going. The only thing I knew was that I couldn't stay here. Not with the power inside me. Not with the voice still whispering in my head, I was losing my mind.
As we turned to leave, something in the shadows caught my eye. My heart stuttered as I scanned the courtyard, senses on high alert. Something was off.
"Ava, don't—" Damon started, but it was too late.
A figure stepped forward out of the dark, hood cast over his face so I could hardly see him, and yet hatred emanated from him palpably. My instincts screamed to get up and run, but I was stuck there, unable to move, I was frozen.
"Who are you?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
This figure didn't say anything, but he moved closer, and it seemed as if the shadows writhed around him like a twist. I felt a run of something dangerous on my skin down my spine.
"Do you really think you can run from it?" this figure finally said in a voice hoarse with rough usage. "Do you really think you can outrun the darkness inside?
The words seemed to seep right into my bones, the coldness creeping up my spine as though it was fear. "What do you want?"
The figure laughed low, a cold sound that seemed to echo through the courtyard. "What do I want? I want What is mine. And you, Ava, are mine."
I stumbled backward, my heart racing against my chest. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"
The figure took a step closer; the hood fell away and a face-a face I could never have imagined, emerged.
My breath went to my lungs and caught in my throat. It was him-the one I had run from, the one who haunted my dreams.
"Cassandra," I whispered.
The lips quirked wryly up in a menacing smile. "You didn't really think I'd forgotten about you, did you?