Chapter 47 VERTICAL DROP

Chapter 47 VERTICAL DROP
CHAPTER 47. VERTICAL DROP

IRIS'S POV 

"We have to leave right now, before the Alpha returns."

The words hang in the heavy air of the chamber, echoing over and over until they feel like a physical weight crushing down on my skull. I remain completely frozen on the mattress, paralyzed under the sheer volume of the choice ahead. My hands begin to shake uncontrollably, my eyes flickering frantically around the dimly lit space. My lips tremble, but no sound comes out. My gaze darts from Ciara’s sharp, urgent features to the heavy oak door, back and forth at rapid intervals. My mind is a battlefield of conflicting instincts. I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to say.

Am I seriously supposed to trust her? The question screams in my head. From the very second I stumbled across the border into this terrifying realm, Kaelen has been nothing but fiercely protective, kind, and unyielding in his care. He held my hand when the world dissolved, showing me care I never expected from him. Am I truly supposed to just believe that he would carelessly abandon me to the wolves the moment the Council passes judgment?

But then, the cold, harsh logic of Ciara’s warning begins to chip away at my hope. She talked about the hierarchy—the hard, unyielding reality of the supernatural world. I saw the way the bodyguards moved on the Elders' commands. I felt the suffocating, crushing pressure of pure dominance emanating from Elder Cyphros. Werewolves respect their laws, their bloodline decrees, and their ancient order above everything else. And even though there is a fragile, tense truce between the wolves and the vampires, it is glaringly obvious that neither faction will ever tolerate a witch. They hate them. It’s a deep, visceral loathing that saturates the very air of this academy. If the ritual proves that the energy boiling in my veins belongs to the covens, how can I be sure Kaelen can even counter the high Elders? He is just a future Alpha. If the entire Council demands my execution or imprisonment, he won't be able to stop them.

A violent shiver rolls through my tensed muscles, and a deep frown pinches my forehead. Ciara watches me closely, the vibrant violet behind her pupils softening with a sudden flash of empathetic recognition.

"I understand exactly how you feel, Iris," she says, her voice dropping to a calm, soothing register that tries to ground my panic. "You don't need to feel guilty about the conflict inside you, okay? I am going to be completely, brutally honest with you. Kaelen really does care about you. Do you hear me? He cares about you immensely. But you have to understand that no amount of personal affection can ever overshadow the heavy, ancient responsibilities that come with wearing an Alpha’s title. His first and final allegiance will always be to the survival of his pack and the protection of the society he was born to rule. Werewolves respect that sacred order more than life itself."

She takes a step closer, her dark cloak rustling against the edge of the rug. "If he were a vampire, I might have told you to stay. Vampires are solitary, detached creatures; they don't care about community or social structures in the same way. They are not socialized to obey. But werewolves? They stand by the rule, the pack bond, and the law to a fault. He is not going to jeopardize his entire future and risk a civil war just because you are special or whatever temporary attachment he feels toward you. So, you have to listen to me right now. We need to leave this room immediately. The preparations are already complete, the Dawn-Birch circle is active, and they are waiting to drag you out onto the campus grounds."

The sheer reality of the trap snaps something deep inside my consciousness. I don't even know how it happens, but suddenly my tensed muscles move on pure, frantic instinct. I bolt upright, leaping out of the bed. My legs hit the floor, and I begin to pace around the space, my eyes scanning the shadows in a blind panic.

Ciara examines my erratic movements, her eyebrows furrowing into a sharp frown. "What are you looking for, Iris?" she asks.

I swallow hard against the suffocating dryness in my throat, my eyes blinking rapidly as I turn to face her. "I—I don't... I don't know, I..." I am stammering helplessly, my hands clutching at the edges of my oversized pajamas, my thoughts a tangled, buzzing mess. I feel completely naked, completely unequipped to face the wild woods outside.

"If you're worried about your clothes, you have absolutely nothing to fear," she says smoothly.

With a sudden, elegant flick of her wrist, Ciara snaps her fingers. The sound sharpens the air like a cracking whip. Instantly, a thick, swirling cloud of vibrant violet smoke erupts from the floor, wrapping around my torso in a warm, static tingle. In the blink of an eye, the soft fabric of Kaelen's pajamas vanishes, evaporated by the current. I look down, my jaw dropping in pure shock as I realize I am back in my own clothes—the exact same jacket and denim jeans I was wearing when I first busted through the veil into this supernatural domain.

Ciara offers a small, knowing smile at my bewilderment. "It’s just one of the minor perks of being a witch, darling," she murmurs, her violet eyes gleaming with a faint trace of pride. "Don't worry. By the time I guide you safely back to our sisters, I am going to teach you how to weave the elements yourself. But right now, we have a massive gauntlet to run. The Council has heavily spelled the stone walls of this hostel, anchoring an anchor that makes it completely impossible for me to cast a translocation spell and appear at my coven domain as I wish. I can manually unravel and override their sigils, but we do not possess the luxury of time. The Alpha could return at any second. So, we are going to have to execute our escape naturally."

She glides over toward the far corner of the bedroom, her gaze tracing the heavy architecture. "To break through their perimeter, it has to be a physical extraction, and I am going to need your latent energy to boost my shield. You have to stand side by side with me, Iris. We have to pool our currents."

I swallow hard, my mind buzzing with an overwhelming terror as the gravity of the choice crashes down on me. "Where... where are we even supposed to go?"

Ciara smiles back at me, a dark, dangerous expression, and then her eyes slowly slide toward the arched window at the side of the room. "I’m incredibly sorry, but the main door is no longer an option. The guards are likely already tracking the hallway."

I blink rapidly, my heart dropping into my stomach. I stumble backward away from her, my sneakers skidding against the rug as I rush over toward the wooden frame. I slide the window pane open with a loud, scraping screech, leaning my head out into the cool evening air to look down.

The view leaves me completely breathless.

"Oh my God," I whisper, a violent shiver racking my entire frame as I stumble back from the ledge, my hands flying to my mouth. "There is absolutely no way I am going down there! Kaelen’s quarters... it looks like we’re trapped in the top of a stone tower!" The drop is a vertical, dizzying plunge into absolute darkness, the jagged treetops of the ritual garden looking like tiny toothpicks hundreds of feet below. My voice shakes with a primal horror.

Ciara’s smile only widens, her expression serene. "Yeah, that’s exactly what happens, darling, when you spend your entire life in ignorance, completely unaware of what your blood is truly capable of achieving."

She moves across the room with an eerie, silent speed, her slender fingers reaching out to grab my wrist in an iron grip. "Come on, Iris. We need to go right now. I can physically sense their essence—their alphas are closing the distance down the corridor. They are coming close." She yanks me forward, dragging my resisting weight toward the open ledge.

"Wait! Just wait!" I scream, dugging my heels into the wood floorboards.

Ciara halts her momentum, her head snapping around as her violet eyes widen with a flash of intense frustration. "What is it now?"

"Are you absolutely certain we’re doing the right thing here?" I beg, my eyes pleading with hers as the tears finally blur my vision. "Please... I really, really don't feel good about this. Can't we just... like, wait a few minutes and consult with Kaelen? I’m sure if we just talk to him, we can find a way to work together and help the Elders understand! He won't let them kill me!"

"No!" she counters, the sudden, sharp violence in her voice making me jolt in terror.

She glares at me, the golden lanterns casting long, wicked shadows across her sharp cheekbones. "No, you are simply not listening to me, Iris! Kaelen is an Alpha of the pack, and he is not going to listen to a single word a captive witch has to say! He will chain you to the altar just like me!"

She catches herself, closing her eyes tight as she lets out a long, controlled exhale to suppress her rising temper. When she opens them, the violet fire is burning with a suffocating brightness. "Look, I don't want to frighten you. I don't want to scare away the only sister I have left. But this is a literal matter of life and death, and we do not have another second to waste. We need to go."

She grabs my other hand, her cold fingers wrapping tightly around my wrists. "I’m going to have to hold you, so you must do everything within your power to ensure that you never, ever let go of my cloak. I know you don't possess the training to consciously control or direct the magic inside your soul, but I am going to manually tap into your essence and combine your current with mine. That is the fundamental rule of the covens, Iris. Divided, we are completely powerless, vulnerable, and useless on our own against an entire army of beasts. But united? United, we can dismantle even the strongest, most dangerous alpha in this kingdom. Are you with me?"

I remain absolutely frozen in place, staring at her pale face like a deer caught in a trap, my brain completely incapable of processing the instructions. The world is spinning too fast.

Ciara’s eyes harden, a grim determination setting into her jawline. "Oh, great. I guess your fear leaves me with absolutely no choice."

Before I can even scream or attempt to wrench my wrists free, she lunges forward. Her movements are an unnatural blur of motion. She catches me off guard, her powerful arms sweeping beneath my knees and around my back, lifting my entire body off the floor as though I am a fragile bride being carried across a threshold.

A sharp gasp of pure, unadulterated disbelief hitches in my throat. I thrash against her chest, my hands clawing at her dark robes as she takes two massive, rapid strides toward the open window. Without a single second of hesitation, she climbs onto the stone ledge and hurls our combined weight directly off the tower.

The ground vanishes. The wind screams in my ears like a dying animal as the vertical drop swallows us whole.

"What the fuck?!"