Chapter 67 Miguel in Danger
POV: Luna
"Miguel, RUN!"
My scream breaks through his paralysis.
He turns and runs, crashing through the underbrush.
The creature follows. I can hear it even though I can't see it clearly. Something impossibly fast. Impossibly wrong.
"Luna, help me!" Miguel gasps as he runs. "Please, I don't know what to do!"
"I'm trying!"
But I'm not really there. I'm stuck in the dream-link, watching helplessly as he runs for his life.
I can see the old mill now. A crumbling structure by the creek, half-collapsed and rotting.
Miguel heads straight for it, scrambling through a broken window.
The creature stops at the edge of the building. Circling. Waiting.
"Why isn't it following him inside?" I wonder aloud.
Then I realize. The mill must have some kind of protection. Something keeping the creature out.
But for how long?
Miguel is curled up in the corner of the mill, shaking. His clothes are torn. His face is covered in dirt and scratches.
He looks like he's been running for days.
"Luna," he whispers to the empty air. "I know you're there. I can feel you. Please tell me this is going to be okay."
I want to. God, I want to so badly.
But I don't know if it will be.
"I'm here," I say, even though I know he can only partially hear me. "I'm here, Miguel. You're not alone."
His eyes close. "I'm so tired. I can't keep running."
"You have to. Just a little longer. I'll find a way to help you."
But how?
I'm trapped at the Academy. He's in the human world. And something is hunting him because of me.
I try to pull back from the dream-link. Try to wake up so I can get help.
But I can't.
The connection is too strong. Too deep.
I'm stuck here, forced to watch.
"Break," I command, focusing on the bond between us. "Break. Let me go."
Nothing happens.
The dream-link holds firm, unbreakable.
Panic rises in my chest. If I can't wake up, I can't help him. Can't do anything but witness whatever happens next.
"BREAK!" I scream, pouring all my willpower into severing the connection.
Still nothing.
And that's when I feel it.
The power from the Moon Circle. The Eclipse magic that channeled through me during the transformation.
It's still there. Dormant but present.
And my emotions are waking it up.
Fear for Miguel. Desperation to help him. Rage at my own helplessness.
The power surges.
My Eclipse mark flares to life even in the dream. Bright silver light that makes Miguel's eyes snap open.
"Luna? What's happening?"
"I don't know. I can't control it."
The power keeps building. Growing. Threatening to consume everything.
In the real world, I must be glowing like I did at the ceremony. Nova is probably awake, panicking, trying to wake me up.
But I can't wake up.
The dream-link won't let me.
And the power won't stop.
"Luna, you're scaring me," Miguel says.
"I'm scaring myself."
The light intensifies until I can barely see Miguel anymore. Until the dream itself starts to fracture.
And then, through the chaos, I feel something else.
Movement.
Fast movement.
Not from the creature outside the mill.
From somewhere else. Something different.
Heading straight toward Miguel's location.
"No," I whisper. "No, no, no."
"What's wrong?" Miguel asks.
"Something else is coming. Something fast."
"Faster than the thing outside?"
"Yes."
I try to sense what it is. Try to identify the presence.
But it's moving too quickly. All I can tell is that it's powerful. And it's moving with purpose.
Heading directly for the old mill.
Directly for Miguel.
"You need to move," I tell him urgently. "Now. Get out of there."
"But the creature—"
"There's something worse coming. Something that won't be stopped by whatever's protecting that building."
Miguel scrambles to his feet. "Where do I go?"
"I don't know. Just run. Get as far away as you can."
He moves toward the window, but the creature outside senses the movement. It snarls, circling closer.
Miguel freezes. "It's blocking the exit."
"Then find another way out. Please, Miguel. You have to move."
The presence I'm sensing is getting closer. Maybe a mile away now. Moving at impossible speed.
Thirty seconds. Maybe less.
Miguel looks around frantically. The mill is falling apart, but most of the exits are blocked by debris.
"The back wall," I say, spotting a weak point. "Kick through it. It's rotting."
He doesn't question how I can see what he can't. He just runs to the back wall and kicks.
Once. Twice. Three times.
The wood splinters.
"Again!"
He kicks harder, and the wall gives way.
He scrambles through just as the presence I've been sensing arrives.
A blur of motion. Too fast for me to see clearly.
All I catch is a flash of dark fur and glowing eyes.
Not red like the rogues.
Gold.
Like an Alpha.
The creature that was circling the mill lets out a yelp and runs. Scared off by this new arrival.
Miguel is still running, crashing through the woods, gasping for air.
"Don't stop," I urge him. "Keep going."
But the golden-eyed wolf is faster.
It catches up to Miguel in seconds, cutting him off.
Miguel skids to a stop, backing away.