Chapter 148 The Cradle of the Moon
The air changed instantly. The biting chill of the mountain was replaced by a soft, humid warmth. It smelled like crushed jasmine and damp cedar. I opened my eyes and gasped.
We were in a valley, but it wasn't like any place on the map. The grass was a deep, shimmering blue. The trees were tall and white, their leaves glowing with a soft luminescence. High above, a giant moon hung in the sky, three times larger than normal. It didn't move. It just sat there, bathing everything in a silver glow.
"Evan!" I turned to him.
He was still pale, but the violet veins on his chest had stopped spreading. The air in this place seemed to be holding the poison back.
"Who goes there?"
A woman stepped out from behind a white tree. She wore a simple dress made of woven grass. Her hair was a wild mane of silver, and her eyes were a startling, clear violet. She wasn't a wolf, but she wasn't entirely human either. She moved with a grace that made my heart ache.
"We need help," I said, shielding Evan. "He’s been poisoned by silver."
The woman walked closer. She didn't look at Evan. She looked at my stomach. Then she looked at the mark on my neck.
"The Marlowe map," she whispered. "And the Catalyst's seed. The cycle has truly begun."
"Can you save him?" I begged. "Please."
The woman knelt beside Evan. She placed a hand on his chest. A soft, green light pulsed from her palm. Evan’s body jerked, and a black, oily smoke rose from his wound. He let out a long, shuddering breath and fell into a deep sleep.
"The poison is gone," the woman said. "But he is weak. The change is demanding much from his spirit."
"Thank you," I said, sinking to the grass.
"I am Elara," she said. "I am the Weaver of this valley. You are safe here, Cassia. The Board cannot find this place. The gate only responds to the music of the heart."
I looked around the beautiful, silent valley. "Is this where we stay? Can we live here?"
Elara’s expression turned sad. "You can stay for the birth. But the moon in this valley is different. It accelerates the blood. Your child will be born before the sun sets on the world outside."
As she spoke, a sharp, searing pain tore through my middle. I collapsed, clutching my stomach. It felt like a hot iron was moving inside me. The skin of my belly was stretching so fast I could hear the fibers of my dress snapping.
"It's happening," Elara said. She waved her hand, and a bed of soft moss rose from the ground to catch me.
"Now? It's too early!" I cried.
"In the Cradle of the Moon, there is no 'early,'" Elara said. "There is only the hunger to be born."
I looked at Evan. He was still unconscious. I wanted him to be awake. I wanted him to hold my hand. But the pain was taking over. It was a wild, animal pain. I felt the urge to growl, to bite, to tear.
"Focus on the music, Cassia," Elara commanded. "The child is a bridge. If you lose yourself to the beast now, the bridge will break."
I bit my lip until I tasted blood. I tried to think of Evan’s violin. I tried to think of the red dirt of Willow Lane. But the violet fire in my blood was roaring.
Suddenly, the sky above the valley flickered. A dark shadow passed over the giant moon.
"What is that?" I gasped between contractions.
Elara looked up, her violet eyes wide with fear. "A breach. Someone is forcing the gate from the other side."
A loud, mechanical hum filled the air. It was a sound that didn't belong in this magical place. It was the sound of a drill.
"The Board," I whispered. "Mrs. Higgins told them about the music."
"They cannot enter," Elara said, though she didn't sound sure. "Unless they have a key."
At that moment, the silver whistle around my neck began to vibrate. It grew hot, searing my skin. It wasn't a key to let me in; it was a beacon to pull them through.
"Take it off!" Elara shouted.
I reached for the chain, but my hands were claws now. My fingers wouldn't work. The pain in my stomach reached a peak. I felt a great, sliding pressure.
A tiny, sharp cry echoed through the valley. It wasn't the cry of a human baby. It was a high-pitched yip.
I looked down. On the moss lay a small, golden-furred creature. It had human hands and feet, but its ears were pointed, and its eyes were a brilliant, glowing amber.
It was beautiful. And it was a monster.
"My son," I whispered, reaching for him.
But the hum from the sky became a roar. The white light of the gate shattered. A black metal capsule slammed into the blue grass only a few yards away.
The door of the capsule hissed open.
A man stepped out. He wore a suit of silver armor that looked like a knight’s, but his face was uncovered. It was my father.
Henry Marlowe looked at me, then at the golden child in my arms. He didn't look like a man who loved his daughter. He looked like a man who had finally finished a difficult puzzle.
"Well done, Cassia," my father said. "Trial 146 is complete. Now, give me the prototype."
"Father?" I croaked, pulling the baby to my chest. "You're... you're alive?"
"I am the Board, Cassia," he said, stepping toward me. "And that child is the most expensive piece of equipment I’ve ever built."
I looked at Evan, who was finally stirring. I looked at the golden baby in my arms. I looked at the man who had lied to me my entire life.
"If you want him," I said, my teeth lengthening into fangs, "you’ll have to kill the mother first."
My father smiled. He pulled a small remote from his pocket. "I don't need to kill you, Cassia. I just need to turn you off."
He pressed a button.
The silver whistle around my neck didn't just vibrate. It exploded into a thousand tiny needles that sank into my skin.
Everything went black.
When I woke up, the valley was gone. I was back in a cold, grey room. But I wasn't alone. I could hear the baby crying in the next room.
And then, a voice whispered in the dark.
"Don't worry, Cass. I found the override."
It was Evan’s voice. But it wasn't coming from the room. It was coming from inside the whistle still buried in my neck.
How is Evan talking through the metal, and where has my father taken our son?