Chapter 88: Into the Fog
The morning we left the estate, the fog was so thick it looked like the earth was trying to hide its own scars.
The gates groaned as they opened, metal scraping against metal, and for a moment no one moved. It wasn’t fear, exactly—it was the heavy pause before a leap. The hybrids outside stood scattered near the tree line, watching in eerie silence. Some of them had been kneeling for days, as if waiting for a signal I hadn’t yet given.
Rhea stood beside me, clutching the journal to her chest. Elena slung her crossbow over her shoulder, muttering something about regretting every life choice that had led her here. Ethan double-checked the drone rig strapped to his back, adjusting wires and muttering calculations under his breath. Echo was quiet, as always, her eyes fixed on the forest ahead.
And Aidan? He was right next to me, hand brushing against mine as if daring me to reach for it. I didn’t. Not yet.
We stepped out together.
\---
The road into the woods was swallowed by mist. Every tree looked taller than the last, their branches curling like claws. The silence was worse than noise—it pressed in, made every footstep sound louder than it should.
“So,” Elena said after a long stretch of quiet, “anyone want to place bets on how long before we’re ambushed?”
“No betting,” Ethan muttered. “Statistically speaking, it’s going to happen. The only question is how bad it’ll be.”
“Statistically speaking,” Elena shot back, “you talk too much.”
“Better than shooting too much,” he said, smirking.
“Careful,” she warned. “Keep it up and I’ll test my aim on you.”
“See?” he told me, grinning wider. “She flirts like this all the time.”
“I do not!” Elena snapped, her cheeks flushing pink.
Echo glanced over her shoulder. “You kind of do.”
The look on Elena’s face was priceless. Even Rhea cracked a small smile.
“Can we focus?” I asked, though I couldn’t hide my own grin.
Aidan leaned closer to me and whispered, “You’re smiling. That’s rare these days.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I whispered back.
\---
We walked for hours. The trees grew denser, the air colder. Ethan occasionally stopped to scan with his equipment, muttering things about energy surges and frequencies none of us understood. Callum kept watch at the rear, his hand never straying far from his weapon.
Finally, we reached it.
The clearing.
At first it looked like nothing—just a circle of dead grass in the middle of the woods. But the longer I stared, the more wrong it felt. The trees around it bent unnaturally inward, as if leaning toward the center. The soil was blackened, cracked. And in the middle stood a stone altar.
Not like the one underground. This one was broken, split down the middle. And carved into the shards were the same symbols from the journal.
“This is one of the seals,” Rhea whispered.
Ethan crouched to scan it. “Or what’s left of it. It’s been broken for a long time. Which means she’s been here before us.”
“Great,” Elena muttered. “So we’re basically walking through her front yard.”
“That’s the point,” Aidan said. His voice was steady, but I could hear the tension underneath. “She wants us to find her.”
“She’s not far,” Echo added, her eyes narrowing. “I can feel her.”
That sent a chill down my spine.
\---
We camped at the edge of the clearing as night fell. No fire—it would’ve been too risky. The hybrids stayed in the shadows of the trees, silent sentinels that never blinked.
Dinner was dry rations, shared in near silence. Elena broke it eventually, of course.
“So, anyone want to go around and share fun facts before we’re all inevitably sacrificed to the Sister of Doom?”
Rhea frowned. “Sacrificed?”
“She’s joking,” I said quickly.
“Am I?” Elena asked.
“Yes,” Ethan said firmly.
“Fine,” she muttered, then looked at me. “What about you, Luna? Got any fun facts?”
I raised a brow. “Fun facts?”
“Yeah. Something normal. Something not about bloodlines or prophecies. Just… human.”
I thought about it. Then shrugged. “I like thunderstorms.”
“That’s it?” Elena groaned. “Come on, give me something juicy.”
I smirked faintly. “Fine. When I was fifteen, I stole a motorbike and crashed it into a chicken coop.”
Aidan blinked. “Wait. What?”
“It was an accident,” I said defensively. “Mostly.”
The group burst into laughter, even Echo, though hers was more of a quiet smile.
For a moment, it almost felt normal.
Almost.
\---
Later, when the others drifted into uneasy sleep, I stayed awake. Aidan joined me, sitting close enough that his shoulder brushed mine.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
“No,” I admitted. “But I will be.”
He studied me for a moment, then said, “You don’t always have to be strong, Rox.”
I turned to look at him. “And what if I break?”
“Then I’ll be there to put you back together,” he said simply.
My throat tightened. I wanted to say something—anything—but before I could, a sound cut through the night.
A voice.
Soft. Calm.
Coming from the clearing.
“Roxanne.”
We both froze.
The others stirred awake almost instantly. Elena grabbed her crossbow. Echo was already on her feet.
“She’s here,” Echo whispered.
The fog thickened, curling into the clearing like smoke. And from it, a figure began to emerge.
Tall. Silent. Eyes glowing gold.
Not Gregory.
Not a hybrid.
Her.
Ravenna.
\---
The group instinctively formed a line in front of me, weapons ready. But I stepped forward, heart pounding in my chest.
This was it.
The moment everything had been building toward.
Her gaze fixed on me, steady and unyielding.
“You came,” she said.
Her voice was smooth, familiar in a way that made my skin crawl.
“Of course I came,” I replied. “You’ve been calling me for weeks.”
Ravenna smiled faintly. “And you answered. Just as I knew you would.”
Elena muttered under her breath, “I already hate her.”
Ethan elbowed her. “Not helping.”
But Ravenna only tilted her head. “You’ve been searching for answers, Roxanne. Tonight, you’ll get them. But not here. Not with them.”
She gestured toward my friends.
“With me.”
The tension in the air snapped tight. Aidan moved instantly. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”
Ravenna’s eyes flicked to him, almost amused. “Ah. The wolf who thinks he can keep her safe. How quaint.”
“Try me,” Aidan growled.
Ravenna ignored him and looked back at me.
“Choose, Harbinger. Stay in the shadow of borrowed loyalty—or walk into the truth of your blood.”
The clearing held its breath.
Everyone stared at me.
Waiting.
And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t know what to say.