Chapter 85
Elizabeth
Nobody speaks.
The words hang over the library like a storm cloud.
For the first time since this whole nightmare began, nobody rushes to explain things away.
Nobody tells me it was “just a vision.”
Nobody says I imagined it.
Because they all saw my face.
They saw the fear.
And deep down, I think they know exactly what I know.
Something is changing.
Fast.
The silence stretches until Chloe finally blurts out:
“Okay. Great. Fantastic. Awful. What exactly is opening and how do we stop it before we all die?”
Honestly?
Valid question.
I sit up slowly on the couch.
My head is pounding.
Damon is still kneeling beside me, his hands on my shoulders.
I become painfully aware of it.
Especially when I notice everyone else noticing it.
Lucien’s grin immediately appears.
“Oh.”
Damon doesn’t even look at him.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I absolutely was.”
Adam pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Can we focus on the ancient apocalypse?”
“Fine,” Lucien sighs dramatically.
Everyone ignores him.
Damon’s attention returns to me.
“What exactly did you see?”
The room stills.
Waiting.
I take a breath.
Then explain everything.
The flowers.
The blood.
The scratching.
The eye.
And most importantly—
“The door opened.”
Nobody likes hearing that.
Not one person.
I can literally watch the tension spreading through the room.
Vanessa goes pale.
Adam’s jaw tightens.
Even Tristan looks worried.
Which is saying something because Tristan always looks like he’s calmly organizing a funeral.
Damon rises to his feet.
His expression unreadable.
Thinking.
Calculating.
Dangerous.
Then suddenly—
Vanessa speaks.
“The flowers.”
Everybody looks at her.
“What about them?” Chloe asks.
Vanessa points toward the book.
“The flowers keep appearing.”
I blink.
She’s right.
The flowers from my vision.
The flowers from the garden where I fainted.
The flowers surrounding the door.
The same flowers every single time.
Adam immediately pulls the ancient book closer.
Pages begin turning rapidly.
His eyes scanning symbols and notes.
Minutes pass.
Then—
He stops.
The room stills.
“What?”
Adam slowly turns the book around.
And suddenly we’re staring at a drawing.
Not a door.
Not a monster.
A flower.
The flower.
Exactly the same one.
My stomach flips.
Beneath the illustration are ancient handwritten words.
Tristan translates first.
“‘Blood Roses of Arian.’”
The name immediately catches my attention.
“Arian?”
Nobody misses it.
The room goes quiet.
Because we’ve heard that name before.
Vanessa is the first to say it.
“The witch.”
I sit forward.
The memory returning instantly.
“The witch who separated the realms.”
Exactly.
The room suddenly feels much smaller.
Much more important.
Adam nods once.
“These flowers were supposedly created by Arian herself.”
A chill runs down my spine.
Okay.
That’s definitely not good.
“Why?” I ask.
Tristan continues reading.
His expression grows darker with every line.
“According to this…” He pauses.
Then sighs.
“Oh, that’s unfortunate.”
I hate when people say things like that.
“What?”
Tristan looks up.
“The flowers only grow in places where the veil between realms is weak.”
Silence.
Dead silence.
Chloe slowly sets down her coffee.
“How weak?”
Nobody answers immediately.
Which means—
Very weak.
Wonderful.
Just wonderful.
Damon moves toward the window.
Storm clouds gather outside again.
Not normal weather.
I’ve started noticing that.
Strange things happen.
Then storms follow.
Every single time.
“The vision wasn’t random,” he says quietly.
“No,” Adam agrees.
“It was showing her something.”
I swallow hard.
“The location?”
Nobody knows.
But the possibility hangs there.
And suddenly—
Lucien snaps his fingers.
The sound echoes through the room.
Everyone jumps.
Including me.
“Oh.”
He looks far too pleased with himself.
“Oh that’s clever.”
Adam immediately looks suspicious.
“I hate that face.”
Lucien ignores him.
“If Arian created the prison…”
Everyone stares.
“…then she’d leave a way to find it.”
The room falls silent.
Because suddenly—
That makes sense.
A lot of sense.
Too much sense.
Vanessa’s eyes widen.
“A map.”
Lucien points dramatically.
“A map.”
My pulse quickens.
Because now we’re finally talking about action.
Movement.
Answers.
Something besides sitting in libraries reading horrifying books.
Damon slowly turns around.
The wheels are clearly turning in his head now.
“If Arian left instructions…”
“They’d be hidden,” Tristan finishes.
Adam nods.
“Protected.”
“Dangerous,” Lucien adds.
“Obviously dangerous.”
Naturally.
Nothing in my life can ever be simple.
The library door suddenly opens.
Everyone turns.
A servant enters nervously.
“The grandmother is here.”
Vanessa immediately stands.
“My grandmother?”
The servant nods.
“She said it was urgent.”
Oh.
That’s never good.
Not once has “urgent grandmother visit” resulted in happiness.
Not a single time.
Minutes later Vanessa’s grandmother enters the library.
And immediately I know something is wrong.
Very wrong.
Because she looks scared.
Actually scared.
I’ve never seen that before.
Not once.
The room quiets instantly.
Vanessa moves first.
“Gram?”
Her grandmother barely glances at her.
Instead—
She looks directly at me.
My stomach drops.
Never a good sign.
“Elizabeth.”
The way she says my name makes the room colder.
Damon notices too.
His posture shifts slightly.
Protective again.
The old woman takes a slow breath.
Then reaches into her coat.
And removes something wrapped in dark cloth.
The bundle is old.
Ancient.
Carefully preserved.
Everybody watches silently as she places it on the table.
“What is it?” Vanessa asks.
Her grandmother unwraps the cloth.
And my heart nearly stops.
Because lying inside—
Is a piece of parchment.
A map.
An actual map.
Old.
Fragile.
Covered in symbols.
And right in the center—
Drawn in faded red ink—
Is the exact same red door from my visions.
Nobody speaks.
Nobody breathes.
Finally the grandmother looks at us.
And says the one thing none of us expected.
“We don’t have much time.”
The room goes silent.
Even Lucien.
Which is impressive.
The old woman points toward the map.
“Arian left instructions.”
My pulse starts racing.
“Instructions for what?”
Her gaze meets mine.
Heavy.
Knowing.
Terrified.
“For permanently sealing the prison.”
Every person in the room freezes.
Because that’s it.
The thing we’ve been searching for.
The answer.
The solution.
The chance to stop all of this.
Vanessa looks hopeful.
Chloe looks shocked.
Adam looks skeptical.
Damon looks dangerous.
And me?
For the first time in weeks—
I feel something that isn’t fear.
Hope.
Real hope.
Until Vanessa’s grandmother says:
“But there’s a price.”
And just like that—
The hope disappears again.