Chapter 16 Locked

Chapter 16 Locked

Serena's POV

The room had no windows.

Just walls covering everywhere and a single bed with a thin blanket. A bucket in the corner that I tried not to think about.

Helena had brought me here an hour ago. Maybe two. Time did not mean anything in this place.

I sat on the bed, hugging my knees to my chest. My dress was still covered in blood. Lydia's blood. The smell made my stomach turn but I had nothing clean to change into.

I heard footsteps outside. The runes on the door flared brighter and then it swung open.

Helena stepped inside. Two other witches stood behind her in the hallway, watching me like I was some kind of wild animal.

"Please," I said before she could speak. "Please let me out. I did not mean to do that. I did not mean to hurt anyone."

Helena closed the door behind her. The runes glowed again and I heard a lock click into place.

"I know you did not mean to," she said. Her voice was softer than I expected. Almost gentle. "But that does not change what happened."

"I can learn to control it. You can teach me. Please, just give me a chance."

She shook her head slowly. "It does not work like that, Serena."

"What do you mean?"

"Your power is not like ours. It is not something you can simply learn to control with practice and discipline." She moved closer and sat down on the edge of the bed. "What you have inside you is ancient. Dark. It is the kind of magic that consumes witches from the inside out."

My throat tightened. "So what are you saying?"

"I am saying that your power cannot be controlled. Not by you. Not by anyone."

The words hit me like a punch to the gut.

"Then what happens now?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. "What is my fate?"

Helena looked at me for a long moment. There was something in her eyes that might have been pity. Or maybe regret.

"You will stay here," she said. "Locked away. Until we figure out a way to remove your powers permanently."

"Remove them? You mean... take them away?"

"Yes."

"Can you even do that?"

"We will find a way." She stood up and walked toward the door. "It is for your own safety, Serena. And for the safety of everyone else."

"Wait." I jumped up and rushed toward her. "You cannot just lock me up like an animal. I am not a monster."

"Five witches are dead because you lost control. What would you call that?"

I flinched. The words stung because they were true.

"They pushed me," I said desperately. "They humiliated me. They treated me like I was nothing. I just... I snapped."

"And the next time you snap? How many more will die?" Helena's expression hardened. "I cannot risk the lives of my coven for your feelings, Serena."

"Then teach me! Help me understand what is happening to me!"

"I told you. It cannot be controlled."

"Then kill me!" The words burst out of me before I could stop them. "If I am so dangerous, if I am such a threat, then just kill me and be done with it."

Helena stared at me. For a second, I thought she might actually consider it.

But then she shook her head. "No. Your power is too valuable to waste. Once we extract it, we can use it. Harness it properly."

"So I am just a battery to you? Something to drain and throw away?"

"You are a danger to yourself and everyone around you. This is the only way."

She knocked on the door. The runes flared and it swung open.

"Please," I said one last time. "Please do not do this."

But she walked out without looking back.

The door slammed shut. The lock clicked. The runes glowed bright and then dimmed to that faint pulsing light.

I was alone.

I stood there for a moment, staring at the door. Then I rushed forward and grabbed the handle.

It would not move. I pulled harder. Yanked on it with everything I had.

Nothing.

"Let me out!" I screamed, pounding on the door with my fists. "You cannot do this! You cannot keep me here!"

No one answered.

I kept pounding until my hands hurt. Until my voice was hoarse. Until I realized that no one was coming.

I slid down to the floor, my back against the cold stone wall.

This could not be happening. This could not be real.

I had left Cassian and Kael because I thought I would be safe here. Because I thought being with other witches would help me understand what I was. Would help me control this power.

But I was wrong. So wrong.

They did not want to help me. They wanted to use me. Drain my power and throw me away like garbage.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

Tears streamed down my face. I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to stop shaking.

I thought about Cassian kneeling in front of me. The way he looked at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.

"My heart belongs to you," he had said. "You are my soulmate."

And I had rejected him. Told him to leave me alone.

I thought about Kael. The way his eyes flashed gold when he looked at me. The hunger in his voice when he said he would take me by force if he had to.

At least with them, I felt something. Something I did not understand. Something that terrified me.

But it was real. The bond was real.

And I had thrown it away because I was scared.

Now look where I was. Locked in a cell. Waiting for witches to rip the power out of me like I was some kind of experiment.

Fresh tears burned my eyes. I buried my face in my knees and let myself sob.

I should have left with them. I should have trusted what I felt instead of running from it.

Maybe Cassian was right. Maybe we were fated to be together. Maybe this bond was not a curse but a gift.

And I had rejected it.

I do not know how long I sat there crying. Time did not exist in this place. There was no sunlight to mark the hours. No sounds except my own breathing.

Eventually, exhaustion took over. My body gave up. My mind shut down.

I crawled onto the bed and pulled the thin blanket over myself even though it did nothing to fight off the cold.

I stared at the ceiling. At the shadows dancing in the faint glow of the runes.

This was my life now. This cell. This darkness. This endless waiting.

Unless someone came for me.

But who would? Helena made it clear that I was staying here. The other witches were probably celebrating that I was locked away.

And Cassian and Kael... they had left. I told them to leave me alone and they did.

Why would they come back?

I closed my eyes and tried to push the thoughts away. I tried to sleep. Tried to escape into dreams where none of this was real.

But even in my dreams, I could feel it. That power inside me. Pulsing. Waiting.

It was not gone. Helena was wrong about that. It was not something they could just extract like poison from a wound.

It was a part of me now. For better or worse.

And deep down, in a place I did not want to acknowledge, I knew the truth.

This power was going to destroy me.

Either the witches would rip it out and kill me in the process. Or I would lose control again and hurt more people.

There was no happy ending here. No way out that did not end in blood.

I pulled the blanket tighter around myself and tried not to think about what came next.

But the fear was still there. Coiling around my chest like a snake. Squeezing tighter with every breath.

I was trapped. Alone. And terrified.

And for the first time since this nightmare started, I prayed.

I did not know who I was praying to. Maybe God. Maybe the universe. Maybe just anyone who was listening.

I prayed that someone would come for me. That someone would remember I existed.

That I would not die alone in this cell.

But as the hours dragged on and no one came, I started to lose hope.

Maybe this was what I deserved. Maybe this was karma for all the bad choices I had made.

Maybe I was meant to end up here. Caged and forgotten.

The thought made me want to scream. I want to tear this room apart with my bare hands.

But I did not have the energy. I just laid there in the darkness, listening to my own heartbeat.

Waiting for an end that might never come.