Chapter 37: The Dying Father

Marco's POV

Blood was filling my lungs, but I couldn't die yet.

Not when Aria was crying over me like this. Not when Elena was standing there alive and whole, looking exactly like she did three years ago. My daughters needed me for just a few more minutes.

"Papa, stay with me," Aria sobbed, pressing her hands against the wound in my chest. "Please don't go."

I wanted to tell her the bleeding wouldn't stop. That I'd aimed the knife perfectly to pierce my heart and end the Whisperer's control forever. But she already knew. My smart girl always understood the hard truths.

"Listen to me," I whispered, forcing my voice to work despite the pain. "Both of you."

Elena knelt beside her sister, tears streaming down her face. "Papa, I'm so sorry. I should have been stronger. I should have fought that monster better."

"You fought perfectly," I told her, reaching up to touch her cheek with a shaking hand. "You stayed yourself for three years inside that nightmare. That takes more courage than anyone should ever need."

The Devourer roared again in the distance, and I felt the ground shake under its massive weight. My sacrifice had freed Elena, but it had also unleashed something terrible.

"How do we stop it?" Aria asked desperately. "Without you, without Luna's full power, how do we fight something that huge?"

"You don't fight it," I said, coughing up blood. "You contain it. Like you did before."

"I can't become a prison again," Aria said firmly. "I won't trap myself with that thing."

"Not you," I corrected, looking between my daughters. "Both of you. Together."

Elena's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"The prison magic doesn't just need one person," I explained, each word getting harder to speak. "It needs a bond. Love strong enough to hold against any darkness. Sisters who would die for each other."

"But I failed her once," Aria protested. "I chose Kael over Elena. How can she trust me to protect her now?"

"Because," Elena said softly, taking her sister's bloody hand, "you didn't choose Kael over me. You chose to save someone who couldn't save themselves. That's who you are, Aria. That's who you've always been."

I smiled through the pain. Even dying, I was proud of how my girls loved each other.

"The power in your blood," I continued, looking at Aria, "it's not just supernatural magic. It's connection magic. The ability to link souls together. That's why you could trap the Devourer before, and that's why you and Elena can trap it again."

"Together," Elena said, understanding dawning in her voice.

"Together," I confirmed. "But you have to hurry. I can hear Viktor moving around behind us."

Kael spun around, his Guardian senses scanning the darkness. "He's right. Viktor's still here somewhere."

"Let him go," Luna said grimly. "We have bigger problems. Look."

She held up her magical device, and I could see the screen even through my fading vision. More red dots were appearing, scattered across the world map.

"How many?" I asked.

"Thirty-seven," Luna whispered in horror. "Your death broke more prison seals than we thought. Creatures that have been sleeping for thousands of years are all waking up at once."

"The end of everything," Kael said quietly.

"Or the beginning," I corrected, looking at my daughters. "These girls can do what no one else can. They can create new prisons strong enough to hold anything."

Viktor's voice called out from somewhere in the darkness. "Thank you for the demonstration, Marco. I couldn't have planned this better myself."

"What's he talking about?" Aria demanded.

"He's been collecting something," I realized, my heart sinking. "Viktor, what did you take?"

"The ancient texts," Viktor's voice replied, sounding farther away now. "The prison-making instructions Luna's been guarding for three centuries. Amazing what people leave lying around during a crisis."

Luna gasped, checking her bag. "He's right. The books are gone."

"Now I have everything I need," Viktor continued, his voice fading as he moved away. "The knowledge to make prisons, and thirty-seven ancient entities to practice on. By the time I'm finished, I'll be the most powerful being in the world."

"We have to stop him," Kael said, starting to pursue.

"No," I said firmly, catching his arm with the last of my strength. "Let him go. He'll make mistakes. Overconfidence always destroys men like him eventually."

"But the texts," Luna protested.

"Can be replaced," I said. "You know the spells by heart, don't you, witch?"

Luna nodded slowly. "Most of them. But some of the more complex bindings..."

"We'll figure it out," Aria said with determination. "We always do."

I felt myself fading faster now. The cold was spreading from my chest through my whole body. But I still had one more secret to share. The most important one.

"Aria," I whispered, barely able to speak. "There's something else. About your power. About why it's so strong."

She leaned closer, her face inches from mine. "What, Papa?"

"You're not my only child with magic," I said, each word taking enormous effort. "Elena has some too, but she's not the other one I'm talking about."

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"Twenty-three years ago, when your mother was pregnant with Aria," I began, feeling my heartbeat getting weaker, "the doctors said there might be twins. But only one baby was born."

Aria's face went white. "Papa, what are you saying?"

"The other baby didn't die," I continued, forcing the words out before it was too late. "He was... different. Born with so much power it scared everyone. So we gave him to another family. Far away from our world. Safe from the supernatural life."

"I have a twin brother?" Aria gasped.

"His name is Adrian," I whispered. "And if the ancient entities are waking up everywhere, he'll start manifesting his abilities soon. He'll need your help to understand what's happening to him."

"Where is he?" Elena demanded.

"Seattle," I managed to say. "Living as a human. But not for much longer."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Aria asked, tears falling faster now.

"Because," I said, my voice barely a breath, "I was protecting all three of you. But now... now you need each other. All three Castellano children, working together. That's the only way to save the world."

My vision was going dark around the edges. I could feel my daughters holding my hands, could hear them calling my name, but everything was getting distant.

"Remember," I whispered with my last breath, "love is stronger than any prison. Love is stronger than any monster. Take care of each other."

The world went black.

But just before I died, I heard something that made me smile one final time.

"We will, Papa," both my daughters said in unison. "We promise."

And somewhere in the distance, in the city of Seattle, a young man named Adrian Castellano woke up screaming as supernatural power exploded through his body for the first time.

The age of the three siblings had begun.