Chapter 35 Chapter 35

Chapter 35 Chapter 35
_Anya’s POV_

I could not breathe.

My entire body felt frozen as I stared through the tiny keyhole.

The room inside looked ancient. The stone walls were cracked and dark with age. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed long ago and wooden beams hung above the room like broken bones. Thick black stains covered certain parts of the floor and walls. Dust floated through the candlelight slowly like smoke.

But it was the candles that frightened me the most. There were dozens of them. Maybe even hundreds.

Black candles burned across the room in strange circles and patterns. Their flames flickered unnaturally even though no wind entered the room. The air inside looked thick somehow....almost heavy.

And the symbols…

My stomach twisted violently.

Dark red symbols covered the stone floor. Some were drawn in circles. Others looked like strange twisted markings that hurt my eyes when I looked at them too long. In the middle of the room was a massive pentagon drawn with what looked horrifyingly like blood.

The smell inside the room was unbearable now. It was rotten and wet. It smelled like death.

My hand shook violently against the door. “What is this place?” I whispered silently.

Maya sounded deeply disturbed now. There is something evil.

Then I saw Mom Jess. She sat inside the middle of the pentagon wearing a long dark robe. Her gray hair had been tied back tightly and her face looked completely different somehow.

Her expression was not gentle and warm. Her eyes looked cold and empty. She slowly reached toward the large bag beside her.

My stomach tightened.

Mom Jess opened the bag wider.

Then.....

I nearly screamed.

A severed human head rolled partly out of the bag.

My entire body jerked backward in horror before I quickly covered my mouth with both hands to stop the sound from escaping.

“Oh my God…”

The head belonged to a young boy. He could not have been older than twelve. His eyes were closed. Blood stained his pale skin and dark hair. Part of his neck looked horribly torn where it had been cut.

I thought I was going to vomit. The world around me started spinning violently.

“No… no…”

Maya growled in horror inside me. That is a human child.

Tears filled my eyes instantly. Mom Jess carefully lifted the severed head with both hands like it was something precious.

Then she placed it directly in the center of the pentagon. I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood just to stop myself from making noise.

How could she touch it so calmly?

How could she sit there beside a dead child without fear?

Without horror?

Without guilt?

The chanting continued softly from her lips. I still could not understand the words. The language sounded old....ancient....wrong. Cold fear spread deeper through my chest.

Then Mom Jess reached for another object beside her. It was a glass bottle. Dark red liquid filled it almost completely.

Blood.

It had to be blood.

Slowly, she uncorked the bottle and began pouring the liquid around the edges of the pentagon while continuing to chant. The candle flames suddenly flickered harder. The shadows inside the room moved strangely against the walls.

I felt my stomach turn again.

Mom Jess dipped her fingers into the blood and smeared it across her forehead slowly. Then she grabbed some sort of black powder from a bowl beside her and threw it into the candles.

The flames burst higher instantly. A horrible smell filled the air; rotten meat and burning bones.

I nearly gagged.

“What is she doing?” I whispered silently.

Maya sounded shaken. Some kind of ritual.

Mom Jess suddenly lifted both hands toward the ceiling while chanting louder now. The blood around the pentagon began dripping slowly across the stone floor.

Then she smiled. And that smile terrified me more than anything else. Because it did not look human. It looked obsessed.

My chest tightened painfully. This was Jacob’s mother. The same woman who smiled kindly at me during breakfast. The same woman who hugged Jacob. The same woman who laughed with the servants.

And now…

She sat inside a blood-covered pentagon beside a dead child while performing some horrible ritual in the middle of the night.

I could barely process it.

“What if Jacob knows?” I whispered silently.

The thought hit me so suddenly that I almost stopped breathing again.

What if this was normal in the Fireblood pack?

What if Jacob already knew about these rituals?

What if...

No.

I shook my head immediately. “No.”

Jacob could be cold sometimes. He could be dangerous and ruthless even.

But this?

Never.

He would never allow this. He would never hurt children. I remembered the way he protected his pack. The way he cared for his warriors. The way he held me after my nightmares.

The way he looked exhausted every night because he carried everyone’s problems on his shoulders.

No. Jacob did not know. He had no idea his own mother was down here doing something monstrous.

Horror crawled deeper into my chest. “What if she has done this before?”

Inside the room, Mom Jess suddenly reached into the bag again.

I flinched violently.

This time she removed something small wrapped in black cloth. They were human bones.

I nearly stumbled backward. My breathing became ragged. I could not stay here anymore. I needed Jacob....right now. He needed to see this with his own eyes. Otherwise nobody would ever believe me.

I slowly backed away from the door while trying not to make noise. My legs shook so badly that I nearly fell twice. The chanting continued behind the door. The candles flickered beneath the cracks.

I turned and ran.

Dust flew beneath my feet as I rushed through the ruined hallway. My heart pounded wildly inside my chest while panic filled every part of me. I almost slipped on broken wood while running back toward the modern side of the mansion.

“Hurry,” Maya urged.

“I am trying.”

My hands still trembled violently. The image of that dead boy would not leave my mind. Finally, I reached our bedroom door.

I pushed it open quickly and rushed inside. Jacob still slept in the bed. For one horrible second, the sight of him lying there peacefully made tears rush into my eyes.

He had no idea. No idea what his mother was doing beneath his own home. I hurried toward the bed immediately.

“Jacob,” I whispered urgently while shaking his shoulder lightly.

He groaned softly without opening his eyes.

“Mm…”

“Jacob, wake up.”

He frowned in his sleep and turned slightly away from me.

“Anya…” he mumbled tiredly. “Go back to sleep.”

Normally, his sleepy voice would have made me smile. But not tonight.

“Jacob, please wake up.”

He buried his face deeper into the pillow. “I need five more minutes.”

My chest tightened desperately. “Jacob, this is serious.”

He groaned again before finally opening one eye slightly. The room was still dark and he clearly had not fully woken up yet.

“What happened?” he muttered sleepily.

I grabbed his shoulder harder. “You need to come with me right now.”

Jacob blinked slowly at me. His hair looked messy from sleep and his eyes still looked unfocused.

“Anya,” he murmured tiredly. “It is the middle of the night.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you shaking?”

I realized my entire body was trembling violently. “I saw something.”

Jacob frowned slightly now. His sleepy expression slowly began fading. “What did you see?”

I swallowed hard. How could I even explain it? A severed head. Blood rituals. Human bones. His mother chanting inside a hidden room.

The words felt impossible.

“You need to see it yourself,” I whispered shakily.

Jacob pushed himself up slightly against the pillows now. “See what?”

“I cannot explain it properly.”

His eyebrows pulled together. “Anya.”

“There is something horrible happening in the west wing.”

That immediately caught his attention. “The west wing?”

“Yes.”

His sleepy expression disappeared more. “What were you doing there?”

“I followed Mom Jess.”

Jacob stared at me silently for several seconds. “You followed my mother into the west wing at three in the morning?”

“She was carrying a huge bag and acting strangely.”

Jacob rubbed one hand over his face slowly like he was still trying to wake up fully. “Anya…”

“She is hiding something.”

His eyes narrowed slightly now. “What kind of something?”

Fear crawled up my spine again. “I do not even know how to describe it.”

Jacob studied my face carefully. I think he realized then how terrified I truly was. Because his entire expression changed immediately. He sat up fully now.

“You are serious.”

“Yes.”

“What exactly did you see?”

My throat tightened painfully. “A dead child.”

Silence filled the room instantly. Jacob froze completely. For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then finally he said quietly, “What?”

“There was a human head inside the room,” I whispered shakily. “And blood everywhere. Candles. Symbols on the floor. Chanting.”

Jacob stared at me in complete disbelief. I could see the struggle inside his eyes immediately.

“My mother would never...."

“I know how it sounds,” I interrupted quickly. “But I saw it.”

Jacob stood from the bed immediately now. His face had gone pale. “You are certain?”

“Yes.”

He stared at me another long moment before finally reaching for his shirt quickly. I released a shaky breath of relief. He believed me. Or at least he believed that I believed what I saw.

Jacob dressed quickly while still looking deeply unsettled. I grabbed a flashlight from the desk with trembling fingers. Then together, we left the room.

The mansion felt even colder now somehow. Jacob walked beside me silently as we moved through the dark hallways. His expression looked tense and hard.

“What exactly was she doing?” he asked quietly while we walked.

“She was chanting.”

Jacob frowned. “And you are sure it was my mother?”

“Yes.”

The silence between us became heavier.

Finally, Jacob said quietly, “You should not have gone into the west wing alone.”

“I know.”

“It is dangerous there.”

“I know.”

His jaw tightened. Then softly he added, “You still should have woken me first.”

Guilt twisted painfully inside me. “I did not think it would become something like this.”

Neither of us spoke again after that. Soon, we reached the ruined section of the mansion. Jacob immediately grabbed the flashlight from me and moved slightly closer protectively. Dust covered everything around us. Broken wood creaked beneath our feet.

The deeper we walked into the west wing, the darker Jacob’s expression became. Finally, we reached the old wooden door.

“There,” I whispered.

Jacob stared at it silently. Then he slowly pushed the door open.

Creak.....

The sound echoed through the ruined hallway. My heart pounded violently inside my chest. But the moment the door opened fully.....

I froze.

The room was completely dark.

Every candle was gone.