Clara stumbled back, the truth hitting her like a physical blow. Lucien had killed her in her first life. Even if she had asked him to do it, the pain of this betrayal felt fresh and raw.
"Clara, please," Lucien reached for her again, but she moved away.
"Stay back," she warned, silver light flickering at her fingers. The ghost wolves growled, sensing her distress.
Isolde smiled. "You see now? He's been using you all along. Come with me instead. I can show you another way."
Clara's mind raced. Nothing made sense anymore. Who could she trust? Lucien had taught her to control her skills, but he'd hidden the terrible truth about her fate. Isolde offered another path, but Clara felt darkness behind her golden eyes.
"I need to think," Clara said, backing away from both of them.
A sudden laugh echoed through the woods. The trees split, and Erynn stepped into the clearing. Her red hair gleamed like fire in the moonlight.
"There you are," she said, smiling at Clara. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
"Erynn!" Lucien moved protectively in front of Clara. "Where have you been?"
"Making preparations," Erynn said simply. She looked at Isolde. "I see you two have finally dropped your masks."
Isolde's eyes narrowed. "This doesn't concern you."
"Doesn't it?" Erynn asked. She turned to Clara. "They're both lying to you, you know. Neither of them wants what's best for you."
Clara felt trapped between three powerful beings, each pulling her in a different way. "I don't know who to believe anymore."
"Believe your own memories," Erynn offered. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small crystal. "This might help."
Before anyone could stop her, she tossed the crystal at Clara's feet. It shattered, releasing a cloud of glittering dust that spun around Clara's head.
"No!" Lucien lunged forward, but it was too late.
Clara gasped as memories flooded her mind—not fragments this time, but full scenes from dozens of lives:
A house in a snowy forest. Lucien finding her, his eyes wide with joy. "I've searched for you for twenty years!"
A grand hall. Lucien whispering, "Run, they know what you are," as men with silver guns crashed through the doors.
A battlefield. Clara, dressed as a soldier, bleeding from a deadly wound as Lucien wept over her.
A laboratory. Clara making potions while Lucien stood guard. "This time we'll break the curse," she promised.
A traditional circle. Isolde and Dominic working together, chanting words of power as Clara screamed in pain.
The memories kept coming, faster and faster, until Clara fell to her knees, grabbing her head.
"Stop it!" Lucien shouted at Erynn. "You're hurting her!"
"She needs to know everything," Erynn said strongly. "All of it, not just what you and Isolde want her to know."
Clara looked up, her eyes now glowing bright silver. "I remember," she whispered. "I remember it all."
She stood slowly, power sparking around her body. The ghost wolves whimpered and backed away.
"The ritual," Clara said, her voice strangely calm. "It was never about destroying me. It was about transformation."
She looked at Lucien. "You didn't kill me out of cruelty. You were trying to help me transcend."
Lucien nodded, pain written on his face. "But something went wrong. The ritual was interrupted."
"By them," Clara said, pointing at Isolde and Dominic, who had just emerged from the trees to stand beside his sister.
"We had to stop it," Dominic said. "The ritual would have given you too much power. You would have unbalanced all three worlds."
"So you cursed us instead," Lucien growled. "Doomed us to this endless cycle of finding and losing each other."
"It was necessary," Isolde insisted. "The balance must be maintained."
Clara turned to Erynn. "And your role in all this? Why help me remember?"
Erynn smiled sadly. "Because I'm the only one who wants you to have a choice. The others have all decided your fate for you."
"Don't listen to her," Dominic warned. "She has her own plans for you."
Clara closed her eyes, trying to make sense of all the images swirling in her head. Every life she had lived, every death she had suffered, every time Lucien had found her again—it was overwhelming.
"The three moons align tomorrow night," she said finally. "That's when the ritual must be performed, one way or another."
"Yes," Lucien agreed. "But this time, we can do it right."
"Or not at all," Isolde offered. "You could choose to live a normal life, Clara. Break the cycle."
"There is no normal life for her anymore," Erynn said. "Her powers have awakened. She'll never be just human again."
Clara looked at all of them—Lucien with his silver eyes full of love and pain, Isolde and Dominic with their cold calculation, Erynn with her mysterious smile.
"I need time to think," Clara said. "Alone."
Before anyone could stop her, she called upon her new powers. Silver light enveloped her body, and she disappeared from the grove.
"Clara!" Lucien cried out, but she was gone.
Clara rematerialized on top of the highest tower of the castle. Her new powers had taken her exactly where she wanted to go. She leaned against the stone wall, breathing hard. The three moons hung in the sky, almost aligned.
"One more night," she whispered. "One more night to decide."
Suddenly, she sensed someone behind her. Clara whirled around, power flaring in her hands.
A beautiful woman with bright red hair stood there, but it wasn't Erynn. This woman's eyes were cold blue instead of green, and she wore strange armor made of black leather.
"Who are you?" Clara asked.
The woman smiled, showing sharp fangs. "My name is Selene. I've been hunting you for centuries, Clara Thorne."
"Hunting me? Why?"
"Because you're the key," Selene said, moving closer. "The key to winning the war between worlds."
Clara backed away. "What war? What are you talking about?"
"The war that's coming," Selene said. Her blue eyes began to glow with a strange light. "And you've just run away from the only people who could have protected you."
Clara tried to call her power, but something was blocking it. She looked down and saw a sparkling silver circle surrounding her feet.
"A binding spell," Selene explained. "You're powerful, but young. Inexperienced."
"What do you want from me?" Clara asked, fear creeping into her voice.
Selene smiled coldly. "I want what everyone wants from you, Clara. I want your blood. But unlike the others, I'm not going to pretend it's for your own good."
She lunged forward, grabbing Clara by the throat. "The ritual will happen tomorrow night, but it will be my ritual. And when it's done, all three worlds will burn."