Chapter 18 Night Visit
POV: LUNA
Luna didn't remember how she got back to campus.
One moment she was surrounded. Eyes in the darkness. Growls closing in.
The next, she was running. Branches whipping her face. Her wolf fully emerged. Primal terror driving her forward.
She must have shifted. Must have fought her way clear. But the details were foggy. Adrenaline and fear blurring everything into instinct and motion.
She reached the wards gasping. Bleeding. Clothes shredded.
A patrol found her. Questions she couldn't answer. Medical wing again. More bruises catalogued. More injuries added to the day's collection.
Nova appeared. Furious. Terrified.
"What were you thinking? Going into the forest alone after the fight with Darius?"
Luna couldn't explain. Didn't have words for what she'd found. The ancient glade. The carvings. The shadow wolf. The creatures that shouldn't exist.
"I needed to clear my head."
"You nearly got yourself killed. Again."
"I know."
Nova's anger melted into exhaustion. "You can't keep doing this. Taking risks. Pushing boundaries. One of these days you won't make it back."
"I know."
But knowing and stopping were different things.
The medical staff released Luna after midnight. Nova walked her back to their dorm. Hovering. Protective.
Luna collapsed into bed fully dressed. Too tired to change. Too sore to care.
"Get some sleep," Nova said. "We'll talk in the morning."
"Okay."
Nova turned off the lights. Climbed into her own bed. Within minutes, her breathing evened out. Asleep.
Luna stared at the ceiling. Her body ached. Her mind raced. Sleep felt impossible.
But exhaustion won eventually. Her eyes grew heavy. Closed.
And she dreamed.
Not normal dreams. Not the usual chaos of subconscious processing.
This was different. Clearer. More real.
Luna found herself standing in her old neighborhood. Her street. Everything exactly as she remembered.
But wrong. Too still. Too quiet. Like a photograph instead of a place.
"Luna."
She turned. Miguel stood behind her. Looking exactly as he had the last time she'd seen him. Same clothes. Same expression. Same warmth in his eyes that made her chest ache.
"Miguel?"
"Hey." He smiled. Sad. Bittersweet. "I was hoping you'd come back. That I could reach you again."
"This is the dream-link. Like before."
"Yeah. Stronger this time though. Clearer. Maybe because you're hurt? Or scared? I don't know how this works."
Luna moved closer. "Are you real? Or am I just imagining you?"
"Both? Neither? I don't know. I'm asleep in my bed. But I'm also here. With you. Talking. It feels real."
"It does."
They stood in silence. The dream neighborhood frozen around them.
"You look different," Miguel said finally. "Stronger. Harder. Like you've been through war."
"Feels like it sometimes."
"What happened? You're hurt. I can see bruises. Blood on your clothes."
Luna looked down. In the dream, her injuries were visible. Stark. Real.
"Training incident. And a forest encounter. And a formal challenge from someone who wants me gone. Take your pick."
Miguel's expression darkened. "They're hurting you there."
"I'm learning to fight back."
"That's not the same as being safe."
"Safe isn't an option anymore. Haven't you figured that out yet?"
"I have. Things here are getting worse. The disappearances. The strange animal attacks. It's spreading beyond people who knew you. Now it's random. Anyone. Anywhere."
Luna's mark tingled. "Tell me."
"Three more people went missing this week. High school students. One of them was walking home from practice. Just vanished. No trace. No witnesses. Like something plucked them off the street."
"And the police?"
"Still calling them runaways. But people are scared. Parents aren't letting kids out after dark. Schools are adding security. Everyone knows something's wrong even if they won't admit what."
"It's creatures from my world. Has to be. Crossing over. Hunting in yours."
"Can you stop them?"
"I don't know how. I'm barely surviving here. I can't fix problems in the human world too."
Miguel stepped closer. "I'm not asking you to fix everything. Just tell me what to watch for. What to avoid. How to keep people safe."
"Stay away from forests. Don't go out alone at night. If you see animals acting strange, run. Don't try to help. Don't try to fight. Just run and find other people."
"That's it? That's the best advice you have?"
"Miguel, I don't know what's causing this. I don't know how to stop it. I'm sorry. I wish I could do more."
"I know. I just feel helpless. People are dying and I can't do anything to protect them."
"Join the club."
They stood in the stillness. The weight of impossible situations pressing down on both of them.
"Do you ever regret it?" Miguel asked quietly. "Going to Silverwood? Becoming this?"
"Every day. And never. It's complicated."
"Yeah. I bet."
"Miguel, I need to ask you something. Have you moved on? Are you dating someone else?"
He looked away. "Would that bother you?"
"Yes. And no. And I don't know. I want you to be happy. But the idea of you with someone else makes me want to shift and break things."
"That's not healthy."
"I know. But it's honest."
Miguel met her eyes again. "I'm not dating anyone. Haven't even looked. But Luna, I can't wait forever. Eventually I need to live my life. Move forward. Even if you're not there."
"I know."
"Do you? Because part of me thinks you expect me to just freeze. Wait for you to come back. But I'm not sure you're ever coming back. Not really. Not the girl I knew."
"You're right. That girl's gone. I'm different now. Changed. And I'm going to keep changing. More wolf than human with every day that passes."
"So this is it? We acknowledge we still care about each other but accept we're on different paths?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Is that okay?"
"It has to be. What else can we do?"
Luna wanted to argue. To promise she'd find a way back. To swear their connection was unbreakable.
But she couldn't. Because Miguel was right. She was becoming something he couldn't follow. Something he couldn't understand.
"I miss you," she whispered.
"I miss you too. Every day. But missing isn't enough anymore."
"No. It's not."
The dream started to flicker. Fading. Reality pulling them apart.
"Luna, wait. One more thing."
"What?"
"Whatever you're becoming. Whoever you turn into. Don't lose yourself completely. Hold onto something human. Something real. Promise me."
"I'll try."
"Not good enough. Promise me."
"I promise."
The dream shattered.
Luna jolted awake in her bed. Gasping. Disoriented. Her mark burned like fire.
She sat up slowly. Every muscle protesting. The room was dark. Nova still asleep across from her.
Luna touched her face. Wet. She'd been crying in her sleep.
The dream had felt so real. Miguel's voice. His expression. The sadness in his eyes.
He was letting her go. They both were. Acknowledging that the distance between their worlds was too great to bridge.
Luna pulled up her sleeve. Her mark glowed in the darkness. Brighter than she'd ever seen it. Silver light so intense it cast shadows across the room.
She stared at it. This thing that had changed everything. That had taken her from her human life and dropped her into a world of violence and magic and danger.
The mark pulsed. Steady. Insistent.
Like a heartbeat.
Or a warning.
Luna couldn't look away. The glow was hypnotic. Beautiful. Terrifying.
It was getting stronger. She could feel it. Her connection to wolf magic. To ancient power. To something that predated everything she knew.
The mark flared brighter still. Lighting the entire room.
Nova stirred. "Luna? What's happening?"
"I don't know."
"Your mark. It's glowing. Really glowing."
"I know."
"Is that normal?"
"Nothing about this is normal."
The glow intensified. So bright Luna had to close her eyes against it. Heat radiated from her wrist. Not painful. But overwhelming.
Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The light faded. The heat dissipated.
Luna opened her eyes. Her mark looked normal again. Just the faint silver pattern. No glow. No heat.
"What was that?" Nova whispered.
"I have no idea."
But Luna did know. Deep down. Instinctively.
Something was changing. In her. In her mark. In her connection to wolf magic.
The dream-link with Miguel hadn't been random. It had triggered something. Awakened something.
And whatever it was, it was only just beginning.