Chapter 97 Not random
~ Lyra's POV ~
I truly did not want to keep anything from Taren, but I was afraid. The fear sat heavy in my chest, coiling tighter each time I thought about telling him everything exactly the way I had seen it unfold in my dream. I wanted to describe it in detail, to lay it bare between us so he would understand the urgency clawing at my insides, but something held me back.
I didn't know where the fear was coming from. Perhaps it was born from the chaos and strange events of the past few days, from the constant reminder that nothing around me was as simple as it appeared. Whatever its source, it was strong enough to silence me.
But the moment the alarm pierced the air and I was told that Kael might already be on his way to wherever that cloud was forming, something inside me snapped. Fear no longer had the strength to restrain me.
I rushed toward the garden entrance, my heart pounding wildly, only for my steps to falter the instant I saw Kael. He stood among several others, some faces familiar and some entirely unknown to me, all moving with urgency as they hurried into different cars. The scene felt surreal, like a moment pulled from the very dream I had been too frightened to recount.
His eyes met mine across the distance. He paused for the briefest second before stepping into the car, and that pause shattered something inside me. In that moment, I felt completely powerless and utterly useless. I didn't even know why I had rushed there, because what could I possibly do to stop him from leaving or from walking straight into death?
The question had barely formed in my mind when an idea surfaced. I forced myself to turn away before despair could fully consume me. I walked back into the garden, my movements hurried and determined, while Taren followed after me with visible confusion etched across his face. I couldn't blame him. If I were in his place, I would have been equally bewildered. He had not spoken since I had abruptly changed direction.
When I reached the fountain where I had first sensed the presence of the cloud, I stopped and turned to face him. I forced myself to steady my breathing.
“I know you don't understand what is going on with me right now, but I need you to trust me,” I told him, my voice more vulnerable than I intended.
“I trust you,” he replied almost immediately, offering me a reassuring smile that softened something inside me. “I believe you will speak when you are ready, and I can wait.”
Relief flooded through my heart so intensely that I nearly staggered under it.
I nodded. “Thank you for your understanding. I need you to stand by the entrance of the garden and make sure no one comes in. I am going to try to disperse the cloud and also figure out what is happening from here. I don't want any interruption or distraction.”
“You can do that?”
“I don't know,” I admitted honestly. “But I want to try.”
Without another word of protest, he began walking toward the garden entrance, positioning himself exactly where I had asked him to stand.
As I watched him go, countless questions rose in my mind. What did the cloud truly represent? Was I about to make a grave mistake by connecting myself to it in order to destroy it? What if I triggered something worse?
The questions circled like vultures, but I refused to let them settle. I refused to allow doubt to paralyze me. Whatever consequences came from what I was about to do, I would find a way to face them.
I kicked off my shoes. The cool air kissed my bare feet as I lowered myself into a squatting position, my pulse thundering in my ears. The earth beneath me felt alive. I pressed my palms flat against the bare ground, spreading my fingers wide to ensure there was nothing between my skin and the soil. I needed proper contact. I needed connection to the earth to get what I needed. Everything I had learned surfaced in my mind and what I needed to do became clear to me.
The moment my hands settled into the grass and damp soil, I closed my eyes and reached inward. I reached for that quiet, endless place inside me where my power slept and waited. It responded instantly, rising through me like a current breaking free. I let it flow downward through my arms and out of my palms, pushing it deep into the earth.
The ground welcomed me.
Energy surged back in response, threading through my veins like molten light. My awareness expanded beyond my physical body. I could feel the roots of trees stretching beneath the soil. I could sense the tiny organisms shifting in the dark. I could hear the whisper of the wind brushing against leaves far above.
Then I reached for the cloud.
I extended my senses toward the unnatural mass hovering in the distance. It pulsed with foreign energy. I anchored myself deeper into the earth and pushed against it, unraveling its structure strand by strand. The cloud resisted at first, writhing like a living thing, but the earth’s power surged through me in relentless waves. Slowly, it began to thin, to fragment, to dissolve into nothing.
As it dissipated, something else revealed itself.
Beneath the place where the cloud had first formed, I felt a concentrated circle of power. It was deliberate and woven tightly together. A witches' circle had been created there, hidden within the land itself. A chill instantly ran down my spine. This had not been random. This had been planned.
With a deep furrow between my brows, I opened my eyes and pushed myself to my feet, breathing out in relief when I saw that the cloud was indeed gone. But another commotion caught my attention and it came right from the entrance of the garden where I had asked Taren to stand watch.