Broken Circles

Broken Circles

Lyra's POV
The fireball hit the wall just inches from my head and sprayed hot stone all over me. As another blast of power tore through the air, I rolled away.
"Traitor!" Morgana Reed screamed, and the angry red light on her hands lit up. "You hid the queen's daughter from us for twenty-eight years!"
Just as her next attack hit, I put up a shield. The magical wall moved, but it stayed put.
As I tried to get up, I said, "I was protecting her." I didn't expect the emergency meeting of the Ethereal Conclave to turn ugly so quickly. "Just like her mother wanted."
The twelve witches of the High Council watched from their stone seats, their faces hard as they noticed our fight. Testing me. Always trying.
"Enough!" High Priestess Serena's words cut through the chamber. The magic in the air settled like dust after a storm. "Lyra Ravencroft, you have been summoned to answer for your actions, not to brawl like common hedge witches."
Morgana dropped her hands, but her eyes still burned with anger. We'd been friends once, before my sister became queen. Before everything changed.
"The Council requires Elara Nightingale's presence," Serena continued. "Bring her before us within three days, or face exile."
Exile. The worst punishment for a witch of my rank. Cut off from the magical ley lines that powered our kind, I'd wither away in months.
"She's not ready," I argued. "Her powers are still rising. And with the vampires and werewolves watching her every move—"
"That is precisely why she must come," interrupted Councilor Darius, an old warlock with a long white beard. "The balance of power is changing. The Midnight Syndicate gets bolder. The Obsidian Court screams for blood. We need the mixed girl."
I clenched my hands. "She's not a tool for you to point at our enemies. She's my niece."
"She is the witch queen's daughter," Serena amended. "Born of prophesy and sacrifice. Her place is here, with her kind."
Her kind. As if Elara was only a witch, when her blood held so much more.
"Three days, Lyra," Serena repeated. "Or the consequences will fall on both of you."
I bowed stiffly and left the room, feeling the eyes of the Council burning into my back. Outside, the Whispering Grove stretched around me, ancient trees stretching toward the night sky. The sacred home of the Ethereal Conclave had stood for ages, hidden from human eyes by powerful magic.
Now it felt like a jail.
"That went well," said a voice from the dark.
I turned to find Cassandra, my oldest friend and the only Council member who hadn't been in the room. She leaned against a tree, her silver hair gleaming in the moonlight.
"You could have warned me about Morgana," I said.
"Would it have changed your approach?" Cassandra asked, raising an eyebrow.
I sighed. "No."
"The Council is split," she said softly. "Half want to use Elara as a weapon against the other groups. They believe her hybrid blood gives us an edge we can't ignore."
"And the other half?"
Cassandra's eyes darkened. "They want to drain her power for themselves. Old magic, banned since the Great Purge. They think her blood can extend their lives, increase their powers tenfold."
My stomach twisted. "And you?"
"I want her alive and whole," Cassandra said. "Just like you do. But we're outnumbered, Lyra. Especially now that Morgana has joined Darius's group."
I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache growing. "What does he want with Elara?"
"What do old guys always want? More time." Cassandra looked up at the stars. "He's dying. The magic he's used to stretch his life is failing. He thinks Elara's blood can save him."
"He'll have to go through me first," I growled.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Cassandra touched my arm. "The monument's countdown gets shorter every day. The Harbingers are regrouping after Orion's loss. And now I've heard tales of something worse—a child hybrid, the seventh, even more powerful than Elara."
The seventh blend. Sebastian had stated something about this in his message earlier today.
"I need to warn Elara," I said, turning toward the grove's exit.
Cassandra grabbed my wrist. "Be careful. Darius has spies everywhere, even among your own trainees. Don't trust anyone."
"Even you?" I asked, only half kidding.
Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Especially me."
I found Elara at the old lighthouse outside Ravenshadow City, where she'd been staying since the event at the Crimson Depths. Thorne's wolf sentries nodded at me as I passed—an uneasy partnership, but necessary.
Inside, Elara sat cross-legged on the floor, her eyes closed, magical energy flowing around her in gentle waves of blue and purple. Her meditation was improved. Good.
"They're coming for you," I said without introduction.
Her eyes snapped open, the magic fading. "Who? The Harbingers?"
"The Ethereal Conclave," I amended. "My people. Your mother's people."
Elara stood, brushing dust from her pants. "What do they want?"
"You," I said simply. "Your power. Your blood."
She sighed, running a hand through her dark hair. "I'm getting really tired of people wanting my blood."
Despite everything, I smiled. She had her mother's spirit.
"The Council has ordered me to bring you to the Whispering Grove within three days," I explained. "If I don't, we'll both face consequences."
"Then we'll go," Elara said. "I'm not afraid of them."
"You should be," I replied. "The Council is split on what to do with you. Some want to use you as a tool against the vampires and werewolves. Others..." I paused.
"Others want to drain my blood and take my power," she finished, surprisingly calm. "Like Orion tried to do."
I nodded. "The difference is, they might succeed where he failed."
Elara paced the small room. "So what do we do? Run?"
"No," I said strongly. "Running would only show to them that you're not ready. That you're weak."
"But I am weak," she said, anger edging her voice. "I can barely control my magic. And the vampire and werewolf parts of me are still mostly asleep."
"You're stronger than you know," I told her. "But you need friends. Sebastian and Thorne—"
"Are busy dealing with their own problems," Elara interrupted. "Sebastian's faction is turning against him, and Thorne's still struggling with the Obsidian Court's expectations."
She wasn't wrong. The magical world was a powder keg, and Elara was the match.
My phone buzzed. A message from an unknown number: Darius knows about the tower. Get out NOW.
"We need to leave," I said, taking Elara's arm. "The Council—"
The window burst inward, showering us with glass. A hooded figure stood among the pieces, hands raised and glowing with sickly green light.
"Witch-daughter," the figure hissed, voice raspy and inhuman. "Your blood calls to us."
I stepped in front of Elara, summoning my power. "Who are you?"
The hood fell back, showing a face that made my blood freeze. Half-rotted, with skin peeling away from bone, and eyes that swirled with the empty black of the Void.
"We are the Harbingers of the End," the thing said. "And we bring a message from the Void itself."
It lunged forward, faster than any person could move. I fired a blast of pure magic, hitting it square in the chest. The creature tripped but didn't fall.
"Run!" I shouted to Elara. "Find Sebastian and Thorne!"
Instead of fleeing, Elara stepped up beside me, her eyes starting to glow with hybrid power.
"I'm done running," she said, her voice echoing with newfound power.
The thing laughed, a terrible sound like breaking glass. "Perfect. The Void will feast on your disobedience." It raised its hands, and the air around us began to darken.
"Behind you!" Elara screamed.
I turned too late. Another hooded figure grabbed me from behind, pushing something cold and metallic against my neck. Magic-binding chains.
"Take the hybrid," my kidnapper ordered. "Kill the witch."
As darkness closed around my throat, I saw Elara's eyes turn completely black, power exploding from her in waves that shook the lighthouse to its base.
The last thing I heard before awareness faded was a voice—ancient and terrible—speaking through Elara's lips: "The seventh hybrid sends her regards. The door is already open."