Chapter 116

Elara's POV

"Something's wrong," I gasped, doubling over. The pain felt like molten lead in my veins. "We need to stop."

My mother touched my forehead with cool fingers. "It's perfectly normal, sweetheart. Pregnant women often experience this."

"What? No. I've never felt... This isn't - this is different." I clutched my stomach. "It feels like I'm being torn apart."

"That's Amaris," Aunt Isabella said, arranging clay bowls in a circle. Dark liquid bubbled inside them. "She's trying to manipulate you."

I stared at the bowls. "Is that blood? Where did you get- Is that someone's blood? Oh Godess! What did you do?"

"Don't focus on that now," my mother interrupted, guiding me toward the center of their ritual space. Cedar and sage smoke coiled around us, and bundles of dried herbs - nightshade, wolfsbane, belladonna - hung from black iron hooks.

The pain intensified. "Please," I whispered. "Something isn't right."

"Matthew," my aunt called sharply. "Hold her still."

His hands gripped my shoulders, gentle but firm. "This is for your own good, Elara."

"Matthew, please." I tried to turn, to meet his eyes. "Don't let them- Something is wrong. Please"

"The connection is already breaking," my mother said, lighting black candles at each cardinal point. "That's why you're feeling this way. Amaris is fighting to keep her hold on you."

The wind picked up, sending the smoke swirling. My aunt began chanting in an ancient tongue, words that sounded like splintering wood and cracking ice. Each syllable made my bones ache.

"Stop," I begged as Matthew forced me to my knees. "You don't understand what you're doing."

My mother joined the chant, her voice harmonizing with my aunt's. The blood in the bowls began to bubble. Suddenly, I couldn't move my feet. There were solid on the floor, like I was stuck. Matthew held be still, wrapping his hands around my shoulders. The room got hotter, like I was in an oven.

I'd had this feeling before, this was familiar. This was…the day I got poisoned by Michael.

"It's working," Aunt Isabella said between verses. "Keep fighting, Elara. Don't let her win."

"Let go, Elara," my mother urged, her voice hoarse from chanting. "You're blocking the spell."

Blood dripped from my nose, but I could barely feel it through the searing pain. The roots tightened around my legs as I thrashed.

"Stop fighting it," Aunt Isabella commanded. Her hands were raised, fingers twisted into strange shapes. "Amaris can't be expelled while you're guarding her."

"I'm not-" The words dissolved into a scream.

"Yes, you are." Matthew's grip on my shoulders tightened. "Let her go, Elara. Please."

More chanting. More smoke. More pain. The words they spoke sounded ancient, terrible - like bones breaking and graves opening. Each syllable tore through me like barbed wire.

"Elara, please listen to them." Matthew whispered against me. "I promise, I'm right with you."

I shouldn't have trusted him. There was still something off about all this.

And suddenly, I understood. I understood what was going on.

"No! Stop the ritual!"

A piercing pain erupted at the back of my head. Something drove me back to the memory of Matthew and I standing outside the gates of Lucas' pack. Something he'd said.

"Are you seriously going to beg the man who made up a stupid lie about us just to break up with you? Think about it, Elara, he wasn't man enough to convey his feelings. He came back with a stupid lie about Sabrina dying..."

Sabrina dying. Why hadn't I caught that before? Matthew had said it.

But I was so tired of fighting. The pain was too much.

"That's it," my aunt whispered. "Let her go."

I closed my eyes and finally let go.

The last thing I heard was my mother's victory cry before darkness took me.

...

Everything blurred when I opened my eyes, the room spinning. My mother was the first person I saw.

"Rest," she said, pressing a cool cloth to my forehead. "The ritual took a lot out of you."

My tongue felt too thick for my mouth. "How long..."

"Just a few hours. The weakness, the fever - it's normal after such a powerful spell."

I tried to focus on her face but my vision was too blurry. I was sweating, feverish. "Did it work? Is she gone?"

"Yes, sweetheart. Amaris is gone. You're free now."

Something nagged at the edge of my consciousness - a memory trying to surface. "I need to talk to Matthew."

"He's resting too. Why?"

"During the spell, I remembered..." I swallowed hard. "When he found me, after Lucas kicked me out. He said something about Sabrina being ill. I think he knows something, and I missed it. Ever since Lucas came back, I haven't seen his sister. I think something happened to Sabrina. I have to talk to Matthew."

"You're confused," my mother said. "The fever is making you imagine things."

"No." I struggled to hold onto the thought. "No, I'm sure-"

"Shh." She stroked my hair. "You need water. Your throat must be so dry. I'll get some from the kitchen."

As soon as her footsteps faded, I forced myself up. The room tilted dangerously, but I managed to stand. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

I was about to head down the hall where Matthew's room was, but I stopped at the stairs of the basement. I caught a new scent, something familiar. My feet were sore, I felt weak. I supported myself on the rails of the stairs before I started descending down.

Each step was a battle. I could barely see, barely walk, but I followed the scent. The basement stairs creaked under my feet as I descended, one hand against the wall to steady myself.

I reached the bottom step.

I felt someone in the room with me. The scent had grown stronger, like... like rotting meat.

Through blurred vision, I grasped the cold wall, my fingers scraping against rough stone. Every step made my head spin worse, but that voice...

"Elara, help me."

I shook my head, trying to clear my sight. Everything was hazy, like looking through dirty glass, but there - on a filthy mattress in the corner...

Sabrina.