Chapter 24 Mother's Secret

Chapter 24 Mother's Secret
Sienna's POV

My father hit the ground.

Blood spread all over him.

The journal screamed louder, pure terror vibrating through my bones.

I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.

Dad. My dad was dying.

The Assembly woman stepped over his body. Her sword dripped red.

"Did you really think we wouldn't notice?" She laughed. "The Keeper's library sends out signals every time someone enters. We've been waiting for you."

Orion grabbed my arm. "Sienna, we have to go!"

"My father—"

"Is already dead!" Orion yanked me backward. "Move or join him!"

The woman raised her sword.

Power exploded from my hands. Silver fire hit her chest. She flew backward into the wall so hard the bricks cracked.

But more guards poured from the shadows. Ten. Twenty. Too many.

"Run!" Orion shoved me toward the alley's end.

I ran. Clutching the journal. Leaving my father bleeding on the stones.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Guards chased us. Their boots thundered like drums.

Orion pulled me around a corner. Pressed his hand against a blank wall. Purple light flared.

A door appeared.

"Through!" he yelled.

We dove through. The door vanished behind us.

We stood in a forest. But wrong. The trees were blue. The sky was green. Two moons hung overhead.

"What is this place?" I gasped.

"Between realm. They can't track us here." Orion bent over, breathing hard. "But they'll find us soon. We need to keep moving."

"My father—"

"I know." His voice was gentle. "I'm sorry. But if we stop, we die too."

Tears burned my eyes. I blinked them back. Looked at the journal in my hands.

It had stopped screaming. Now it just hummed. Warm against my chest.

"Why does it do that?" I asked. "The screaming?"

"Protection spell. Your mother didn't want the Assembly finding it." Orion started walking. "It screams when they get close. Warns the holder."

"Then why did my father have it all these years?"

"He didn't." Orion glanced back. "The Keeper kept it. Your father just knew it existed."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I've been researching your family for three years."

I stopped walking. "What?"

He sighed. "I'll explain later. Right now—"

The blue trees exploded.

Guards burst through. More than before. Hundreds.

"Go!" Orion grabbed my hand.

He pressed his other hand to the air. Another door. We jumped through.

Now we stood in a desert. Red sand. Black sun. Heat hit like a fist.

Guards followed. They poured through the portal behind us.

"They're tracking the journal!" Orion shouted. "The spell works both ways!"

"What do I do?"

"Read it! Break the spell!"

"How?"

"Your blood! It's keyed to your bloodline!"

I opened the journal while running. Found my mother's first entry.

To my daughter,

If you're reading this, I'm dead. And you're alive. That means my choice worked. That means my power saved you, even if it killed me.

I need you to know the truth. You are not wolfless. You are not cursed. You are not broken.

You are a moon witch.

My heart stopped.

I am what you will become. What I tried so hard to hide. What killed me in the end.

I hid my powers my whole life. Married your father. Lived as a werewolf. Pretended the magic didn't exist.

Then I got pregnant with you.

Magic doesn't sleep during pregnancy. It wakes. It grows. It demands to be used.

I tried to suppress it. Tried to cage it like I always had.

But suppressing power while growing a child is like holding your breath while running. Eventually, something breaks.

I chose you. I used my power to keep you alive. To make sure you survived birth.

It killed me. But you lived.

Your father knows. He's always known. I made him promise never to tell you. To let you think you were wolfless. To keep you safe from the Assembly.

Because they hunt moon witches. They kill us. They fear us.

But you need to know the truth.

Your "wolfless curse" was never a curse. It was my magic, sleeping in your blood. Waiting to wake.

And when it wakes, you will be more powerful than I ever was.

Don't suppress it like I did. Don't hide like I did. Don't die like I did.

Be free.

Be powerful.

Be everything I was too afraid to become.

I love you. I'm sorry I couldn't stay.

Your mother,
Eleanor

Tears blurred the words. My hands shook.

My whole life was a lie.

My father knew. He knew everything.

"Sienna!" Orion's voice cut through my thoughts. "The spell!"

Right. Blood. I bit my thumb. Pressed it to the page.

The journal flashed bright silver. The humming stopped.

The guards behind us stumbled. Confused. They'd lost our trail.

"It worked!" Orion grabbed my arm. "Come on!"

We ran through the red desert. He opened another portal. We jumped.

Then another. And another.

Through a city made of ice. Through an ocean that hung in the sky. Through a cave filled with singing stones.

Each time, we barely escaped. Each time, the guards got closer.

"How long can we keep doing this?" I gasped.

"Until we reach somewhere they can't follow." Orion opened another door. "Almost there."

We fell through into darkness.

Then hit solid ground.

I recognized the smell. Pine trees. Mountain air. Snow.

We were back. Back in the real world. Outside Dr. Helena's safe house.

"We made it," Orion breathed. "We actually made it."

I clutched the journal to my chest. My mother's words burned in my mind.

My father knew. He lied to me for twenty-eight years.

To protect me. Or to control me?

"Sienna." Orion touched my shoulder. "I need to tell you something. About why I've been researching your family."

"Later." I was too tired. Too broken. "I just want to sleep."

"No, you need to hear this now. My mother—"

The safe house door slammed open.

Luna stood there.

Her face was stone. Her eyes blazed silver fire.

"Where," she said quietly, "have you been?"

My blood turned to ice.

"Luna, I can explain—"

"The Assembly called me an hour ago." Her voice was deadly calm. "They said one of my students attacked their guards. Killed three of them. Stole forbidden texts from a banned library."

Oh no.

"They want you arrested. They want you executed." Luna stepped forward. "And I'm the one they've ordered to bring you in."

She raised her hand.

Magic swirled around her fingers. Not silver. Black.

Binding magic.

"Luna, please—"

"You went to the library." Her voice cracked. "After everything I taught you. After all my warnings. You went anyway."

"I had to know the truth!"

"The truth?" Luna's laugh was bitter. "The truth is you just signed your death warrant. And mine. And everyone who's helped you."

The black magic shot toward me.

I raised my hands to block it.

But Orion stepped between us.

The magic hit him instead.

He screamed. Fell. His body convulsed on the ground.

"Orion!" I dropped beside him.

Luna stared at her hands. Horror on her face. "I didn't mean—I wasn't trying to—"

Orion's eyes rolled back. Foam bubbled from his lips.

"What did you do to him?" I screamed.

"Binding magic. It shouldn't—werewolves can handle—" Luna's voice shook. "But he's not full werewolf. The warlock half—oh gods, the warlock half is rejecting it."

"Fix it!"

"I can't! Only the Assembly can reverse binding magic!"

Orion's convulsions got worse. His skin turned gray.

He was dying.

Luna pulled out her phone with shaking hands. "I have to call them. They're the only ones who can save him."

"They'll kill us!"

"He'll die if I don't!"

She started dialing.

I looked at Orion. At the journal. At Luna.

Three choices. All of them terrible.

Let Orion die. Call the Assembly. Or run and leave him behind.

Luna's finger hovered over the call button.

And from inside the safe house, I heard Lily scream.