Chapter 26: Luna's Warning

Sienna's POV

Orion's warning hung in the air.

They're already here.

I spun toward the windows. Saw nothing but darkness.

"Where?" Daemon demanded.

Orion pointed down. "Underground. Tunnels. They're surrounding us."

"How do you know?"

"I feel them." Orion touched his chest. "The binding magic opened something. I sense things now."

The floor trembled. Dust fell from the ceiling.

Lily woke up. "Mommy?"

"Stay close." I picked her up.

Kael moved beside us. His body was tense.

Luna stood by the door. She hadn't moved since her outburst.

"This is your fault," she said without looking at me.

"Luna, not now."

"Yes, now." She turned. Her eyes blazed. "You had one job. Learn control. Keep your head down. Survive."

"I was trying to save my daughter."

"By being reckless? Stupid?" Luna's voice rose. "You went to a forbidden library. Stole banned texts. Killed Assembly guards."

"They killed my father!"

"And now they'll kill everyone you love!" Luna grabbed my shoulders. Shook me. "The Assembly doesn't forgive. They eliminate threats."

"Then I'll fight them."

"You can't fight an army!" Tears filled Luna's eyes. "I taught you suppression to keep you alive. Not weak. Alive. The Assembly hunts moon witches who show full power. So I taught you to hide. To survive."

My throat tightened. "You lied to me."

"I protected you." Luna released me. "But you couldn't follow one rule. Stay hidden. Now we all die."

The floor shook harder. Cracks appeared in the wood.

"We need to leave," Dr. Helena said.

"The tunnels connect to the forest," Daemon said. "If we run, they chase us into the open."

"So what do we do?"

"Collapse the tunnels." He looked at me. "Can you?"

"I don't know."

"Try."

I set Lily down. Knelt. Pressed my palms against the floor.

My power reached down. Into the earth. I felt the tunnels. Felt bodies moving through them. Dozens. Maybe hundreds.

Too many.

"There's too many," I whispered.

"How many?"

"All of them. The entire hunter division."

Luna's face went white. "They only mobilize everyone for..." She stopped. "For hunting a moon witch."

"They want me that badly?"

"They want what you represent." Luna knelt beside me. "You're proof moon witches still exist. That our power can wake. That we're not extinct."

"So what?"

"If you exist, others can exist. If your mother passed magic to you, other families might have moon witch blood. The Assembly spent centuries saying we're gone. You destroy that lie by breathing."

The truth hit me.

This wasn't about me. It was about what I meant.

"So they kill me to keep the lie alive," I said.

"Yes."

"And everyone who helped me."

"Yes."

I looked at Lily. At Kael. At everyone in danger because of me.

"Then I surrender. I'll go to trial alone."

"No." Kael grabbed my arm. "That's what they want."

"It's the only way."

"You won't save anyone." Luna stood. "The trial is fake. They'll execute you. Make you an example. Then hunt down everyone anyway."

"Then what's the point of the summons?"

"To make you come willingly. Make it look legitimate." Luna walked to the window. "If you run, they're murderers. If you come to trial, they're judges."

My hands curled into fists. "Either way I die."

"Either way we all die."

The floor cracked. A hand burst through. Grabbed Luna's ankle.

She screamed.

Daemon yanked her away.

More hands came through. Hunters climbed from underground.

"Fight!" Daemon roared.

I blasted the first hunter. He disintegrated.

Kael tackled another. They hit the floor hard.

Orion raised his hands. Purple light exploded. Three hunters flew backward.

Dr. Helena grabbed Lily. Ran for the back door.

Luna stabbed a hunter with her knife. He fell into the tunnel.

More kept coming. Too many.

"Collapse the cabin!" I shouted.

"Lily's inside!" Kael yelled.

"Dr. Helena has her! Go!"

Kael ran for the door.

I gathered all my power. Let it build until my skin glowed silver.

"Everyone out!" I screamed.

They ran.

I released everything.

The cabin exploded. Walls blew outward. Floor shattered.

The tunnels collapsed. Hunters fell. Screams echoed underground.

When the dust cleared, I stood in a crater. The cabin was gone.

But twenty hunters still stood at the clearing's edge. Weapons drawn.

Behind them stepped someone I recognized from stories.

Judge Celeste. The ancient moon witch. The one who helped create the laws that hunted us.

"Sienna Voss," she said. "You are summoned to trial in three days. If you don't appear, everyone you love will be executed. Starting with your daughter."

My blood turned to ice.

"You can't touch her."

"Can't I?" Celeste smiled. "She's a moon witch. Just like you. The law is clear. All moon witches must be registered. Controlled. Monitored."

"She's five years old!"

"Old enough to be dangerous." Celeste's eyes glowed silver. Like mine. "Come to trial. Prove you're not a threat. Or watch everyone die."

She turned. Walked into the forest. The hunters followed.

They vanished.

I stood there shaking. My power drained. My body exhausted.

Lily ran to me. Threw her arms around my legs.

"Mommy, you're glowing."

I looked down. Silver light pulsed under my skin. Brighter than before.

Kael appeared beside me. "Are you okay?"

"No."

He touched my face. "We'll figure this out."

"How? They'll kill Lily if I don't go."

"Then we find another way."

"There is no other way."

Luna joined us. Blood dripped from her forehead. "The trial happens in three days. Surrender and die. Or run and let them hunt your daughter."

"That's not a choice."

"It's the only one they're giving you."

Kael pulled out his tablet. Started tapping. "There might be another option."

"What option?"

"Something from my research." He pulled up charts. Graphs. "I've been studying Lily's condition. Tracking her episodes. Measuring her power."

"Kael, now isn't the time."

"Yes it is." He turned the tablet toward me. "Every time you suppress power, Lily gets worse. Every time you use it freely, she gets better."

I stared at the data. The pattern was clear.

"What does that mean?"

"Your power and hers are connected. When you cage yourself, it creates feedback. The energy goes into her."

My stomach dropped. "I've been hurting her."

"Not on purpose. But yes." Kael's voice was gentle. "Luna's training, the suppression, it's killing Lily slowly."

I turned to Luna. "You knew?"

"No. I didn't." But her face said otherwise.

"You knew and kept teaching me anyway."

"I thought I was helping!"

"You were killing my daughter!" Power flared around my hands.

"Sienna, don't." Kael moved between us.

Lily tugged my hand. "Mommy, I don't feel good."

I looked down. Her face was pale. Her eyes were losing focus.

"Baby?"

She swayed. Started to fall.

Kael caught her. "Lily!"

Her body convulsed. Worse than before.

Silver light exploded from her chest.