Chapter 112 CHAPTER 112
It had been hours since Lisa discovered Celia was gone.
Not minutes. Not moments stretched by panic. Real hours had passed since Lisa realized that Celia was no longer with her, and the absence had not softened with time. If anything, it had grown heavier, more terrifying the longer it remained.
At first, Lisa had searched for her quietly in her mind.
She had closed her eyes, slowed her breathing, and reached inward the way she always did. Celia had always been there - sometimes distant, sometimes resting, sometimes watching - but never gone. Even silence had always carried presence.
Now there was nothing.
The space where Celia should have been felt hollow, like a room stripped bare. Lisa paced the length of the temple floor, her steps restless, her hands trembling at her sides. She wasn’t crying. Fear had pushed past tears and settled into something colder, sharper, something that made her chest ache every time she tried to breathe too deeply.
“What if I went somewhere she couldn’t follow?” she whispered at last, stopping abruptly. “What if when I was pulled into the Silver City… she was pushed somewhere else?”
Liam stood close, his posture tense, his eyes never leaving her. He reached for her gently, placing his hands on her shoulders, grounding but careful. “Celia is strong,” he said softly. “She wouldn’t be lost that easily.”
Lisa shook her head. “You don’t understand. She’s never been gone. Not like this.” Her voice cracked despite her effort to keep it steady. “What if she was taken to another realm? What if she can’t find her way back?”
Liam pulled her into his arms then, holding her firmly against his chest. He murmured reassurances, steady and constant, telling her that they were searching, that Celestine and the elders were doing everything they could, that this wasn’t permanent.
But for the first time since he had known her, his words did not reach her.
“They don’t even know what happened to me,” Lisa said hollowly. “They don’t know why I was pulled out of my body. They don’t know why I crossed realms. What makes you think they’ll know what happened to Celia?”
Liam fell silent, tightening his hold as her fear spilled out unchecked.
Across the temple, the others worked without pause.
Celestine and Elder Jorah had spread ancient manuscripts across a long stone table, their fingers tracing old symbols, their brows furrowed in concentration. Nolan stood beside them, translating passages aloud, dismissing some with a shake of his head, lingering on others with visible concern.
“This should not have happened,” Celestine said quietly for the third time. “Not the soul displacement. Not the realm crossing.”
“And certainly not the severing of a bonded wolf,” Jorah added, her voice tight. “That was never part of the ritual.”
Ethan stood apart from them, pacing in a mirror of Lisa’s earlier movement. His hands were clasped behind his back, his thoughts racing faster than he could voice.
“Is it possible,” he asked suddenly, stopping short, “that in attempting to block the bond between Lisa and Sebastian… we disrupted her bond with Celia instead?”
No one answered immediately.
Nolan looked up slowly. “In theory?” he said carefully. “No. The bonds are different in nature.”
“But in practice?” Ethan pressed.
Celestine’s lips thinned. “We do not know.”
The words landed heavily.
Everything they were witnessing now was new. Untested. Unrecorded. Even Lisa’s journey through the realms should not have been possible, and yet it had happened. Every rule they thought they understood had bent - or broken - around her.
Hours dragged on.
Pages were turned. Spells were cross-referenced. Old warnings were read aloud in low voices. And still, no answer came.
Ethan watched his sister from across the room, his heart twisting painfully. She stood rigid in Liam’s arms, her eyes unfocused, fear etched so deeply into her expression it hurt to look at her.
This was his fault.
He had rushed the ritual. He had trusted urgency over caution. He had summoned her without giving her time to breathe, to understand, to choose fully.
If Celia did not come back… he did not know how he would face her.
The thought hollowed him out.
Then, suddenly, Lisa stilled.
Her breath caught sharply, her body going rigid in Liam’s arms.
“Wait,” she whispered.
Everyone turned.
“I… I feel something.”
Celestine and Jorah moved toward her instantly, their expressions alert, cautious. Liam loosened his hold slightly, watching her face with anxious focus.
Lisa closed her eyes and reached inward, carefully, afraid to hope.
“Celia?” she called.
At first, there was nothing.
Then - movement.
Like waking from deep water. Like a slow return to consciousness. A familiar presence stirred, heavy and groggy, but unmistakable.
“Lisa?” came the faint response. “Why do you sound so… frantic?”
Lisa gasped, clutching at Liam’s shirt as tears finally broke free. “Where have you been?” she whispered. “I couldn’t feel you for hours. I thought I lost you.”
“Lost me?” Celia replied, confusion threading through her voice. “What are you talking about?”
“The ritual,” Lisa said shakily. “After the ritual. Don’t you remember?”
There was a pause.
“I remember us kneeling down for the ritual, then the elders and the priestess started chanting something.” Celia said slowly. “And then… then there was nothing. I think I fell asleep or something…. I don’t remember anything else after that.”
The room exhaled as one.
Celia was back.
But then Lisa told them about Celia blacking out.
And the relief was temporary, replaced by a new fear.
Celestine’s voice was low and grave. “If she blacked out entirely…”
“Then the ritual did more than block a bond,” Nolan finished. “It suppressed a bonded consciousness. It means it could affect the bond between human and their wolf. It’s dangerous…”
Ethan closed his eyes briefly.
This ritual could not be repeated.
Not without understanding exactly what it did - not just to bonds, but to those who carried them.
Because whatever they had touched tonight had reached deeper than any of them had intended.