Chapter 104 Chapter 104

Chapter 104 Chapter 104
_Leah’s POV_

For a moment, the forest felt too big.

Sarah and I floated above the trees like pale ghosts. The world below us looked strange and far away. The branches were dark lines. The paths were thin scars in the ground. The wind moved through us without warmth.

I should have felt free.

Instead, I felt a pull.

It started as a small tug in my chest. Then it grew stronger. It was not the mate bond this time. It was something else...something colder.

Athena went tense inside me. Do you feel that?

“Yes,” I whispered. “I feel it.”

Sarah turned her head toward me. Her eyes were wide. “What is it?” she asked. “Why are you looking down like that?”

I stared at one patch of the woods. The trees there felt wrong. The shadows felt deeper. The air above that place shook very faintly....like heat over fire.

“I don’t know,” I said. “But something is calling me from there. I feel… pulled.”

Sarah shivered. “Is it Kayden?” she asked. “The mate bond?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said softly. “This is different. This feels… dark.”

Athena’s voice was low. Susan has begun. She is touching your body. She is calling the curse. That is what you feel.

My stomach twisted. “Susan,” I breathed.

Sarah’s face tightened. “Where?” she demanded.

“There,” I said. I pointed toward the darker part of the woods. Even as I pointed, the feeling grew stronger, like a hook digging into my spirit. “In that direction.”

Without thinking, I moved. My spirit drifted forward, then faster, then almost flew. Sarah hurried after me.

“Leah, wait!” she cried. “Tell me where you’re going!”

“I feel a pull,” I said. “I think it’s the temple. The Temple of Hecate.”

Athena confirmed, Yes. The old stones. The crossroads. The place where witches call shadows. That is where she has taken your body.

“I have to see,” I said. “I have to know what she is doing.”

The trees passed under us. The night air felt sharper here. The forest sounds faded. There were no owls and no rustling leaves...just a strange and heavy silence.

And then the moon changed.

I stopped in the air and Sarah bumped into me with a soft gasp.

“What is it?” she asked.

I looked up. The full moon was no longer silver-white. It was turning red.

Slowly, the pale light bled into a deep crimson. It spread like ink in water. The red glow washed over the tops of the trees, stained the bark and turned the mist between the branches into a faint and bloody haze.

“The Crimson Full Moon,” I whispered. “It’s starting.”

Sarah stared up too. Her voice shook. “This is the night,” she said. “The night he waited for. The night he wanted to kill you.”

Athena’s tone darkened. It is the night dark forces rise. The veil is thin. The ritual is at its strongest now.

“We have no time,” I said. “Come on.”

We flew lower through the trees. The red moonlight leaked between branches and fell like strange rain over the forest floor. My spirit flickered when it touched me. The world felt stretched like both the astral realm and the real world were pressing against each other.

Finally, the trees opened.

The Hecate temple lay in a small clearing. It was half-buried in earth and time. Old stones formed thick walls. Cracks ran through them like veins. Dark vines climbed over the outer pillars. At the very center, there was an open roof where the moonlight fell in a sharp red circle.

Athena murmured, This place is dangerous. Be careful.

I floated closer. I could feel my heart pounding even though I had no real heart here. Sarah stayed close to my side. She was clutching my hand like it was the only solid thing left.

When I passed through the temple wall, the air inside changed. It felt heavier, thicker and full of whispers.

And there, in the middle of the stone floor, I saw myself.

My body lay on a cold stone altar.

I stopped moving.

Sarah sucked in a breath. “Leah,” she whispered.

I could not answer.

My body was dressed in a simple white gown. It was stained with dirt and dust. My hair was spread around my head like a dark halo. My eyes were closed. My skin looked pale and still.

Around the altar, Susan had drawn a large shape with dark powder. It was a pentagon with lines inside, forming a star. In the points of the star, candles burned with greenish flames. The air around them shimmered.

Strange herbs and bowls of colored liquid lay near my body. The smell was sharp and bitter.

Susan stood beside the altar. Her hands moved slowly as she tossed powders into the air and poured thick drops of dark liquid on the lines of her symbol. Her lips moved constantly.

I floated closer and I could hear her.

“Blood of curse and blood of bond,” she chanted softly. “Tie the flesh. Bind the soul. Silence the mate. Seal the thread.”

Her voice did not sound human. The words echoed against the stone.

She lifted a pinch of black powder and threw it over my chest.

“Body of the chosen,” she whispered. “Vessel of fate. Open for power. Close for mercy.”

My skin twitched.

I flinched in the air. “Stop,” I whispered without thinking.

But she could not hear me.

Sarah trembled beside me. “She’s… she’s using you like an object,” she whispered. “Like you’re not even a person.”

Anger rose in me. It was hot and sharp.

Athena warned, Do not rush. Rage blinds. You must think.

I floated down until I was right above my body.

It was strange to look at myself like that. Strange and wrong. I reached out my hand slowly.

“If I can just get back,” I whispered, “if I can just slip inside again, she will lose everything.”

Sarah grabbed my arm. “Leah, wait,” she said. “We don’t know what she did to you.”

“I don’t care,” I said. “This is my body. I’m taking it back.”

Athena’s voice rose. Leah, be careful....

I ignored them both.

I lowered my hand until my fingers brushed the skin of my own arm.

Pain exploded.

It was like someone threw my spirit into fire.

I screamed. The sound felt like it ripped out of my essence. I jerked back and clutched my hand to my chest.

My fingers were still there but they felt burned. Not with real burns but with magic....dark magic.

Sarah caught me. “Leah!” she cried. “What happened? What did you feel?”

“It burns,” I gasped. “It’s like she wrapped my body in thorns. In hot wire.”

Athena’s voice was harsh. Susan has sealed your flesh. She used the curse mark and dark runes to block you. She built a wall between your soul and your skin.

Tears stung my eyes. “So I can’t go back?” I whispered. “I can’t… I can’t get in?”

Silence answered me for a moment.

Then Athena said slowly, Not like this. Not by forcing your way. She laid a spell that rejects your soul.

I looked down at my body again. It lay so still even as Susan poured more dark liquid along the lines of her symbol.

“Spirits of shadow,” Susan chanted and threw a handful of grey powder into the air, “hear my voice. Accept this vessel. Accept this blood.”

She walked to a table near the altar and picked up a large sword.

The blade was long and heavy, with strange symbols etched along the metal. The red moonlight reflected on it making it glow faintly.

My heart...my spirit....lurched.

“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no…”

Sarah’s grip on my arm tightened. “What is she doing?”

“She is blessing it,” Athena said grimly. “She wants the sword to carry the curse. To make the death permanent.”

Susan held the sword upright in both hands and began another chant.

“Blade of night,” she murmured. “Blade of blood. Drink and seal. Cut and bind. Carry the mark of Fireblood. Serve the hand that holds you.”

She turned toward Tariq. He stood near the edge of the symbol. His eyes were fixed on my body. His face was calm...too calm.

“I need your mark,” Susan said.

He stepped forward without hesitation and held out his hand.

Susan drew the edge of the sword across his palm with slow care. A line of red blood welled up and dripped down.

She tilted the blade so the blood ran along the metal.

“Blood of Alpha,” she whispered. “Blood of sin. Claim your sacrifice.”

She then handed the sword to him.

“Wait for my signal,” she said. “You must strike at the final word. Not before. Not after.”

Tariq’s eyes shone coldly. He wrapped his fingers around the hilt. He moved closer to the altar.

My altar.

He lifted the sword and held it above my neck.

My whole spirit shook.

I flew closer. I was almost pressing myself against the glowing lines of the symbol. “Don’t,” I cried, even though I knew he could not hear me. “Don’t touch her. Don’t touch me!”

Tariq’s expression did not change. He stared down at my body like I was a piece of meat.

“Soon,” he said softly. “Soon this will be over.”

Sarah stood beside me. She was breathing fast. “Leah,” she whispered, “this is bad. This is so bad. What do we do? We can’t stop him. We can’t touch anything.”

“I don’t know,” I said. My voice broke. “I feel… useless. I feel like air.”

Athena tried to steady me. Do not give up yet. The ritual is not complete. There is still a crack. We must find it.

I shook my head. “What crack?” I whispered. “She sealed my body. She took my bond. I tried to touch myself and I burned.”

Sarah looked down at my hands.

Her eyes suddenly narrowed.

“Leah,” she said slowly. “Your mark.”

I paused. “What?”

“Your palms,” she said. “Look.”

I looked.

The triangle symbol on my hands, the curse mark, was glowing.

Something inside the mark pulsed with red light, matching the color of the moon. The lines of the symbol looked deeper like they had been cut fresh.

At the same time, Sarah’s spirit began to glow too.

It started as a faint shimmer under her skin. Then it grew stronger. It was not silver like mine. It was more like soft, pale gold with streaks of shadow in it. It flickered like a candle in a dark room.

Sarah gasped. “I… I feel something,” she whispered. “I feel… pulled.”

“Pulled where?” I asked.

She looked at my hands again. “There,” she said. “To that mark. It’s like a hook. It’s calling me.”

Athena’s voice was very quiet now. The curse was born with her death. The first wound was hers. The mark knows her. The spell knows her.

I stared at my glowing hands. “Do you think… can you…?”

Sarah took a shaky breath. “I don’t know,” she said. “But if I can’t stop him here, then what was the point of my freedom?”

Her eyes met mine. There was fear in them. But there was also fire.

“I want to try,” she said.

My chest twisted. “Sarah...”

“If I can get inside,” she said, “maybe I can move your body. Maybe I can stop him. Maybe I can do what I should have done the night he killed me.”

I hesitated.

Athena said softly, The body rejects you, Leah. But it does not reject her. The curse chain ties them. This might be the only way.

I nodded slowly. My throat hurt. “Okay,” I whispered. “We don’t have much time. Susan is still chanting.”

Below us, Susan’s voice rose louder. “Moon of crimson, hear me. Goddess of darkness, watch. Take this life. Feed this curse. Give him freedom.”

Tariq stood above me, the sword steady in his hand, waiting.

I reached out my hands toward Sarah. “When you go in,” I said softly, “he will see my face, not yours. He will think you are me.”

Sarah nodded. “That’s okay.”

“No,” I said. “I want him to know it’s you. I want him to hear your voice before he dies.”

Sarah’s mouth curved into a small and bitter smile. “Then I will make sure he does.”

I swallowed. “Be careful.”

She let out a shaky laugh. “Too late for that,” she whispered.

Then she moved.

Slowly, then faster, Sarah reached out and placed her glowing hands over the glowing mark on my palm.

The moment she touched it, her whole spirit jolted.

Her light stretched and thinned, like someone grabbed her from behind and pulled hard. She gasped but she did not let go.

The mark flared bright red.

A force sucked her down.

She was pulled through my hand like water through a drain.

“Sarah!” I cried.

But in a heartbeat, she was gone.

The glow in my hands dimmed.

I hung there in the air, alone.

Below, my body twitched.

Susan’s voice rose to a sharp and final note. “Now!” she screamed. “Now, Alpha! Strike!”

Tariq drew in a breath and shifted his grip. The sword gleamed.

“Leah, forgive me,” he said, though his eyes held no real regret.

He moved to bring the sword down.

But suddenly, my body jerked upright.

In one fast and fierce motion, my body rolled to the side and threw itself off the altar.

The sword sliced through empty air.

Tariq stumbled forward. He nearly lost his balance. “What...” he shouted. “How is this possible?”

My body landed in a crouch on the stone floor. My head snapped up.

But I knew.

It was not me behind those eyes.

A cold and burning anger shone out of my own face.

It was Sarah.

Susan’s eyes widened. “No,” she hissed. “This cannot be. I did the sealing spell. I blocked Leah’s soul. This is not Leah.”

Tariq turned on her. “You told me,” he snarled, “that her spirit would not be able to return to her body. You lied to me, witch!”

Susan glared at him. “Fool,” she snapped. “I did not say no soul. I said no Leah. This is someone else.”