********Harper
The silence inside my house was crushing, as if the walls themselves held their breath. My pulse was still wild from everything that had happened, but the sudden quiet was worse than the chaos before. I paced, my fists clenching and unclenching, when Chris's voice broke through the stillness inside my head.
"Harper," he said, his tone sharper than usual, almost strained. "I know who took them."
I froze. "Who?" My voice cracked, already afraid of the answer.
There was a pause—a hesitation that told me I wasn't going to like it. Then he said it:
"It was the masked lady. She took your mom, Elias, and Elora."
The air seemed to vanish from the room. My chest burned as if I'd been struck. My mom. Elias. Elora. Taken by her. The image of that woman's cold mask and mocking tone slammed into me, and rage rose so quickly I nearly choked on it.
I turned to Kael. He was standing by the window, shadows curling faintly around him like smoke that didn't belong to this world. His face was unreadable, but his eyes flicked to me when I spoke.
"This ends now," I said, my voice steady despite the storm boiling inside me.
Kael's jaw tightened. For a heartbeat, he just stared at me, and then he nodded slowly. "I know where she would take them."
Luna straightened from where she stood beside me. Her expression mirrored my own resolve, though I caught the flicker of fear in her eyes. Even Hay was uncharacteristically quiet, her presence dim beside Luna's mind.
Kael lifted a hand, his voice low, almost reverent. "Come. I'll take you there."
The world shifted in an instant. My living room dissolved into nothingness, the familiar walls tearing apart like smoke in the wind. A cold gust hit me, carrying the stench of damp earth and old ashes. When the ground reformed beneath my feet, we stood somewhere else entirely.
The air here was heavier, thicker—like it carried the weight of curses. Dark trees towered around us, their branches twisted into grotesque shapes, reaching like claws into the mist. The soil beneath my boots was cracked and blackened, as though burned long ago and never healed.
Kael's voice carried in the gloom. "This is the border between realms. On the other side lies the witches' territory."
My stomach knotted as I looked across the border. There, against a tree twisted with roots as thick as chains, I saw them.
Mom. Elias. Elora.
They were bound tightly, ropes biting into their wrists and ankles. My mother's head hung low, her hair falling forward like a curtain. Elias was awake, struggling, his jaw clenched in fury as he tugged against the bonds. Elora was trembling, tears streaking her face as she pressed against the bark as though it could swallow her whole.
The sight made my blood roar in my ears. I took a step forward, but Kael's hand shot out, stopping me.
"You can't just rush in," he warned.
"Then come with me!" I snapped, whirling on him. "Help me free them!"
His expression didn't change, but his voice dropped low, almost pained. "I can't."
"Why not?" My words came out as a growl, sharp and broken.
"Because I am partly demon," Kael said, his eyes hard but his tone stripped of pretense. "If I step into the witches' realm, their wards will burn me alive before I take two steps."
The truth of it hung heavy between us. I wanted to scream at him, to demand he find a way, but the steel in his gaze told me he wasn't lying. He wasn't refusing—he simply couldn't.
Instead, he reached into the folds of his coat and pulled something out. A dagger. Its blade gleamed faintly even in the murky dark, etched with runes that pulsed with dim light. He held it out to me.
"Take this."
I hesitated, then gripped the hilt. The metal was colder than ice, sending a jolt up my arm, but it settled in my hand as if it belonged there.
Kael's gaze bore into mine. "Vaelthor won't be able to touch you if he sees this dagger. He knows what it means."
I swallowed hard, clutching the weapon tighter.
Behind me, Luna stepped forward. "Then I'm going with her," she said firmly.
I turned to argue, but stopped when I saw the fire in her eyes. She wasn't asking. She was declaring.
Kael inclined his head once, then looked at Chris and Hay. "Stay here with me. If anything shifts in the balance of realms, we'll be ready."
The AI voices hummed in the back of our minds in quiet agreement.
I looked at the border again. A faint shimmer rippled in the air, marking the line between our world and the witches'. Beyond it, the tree where my family was tied seemed impossibly far, yet close enough to reach if I dared step across.
I tightened my grip on the dagger. My heart hammered in my chest.
With Luna at my side, I stepped forward.
The moment my foot crossed the shimmer, the air changed. The weight of the realm pressed down on me, thick and suffocating, prickling at my skin as if needles were driving into me from every direction. Dark whispers slithered at the edges of my mind, pulling at me, trying to weaken me.
But I kept walking.
Luna's hand brushed my arm once, steadying me, reminding me I wasn't alone.
And then—
A figure emerged from the shadows, stepping between me and the tree.
The masked lady.
Her laughter was soft, like a blade scraping against stone. She tilted her head, the mask catching the faint glow of the runes on my dagger.
"Finally," she chuckled, her voice dripping with mockery. "You're here."