Jeremy sat silently in the dusty interior of the monastery, lit only by the moonlight filtering through the stained-glass. He held a diary on his lap. His hands were slightly stained with ink and dust, but he paid no attention to it. Page by page, word by word, he sank deeper into his mother's world.
Henry stood behind, near a pillar. He didn't press him. He knew some things could only be read in solitude.
Jeremy spoke first, his voice low, tense:
— "If they ever separate us... if the day comes when Jack and I disappear beyond the barrier — Jeremy must know it's not the end. The power doesn't end. It falls asleep. But it can wake up if it returns to its roots. To me. To father. To blood."
Henry nodded, stepping closer.
— She knew that. She felt that you would be the key. You and someone else. She didn't specify who — maybe she didn't know. But she left these notes, not just as a warning. They are a guide.
Jeremy flipped through several pages. He read quietly:
— "I believe that if Jeremy manages to combine his powers with the light of another person, he can create a rift. Enough for the power to return. For us to come back to him."
Henry sighed, running his hand through his hair.
— Your father and mother are beyond the barrier. They're not dead. But they are... human. Powerless. They hide because they know they can't help without the power returning. Jack can't cast shadows, Alison can no longer read minds. But they live. And they wait.
Jeremy closed his eyes.
— They knew I needed them. And yet... they let me grow up alone?
— It was a choice that destroyed them. But it was also a choice that protected you. They couldn't risk Rosalie taking control over you. They left you here, where magic still exists. Where your power could awaken.
Jeremy stood, clutching the diary.
— So if I combine my power with another person... with Julie...
— Maybe you will create something Rosalie didn't expect — Henry interrupted him. — Maybe you won't just get your parents back. Maybe you will defeat her once and for all.
Jeremy looked through the broken window towards the city.
— I have to tell Julie everything. And I have to be ready... to protect her. But also to truly connect with her. Soul. Power. Shadow and light.
Henry nodded with respect.
— You are the son of a fallen and an angelic. It's time for you to stop just searching for answers. It's time for you to start creating them.
*
Julie sat on the roof of the old library, legs dangling over the edge, the wind blowing through her dark hair. She wasn't surprised when she felt his presence before he spoke.
Jeremy climbed onto the roof without a word. For a moment, he just stood and looked at her, as if trying to memorize her face exactly as it was in this light — midnight, mysterious.
— You came — Julie whispered, not turning her gaze from the city below.
— I had to. I found something — he said, sitting beside her. He handed her the diary. — It's my mother's. Her notes. Her fear. Her hope.
Julie didn't open the book immediately. She sensed she needed to hear his voice first.
— Inside are words that change everything. About me. About you. About what we have to do.
He fell silent, then added softly:
— Julie... she knew that one day I would have to connect with someone like you. Someone who has the light inside her that I don't understand, but desire. It's not just about feelings. It's about power.
Julie turned to him, looking into his eyes.
— What if I can't do it? What if I'm not who she meant?
Jeremy took her hand.
— You already are. I felt you in my dreams. I heard you before I met you. And I know you hear me too, Julie. That I was in your dream as well.
She was moved but didn't deny it.
— Yes... I see you when I close my eyes. And then I'm not afraid of anything. Not even Rosalie.
— She's planning something. But you're not alone anymore — Jeremy squeezed her hand. — We'll connect. Not just with our hearts. With power. Souls. And we'll find a way to end it all. So my parents can return. So you're safe. So we can... finally live normally. Even if just for one day.
Julie moved closer and rested her head on his shoulder.
— Jeremy?
— Mhm?
— I know the world is falling apart. But if I have to go through hell... I'd rather do it with you.
He looked at her and, for the first time in a long while — smiled genuinely.
*
Cold moonlight poured through the dusty windows of her hideout. Rosalie stood in the middle of a circle of symbols drawn with black blood. The shadows on the walls moved unnaturally, as if reacting to her emotions.
She closed her eyes. One thought — one sigh — was enough to feel them.
Jeremy. And Julie.
The connection.
Like a pulse. Like breaking the web that was supposed to belong to her.
Rosalie opened her eyes. Though outwardly calm, fire boiled under her skin.
— He touched her soul — she hissed, surprisingly quietly.
A raven perched on her shoulder. Only one. A sinister omen.
— He betrayed me. Again.
She moved through the circle, and darkness obediently slid after her, like the shadow of a beast at its master's feet. There was something wild in her gaze — not sadness, not sorrow. Possession. Rosalie didn't know the concept of loss. Everything she loved, she kept with her.
Jeremy was meant to belong to her. His power. His origin. His destiny.
And now... he shared it with someone else.
— You think this will end with a happy ending, Julie? — she said into the void. — We'll see how long you last... when every night starts burning you from the inside.
She raised her hand to the stone bowl of water and whispered a few words in a language no human knew.
The water swirled. Inside appeared Julie's face — sleeping, calm.
Rosalie closed her eyelids and cast a final whisper:
— I will enter your dream. Not to hurt you. But so you never wake up again.
*
Julie stood on an empty road. Fog hovered thick over the ground, as if the world was suspended between wakefulness and something... worse. The trees on the sides had strangely twisted branches, and their shadows moved, though there was no wind.
She was barefoot. In her hands, she held a doll. She didn't know where it came from, but it had black, burnt-out eyes and skin made of thin fabric resembling human tissue.
— This isn't my dream — she whispered.
Then she heard laughter. Familiar. Icy. Female.
From the fog emerged Rosalie. Dressed in something like a thin, shimmering gown made of shadow and frost. Her eyes held no anger — only amusement. As if she knew the ending, Julie hadn't read yet.
— So easy to find you — Rosalie said, standing before her. — You're not made for fighting, Julie. You're... soft.
Julie stepped back, but couldn't wake up. Her body was heavy, her thoughts slow.
— What do you want?
— You. Not as a victim. Not as a rival. — Rosalie leaned closer. — I want you to understand. That Jeremy was mine... before you appeared.
Julie clenched her fists. Inside, at the very heart of the dream, something rebelled. Something ignited.
— He belongs to no one.
Rosalie smiled wider. The world around them began to tremble. Trees burned without fire. Shadows danced. Everything fell apart.
— Yet you are here alone — she whispered. — And that's how you'll wake. Feeling like something is stalking you. Like something knows you. And that... you are no longer whole.
Then something changed. In the very middle of the raging dream... light. A small spark, too pure for this place. And a voice Julie recognized instantly.
— Julie... Wake up. I'm coming.
Jeremy.
Rosalie hissed as if burned. The dream shattered like glass — and Julie opened her eyes with a sharp gasp, sitting on the bed, sweaty, pupils dilated.
But on her hand... a streak of ash remained.
*
Julie sat by the window in the school library, pretending to read. She turned the pages of the book automatically. The letters blurred into smudges, and her thoughts kept returning to that one night.
Rosalie's laughter. The shadow. The smell of ash she still felt on her hands.
It wasn't an ordinary dream.
Since then, she hadn't been able to sleep peacefully. She was afraid. Not of the nightmare — but of what was real in it. A crack had appeared in her world, as if reality began to crumble at the edges.
When she looked in the mirror in the morning, for a moment, she thought she saw someone's eyes behind her own. A shadow of a face. Fleeting. It disappeared when she blinked.
— Julie?
She jumped. Jeremy stood nearby, concern in his eyes.
— Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you — he added softly.
— It's okay. I was just... lost in thought — she replied, forcing a smile.
Jeremy watched her carefully, as if sensing something was wrong. He was always too perceptive. But Julie couldn't... wouldn't tell him yet. Not about the dream. Not about Rosalie invading her mind and leaving traces there.
She didn't want Jeremy to think she was weak. Especially now, when she needed him so much. And when he was becoming more and more... different.
— Want to go outside? — he suggested. — It's stuffy here.
She nodded. Took the book, though she hadn't read a single word. As they walked down the hallway together, she tried not to think about how much she wanted to tell him the truth.
But something held her back.
As if Rosalie still sat inside her. As if something waited for Julie to break.