Seraphine Vale's POV
Kade Thorne stood three feet away from me.
"Run or stay?" he asked quietly. "You have two seconds to decide."
My ankle throbbed. My heart hammered. The USB drive burned against my skin.
"Why are you here?" I demanded.
"Because someone sent me a very interesting file thirty minutes ago." His amber eyes locked onto mine. "A recording from sixteen years in the future. Your voice, older, dying, singing your last song. With a note that said: 'She needs protection. Tonight. Or she dies young again.'"
My blood froze. The mysterious helper sent him proof of my time travel.
"Who are you really?" Kade stepped closer. "And don't lie. I've seen enough impossible things in the last hour to know magic exists."
"I'm—" My voice broke. "I'm someone who already lived this life and failed everyone I loved. I came back to fix it."
He studied my face for a long moment. Then nodded. "Good. Then you'll need my help. Because Cassius has six men searching for you right now, and three of them are heading this way."
He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a black car parked nearby.
"Wait—Echo's showcase—"
"Is in four hours. We have time. Get in."
I shouldn't trust him. Shouldn't get in a car with a man I barely knew.
But his hand was warm and his eyes were honest and the mysterious helper trusted him enough to send him that recording.
I got in.
Kade drove fast, weaving through traffic. "The showcase is a trap," he said. "Cassius knows you're planning to expose him. He's got security waiting to grab you the second you arrive."
"How do you—"
"I've been tracking him for six months. I have people inside his organization." He glanced at me. "What I didn't have was proof. Until now. Until you."
He pulled into a parking garage and killed the engine. We sat in silence for a moment.
"The audition is tomorrow," I said. "At Stellar Entertainment."
"I know. I'll be there."
"In my first life, you tried to warn me about Morgana. I didn't listen."
Kade's jaw tightened. "In my first life, I failed to save my mother. I've been trying to save everyone else ever since. Mostly failing at that too."
We looked at each other—two broken people trying to rewrite history.
"Help me destroy them," I whispered. "All of them. Cassius. Morgana. Every predator who hurts artists."
"On one condition." His eyes were fierce. "You let me keep you alive long enough to do it."
Before I could answer, his phone rang. He answered on speaker.
"Kade, it's Maven." A woman's voice, sharp and urgent. "Change of plans. Stellar Entertainment moved tomorrow's auditions to tonight. Right now. They're doing surprise walk-ins only—no scheduled appointments. If your girl wants in, she needs to get there in the next twenty minutes."
My stomach dropped. "That's impossible. The audition is tomorrow—"
"Not anymore," Maven said. "Someone leaked that a viral sensation was planning to audition tomorrow. Now every label in the city is crashing Stellar's doors tonight trying to scout first. It's chaos."
Kade cursed under his breath. "We're not ready—"
"I am," I interrupted. My hands stopped shaking. Suddenly I felt calm. Clear. "This is better. No time for Morgana to prepare. No time for anyone to plan. Just me and my voice."
Kade looked at me like I was insane. Maybe I was.
"Get me there," I said. "Now."
Stellar Entertainment was packed. People everywhere—singers, dancers, rappers, all fighting to be seen.
"Number 847!" someone yelled. "You're up!"
That was me. Number 847. In my first life, I'd been number 352. Morning auditions. Everything was different now.
Kade gripped my shoulder. "You don't have to do this tonight—"
"Yes, I do." I stood up. "Because in my first life, I sang the safe song. The boring one. The one that got me noticed by Morgana and destroyed by the industry. Tonight, I sing the truth."
I walked to the audition room. My ankle hurt with every step but I didn't care.
The judges sat behind a long table. Three of them. In my first life, I remembered their names: Patricia, Marcus, and Jin. They looked bored. Exhausted. They'd been listening to people all night.
"Name?" Patricia asked without looking up.
"Seraphine Vale."
"What are you singing?"
This was it. The moment everything changed.
"An original song," I said. "It's called 'Phoenix Protocol.'"
Jin finally looked up. "Original? Bold choice. Most people play it safe at auditions."
"I'm done playing it safe."
I stepped up to the microphone. Closed my eyes. And let myself remember.
Every betrayal. Every assault. Every stolen song. Every time someone made me feel small. Echo's suicide. My mother's disappointment. The baby I gave up. Dying alone on a bar stage at thirty-eight.
All of it poured into my voice.
The first note came out raw. Painful. Real.
"I died before I learned to fly Gave them my wings, believed their lies But phoenixes don't stay in ashes long We rise again, we rise again, we rise—"
The room went silent. I opened my eyes and saw Patricia's mouth hanging open. Marcus had tears streaming down his face. Jin was frozen, pen stopped mid-air.
I kept singing. Louder. Stronger.
"You tried to cage me, tried to break me Tried to make me small and tame But I've got fire in my veins now And I'm coming for your throne—"
The door at the back of the room opened. Kade walked in with Maven—a woman with purple hair and fierce eyes. They stood watching.
Then another person entered.
Morgana Hax.
Our eyes met across the room. Her face went white. She recognized the song. Of course she did—she'd stolen it and given it to Celeste Nova three years from now.
But I was singing it first. Here. Now. With witnesses.
I sang the final chorus directly at her:
"This is my encore of ashes My last song before I rise Watch me burn your empire down Watch me take back what's mine—"
The last note hung in the air.
No one moved. No one breathed.
Then Patricia stood up, tears on her cheeks. "That was... I've been judging auditions for twenty years. I've never heard anything like that."
"Where did you get that song?" Morgana's voice cut through the silence like a knife. She walked toward me, heels clicking. "I know that melody. That's—"
"Mine," I said firmly. "I wrote it two years ago. I have the original recordings. The dated files. The handwritten lyrics. It's mine."
Morgana's eyes narrowed. "You can't prove—"
"Actually," Maven spoke up, holding up her phone, "I just recorded this entire audition. Time-stamped. Dated. With your reaction clearly showing you recognized a song that supposedly doesn't exist yet. Interesting."
Morgana's face turned red. Then she smiled. That dangerous smile.
"Clever girl," she whispered to me. "But you just made a fatal mistake. You think exposing one song protects you? I'll bury you so deep, no one will ever find you."
She turned and walked out.
The judges looked confused. "Um... should we... is she accepted or...?"
"She's hired," Kade said, stepping forward. "Obsidian Records. Exclusive contract. Full creative control. I'm signing her tonight."
Patricia frowned. "You can't just—"
"I own 30% of Stellar Entertainment," Kade said coldly. "I absolutely can."
Jin stood up slowly. "That song... it sounded like someone who'd already died once. How old are you, really?"
The question hung in the air.
Before I could answer, the lights went out.
Complete darkness. Someone screamed.
I felt hands grab me from behind. A cloth pressed against my mouth—chemical smell, sharp and wrong.
"SERA!" Kade's voice, far away.
I tried to fight but my body went heavy. Numb.
The last thing I heard before everything went black:
"We got her. Bring the van around. Cassius wants her alive."
I woke up in darkness.
My hands were tied. My mouth taped shut. I was in a moving vehicle—I could feel the bumps, hear the engine.
Panic hit me like ice water.
This didn't happen in my first life. This was new. This was because I'd changed things.
A voice spoke from the darkness: "You're awake. Good. Cassius wants to meet you before he decides whether to kill you or keep you."
The tape ripped from my mouth. I gasped for air.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Somewhere no one will ever find you."
The van turned sharply. My body slammed against the wall.
Then—gunshots.
The van swerved wildly. Brakes screamed.
More gunshots. Shouting. The back doors burst open.
Kade stood there, gun in hand, eyes blazing.
"Nobody," he said quietly, "takes what's mine."
He shot the man holding me.
I'd never seen anyone look so beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
"Can you walk?" he asked.
I nodded. He cut my ropes and pulled me out of the van.
We were on an empty highway. Two other vehicles were crashed nearby. Bodies everywhere.
"What—what did you—"
"Saved your life," Kade said. "You're welcome."
He helped me toward his car. My legs shook so badly I could barely stand.
"Who are you really?" I whispered.
Kade looked at me with those amber eyes that saw too much.
"Someone who's been waiting sixteen years for you to come back," he said.
My heart stopped. "What?"
"I time-traveled too, Seraphine. I'm not from this timeline either."
The world spun. "But how—when—"
"I'll explain everything. But first—" He looked at his phone and cursed. "They took Echo. While we were dealing with you, they grabbed your friend. Cassius has her."
No. No no no NO.
"Where?" My voice came out like a growl.
"His studio. He's live-streaming her 'audition' in ten minutes. To the whole industry. If we don't stop him—"
I grabbed the gun from his hand.
"Then let's go kill him," I said.