Celeste's POV
Aurora's spell hits Damian square in the chest.
He flies backward, slamming into the wall so hard the stone cracks. He crumples to the floor, not moving.
NO! The scream rips out of me.
My power explodes.
Purple light floods the chamber, so bright everyone has to shield their eyes. The walls shake. The floor cracks. Reality itself seems to bend around me.
I don't just remember who I am anymore.
I remember what I can do.
My magic reaches out and grabs every Council member in the room. They freeze, eyes going wide with terror as I dive into their minds.
You want to erase memories? I snarl. Let me show you what that feels like.
I force them to experience every moment of suffering they caused. Every child they experimented on. Every scream. Every death. I make them feel it all at once the fear, the pain, the betrayal.
Three Council members collapse immediately, sobbing and broken.
But Aurora is stronger. She fights back, her own magic clashing with mine.
You think you're powerful? she screams. I created you! I made you what you are!
No. I step toward her, power crackling around me like a storm. You tried to destroy me. But all you did was make me stronger.
Our magic collides in the center of the room. The explosion rocks the entire building.
Purple and silver light twist together, each of us trying to overpower the other. Memories manifest as physical shapes ghostly children running through the chamber, reminders of Aurora's crimes.
Stop this! Aurora gasps. You're tearing the building apart!
Good!
But I can see Damian from the corner of my eye. Still not moving. Blood on his temple.
Fear cuts through my rage. I need to end this. Now.
I change tactics. Instead of attacking Aurora's mind, I show her something else.
A memory of her own. One buried so deep she probably forgot it existed.
Suddenly Aurora goes still, her face draining of color.
No, she whispers. Don't
But I push it into her mind anyway. Her memory of a young girl maybe ten years old with Aurora's eyes. A daughter. Dead because the Council's experiments went wrong.
That's why you did this, I say quietly. You lost her, and instead of stopping the experiments, you justified them. You told yourself her death meant something. That the research had to continue.
Aurora's magic flickers and dies. She falls to her knees, tears streaming down her face.
She was everything, Aurora chokes out. And they killed her. So I made myself believe it was necessary. That the sacrifice mattered.
It didn't. I lower my hands, the rage draining out of me. You tortured children to make sense of losing yours. But it never brought her back.
Aurora looks at me with broken eyes. I know.
For a moment, I almost pity her.
Then Damian groans behind me.
I run to him, dropping to my knees. Damian? Can you hear me?
His eyes flutter open. Did we win?
Relief hits me so hard I almost sob. Yeah. We won.
Good. He tries to sit up, winces. Because I really don't want to do that again.
Silas helps him to his feet. The upload finished. The evidence is spreading worldwide. In about five minutes, every supernatural authority is going to know what the Council did.
As if on cue, alarms blare louder. Red emergency lights flash.
The remaining Council members scramble for the exits, abandoning Aurora.
They're running, Silas observes. Like rats from a sinking ship.
Aurora just sits there on the floor, staring at nothing, completely defeated.
What do we do with her? I ask.
Damian's jaw tightens. She tried to kill us. Multiple times.
She also lost her daughter to the same experiments she enabled. I look at Aurora broken, crying, finally facing what she's done. The new authorities can decide her punishment. We got what we came for.
Footsteps echo in the hallway. Lots of them.
We need to move, Silas warns. Now.
But the footsteps aren't running toward us. They're running away.
A figure appears in the doorway Marcus, the enforcer who was guarding the door earlier. His face is pale, shaken.
You, I say, power flaring to my hands. Get out of our way.
I'm not here to stop you. Marcus's voice is rough. I saw what you showed me. Those children. I didn't know. I swear I didn't know it was that bad.
You worked for them, Damian says coldly. You helped them.
I know. And I'll have to live with that. Marcus looks at me. But right now, you have a bigger problem. The Council's emergency protocol just activated. In three minutes, this entire building locks down. Nothing gets in or out. And if you're still inside when it happens...
We'll be trapped, Silas finishes.
With about fifty enforcers who are very, very angry that you just destroyed their organization, Marcus adds. Most of them don't know the truth yet. They just know you attacked the Council. They'll kill you on sight.
My stomach drops. Three minutes?
Less now. Marcus pulls a security key from his belt and tosses it to Damian. Emergency exit. Sublevel two, east corridor. It bypasses the lockdown, but only for another ninety seconds.
Why are you helping us? I demand.
Marcus looks at the ghostly images of children still flickering in the chamber remnants of my memory magic.
Because they deserved better, he says simply. And so did you. Now go. I'll hold off anyone who tries to follow.
You'll die, Silas says.
Probably. But maybe that's what I deserve. Marcus turns away. Ninety seconds. Don't waste them.
We run.
Behind us, I hear Marcus shouting at approaching enforcers, buying us time.
Silas leads us through a maze of corridors. Down stairs. Through locked doors that Damian's key opens.
Sixty seconds! Damian shouts.
We burst into sublevel two. The emergency exit glows at the end of the hallway shimmering portal that leads outside the building's wards.
Thirty seconds.
We're almost there when someone steps out of the shadows, blocking our path.
Luna.
But something's wrong. Her eyes are glazed over, her movements jerky like a puppet on strings.
Luna? I stop running. What are you doing here?
She doesn't answer. Can't answer.
Then a familiar voice echoes through the hallway, and my blood turns to ice.
Hello, Celeste.
A woman steps out behind Luna. Tall, elegant, with silver hair and cold eyes.
Not Aurora.
Someone else. Someone I recognize from my restored memories.
Victoria Cross. Damian's mother.
The woman who helped Aurora erase my memories three years ago.
Surprised? Victoria smiles. You didn't think Aurora was running this alone, did you? The Council has many leaders. And unlike my colleague, I don't make mistakes.
She presses something to Luna's neck a magical control device.
Your friend here makes excellent leverage. Drop your weapons and surrender, or I snap her neck.
Twenty seconds until lockdown.
Damian's face goes white. Mother, don't do this.
Oh, Damian. My disappointment of a son. Victoria's smile is cruel. You chose a wolfless witch over your own family. Over your legacy. Did you really think I'd let that stand?
Ten seconds.
The portal is right there. We could make it. But Luna
Choose quickly, Victoria says. Your freedom or her life. What's it going to be?