Chapter 4 - The Intervention
910 Words
𝙍𝙖𝙫𝙮𝙣𝙣 𝙋𝙊𝙑
Arjuna was a terrible liar.
Most people couldn't tell.
I could.
Perhaps because I had known him for centuries.
Or perhaps because I had been there the day his mother placed a sleeping infant into my arms and asked me to guide him.
Back then, he was barely able to hold his own head upright.
Now he was crossing realms behind the Elders' backs.
How unfortunate.
I had watched him survive wars, rebellions, assassination attempts, and political games that would have broken lesser men.
Yet somehow...
A human woman might succeed where all of those had failed.
Ridiculous.
Or perhaps not.
I leaned against one of the stone pillars overlooking the Silver Gardens.
The silver twilight never changed here.
Neither did the scent of the roses.
Yet something felt different.
Wrong.
A trace lingered in the air. Faint. Subtle.
Almost impossible to detect. Most would have missed it.
I didn't.
Centuries of practice had sharpened my senses beyond what most people considered possible.
And this particular scent...
I recognized.
Human.
My expression darkened. That should have been impossible. No human essence should ever cross into our realm.
The veil prevented such things. That was the entire purpose of its existence.
And yet...
I could feel it. Clinging to him. Like mist. Like memory. Like a thread refusing to break.
My jaw tightened.
The Elders had sensed it too.
Which meant the situation was already worse than Arjuna realized.
The fool.
I had warned him before.
More than once.
Watching from afar was one thing.
Crossing the veil was another.
But bringing something back?
That was dangerous.
For him.
For her.
For both realms.
A breeze stirred the roses.
The unfamiliar essence lingered once more.
And beneath it...
Something else.
Something I couldn't quite place.
Something strangely familiar.
My eyes narrowed.
No.
That wasn't possible either.
For the first time in centuries, uncertainty crept into my thoughts.
What exactly had Arjuna done?
And more importantly...
Why did a human's essence feel as though I had encountered it before?
Meanwhile, in the Human Realm...
Zattie POV
A week had passed since the incident.
And yet, I still couldn't explain it.
No matter how many times I replayed that night inside my head, the memory remained blurred around the edges.
Like a dream.
Like a hallucination.
Like something my mind refused to fully remember.
I stood at the kitchen counter, stirring my coffee while mentally running through the endless list of things waiting for me.
School forms.
Laundry.
Therapy appointments.
Work deadlines.
The house needed cleaning.
The groceries were running low.
Life moved forward whether I was ready or not.
And somehow...
My thoughts kept drifting back to him.
To the voice.
To the presence.
To the impossible conversation that shouldn't have happened.
The man beyond the veil.
The man I couldn't remember.
And yet somehow felt I already knew.
A sharp pain suddenly pulsed behind my right eye.
I winced.
The mug slipped slightly in my grip.
Not again.
The migraines had been happening more frequently lately.
Sometimes accompanied by strange flashes.
Fragments.
Images that vanished before I could fully see them.
A silhouette.
Silver hair.
Dark eyes.
A familiar feeling wrapped around someone whose face remained hidden.
I pressed two fingers against my temple. The image disappeared immediately. Leaving only the headache behind.
Maybe my therapist was right.
Maybe grief had simply found a new way to haunt me.
I sat down on the edge of my bed when the dizziness nearly took me down with it.
For a moment, the room tilted.
I closed my eyes and reached for the small bottle of essential oil resting on the dresser beside me.
Peppermint.
Bergamot.
Clove.
My favourite blend.
I rolled it gently across my temples before massaging the oil into my forehead.
The cooling sensation soothed the pounding behind my eyes almost immediately.
Not enough to erase the migraine. But enough to make it bearable. I glanced at the clock.
9:00 AM.
The house was unusually quiet.
Hanna and Maya were already at school, while my youngest, Arya, was at preschool.
All three were enrolled in after-school programs until 4:30 PM.
Otherwise, I honestly didn't know how I would survive.
Being a single mother was exhausting.
Mentally.
Physically.
Emotionally.
There were sleepless nights when one of the girls got sick.
There were chaotic mornings when everyone seemed determined to test the limits of my patience.
And there were days when all three decided to act up at the exact same time.
Those were the days that truly humbled me.
I loved them more than anything.
But love didn't make exhaustion disappear.
Sometimes, it felt as though I carried the weight of an entire world alone.
And somehow...
Lately, that weight felt heavier.
Different.
Not physical.
Not emotional.
Energetic.
As if something unseen had quietly settled around me.
Watching.
Waiting.
No matter how hard I tried, the image never stayed long enough for me to grasp it.
Like smoke slipping through my fingers.
Like a memory that wasn't ready to be remembered.
I glanced toward the window.
The afternoon sun was already beginning its slow descent.
Soon, night would come.
And for reasons I couldn't explain, the thought unsettled me.
The migraine had faded.
The feeling hadn't.
Something was coming.
I didn't know what.
I only knew that somewhere deep inside me, every instinct was whispering the same warning.
Tonight would be different.
And tonight...
the moon would be full.
- Writer
