The Shadow Between Us

Chapter Four: The Blood Moon’s Pull

The fire crackled in the hearth, casting shadows that danced across the living room walls. My grandmother stood stiffly in front of me, her eyes dark and unreadable. The book—Umbra—sat on the table between us, its leather cover seeming to pulse faintly in the dim light. I wanted to demand answers, to shake the truth out of her, but the weight of her words still hung in the air.

A Keeper.

“Explain,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt.

She didn’t look at me. Instead, she picked up her teacup, her hands trembling slightly as she brought it to her lips. “Your mother never wanted this for you,” she said finally. “She thought she could keep you safe, that she could protect you by keeping the truth buried.”

“Safe from what? The Circle?”

She nodded slowly. “The Circle of Thirteen isn’t just a group of people dabbling in the occult. They’re something much older, much darker. Their magic comes from the blood moon, and they’ve spent centuries trying to tear the veil between worlds.”

My stomach churned. “And what does that have to do with me?”

“You’re a Keeper,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “It’s in your blood. The Keepers were created to guard the veil, to stop the Circle from bringing their darkness into our world. Your mother… she was one of us. And now, so are you.”

The room felt too small, the walls closing in around me. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re wrong. I’m just—”

“—a girl?” She set her teacup down, her gaze finally meeting mine. “You are more than you know, Seraphina. The magic in your blood is older than this town, older than anything you can imagine. That’s why the Circle wants you. To them, you’re the key to everything.”

I stared at her, the pieces of the puzzle beginning to fall into place. My mother’s disappearance. The whispers about my family. The figure in the woods.

“And the blood moon?” I asked, my voice trembling.

She hesitated, her fingers gripping the edge of the table. “When the blood moon rises, the veil thins. The Circle will try to complete their ritual, and they’ll use you to do it. They’ll stop at nothing, Seraphina. You can’t trust anyone.”

That night, I couldn’t sleep. My grandmother had given me more questions than answers, and the weight of them pressed down on me, making it hard to breathe.

I sat on my bed with the book open in front of me, the faint glow of my desk lamp illuminating the strange, shifting symbols on the pages. They seemed to writhe under my gaze, twisting and rearranging themselves into patterns I couldn’t understand.

“Guardians of the veil,” I muttered to myself, tracing the edge of one symbol with my finger. The page grew warm under my touch, and a strange tingling sensation shot up my arm. I yanked my hand back, my heart pounding.

The book seemed alive, its pages fluttering faintly as though stirred by an invisible breeze. I didn’t know why I kept reading, why I didn’t throw it in the fire like my grandmother had suggested. Maybe it was the promise of answers. Or maybe it was something else—something darker.

By morning, my eyes felt gritty, and my head throbbed from lack of sleep. But as I walked to school, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched.

The streets of Blackthorn Hollow were quiet, as usual, the faint smell of rain lingering in the air. But every shadow seemed to stretch longer than it should, every movement caught in the corner of my eye sending a chill down my spine.

When I reached the school, Kael was waiting for me by the entrance. He leaned casually against the wall, his leather jacket open over a dark hoodie, his eyes sharp and unreadable.

“Morning,” he said as I approached.

“What do you want?” I asked, not slowing down.

He fell into step beside me, his hands shoved in his pockets. “You looked into it, didn’t you? The blood moon. The Circle.”

I stopped walking, turning to face him. “How do you know that?”

“You’re a Keeper,” he said simply. “It’s what you do.”

The word sent a shiver down my spine. “What else do you know?”

“More than you,” he said, his tone cool. “But not enough to stop what’s coming.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why are you even here, Kael? What do you want from me?”

He hesitated, his jaw tightening. “To keep you alive. Whether you like it or not, you’re part of this now.”

The rest of the day passed in a blur. I could feel Kael’s presence lingering on the edges of my awareness, his words looping in my mind like a broken record.

By the time the final bell rang, I was ready to get out of there. But as I made my way toward the front doors, Ophelia stepped into my path, her arms crossed and her expression smug.

“Hey, Vale,” she said, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. “You going to the party this weekend?”

I frowned. “What party?”

“The one in the woods,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Everyone’s talking about it. Guess your little boyfriend forgot to mention it.”

“Kael isn’t my boyfriend,” I snapped before I could stop myself.

Her smirk widened. “Sure he’s not. Anyway, you should come. Might be fun to see you outside your little bubble.”

She turned and walked away before I could respond, leaving me standing there, my stomach twisting. A party in the woods, just days before the blood moon. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

I didn’t want to go. But something told me I didn’t have a choice.

That night, I sat in my room staring at the book, its dark cover glowing faintly in the moonlight. The air felt heavy, charged with something I couldn’t name. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but as I flipped through the pages, a phrase caught my eye:

When the blood moon rises, the Keeper shall choose.

“Choose what?” I whispered to myself.

The book didn’t answer, but the shadows in the corner of the room seemed to shift, leaning closer.

And for the first time, I felt their pull.