Episode5
1102 Words
Mira’s POV
The cold was the first thing I felt when I woke up. It was that biting, deep cold that only happens in the Grey City just before the sun tries to rise. My neck ached from sleeping in the wooden chair next to Pa Elias’s bed.
I blinked my eyes open. The small room was dim, and the candle I had lit last night had melted into a pool of cold wax.
"Kaelie?" I whispered. My voice was thick with sleep.
There was no answer. Only the sound of the wind whistling through the cracks in the walls. I looked at the spot on the floor where Kaelie usually slept. Her blankets were folded neatly… she hadn't come back.
A heavy weight sat in my stomach. Kaelie had actually done it. She had gone to the Boundary Forest, she had gone into the home of the wolves.
"Oh, Kaelie," I moaned, rubbing my face. "What have you done?"
I turned to check on Pa Elias. I expected to see him gasping for air, I expected to see his skin grey and his eyes closed, just like when I fell asleep. But when I looked at the bed, my heart stopped for a different reason.
The bed was empty.
The thin blankets were tossed to the side, and the pillow was on the floor.
"Pa Elias?" I called out, standing up so fast the chair tipped over with a loud thud.
Panic flared in my chest. He was too sick to walk. He was dying! How could he be out of bed? Did someone come in and take him? Did the Iron Claws come for him because of Kaelie?
"Pa Elias!" I shouted louder.
I ran to the small kitchen area. Empty. I checked the tiny washroom. Empty.
I dashed to the front door and threw it open, the morning mist was thick and white, hiding the muddy street. I stepped out, my breath huffing in the air.
"Elias Thorne! Where are you?"
I turned the corner of the shack, heading toward the small patch of dirt where Kaelie kept her extra flower pots. I stopped dead.
There he was.
Pa Elias was standing in the middle of the yard. He wasn't wearing his coat, just his thin nightshirt. But he didn't look like a dying man anymore. He wasn't shaking, he wasn't coughing. He was standing perfectly straight, his back as stiff as a board.
He was looking up at the mountain. He was staring directly at the Obsidian Spire.
"Pa?" I said, my voice shaking. "Pa, you’re awake! You’re standing! It’s a miracle!"
I rushed toward him, my hands reaching out to hug him. I was so happy. I thought the gods had heard our prayers. I thought Kaelie’s bravery had somehow worked, even though she wasn't back yet.
"Pa Elias, you have to come back inside," I said, trying to grab his arm. "It’s freezing out here. You’ll get sick again!"
He didn't move, he felt like he was made of stone. He slowly turned his head to look at me.
I froze.
The Pa Elias I knew had kind, watery brown eyes. He always looked at me with a smile. But the man standing in front of me had eyes that looked like burning coals.
They were bright, sharp, and full of terrifying power. The colors Kaelie always talked about… I couldn't see them, but I could feel something now. The air around him felt hot.
"Where is she?" he asked. His voice wasn't weak or scratchy. It was deep. It sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a well.
"Pa... I..." I stumbled back, my heart racing.
"Where is my granddaughter, Mira?" he demanded. He took a step toward me.
I gulped. "She... she went to get the medicine. She went to the forest to find the Moonshade flower. She was so worried about you, Pa! She did it to save you!"
I expected him to be sad… I expected him to cry for her.
Instead, he roared. It wasn't a human sound. It was a sound of pure, raw fury. He slammed his hand against the side of the wooden shack, and the wood cracked under his palm.
"Why did you let her go there?" he hissed. He grabbed my shoulders, his grip strong like iron. "Why did you let her go to the wolves?"
"I tried to stop her!" I cried, tears blurring my vision. "I begged her! But she wouldn't listen! She said you were dying!"
Elias let go of me and turned back to the Spire. He raised his hands, and I saw a faint, purple light flickering around his fingers.
"I was not dying, you foolish girl," he whispered, but his voice carried through the wind. "I was hiding. I was using every bit of my soul to keep her hidden from the world. I was keeping the scent of the Void trapped in this house."
I stared at him, my mouth open. "Hiding? What are you talking about?"
"The bloodline," Elias said, his eyes glowing brighter. "The wolves have been hunting us for a thousand years. As long as she stayed here, as long as she stayed poor and quiet, she was safe. But now... now she has touched the Alpha. She has stepped into his territory."
He let out a dark, bitter laugh.
"The Moonshade flower wasn't for me, Mira. It was a trap. The forest wanted her. The Spire wanted her. And now that she is inside those walls, the seal is broken."
He looked at his hands, which were now glowing with a strange, dark energy.
"She thinks she is a girl. He thinks she is a Mate," Elias said. "They are both wrong. She is the end of everything."
I backed away, tripping over a flower pot. "Pa Elias, you’re scaring me. We have to go get her! We have to call for help."
"No one can help now," Elias snapped. He looked up at the sky. The grey clouds were starting to swirl, turning a dark, sickly shade of purple.
"The ancient war is starting again. The wolves think they have found a Luna. They don't realize they have invited a goddess of death into their bed."
“Pa… what are you even saying? What about Kaelie?" I sobbed. "Is she coming home?”
He turned to me, his face looking older and more powerful than I had ever seen.
"Kaelie Thorne died the moment she touched Jaxen Vane," he said. "What comes out of that tower will not be my granddaughter anymore!"
- Writer
