chapter 5
1315 Words
CHAPTER 5: THE BREAKING
Keira pov
The next morning I can't look at him.
I wake up and Ezra is sitting in the chair. Just watching me sleep. And I just turn away because everything feels wrong now. Everything feels broken.
I trained alone that day. I push so hard I want to die from it. My lungs burn. My legs shake. The pain in my body is easier than the feeling in my chest.
That night he came to my room.
"Your power," he says. "You need to know what it is."
I listen to him talk about my grandmother. About the ancient wolf. About people dying. About Vera being scared.
"When the curse breaks," he says. "You won't be able to control it at first."
My hands shake.
Then Vera walks in.
She sits on my bed and tells me I'll hurt everyone. She tells me the curse is breaking and I have to choose between my life and theirs.
I'm shaking so bad when she leaves.
Ezra comes back.
"Something's happening," I tell him. I can feel it inside me. Like chains breaking. Like waking up.
"I know," he says.
He holds my hand.
The pulling gets violent. It's not slow. It's angry. My whole body shakes and my bones feel like they're tearing and my skin burns.
"Make it stop," I say.
"You have to let it happen," he says.
And then it breaks.
The curse breaks.
It's not gentle. It's an explosion. It's lightning. It's something ancient and furious, opening its eyes and screaming.
The power floods through me and I scream too.
My hands glow. Not gently. Like fire. Like my whole body is made of light.
"Keira," Ezra says. He backs away.
"I can't breathe," I say.
The window cracks behind us. One long line down the middle.
Then it shatters.
Glass explodes everywhere. Books fall. The lamp falls. Everything is shaking because the power is getting bigger and bigger and I can't hold it.
"Ezra I can't," I say. I'm crying.
"You can," he says. But he's scared. I see it.
The bed starts moving. Things fall everywhere.
The door flies open.
People look in. Wolves from the pack. They see the light coming out of me and they back away fast.
"Get everyone out," Ezra says.
But the light gets brighter.
The walls crack. Real cracks in the stone. Pieces of ceiling start falling.
Ezra moves toward me. The power pushes against him but he keeps coming.
"Look at me," he says.
"I'm going to hurt you," I say.
"No you're not," he says.
He takes my hand.
The moment he touches me, the light gets even brighter. It gets angry. It reacts to him like it's alive. Like it hates him.
"You're stronger than this," he says.
His hand is burning. I can feel it. My skin is burning his skin but he doesn't let go.
"Ezra," I say. "Let go. Please."
"No," he says.
The power gets bigger. It doesn't stop. It gets bigger and bigger and there's no end to it.
The walls are cracking everywhere.
The ceiling is coming down.
And I realize I can't stop it.
I can't control it.
I'm going to hurt him.
I'm going to hurt everyone.
Then I hear it.
Footsteps. Fast. Running toward us.
A wolf appears in the doorway. One of the pack members. A young girl. Maybe sixteen.
She's bleeding.
Her arm is torn open. Blood is everywhere. Dripping down her clothes. Dripping on the floor.
"Keira," Ezra says. He sees her too.
The girl looks at me with fear in her eyes. Real fear. Like she's looking at a monster.
"What did you do?" she says. Her voice is shaking.
"What?" I ask.
"The power," she says. "When you broke the curse. It exploded. It hit us. It burned us."
She looks down at her arm.
"Marcus got hit worse," she says. "He's in the healing room. He's not... they don't think he's going to make it."
My entire body goes cold.
"I didn't mean to," I say.
"You did it," she says. She's crying now. "You hurt us. You hurt Marcus."
She runs away.
I'm standing there holding Ezra's hand with my skin still glowing and I realize what I just did.
I hurt someone.
Someone I didn't even know.
Someone who did nothing to me.
"Keira," Ezra says. But I'm not listening.
I pull my hand away from his. His skin burned when I touched him. Red and raw.
"I did that," I say. "I hurt you."
"It's okay," he says.
"It's not okay," I say. "I just... There's a boy. Marcus. He might die. Because of me. Because I couldn't control it."
I look at my hands. They're still glowing. Still bright.
"I'm a disaster," I say.
"You're not," Ezra says.
"I am," I say. "Vera was right. I'm dangerous. I'm the thing they were scared of."
The light starts getting brighter again.
"Keira," Ezra says. "You need to calm down."
"I can't," I say. "I can't calm down. I just hurt people. I just... What if I kill him? What if he dies?"
The light gets so bright that Ezra has to shield his eyes.
Then I hear it.
Someone is screaming.
From somewhere else in the compound. A scream of pain. Real pain.
"No," I say.
"Keira," Ezra says. He's reaching for me.
But I'm backing away.
"Don't touch me," I say. "You'll get hurt worse."
"I don't care," he says.
"I care," I say.
And in that moment, when I'm standing there with the light pouring out of me and someone is screaming somewhere in the compound because of what I did, the door opens again.
It's not a pack member.
It's not Vera.
It's a woman I've never seen before.
She's tall. She's wearing all black. She has a sword strapped to her back and her eyes are cold. So cold. Like looking at ice.
She looks at me and she smiles.
Not a kind smile. A smile like she's found something. Like she's been looking for me.
"So it's true," she says. Her voice is smooth but it makes my skin crawl. "The ancient one is awake."
Ezra moves in front of me.
"Lyra," he says. And his voice is afraid. Actually, I'm afraid. "What are you doing here?"
"I came for her," the woman says. She's looking at me over Ezra's shoulder. "The Council sent me. They felt the power breaking. They know she exists."
"The Council?" I ask.
"You have no idea what you are, do you?" Lyra says. "You have no idea what power you just unleashed."
She steps closer.
"The Council has been hunting your bloodline for three hundred years," she says. "Trying to make sure the ancient ones never woke up again. And now you've announced yourself to the entire supernatural world."
My heart stops.
"They're coming," she says. "The Council. The other packs. Everyone who wants to destroy what you are. They felt the power break through the curse and they know exactly where to find you."
She pulls out a phone.
"You have maybe an hour before they arrive," she says. "An hour before everyone comes to kill you."
She looks at Ezra.
"And they're going to burn down everyone you love to get to her," she says.
Then she turns and walks away.
Just leave.
And I'm standing there with the light still pouring out of me and people screaming somewhere and Ezra's burned hand and this woman telling me that everything is about to fall apart.
"What did she mean?" I ask. "What Council? Who's coming?"
Ezra doesn't answer.
He just looks at me and his face is broken.
"Everyone," he finally says. "She meant everyone is coming for you."
And somewhere in the compound, someone is still screaming.
And I know it's because of me.
- Writer
