SCARLETT
The earth split wider beneath us, silver light searing like molten moonfire. Kael yanked me back as the ground groaned, but the rift followed, uncoiling toward my feet like a living thing.
“Hold her,” Darius barked, lightning flashing across his arms. “The ground’s not natural.”
Kael tightened his grip. “I’ve got her.”
Lucien, half-shadow and half-man, stepped closer to the glow. “This isn’t a crack in stone,” he said softly. “It’s a door.”
The crescent mark on my shoulder pulsed again, matching the rhythm of the rift’s light. My breath hitched. “It’s… calling me.”
Kael swore under his breath. “Then we shut it. Now.”
He thrust out his palm, fire spilling across the fissure in a rush of crimson heat. For an instant the light dimmed then a violent surge of moon-energy flung
