Chapter 3:The Broken Moon
1253 Words
The silver wolf's teeth snapped inches from Scarlett's face as she rolled away just in time. Her heart hammered in her chest. This wasn't her world. This wasn't her body. Yet somehow, she knew exactly how to move.
"Luna!" Valeria shouted. "The trees! Now!"
Without thinking, Scarlett sprang up and ran. Her legs carried her faster than she'd ever moved before. She jumped over fallen logs and ducked under branches with perfect timing, as if her body remembered this forest.
The screaming followed close behind.
Just as the silver wolf was about to catch her, everything blurred. The trees, the moon, Valeria—all swirled into darkness.
Scarlett gasped awake on the cold floor of the Crescent Gallery.
"Get up!" Magnus was shaking her. His face was cut and bleeding. "They're here!"
The crash of breaking glass echoed through the room. Heavy footsteps pounded closer.
"Who's here?" Scarlett scrambled to her feet, her mind still foggy from the strange jump between worlds.
"Jericho's hunters," Magnus said, pulling her toward the secret room. "They want the moonstone."
As if on cue, three covered figures burst into the room. They wore all black with silver wolf emblems on their bodies. Each carried a strange-looking gun.
"Run!" Magnus pushed Scarlett behind him.
The first attacker fired. Instead of a bullet, a dart with a bright blue tip shot out. Magnus dodged it with amazing speed.
Scarlett backed away, looking for something to use as a weapon. She grabbed a metal pole from a nearby display and swung it hard at the second attacker as he lunged at her.
The pole connected with his head with a loud crack. The man fell to the ground.
"Whoa," Scarlett whispered, looking at her hands. She'd never been strong enough to knock someone out before.
The third attacker shoved Magnus to the ground. They rolled across the floor, fighting with unnatural speed and power.
The first attacker turned toward Scarlett, raising his gun again.
Something hot and wild rushed through her blood. Without thinking, she leaped forward, moving faster than she ever thought possible. Her hand caught the attacker's wrist and squeezed.
Bones cracked under her grip. The man screamed and dropped his weapon.
"What am I?" Scarlett gasped, backing away from what she'd just done.
Magnus threw off his attacker and rushed to her side. "You're waking up," he said. "Both sides of you are starting to remember."
More crashes heard from the front of the gallery. More attacks were coming.
"This way!" Magnus grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the hidden stairs. "We need to get to the main moonstone before they do."
They ran down the stairs to the room with the covered paintings. Magnus ran to the table and pulled out a wooden box.
"I don't understand," Scarlett said, watching the stairs. "How am I doing these things? And why was I suddenly in that forest?"
"The small moonstone I gave you is just a fragment," Magnus explained, opening the box. "It lets you glimpse your past life. But this—" he lifted out a bigger blue stone the size of an apple, "—this is what they really want."
Scarlett gasped. The bigger moonstone was cracked down the middle, held together by silver wires wrapped around it.
"It's broken," she said.
"It's been broken for three hundred years," Magnus answered. "Ever since the night Luna—you—first died."
Heavy footsteps echoed down the stairs.
"They're coming," Scarlett whispered.
"Listen carefully," Magnus said quickly. "When Luna died, her soul shattered. Pieces scattered across time. The moonstone broke with it. That's why you keep being reborn, and why I've lived all these years trying to save you."
"How is that even possible?"
"The moonstone isn't just a rock. It's alive. It's part of your original soul." Magnus pressed the cracked stone into her hands. "Only you can heal it—and yourself."
The moment the stone touched her skin, it began to glow with bright blue light. Warmth spread up Scarlett's arms.
The first attacker emerged at the bottom of the stairs, followed by five more—all wearing the same silver wolf emblems.
"Stop her!" the leader yelled, pointing at Scarlett.
"Focus on the stone," Magnus said, moving to stop the attackers. "Let it wake the rest of your memories."
As Magnus fought the invaders, Scarlett closed her eyes and held the moonstone tight. The blue light grew brighter, pulsing in time with her heartbeat.
Images flashed through her mind:
Luna in a stone castle, mixing flowers in a moonlit room.
Damon—Magnus's past self—teaching her to track through the forest.
A silver wolf watched from the shadows as she and Damon kissed under an oak tree.
A knife diving into her chest as Damon screamed.
Scarlett's eyes snapped open. "I remember how I died," she whispered.
The moonstone's light now filled the entire room. The attackers covered their eyes, backing away.
"It's working," Magnus said, fighting his way back to her side. His eyes widened suddenly. "Scarlett, behind you!"
She spun around to find another masked figure who had somehow slipped past the fight. Before she could respond, he grabbed her wrist.
"Hello, little wolf," he said softly. "Remember me?"
When he pulled off his mask, Scarlett froze. He had Jericho's face—the same face as the silver wolf in the picture. The same face as the wolf that had just attacked her in the forest.
"You," she gasped.
"Me," he answered with a cold smile. "In every lifetime."
He reached for the moonstone, but the moment his fingers touched it, blue lightning crackled between them. The force threw them both backward.
Scarlett slammed into the wall, still clutching the moonstone. It was glowing even brighter now, the crack in its middle slowly closing.
"It's healing," she whispered in wonder.
"No!" Jericho shouted. He grabbed a strange silver gadget from his belt and aimed it at the stone. "If I can't have it, no one will!"
A beam of red light shot from the device, hitting the moonstone. Pain burst through Scarlett's chest, as if the beam had struck her heart instead.
"What have you done?" Magnus yelled, throwing himself at Jericho.
The moonstone in Scarlett's hands began to vibrate wildly. The blue light turned deep purple, then blood red.
"Magnus!" she cried out. "Something's wrong!"
The stone was burning hot now. Scarlett tried to drop it, but it seemed stuck to her skin.
Magnus fought his way to her side. "The timelines are collapsing," he said, his voice filled with fear. "He's destroyed the bridge between worlds."
"What does that mean?" Scarlett asked, fear rising in her throat.
"It means you'll be trapped," Magnus said. "Either here or there. Forever."
The room started to blur around them. Scarlett felt the same falling feeling she'd experienced before.
"No, not now!" she cried.
Magnus grabbed her shoulders. "Find the Soulweaver! Tell him—"
His voice faded as the world dissolved around her.
Scarlett fell through darkness, the burning moonstone still clutched in her hands.
When she opened her eyes, she was back in the forest clearing. Valeria stood over her, eyes wide with surprise.
"You came back," Valeria said. "That's never happened before."
Scarlett looked down at her hands. The moonstone was still there, but now the crack had grown bigger, spreading like spider webs across its surface.
In the distance, a horn sounded.
"The hunt begins," Valeria whispered. "And this time, there's no going back."
- Writer
