The Last Moon Wolf

CHAPTER 6: THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY

The silver light vanished.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

I stood in the middle of the council chamber with my heart pounding, staring at the three council members across the table.

No one spoke.

Then Headmaster Corvin slowly lowered his hand.

The spell was gone.

But the fear in his eyes remained.

“What just happened?” I asked.

Corvin looked at me for a long moment.

“I think,” he said carefully, “you should return to your dorm.”

Kael immediately stepped forward.

“That isn't an answer.”

Corvin's eyes hardened.

“This matter is no longer your concern, Mr. Drake.”

“It became my concern when your council tried to take her.”

Lucian moved beside Kael.

“And when Rowan disappeared.”

The room went quiet.

I looked at Corvin.

“Where is Rowan?”

Nobody answered.

My stomach tightened.

“He was taken from the East Tower,” I continued. “We found him in your laboratory.”

One of the council members stood.

“You broke into a restricted area.”

“You imprisoned a student!”

“We were investigating an abnormality.”

“Rowan isn't an abnormality.”

My voice shook, but I didn't stop.

“And neither am I.”

Kael glanced at me.

Something like approval crossed his face.

Corvin sighed.

“Miss Vale, you don't understand the situation you're in.”

“Then explain it.”

His expression changed.

For one second, I thought he might actually tell me the truth.

Instead, he said, “Go back to your dorm.”

That was when I knew.

They were hiding something.

I turned and walked out.

Kael, Lucian and Rowan followed.

Rowan was still pale from whatever had happened to him in the laboratory. He didn't say much. He simply walked beside us, his amber eyes constantly scanning the hallway.

Once we reached an empty corridor, Kael stopped.

“We need answers.”

“I know,” I said.

Lucian looked at Rowan.

“Can you tell us what happened?”

Rowan leaned against the wall.

“Not everything.”

“Try,” Kael said.

Rowan's eyes moved toward me.

“They were asking about your family.”

My heart skipped.

“My family?”

“They kept asking about your parents.”

I stared at him.

“What did they ask?”

“Where they were from. What they were. Where you were born.”

My fingers tightened around my pendant.

“What did you tell them?”

“Nothing.”

Rowan paused.

“Because I don't know.”

Nyx stirred inside my mind.

She had been silent ever since we escaped the laboratory.

Now she whispered.

“Library.”

I frowned.

“What?”

Kael looked at me.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Nyx spoke again.

“The forbidden library.”

A strange chill ran through me.

“Why?”

“Your answers are there.”

I looked at Kael.

“Does Blackmoon have a forbidden library?”

His expression changed immediately.

Lucian answered first.

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“North wing.”

Kael shook his head.

“It's sealed.”

“Can we get inside?”

“No.”

I stared at him.

“You're the one who said we need answers.”

“And I'm also the one telling you that the forbidden library is protected by council wards.”

I looked at Rowan.

He was already watching me.

“What about you?”

He shrugged.

“I've never tried.”

Lucian sighed.

“I can't believe I'm about to say this.”

He looked at us.

“But we should probably break into the forbidden library.”

Kael smirked.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

“I didn't say I liked breaking rules.”

“You're coming anyway.”

Lucian rolled his eyes.

“I hate you.”

We waited until midnight.

Blackmoon Academy was different at night.

The crowded halls became empty.

The portraits seemed to watch us as we moved through the shadows.

Every sound felt louder.

Every footstep made me nervous.

We reached the north wing.

A huge iron door stood at the end of the corridor.

Silver runes covered it.

A sign hung above the entrance.

FORBIDDEN LIBRARY.

AUTHORIZED COUNCIL MEMBERS ONLY.

Kael studied the lock.

“It's complicated.”

Lucian smiled.

“You're telling me you can't open it?”

Kael gave him a look.

“I said complicatedly. Not impossible.”

He pulled a thin metal tool from his pocket.

I stared.

“Where did you get that?”

“Don't ask.”

“You steal things often?”

“Only when necessary.”

Lucian laughed quietly.

“That's exactly what someone who steals things would say.”

A few seconds later, the lock clicked.

The door opened.

Cold air rushed toward us.

I stepped inside.

The library was enormous.

Bookshelves reached all the way to the ceiling.

Dust covered almost everything.

Ancient candles burned without flames.

Thousands of books sat untouched.

Some were chained to the shelves.

Others had symbols carved into their covers.

I felt Nyx wake inside me.

“Aria.”

“What?”

“Don't touch anything.”

I stopped.

“Why?”

“Some of these books remember who touches them.”

I swallowed.

“That makes absolutely no sense.”

“You're in a library created before your bloodline was hunted.”

I looked around.

“That's supposed to make me feel better?”

“No.”

We moved deeper inside.

Kael searched the shelves.

“Moon Wolf.”

Nothing.

“Morelli.”

Nothing.

“Vale.”

Still nothing.

Lucian checked another shelf.

“Maybe they're under another name.”

I looked at the oldest books.

“What if my parents weren't recorded as Moon Wolves?”

Kael looked at me.

“Then what were they recorded as?”

“I don't know.”

I walked toward a section hidden behind a tall shelf.

Something pulled me there.

I couldn't explain it.

My pendant became warm.

I reached behind the shelf.

My fingers touched a small wooden box.

I pulled it out.

Kael hurried over.

“What is that?”

“I don't know.”

The box had a crescent carved into the lid.

My crescent.

I opened it.

Inside was a single folded piece of paper.

My hands trembled as I unfolded it.

There was handwriting on the page.

I recognized it immediately.

I didn't know how.

But I knew.

It was my mother's.

Aria,

If you are reading this, then Nyx has awakened.

My breath caught.

Kael leaned closer.

“What does it say?”

I kept reading.

We were never able to tell you the truth ourselves.

Not because we didn't love you.

Because the people hunting us were already inside the council.

My eyes blurred.

Lucian stepped closer.

“Aria…”

I continued.

You were born with something they fear.

The Moon Wolf bloodline was never destroyed.

It was hidden.

Protected.

Passed down through generations.

And now it lives in you.

My hands began shaking.

The next sentence made my heart stop.

They will tell you that we died.

That is not the whole truth.

I stared at the page.

My mother knew.

She had known I might find this.

She had known the council would come for me.

Then I saw the final warning.

Whatever happens, Aria...

Do not trust Gideon.

The paper slipped from my fingers.

Nobody spoke.

The silence felt unbearable.

“Gideon?” Lucian asked quietly.

I couldn't answer.

My adoptive father.

The man who had raised me for ten years.

The man who had always told me he rescued me.

The man who had told me my parents were gone.

Kael picked up the paper.

His eyes moved across the words.

His expression hardened.

“You need to ask him.”

I shook my head.

“I can't.”

“Why?”

“Because if this is true…”

My voice broke.

“Then everything he ever told me could be a lie.”

Rowan stepped closer.

“There may be another explanation.”

I looked at him.

“Like what?”

“He could have been protecting you.”

I remembered Nyx's words.

They didn't save you.

They hid you.

My chest tightened.

“What if protecting me was never the reason?”

Nobody answered.

Suddenly, a book fell from one of the shelves.

It hit the floor with a loud thud.

We all turned.

Kael reached for it.

“Don't.”

Nyx's warning came instantly.

Kael stopped.

I crouched down instead.

The book had fallen open.

A drawing covered the page.

Three symbols were connected by a circle.

A crescent moon.

A wolf.

And something that looked like a black door.

Beneath it were ancient words.

THE LAST MOON WOLF SHALL GUARD THE GATE.

I stared at the page.

“What gate?”

Nyx went completely silent.

“Nyx?”

Nothing.

“Nyx, what gate?”

Still nothing.

That frightened me more than an answer would have.

Kael noticed something written beneath the symbols.

“Aria.”

I looked.

There was another sentence.

WHEN THE MOON WOLF AWAKENS, THE HOLLOW WILL BEGIN TO WAKE.

The library suddenly became freezing cold.

The candles went out.

Lucian whispered.

“What is the Hollow?”

I didn't know.

But Nyx finally spoke.

And her voice was barely audible.

“The thing your parents died trying to keep asleep.”

A noise came from the corridor.

Footsteps.

Someone was coming.

Kael immediately closed the book.

“Someone's here.”

Lucian grabbed the note.

Rowan moved toward the door.

“Where do we hide?”

I looked around the enormous library.

Then I noticed something behind the shelf.

A narrow passage.

The wall had shifted slightly.

“There.”

We rushed inside.

Kael pulled the shelf back into place.

The footsteps grew louder.

The forbidden library door opened.

Someone entered.

We held our breath.

A voice echoed through the darkness.

“She's been here.”

Another voice answered.

“Then she found the records.”

My heart pounded.

“How?”

“She has her mother's blood.”

I looked at Kael.

His eyes widened.

The voices came closer.

“We need to find her before she discovers the rest.”

“What rest?”

A pause.

Then the first voice whispered:

“The truth about what happened to her parents.”

I covered my mouth.

The footsteps stopped directly on the other side of the shelf.

Then came three quiet knocks.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

A voice whispered through the wall.

“Aria Vale.”

I froze.

“They know you're here.”

And Nyx whispered the words that made my blood run cold.

“Do not let them find the door.”