POV: Aria
The Hollow was waking.
The ground trembled beneath my boots as I stood at the edge of the old grove, the dead trees creaking like bones trying to rise. Wind curled through the branches like it carried voices, and maybe it did. Here, where the veil between realms grew thin, nothing was ever silent. Nothing stayed buried.
Especially not me.
Behind me, the others waited—Kael, the witches, the wolves, even my mother, who had returned from death like it was something she’d only borrowed. They were all here because of me. Because the world had handed me a choice I never asked for.
Destroy the Hollow and lose the last pieces of myself.
Or let it thrive—and doom everyone.
Kael’s voice cut through the wind. “It’s starting.”
I didn’t turn around. My hands were clenched into fists a
