CROSSING BETWEEN WORLDS
1809 Words
LUCIAN'S POV
"Tessa," I said again, softer this time, as if my voice could bring her back to life.
Her body was hot in my arms. Too hot. The lights flickered again, sharper this time, and windows rattled like the house itself was unsettled by her pain.
"Lucian, we need to move her." Eli said quietly.
"Do we take her to a hospital or...?" he hesitated.
"A human one? I cut in sharply. "With sedatives and machine?"
My tone answered his question for him.
We didn't waste another second. We immediately rushed her to the pack house to meet Sabine.
>>>>>>>
Sabine arrived shortly after. She was calm, poised, but her eyes were sharp as they swept over Tessa.
"Lu... Lucian." Tessa whispered, her lashes fluttering as she regained consciousness.
I bent over instantly.
"Shhh. Don't talk, my love. I'm here. Sabine is here. She' make you better." I said as I looked over to Sabine, tears burning behind my eyes.
"Her flood lines are disturbed. She can not control them. The bond was able to ground them for a while, but her powers were stronger."
"So what does that mean?" Eli asked.
"It means she could die if she doesn't learn how to control them."
"No!" I shouted. "Tessa cannot die. I can not lose her Sabine, please."
I stood up, almost losing balance. I couldn't bear the thought of losing her again.
"Sabine!" I growled, losing control for a second. She didn't flinch.
"Lucian, get a hold of yourself." Eli cautioned me from behind.
"Lucian..." Tessa called weakly, reaching out.
"It's going to be fine." she whispered in pain.
"Sabine," I said, this time in plea. "There must be a way."
"It's rare. Only a true bloodline seer can guide her, teach her, and help her survive."
"But the only seer we know is her, and the last one, which is her aunt, is dead. " Eli pointed out.
"Exactly." Sabine responded.
"There has to be another way." I said desperately
"Lucian, " she said softly. "There is no other way."
The room fell silent.
"Unless she speaks to her aunt."
The voice came from the doorway. Then we all turned.
It was Marius.
My head snapped toward him. "What?"
"He swallowed, then squared his shoulders. "I wasn't snooping. Okay, maybe I was, but in your books, Mom. The ancient section. There's a ritual. One that allows the living to cross briefly to speak to the dead."
"Marius, how many times have I warned you--"
"Sabine, is this true?" I rushed to her, hope filling my eyes again.
Her silence answered before her words did.
Yes,” she said finally. “But it is forbidden.”
“I don’t care,” I said instantly.
“It requires death,” Sabine continued. “Temporary but real. Her heart will stop. Her spirit will cross. She will have thirty minutes to return.”
My blood ran cold.
“If she doesn’t,” Sabine said quietly, “she won’t come back at all.”
“No,” I said, backing away like the idea itself was poison. “Absolutely not.”
“Lucian,” Tessa whispered.
I turned to her, panic flooding me. “No. Don’t you dare ask me that.”
“I don’t want to feel empty anymore,” she said softly. “I don’t want to keep breaking.”
“You are not doing this,” I said hoarsely. “You are not dying.”
“It’s my choice,” she said, meeting my eyes. “I want to know who I am. I want to learn how to survive this. I don’t want to be helpless.”
I reached for her face, my hands shaking. “If you don’t come back—”
“I will,” she said firmly. “I promise.”
I pressed my forehead to hers, breathing her in like I might lose the memory of her. God help me.
“Prepare the chamber,” I said at last, my voice barely holding together. “But we don’t begin until she’s stable.”
Sabine nodded solemnly.
This wasn’t just a ritual.It was a gamble with everything I was afraid to lose.
“There is one more condition,” she said.
I looked up sharply. “What?”
“She will need an anchor.”
The word settled uneasily in my chest.
“An anchor?” Eli repeated.
Sabine nodded. “Something or someone that ties her to this world. When her spirit crosses, the other side will pull at her. Hard. Without an anchor, she won’t know which way is back.”
My throat tightened. “So what does that mean.”
“It means,” Sabine said, looking directly at me now, “that someone must call her home. Someone her power recognizes. Someone her soul responds to.”
Silence fell. Slowly, unbearably slowly, her gaze softened.
“You,” she said. “Lucian.”
“No,” I said immediately. "I can't.”
“Lucian,” Sabine said calmly, “the bond makes you the strongest tether she has.”
“That’s exactly why I can’t do it,” I snapped. “If she slips; if I feel her slipping and can’t reach her—”
“You must,” Sabine interrupted. “You can not cross with her. You can not interfere. You can only call.”
I turned to Tessa, panic flooding me.
“Please,” I said, dropping to my knees beside her bed. “Don’t do this. We’ll find another way. I don’t care how long it takes.”
She lifted her hand weakly and brushed her thumb against my cheek.
“I don’t want to keep breaking,” she whispered. “And I don’t want to be afraid of myself anymore.”
My voice cracked. “And what if you don’t come back?”
“I will,” she said gently. “Because you’ll be here.”
That broke me.
Before I could respond, the air in the room shifted.
“Heavens,” Eleanor’s voice drawled from the doorway, “I leave for one evening and return to ritual preparations?”
I spun around, fury igniting instantly.
“What are you doing here?"
Eleanor stepped inside, Sienna trailing just behind her like a puppy.
“I heard there was a… situation,” Eleanor said, gaze flicking to Tessa. “And now I see we’re risking the future of the pack on a human girl playing with forces she doesn’t understand.”
“She’s not human,” I growled. “And you don’t get a say.”
“Oh, but I do,” Eleanor replied smoothly. “Especially if she dies.”
Tessa shifted, pushing herself up slightly despite the strain. “I’m not doing this for you. Or the pack.”
Eleanor’s lips curved. “Of course not. You’re doing it because you’re weak.”
“Enough,” Sabine snapped. “You are not welcome here.”
“And yet I’m staying,” Eleanor replied coolly. “If this ritual fails, I will bear witness.”
Sienna said nothing, but her eyes flicked to Lucian, then to Tessa, something unreadable tightening in her expression.
I turned back to Sabine. “Tell me exactly what happens.”
Sabine hesitated, then spoke carefully.
“She will cross the veil. Her heart will slow, nearly stop. Her consciousness will enter another plane, where seers who came before reside.”
My hands clenched.
“You will anchor her,” she continued. “Your voice. Your presence. The bond. You call her name. You remind her who she is. You keep her tethered to this world.”
“And if she doesn’t respond?” I asked quietly.
Sabine met my eyes. “Then we stop the ritual. Immediately.”
“And if she can’t find her way back?”
No one answered.
Tessa reached for my hand again. “Lucian.”
I looked at her, memorizing her face like I might need the memory to survive.
“I’m scared,” she admitted softly. “But I’m choosing this.”
I pressed my forehead to hers. “I don’t know how to exist in a world without you.”
She smiled faintly. “Then don’t let me get lost.”
Sabine straightened. “let her rest for a while, then we begin."
"One more thing."
My heart slammed against my ribs. “What?”
Sabine’s jaw tightened. “We’re missing something.”
Eleanor’s eyebrow arched. “Oh? Do tell.”
Sabine ignored her and turned to Tessa. "You can't cross blindly. The veil recognizes lineage, but it demands proof.”
“What kind of proof?” Eli asked.
“A tether to the one she seeks,” Sabine said. “An object. Something that belonged to her aunt. Something that carries her imprint.”
My grip tightened around Tessa’s hands. “You’re telling me this now?”
“No,” I said sharply. “Absolutely not.”
Eleanor smiled thinly. “See? This is exactly why humans should not be involved in pack legacies. Too many… missing pieces.”
Tessa swallowed, her brow creasing as she searched her memory. “I—” she paused, breathing shallowly. “There might be something.”
“My aunt gave me a necklace,” she said slowly. “When I was younger. She said it was just something old she didn’t want anymore.”
Sabine’s eyes sharpened. “Where is it?"
Tessa hesitated. “I stopped wearing it after she died. It felt… heavy.” Her gaze flicked to me. “It’s in my bedroom. In a wooden box.”
“I’ll get it,” I said instantly.
“You don’t leave her,” Sabine said firmly.
“I’ll go,” Eli said, already moving.
Eli was gone before anyone could speak.
The waiting was torture.
Tessa’s breathing grew uneven again, her floodlines visibly straining.
“I’m trying,” she whispered. “It feels like something’s calling already.”
That sent shivers straight down my spine.
Then, footsteps.
Eli burst back in, breathless, holding a delicate chain in his palm. The pendant was small, carved from dark stone veined with silver.
The moment it entered the room, the air shifted.
Sabine sucked in a breath. “Yes. That’s it.”
Eleanor’s expression changed, not smug now, but wary.
“That object is old,” she said. “Older than this pack.”
Sabine took the necklace carefully and placed it against Tessa’s chest.
My wolf was pacing in the back of my mind, snapping at the air. He wanted to pick her up and run, to hide her from all of this. But there was nowhere to run. The danger wasn't outside; it was burning her up from inside out.
And for the first time in my life, hope felt as dangerous as fear.
- Writer
