Chapter 9
735 Words
PENELOPE POV
I tightened my grip on my father’s journal.
“You know who I am.”
It wasn’t a question.
Selene nodded once.
“I’ve known who you were long before you knew yourself.”
She stepped farther into the chapel, her heels clicking softly against the ancient stone.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said, glancing at the journal in my hands.
“I think I should.”
Her eyes softened for the briefest moment.
“Trust me, Penelope. There are truths buried in this castle that should remain buried.”
I let out a bitter laugh.
“My father spent twenty years dying because of those truths.”
Silence.
Selene lowered her gaze.
“I know.”
Something about the way she said it made my chest tighten.
“You knew my father?”
A shadow crossed her face.
“We were… friends.”
I frowned.
“My father never mentioned you.”
“He couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Julian made sure he couldn’t.”
My head snapped up.
“What?”
Before she could answer, a loud crash echoed somewhere above us.
The sound of breaking glass.
Selene’s expression changed instantly.
She looked… afraid.
“No.”
She whispered the word to herself.
“It can’t be tonight.”
“What can’t?”
She ignored me and rushed toward the staircase.
I followed.
Halfway up, she suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Listen carefully.”
Her voice had lost every trace of amusement.
“If you hear anyone call your name tonight…”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“…don’t answer.”
A chill ran through me.
“What are you talking about?”
“There are things in this castle that don’t belong to the living.”
Another crash shook the walls.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Selene cursed under her breath.
“We’re too late.”
She pulled me up the remaining steps.
The corridor outside was no longer empty.
Servants were running.
Doors slammed shut.
Some of them were crying.
One elderly maid clutched a silver cross to her chest while repeating prayers under her breath.
“What happened?”
No one answered me.
They all looked terrified.
Then…
The lights went out.
Every candle.
Every lantern.
Darkness swallowed the corridor.
Someone screamed.
Not nearby.
Far below us.
A man’s scream.
It ended abruptly.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
“Stay behind me,” Selene ordered.
For the first time since meeting her…
She sounded frightened.
A low growl echoed through the hallway.
It wasn’t human.
It came from somewhere ahead.
Slowly…
A pair of glowing amber eyes appeared in the darkness.
Then another.
And another.
Three pairs.
Watching us.
The creatures stepped into the faint moonlight spilling through the stained glass windows.
They looked like wolves.
Except wolves weren’t nearly that large.
Their black fur shimmered like smoke, and each carried strange silver markings across its body.
One sniffed the air.
Its head snapped toward me.
The growling stopped.
Instead…
It bowed.
The other two followed.
I stared in disbelief.
“They’re…”
“My God,” Selene breathed.
“They’ve recognized you.”
Before I could ask what she meant, a deep voice cut through the corridor.
“Move away from her.”
Julian.
He emerged from the darkness with a sword already drawn, his black coat billowing behind him.
Cassian appeared beside him, holding two silver daggers.
For the first time, the teasing smile that usually lived on his face was gone.
Julian’s eyes never left the wolves.
“What are they doing?” I whispered.
No one answered.
The largest wolf slowly walked toward me.
Julian raised his sword.
“One more step…”
The wolf ignored him.
It stopped directly in front of me.
Then, to everyone’s shock…
It lowered its head and gently dropped something at my feet.
A worn leather collar.
Attached to it was a rusted silver tag.
With trembling hands, I picked it up.
My breath caught.
One word was engraved into the metal.
Argos.
I knew that name.
It had been my father’s dog.
The dog that had supposedly died…
…the same week my father began fearing the House of Valerius.
Slowly, I looked back at the wolf.
Its amber eyes never left mine.
And somehow…
I knew.
This wasn’t a wolf.
It was waiting for me to remember who it really was.
- Writer
