Chapter 8: Third POV
1418 Words
The apartment has gone quiet... Too quiet. The salt circle still glows faintly, its edges cracked from absorbing so much power. LJ kneels beside it, trembling, hands shaking violently as she reaches toward Claire. Claire doesn’t move. Her body sags forward, her arms wrapped protectively around Carter, but her head hangs limp, curls falling over her face.
Her skin is pale. Her breathing shallow. Her magic flickers weakly around her like a dying ember. Carter stirs in her lap, blinking sleepily.
“Momma tired…” His tiny fingers tap her cheek. Nothing. “Momma?” A tremble enters his voice. He shakes her harder. “Momma wake…”
LJ scrambles fully into the circle now, ignoring the risk of burn-back magic. She grips Claire’s shoulders.
“Claire! Claire, sweetheart, you need to open your eyes! Hey—HEY—”
No response. Carter begins to whimper, soft at first… then louder. His eyes glow faintly again.
“No—no, no, no,” LJ panics, cradling his face. “Sweetheart, shhh, she’s okay—she’s just—she’s just sleeping—don’t blow up the apartment, please—”
But Carter’s magic trembles dangerously as fear begins to build and Claire still doesn’t move.
•••
Elsewhere
Across realms. Across shadows. Across ancient stone and forgotten boundaries. Something awakens. It feels the surge. The forbidden spell.The pulse of pure moonlight power. The Luna’s awakening. A slow smile coils through the dark. Not warm. Not pleasant. Hungry.
“After all this time…” Its voice is barely a whisper, carried through cracks in reality like a chill wind. The shadows shiver in response. “She has revealed herself.”
A ripple of black flame flickers across clawed fingers. Runes carved into the cavern walls ignite for the first time in centuries, responding to a power that should have remained sealed. The creature lifts its head, inhaling deeply, savoring the scent of awakened lunar blood.
“Little witch,” it purrs. “Little Luna.”
A low, rumbling laugh echoes through the chamber, ancient dust falling from the ceiling. “And her child…Oh, her child burns brighter than even the prophecy foretold.”
Its eyes open. Twin voids. Twin abysses. It steps from the shadows as if they are part of its flesh.
“Soon,” it murmurs. “Very soon. Find her and bring me the pup.” The realm quakes beneath its feet.
The shadows scatter like loyal soldiers.
•••
Back in Claire’s apartment
Carter’s eyes glow harder now, shimmering with that same dangerous lunar spark in his tiny chest.
“Momma wake!” he cries, voice cracking.
LJ holds him tightly, tears streaming. “Baby, please, she’s just tired—don’t—don’t do this—” The air trembles. The lights flicker. Something creaks—deep and wrong—within the walls. And far away, in the place where shadows just scattered…The creature stops. Its head snaps toward Claire’s realm. It smiles again.
“She fears her destiny,” it whispers. “She fears the wolf.” A pause. “And that will make breaking her… even easier.”
Its claws flex.
“Start with the boy.”
•••
Vision-Claire’s POV
Darkness isn’t supposed to feel warm.
But this does.
Not comforting…Not safe…But familiar. Like the moment before a spell snaps into place. I try to breathe.
Nothing moves. I try to open my eyes. The world peels away in silver.
Suddenly I’m standing—barefoot—on a smooth stone floor that glows faintly beneath me. Moonlight drips down the walls like liquid metal. A temple. Older than time. Older than gods. A chill runs down my spine.
“Hello?”
My voice echoes. Then dissolves. Footsteps answer. Slow. Measured. Too soft to be human. I turn—And the goddess stands before me. Her veil is made of darkness and stars. Her form wavers like a flame made of moonlight. Her presence swallows the entire space and makes my knees shake. But her voice—Her voice is the first thing that ever made me feel seen.
“Claire.”I swallow. My throat is thick. My legs weaken. “Where… where am I? What’s happening to Carter? Is he okay? Is—”
The goddess lifts a hand. Silence falls like a spell.“Your child lives,” she says gently. “He breathes. He rests.”
“T-Then why am I here?”
“Because you collapsed,” she answers simply.
“Your magic and his connected too deeply. The bond awakened something in you that you are not yet trained to hold.”
My stomach drops.“The moonlight in him…it responded to me.” My voice cracked.
“It always would.”
The air hums with meaning.
“What am I?” I whisper. “What are you making me? I didn’t ask for this. I never—”
The goddess steps closer. The air grows cold.
“You were born Luna, Claire. Long before your mother. Long before me.”
I freeze.
No.
No. No. No.
“That’s not true,” I say desperately. “I’m just—I’m just a girl taking care of a baby I wasn’t ready for—I’m not—”
“You are everything they fear.”
The room trembles.
“A witch born of my blood. A Luna born of the moon. A mother bound by fate. And a threat to those who hunt power.”
I can’t breathe. I back away, shaking. “No. No, you don’t understand—I can’t be what you want. I can barely keep Carter from blowing up his school—”
The goddess’s voice grows sharp.“You think I chose wrong?”
My heart slams.Everything inside me shakes.Her veil flickers, revealing the faint outline of eyes glowing white-blue.
“Child,” she whispers, “I did not choose you. I revealed you.”
The words feel like they’re tearing something open inside me.
“You cannot run from what you are.” Her tone softens.“You are Luna. Carter is Moon-marked. And together…you are prophecy.”
My knees buckle. I hit the glowing floor, hands shaking violently. “No,” I breathe. “Please. Take it back—please—I can’t lose him. I can’t lose Carter. If being Luna hurts him—”
Her voice cuts cleanly through my panic.“Being Luna is the reason he survives.”
I jerk my head up.
“What?”
She kneels before me—the goddess herself lowering to me—and I feel something inside me ignite.
Still fragile. Still soft. But real.
“Your child carries a power the realms have not seen since the beginning of magic,” she says. “Without a Luna to anchor him… he will burn.”
My breath hitched.
“You are his balance.” A pause. “His tether.” Her voice gentles. “His mother not by blood… but by destiny.”
My tears fall hot onto the glowing stone.
“But I don’t know how to help him,” I whisper. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m scared. I’m so scared.”
The goddess rests a hand—cold as moonlight, warm as memory—against my cheek.
“Fear does not disqualify the chosen. Fear is how you know you are worthy.”
I choke on a sob.
“Then tell me what to do,” I beg. “Tell me how to save him.”
A long silence. Then: “Do not trust the shadows.” Her hand drops. “Do not run from the wolf.”
I stiffen.
“No,” I snap, wiping my face. “No. Not him. I’m not letting Draven into our lives. I’m not—”
“You misunderstand.”
The goddess rises to her full, towering height. The temple dims.
“If you push him away,” she warns, “You doom the realms. You doom the boy.”
My heart stops.
The floor cracks beneath me.
“What does that mean?” I cry. “Tell me—just TELL ME—”
But a wind rushes through the temple, tearing the vision apart, dissolving her figure into silver dust.
Her voice echoes one last time—
“Awaken, Luna. Before the darkness finds you first.”
And then—
Light. Pain. A distant scream. LJ’s voice yelling my name—
And I gasp awake.
- Writer
