Chapter 124: Echoes of the Past

Lyra's POV

They arrive like ghosts through the morning mist—familiar faces wearing unfamiliar expressions, voices we know speaking words we've never heard. Our alternates. Our might-have-beens.

I freeze as my mother—not my mother, but her alternate—steps forward. In this version, she never died defending our pack. Her hair has graceful streaks of silver, laugh lines crinkle around her eyes, and she looks at me with a mixture of wonder and disapproval.

"My little goddess," she says, the words both loving and accusatory. "Always so determined to save everyone, weren't you?"

Behind her, I see my father, my sister—versions of them from a reality where our family stayed whole, where betrayal and death never tore us apart. The sight hits me like a physical blow, making reality ripple around us in response to my emotional turbulence.

"Mom," I whisper, but Xander's sharp intake of breath draws my attention.

He's staring at his alternate self—a version who stands tall and proud, unmarked by th