SIERRADarkness, soft moonlight, and a voice, gentle but stronger than I was ready for.“Sierra,” the Moon Goddess murmured, her form shimmering above me. “You have to return through the veil.”I stared upwards, my chest rising and falling in uneven breaths. Her face hovered just above me, calm, beautiful, and framed by soft silver light. It was hard to look straight at her without feeling both comfort and fear.The Moon Goddess.She didn’t speak right away. She didn’t need to. Her presence filled the entire space, pressing into my heart like a soft, familiar pressure.Still, I forced the words out.“Why?” My voice was shaking. “Why should I go back through the veil? I have one goal. One reason to even breathe right now. I need to save Zane.”She looked down at me, her eyes like a storm frozen in glass. There was no anger there, only a deep sorrow that seemed older than time itself.She sighed, the sound gentle but vast, like wind sweeping through a thousand forests.“Because your kin
SIERRAThe forest was quiet, too quiet.I didn’t even mean to walk this far. I’d told Kane I just needed air, space to think, but somehow my feet kept moving, like something deeper than me was guiding them.And then I saw it.Half-hidden behind the thick trees, surrounded by moss and roots, was something old. Stone cracked and crumbled. A shape almost like a circle, broken in two places. Vines crawled over it, but I could tell, it had once been sacred.“What... is this?” I whispered.The second I stepped closer, the air changed. Warm, heavy, and humming. A strange sound filled my ears. Not a noise, exactly, but chanting. Soft voices. All around me, though I was alone.My head spun. My knees buckled.Suddenly, visions.Witches. Dozens of them, cloaked in black and silver. Standing in a circle around the altar, chanting in words I didn’t understand.Then wolves, huge, silver-furred creatures, bowing their heads before the stone.I blinked hard. “What am I seeing?”And then I saw the pen
SIERRA“Kane, that’s crazy,” Dane said, voice tight with frustration. “You want to do what…just break into the veil like it’s a door we can kick down?”Kane paced near the edge of the clearing, fists clenched. “Why not? We’ve danced around it long enough. Rituals, seers, visions, they’ve done nothing. Zane is still trapped. I say we stop waiting.”“You say we storm into something we don’t understand!” Dane snapped. “The veil isn’t some locked room, it’s alive, and it’s dangerous.”“I don’t care,” Kane growled. “I’m not going to sit around while Zane suffers. Every second we waste, Ariel gets stronger.”I sat on a fallen log, my head in my hands. My heart felt like it was being pulled in two directions…just like I was.“Kane, please…” I tried.He turned toward me. “You know I’m right. You felt it, Sierra. You saw him. He’s breaking. If we don’t do something now…”“Enough!” Dane stepped forward. “You think I don’t care? That I don’t see how bad it’s getting for him? But running in witho
SIERRAWe moved quietly through the woods, careful with every step. The ground beneath us was damp and soft, like it had just rained, even though it hadn’t. The trees around us bent in strange ways, their branches reaching down like long fingers, and the wind whistled through them like whispers trying to push us back. Each creak and groan sounded like a warning.The air felt heavy, thick and sharp in my chest. It smelled wrong. Not like dirt and leaves like usual, but burnt and bitter. Like fire and rot. Like something dark had slipped out of a place it was never supposed to escape from.It felt like the veil had left its mark here, like a wound on the world.Dane walked ahead, his body tense and ready. His knife was already out, and his eyes kept moving, scanning the trees, the shadows, the corners where light didn’t quite reach. He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. His silence told me he was listening harder than anyone.Kane walked beside me, close enough that our arms brushed now a
SIERRA“Before we start, Sierra, you must understand,” the seer said, her voice soft yet carrying a heavy weight. Her eyes, pale as moonlight, fixed on us with a look that made my heart pound. “This is a forbidden blood ritual. It will pierce the veil once more, but it comes with a great cost.”I took a step forward, my voice trembling, “What do you need from us?”Kane and Dane, the twins in our grief and hope, stood silently by my side. Kane’s eyes blazed with determination. “We’re in,” he said without hesitation. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”Dane’s face, however, was shadowed with doubt. “I’m not sure,” he murmured, glancing between the seer and me.The seer nodded. “It requires the full consent of you three. Your blood, your will, and your deepest emotions will bind you together, and through that, you will share Sierra’s connection to Zane. But be warned, it risks fragmenting your minds, leaving you tethered to the veil permanently.”I swallowed hard. “And what about me? What do I
SIERRAI woke up with a scream in my throat.“Zane!” I gasped, sitting up fast. My chest was heaving, and sweat clung to my skin like ice.The room was dark, but my mind was full of him, Zane. Not the Zane from memories. Zane from now. The Zane who was chained, crying out my name in a voice filled with pain and fear.“Sierra?” kane rushed into my room, flipping the light on. “What happened?”I looked at him with wide eyes. “He’s in pain. I saw him. He’s in chains. There’s fog… and shadows… and he kept calling my name.”Kane sat beside me. “You were dreaming.”“It wasn’t just a dream,” I said, shaking my head. “I could feel him. He’s alive, kane. He’s alive and he’s trapped.”“What did you see exactly?” Dane asked from the doorway.I turned to him slowly. “Chains on his arms and ankles. The air around him was thick with smoke or fog. It was like… a prison made of shadows.”Dane nodded once, his face hard. “We’re going back to the library.”Kane leaned against the wall, his eyes shadowe