Lisa’s POV
The air cracked with a roar that shook the ground. Shadows poured into the maze like storm clouds, swallowing the light. I clutched at my chest. I felt breathless.
“He’s here,” I whispered.
Sierra’s voice growled low in my head. Fenric knows what you have done. He is coming for
you.
My heart pounded. I looked at my mother. “What do I do?”
Before she could answer, the shadows split apart. He stepped through them.
Fenric.
He looked younger than the man I had fought in the present, but his eyes were the same; cold and burning with cruelty. His lips twisted into a smile that made my stomach turn.
“Well, well,” he drawled, his voice echoing across the hall. “The lost little wolf has freed the lambs I fattened for eternity. How touching. How useless.”
Rage flared in me. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to rip him apart. But my legs trembled under his gaze.
He lifted his hand and the shadows surged toward me.
But Althea moved first.
“No!” she cried, and light burst from her body. It was fierce and blinding like a star. She hurled herself at him. Her hands turned into claws of pure light and she slashed at his chest.
Fenric staggered. He was startled. Then, he laughed. The sound was sharp and cruel. “Still fighting, even in death?”
His shadows wrapped around her throat and yanked her off her feet. She thrashed but he squeezed harder. His hands were glowing with black fire.
“Mom!” I screamed. My chest ripped open with fear.
Althea’s form flickered. Her light was dimming under his grip. She turned her head just enough to meet my eyes. “Go, Lisa! Don’t look back!”
Tears streamed down my face. “I can’t leave you!”
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< Chapter 127
+25 Points
“You must!” Her voice was raw with both pain and love. “End this….for me, for all of us!”
Fenric sneered and drove a bolt of shadow–fire into her chest. She gasped. Her body was writhing with light and dark tangled together. My knees buckled.
“Stop it!” I begged. “Please, stop!”
He turned his head slowly toward me. His eyes glowed like coals. “Did you think you could undo me with your little trick, girl? You are nothing. You are mine.”
Sierra’s voice roared in my head. Move, Lisa! Look around you!
I gasped and turned.
The children–the souls I had freed–had gathered around me. Their lights pulsed softly. They formed a circle, hand in hand, their voices rising like a hum that filled the air.
“What are they doing?” I whispered.
The first child I had freed, a boy with golden curls, lifted his glowing face toward me. “We will protect you,” he said in a voice like bells. “He cannot have you.”
Before my eyes, their lights interlaced, weaving into a shape. I stumbled back. My breath caught in my throat.
It was me.
A reflection of me formed out of their glow. She had my face, my hair, even my trembling breath. I could smell my own scent rolling from her skin. She turned her head and looked at me. She was smiling softly.
I gasped. “That’s… me.”
“Yes,” the boy said. “We will give him this shadow. While he plays with the lie, you must run.”
My hands shook. “Run where? There’s no way out!”
The circle widened. Some of the souls broke away and began weaving threads of silver light between them. The threads tightened, pulled, and then tore open into a glowing rift.
It shimmered like broken glass. It was a portal that hummed with energy. My whole body quivered. I could feel the present calling from beyond it.
Sierra’s voice filled me. This is it, Lisa. This is the way home.
My breath came hard and fast. I looked at my mother. Fenric was still crushing her. His shadows were burning through her spirit. She cried out in pain but kept her eyes on me.
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< Chapter 127
“Go!” she screamed again.
“I can’t!” My voice cracked. “I can’t leave you like this!”
175 Points
Fenric turned. He was laughing like a maniac. “Yes, child, stay. Watch her suffer. Watch what happens when you defy me.” He twisted his hand. Althea screamed. Her body flickered like a candle flame about to die.
I sobbed and took a step forward. “Please, stop hurting her! Hurt me instead!”
Althea’s voice cut through my despair. “No, Lisa! Don’t worry about me! This is my fight! Yours is still ahead!”
Sierra snarled inside me. She is right. If you die here, all of this was for nothing.
I covered my mouth with both hands. I was shaking. My heart was breaking. I wanted to run to her. I wanted to tear Fenric apart. But I couldn’t. Not yet.
The children’s voices rose louder. The reflection of me turned and walked toward Fenric, her eyes filled with false terror. She screamed as if she were me, her voice shaking the maze.
Fenric’s grin widened. He hurled Althea aside like broken glass and lunged for the reflection. He wrapped his shadows around her wrists and pulled her in.
“Yes,” he hissed. “You are mine, girl. At last.”
I gasped. The mirror–me looked at me over his shoulder. Her lips curved into a faint smile. Then her form rippled with light.
The portal behind me pulsed harder. The silver threads strained, quivering like a web ready to snap. The children’s voices were growing faint.
“Hurry,” one whispered. “We cannot hold it long.”
I shook my head wildly. “I can’t just…”
Althea’s broken voice cut me off. “Go, my daughter! Carry my love with you!”
Fenric’s laughter filled the maze as he bound the reflection tighter. He hadn’t realized. He thought he had me.
Sierra growled fiercely. Now, Lisa! If you stay, we lose everything. Go!
I turned. My tears were blinding me. My whole body screamed with pain. But I ran.
I ran toward the portal, the silver light burning my skin as I neared it. My chest heaved with
every step.
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Chapter 127
Behind me, Fenric’s triumphant laugh echoed. Althea’s screams burned my ears. The reflection of me shimmered brighter, holding him distracted.
I reached the edge of the rift. My breath caught.
“Mom!” I screamed one last time.
$25 Points
She lifted her head. Her form was barely holding together. Her eyes met mine. They were glowing with pride and sorrow. “Go, Lisa. Live. End him.”
I choked on my sob, then leapt into the portal.
The silver light swallowed me whole.
The last thing I heard was Fenric’s roar of fury, realizing too late that he had been deceived. The children’s laughter rang faintly, like bells carried on the wind.
And then there was nothing.
Just darkness.
Just silence.
And the question tearing at my chest…..
Had I really made it back to the present?
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