bChapter 268 /b

    Aurora’s P.O.V

    b67 /b

    The room was cold, too cold for my liking, and it only got worse as the chanting grew

    louder, like a pounding drum in my head. I squinted through the dim light and saw them -a group of women standing in a circle by the side, the same women who had been bound not long ago.

    Their words were strange, foreign, but somehow familiar, as if I’d heard them before in a forgotten dream. Witches. I knew it then. I knew what they were. The realization hit me like a freight train, and my stomach churned in response.

    I tried to step forward, but the grip on my wrist tightened, and I turned to find a small girl beside me. She couldn’t have been more than eleven or twelve, but there was something unsettling in her eyes–pale, white hair framed her face, and her eyes were wide with the same dread I felt. She clung to my arm and whispered, “We can’t let them.”

    “What are they doing?” I asked, barely able to hear myself over the thundering sound of

    their voices.

    “They’re trying to reverse the spell,” she whispered back, her voice barely audible, but the fear in it was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

    We watched in silence as one of the older women, dressed in a cloak that seemed to swallow her entire body, looked toward the group. Her face was stern, tired, like she’d seen far too much in her life, and she tookmand without hesitation. “Everyone, vacate the room immediately. I will hold the font with my coven.”

    I felt my heart race. “No,” I protested without thinking. My voice cracked as I stepped forward, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. “You can’t do this alone.”

    The small girl beside me gasped and grabbed my wrist tighter. “Please,” she whispered urgently, “we need to stop them.”

    But the woman only nced at me with those cold, calcting eyes and then back to the witches. “These two,” she said in a low, almost reverent tone, “have killed dozens of

    b9:18 /bThu, Sep b4 /bB…

    :

    covens over the years. Their power is not so easily contained.”

    67

    I tried to speak, to argue, to do anything to stop her, but my throat was dry. A small part of me–something deep inside that I couldn’t control–felt a flicker of anger. It wasn’t just about Lucas anymore. It was about something bigger. Something more dangerous. But I didn’t know how to stop them.

    “What do you mean, ‘contain them‘? What are you nning to do?” The words came out

    rushed, almost pleading, but I didn’t care. I had to know. I needed to understand.

    The woman looked at me then, and for the briefest moment, I saw something almost like pity in her eyes. “Leave child, leave while you still can,” she said, her voice thick with regret, “These two…they are no ordinary witches. They’ve been hunting down covens like

    ours for centuries. The magic they’ve unleashed–it’s dangerous. And no matter what we do, it’s never enough to stop them.”

    The air grew heavier with each word. My pulse pounded in my ears, and the weight of

    her statement sank deep into my chest. The girl beside me trembled, her tiny hand gripping mine tighter.

    I turned to look at Lucas, his back to me now, standing in front of Harmona, who was

    glowing with dark energy. And I knew, with a certainty I couldn’t ignore, that no matter what we did, nothing could stop what wasing.

    I stood frozen in ce, staring at the woman before me, my breathing in shallow gasps. There were too many questions running through my mind, but the one that kept

    repeating, over and over again, was the same. What exactly were they about to do?

    I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the scene unfolding around us. The woman’s

    But then, her eyes met mine–sharp, focused, urgent–and she spoke with an intensity that made my pulse race. “We don’t have much time,” she said, her words clipped but

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    carrying the weight of something far darker. “You must escape. Now.”

    The air in the room grew heavier, more suffocating. I opened my mouth to protest, to demand answers. But before I could speak, Caleb’s hand shot out, grabbing mine with a grip that was firm, almost desperate. I looked up at him, and for a brief second, I saw something flicker in his eyes–something I couldn’t quite ce. Fear? Determination?

    “Aurora, we need to go. Now.” His voice was low but insistent, like he knew what was

    the door.

    I stumbled, but Caleb’s hand never wavered, holding tight to me as we began to move. My heart was pounding in my chest, each beat reverberating in my ears as I nced back toward the woman and herpanions. Their chanting was rising, a crescendo into something even more sinister, and a strange, almost deafening sound filled the air.

    Then it happened.

    The entire house shook, the walls groaning and creaking as if they were on the verge of copsing. The floor beneath me trembled with such force that I almost lost my footing, and I grabbed Caleb’s arm for bnce. Dust and debris began to fall from the ceiling in heavy chunks, each one crashing to the floor with deafening thuds. I could hear the faint sound of cracking wood, and I knew–I knew–the house wasing down.

    “Hurry!” Caleb shouted, pulling me harder as we ran through the hallways with the others, the sound of copsing beams and falling rubble echoing behind us. I didn’t dare look back. I just followed Caleb, my legs moving on their own ord, my body stiff with fear. I could feel the heat of the house’s destruction on my skin, feel the sharp sting of

    debris as it grazed past me.

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