CHAPTER 208: LILY’S MATERNAL POWER

LILY POV

"No!" I screamed as Hope jumped into the dimensional crack.

My daughter vanished into the swirling darkness, and something inside me broke apart. The maternal link that connected us stretched thin but didn’t snap. Hope was still alive, somewhere in that horrible place between worlds.

Without thinking, I dove after her.

"Lily!" Caleb shouted behind me, but I was already falling through the crack.

The space between dimensions felt like drowning in ice-cold honey. Everything moved slowly, and I could barely breathe. But I could feel Hope somewhere ahead of me, her tiny beating calling to mine.

I found her floating in a bubble of golden light, unconscious but breathing. Shadow-Hope circled around us like a shark, her evil energy trying to break through Hope’s protective barrier.

"You can’t save her," Shadow-Hope hissed. "She chose to sacrifice herself. That choice is binding."

"She’s a baby," I said firmly, taking Hope into my arms. "Babies don’t get to make sacrifices for adults."

"She’s not just a baby. She’s the bridge between light and dark. And she chose to close the bridge forever."

I looked around at the whirling chaos surrounding us. The dimensional cracks were still spreading, but slower now that Hope’s power was trying to shut them from the inside.

"There has to be another way," I said.

"There is," Shadow-Hope answered, and her voice sounded different. Less angry, more tired. "But you won’t like it."

I studied the shadow baby floating in front of me. Up close, she looked exactly like Hope, except her eyes held ancient sadness instead of innocent joy.

"Tell me," I ordered.

"I’m not really Hope’s evil twin," Shadow-Hope revealed. "I’m her fear. Every person has shadow-selves made of their darkest fears. Hope’s biggest fear is that she’ll hurt people by trying to help them."

My heart clenched. Even as a baby, Hope worried about others.

"So you’re not actually evil?"

"I’m the part of her that wants to give up trying to help anyone, because helping is scary and hard." Shadow-Hope’s dark glow flickered. "I convinced myself that controlling people was better than risking failure."

"But Hope doesn’t want that," I said, touching my daughter’s soft hair.

"No, she doesn’t. She wants people to choose goodness for themselves, even if some of them choose badly." Shadow-Hope drifted closer. "That’s why she jumped. She chose to risk everything rather than force anyone to be good."

I felt tears on my face. My baby girl had made the bravest choice possible.

"How do we fix this?" I asked.

"Hope and I have to become one person again," Shadow-Hope stated. "But that means she’ll have to carry her fears with her always. She’ll know that her power could hurt people if she uses it wrong."

"She’s strong enough," I said without doubt.

"Are you sure? Living with fear is hard, even for someone as powerful as Hope."

I looked down at my daughter’s peaceful face. She’d already shown more wisdom than most people.

"Fear doesn’t make you weak," I said. "Fear makes you careful. And careful people make better choices."

Shadow-Hope studied me with those sad, dark eyes. "You really believe that?"

"I know it. I was afraid every day that I wasn’t good enough to be Hope’s mother. That fear made me try harder to be the mother she deserved."

Something shifted in Shadow-Hope’s face. "And I was afraid that Hope’s kindness would be used against her. That fear made me want to protect her by making her mean."

"But cruelty isn’t protection," I said gently. "Love is safety. Even when love is scary."

Shadow-Hope nodded slowly. "Even when it means people might make bad choices."

"Especially then. Because good choices only mean something if bad choices are possible too."

The space around us began to shimmer. I could feel the dimensional cracks starting to heal as Shadow-Hope accepted the truth.

"Will you help me?" Shadow-Hope asked. "Will you help Hope carry her fears without being crushed by them?"

"Always," I promised.

Shadow-Hope smiled for the first time, and she looked exactly like my daughter. "Then let’s go home."

She drifted toward Hope and me, her dark energy mixing with Hope’s golden light. As they merged, Hope’s eyes opened, now holding both light and shadow in perfect balance.

"Mama," she whispered.

"I’m here, baby."

Hope looked around at the healing dimensional space, then back at me. "I was scared I’d hurt everyone."

"Being scared is okay," I told her. "Being scared means you care."

"Will you help me be brave even when I’m scared?"

"Every day," I promised, kissing her cheek.

The space around us disappeared, and suddenly we were back in the pack clearing. The dimensional cracks were sealed, and the shadow creatures had disappeared. Everyone stared at us in amazement.

But something was wrong. Hope felt different in my arms - heavy, older somehow.

"Mama," she said, looking up at me with eyes that held far too much information for a baby. "I remember everything now. All my past lives. All the times I’ve been born to fix broken worlds."

My blood turned to ice. "What do you mean, past lives?"

"I’m not really your baby," Hope said sadly. "I’m an old spirit who takes the form of whoever’s child is needed most. I’ve lived hundreds of lives, trying to bring balance to different worlds."

The pack gasped, but I held Hope tighter.

"You are my daughter," I said furiously. "I don’t care what you were before. You’re mine now."

"But Mama," Hope said, tears flowing down her tiny face, "now that my job here is finished, I have to move on to the next broken world. I have to leave you."

My heart shattered into a million pieces. After everything we’d been through, after saving both our lives, I was going to lose my daughter anyway.

"When?" I whispered.

Hope looked up at the full moon hanging overhead. "When the moon sets. I have until dawn."

I had less than six hours left with my baby.

"No," Caleb said, stepping forward. "There has to be a way for her to stay."

Elder Iris hobbled over, her face grave. "There might be. But the price would be terrible."

"What price?" I asked.

The old woman looked at me with pity in her eyes. "One of Hope’s parents would have to take her place. Someone would have to become the traveling spirit who fixes broken worlds."

The clearing fell silent as everyone realized what that meant. Either Caleb or I would have to leave forever, going from world to world, never able to come home.

Hope looked between Caleb and me with desperate eyes. "Please don’t. I don’t want anyone to sacrifice themselves for me."

But as I looked at my husband’s determined face, I knew we were both thinking the same thing. We would do anything to let our daughter have a normal life.

The question was: which one of us would say goodbye forever?