Chapter 14
Theo
Three hours past midnight and nobody’s sleeping.
In the corner, Wes and Gray talk in hushed tones. Gray’s hand rests steady on Wes’s shoulder, voice low and calm as he tries to talk Wes down from whatever edge he’s walking. The hunger is eating at Wes—I can feel it from here, sharp and desperate—but Gray doesn’t flinch from it.
Rhett has completely dismantled some kind of mechanical device on the table, gears and springs scattered across the surface. His hands move with focused precision as he tries to put it back together, heat shimmering faintly around his fingers. It’s the third thing he’s taken apart tonight.
Jace sits cross-legged on the floor, muttering something about pancakes and how syrup should never be rationed in times of crisis. His usual manic energy has settled into something quieter, but his eyes stay sharp, tracking every movement.
Stellan paces near the window, phone pressed to his ear. His voice is too low to catch most of it, but fragments drift over: “…the nightmare… yes, now… how many…”
He catches me listening and turns away, but not before I hear him say, “Open the stable.”
Thane isn’t here. Hopefully he’s with Bree, wherever they are. Both of them gone, leaving the rest of us to figure out how to bring them back.
I’ve been quiet but not because I don’t know what to do.
Because I do.
I’m just afraid I won’t come back from it the same.
But Bree? She’s more important. She’s everything.
I take a breath, steadying myself.
“I can find her.”
The words cut through the restless energy like a blade. Everyone goes still—Wes stops mid-conversation, Gray turns from the corner, Rhett’s hands freeze over his scattered gears, Jace looks up from the floor. I hear Stellan abruptly end his call.
Five sets of eyes fix on me, desperate and hopeful and afraid all at once.
“Theo,” Gray says carefully, “what do you mean?”
I close my eyes, reaching out with my Seer abilities. If they’re connected to this realm at all, if there’s any thread of their presence left, I should be able to find it.
“She’s not gone,” I say, searching for any trace of connection. “They’re not gone. They’re just… displaced.”
The moment I open myself fully to the vision, the world tilts.
Cold. Endless black. Stars that might be eyes. And Bree—
She’s there, silver mist crackling around her, but it’s wrong. Black threads weave through the light like infection, and something else moves in the darkness. Something that watches and waits and hungers.
Thane is beside her, but he’s shaken, his usual composure cracked and bleeding panic.
I can feel it pressing at the edges of Bree’s consciousness, whispering things I can’t quite hear but know are poison.
“Bree.”
My voice cuts through the Void, clear and strong. Not pleading—pulling.
She doesn’t hear me at first. Too lost in whatever storm is raging inside her head, too overwhelmed by the presence circling them like a predator.
But I’m not letting her go.
“Bree.” Louder this time, with all the conviction I possess. “You don’t belong there.”
In the sanctuary, I feel the others moving closer. Wes steps away from Gray, his hand landing on my shoulder, steady and warm. Gray moves up beside me, his presence solid and sure. Rhett abandons his scattered gears, and Jace stops muttering about pancakes. Even Stellan draws near.
We’re all holding the connection now, each in our own way. All of us reaching for them.
“Come back to us.”
It’s not a request. It’s a command, spoken with the authority of someone who sees truth and won’t be denied.
In the darkness, Bree’s head snaps up. Her eyes find mine across impossible distance, and for a moment the darkness around her recoils.
The thing in the shadows hisses—a sound like silk tearing—but I don’t flinch.
“Come back,” I repeat, gentler now but no less certain. “We’re here. We’re waiting.”
The connection flares, silver light building between us, and for a moment I think I have them. I can feel Bree reaching back, Thane’s desperation cutting through his panic—
But then something else cuts in. That voice, smooth and pleased.
“Oh, I don’t think so.”
The light fractures. The connection wavers, stretched thin but not broken.
In the blackness, I see Bree’s eyes widen with fresh terror as the darkness presses closer. Thane moves to shield her, but whatever’s there is stronger than both of them.
“Not yet, little queen.” The voice is almost tender now, intimate in a way that makes my skin crawl. “We’re not finished yet.”
And then, directed at me—at all of us—a promise that feels like ice down my spine:
“I’ll be seeing you real soon.”
The vision cuts out like a severed cord.
I gasp, clutching my head as it pounds, vision blurring from the effort of reaching so far only to be slammed back.
“Theo!” Wes takes my arm. “What happened? Are they—?”
“They’re alive,” I manage, though my voice comes out rough. “But something’s holding them there. Something that doesn’t want to let them go.”
The silence that follows is heavy with dread.
Whatever has Bree and Thane, it knows we’re trying to reach them.
It might have won this time, but I’ll keep trying. I have to.