FIVE YEARS AGO
Elena led Lyra deeper into the forest.
Rain poured down. Thunder cracked overhead. Lyra's silver dress was ruined, sticking to her body, heavy with water.
She should feel cold. Should feel the pain from the broken bond still screaming in her chest.
But all she felt was numb.
Empty.
Hollow where something important used to be.
"Where are we going?" Her voice sounded faraway. Like someone else was speaking.
"Somewhere safe." Elena moved through the darkness with impossible ease. Like she could see perfectly despite the storm. "Somewhere they can't find you."
"I don't care if they find me."
"You will. Tomorrow. Next week. When the shock wears off and the anger comes." Elena looked back. "Trust me. I know."
They walked for what felt like hours. Deeper into land Lyra didn't recognize. Past the pack limits. Into wild lands where wolves didn't hunt.
Finally, Elena stopped.
They stood in a small area. Trees made a circle around it, their branches creating a natural shelter from the rain.
And on the ground— Lyra's breath caught.
Symbols covered the forest floor. Carved into the ground. Glowing softly with silver light that pulsed like a heartbeat.
"What is this?" Fear crept into her voice.
"Your salvation." Elena stepped into the circle's center. "Or your damnation. Depends on how you look at it."
"I don't understand—"
"You will." Elena's smile was sad. Kind. "Sit, child. You're tired. Hurting. Let me help."
Lyra wanted to run. Every sense screamed danger.
But where would she go? Back to the pack that removed her? Back to the family that rejected her? Back to the cliff?
She had nowhere left to run.
Slowly, she stepped into the circle.
The moment her foot crossed the border, the symbols flared brighter.
Power rushed up her legs like lightning. Not painful. Just... present. Alive.
"What—" Lyra stumbled. "What's happening?"
"The circle recognizes you." Elena's eyes gleamed in the darkness. "Recognizes what you carry inside. What you've always carried."
"I don't carry anything. I'm wolfless. Empty—"
"You're anything but empty." Elena circled her slowly, studying. "Your pack called you Null. Defective. But they were wrong. You're not missing something, Lyra. You have something extra. Something they couldn't recognize because they've never seen it before."
"What are you talking about?"
Elena stopped in front of her. "The shadow curse. That's what they call it, yes? The reason you can't shift? The thing that makes you worthless in their eyes?"
Lyra nodded, throat tight.
"It's not a curse." Elena's speech was gentle. "It's a gift. An old one. Older than monsters. Older than packs."
"That's impossible—"
"Is it?" Elena raised her hand.
Darkness gathered in her palm. Not natural darkness. Living shadow that moved and writhed like smoke.
Lyra's eyes went wide.
"I'm like you," Elena said softly. "Or rather, you're like me. A Shadow Walker. One of the last."
"Shadow Walker?" The term meant nothing to Lyra.
"Beings who existed before dogs learned to walk on two legs. We controlled darkness itself. Moved through shadows. Became shadow." Elena closed her fist and the darkness vanished. "Your family carries that power. Your mother had it. Her mother before her. It skips generations, appearing when the blood runs true."
"My mother died of cancer—"
"Your mother died trying to birth you." Elena's speech was quiet. "The ghost power is strong. Too strong for most human bodies to handle. She burned from the inside out bringing you into this world."
The words hit like fists. "No. That's not—I remember her. She raised me until I was fifteen—"
"Do you?" Elena tilted her head. "Or do you remember what you were told to remember?"
Lyra's head spun. "You're not making sense—"
"Sit." Elena's order was gentle but firm. "Before you fall."
Lyra's legs gave out. She collapsed onto the ground in the circle's middle.
The symbols pulsed faster. The silver light surrounding her.
Elena knelt beside her. "I'm going to help you, Lyra. Help you survive. Help you raise your child. But there's a price."
"What price?"
"You have to accept what you are. Embrace the shade instead of fearing it." Elena's eyes flashed black. "Let me show you how to use the power that's been dormant inside you since birth."
"I don't have power—"
"You do. You've always had it. The pack just told you it was worthless because they couldn't control it." Elena put a hand over Lyra's heart. "In here. Sleeping. Waiting. The shadow recognizes me. It wants to wake."
Lyra felt it then. Something stirring in her chest where the broken link used to be. Something dark and cold and huge.
Terrifying.
"I'm scared," she whispered.
"I know. But fear is good. It means you're alive." Elena's smile was sad. "Your baby needs you living. Strong. Able to protect them from a world that will fear what they are."
"What they are?"
"Half wolf, half ghost. Something new. Something powerful." Elena's hand pressed harder. "Let me help you both survive."
Lyra's hand moved to her stomach. The baby. Three months old. Growing inside her.
Rejected before it was born.
What kind of life awaited it? Hunted by the pack. Hated for being different. Alone.
Unless she became strong enough to protect it.
"What do I have to do?" Lyra asked.
"Trust me." Elena's eyes flashed black again. "And let go."
"Let go of what?"
"Everything holding you back. The pain. The rejection. The broken tie. The girl who wanted to be accepted." Elena's words became hypnotic. "She's dead anyway. Let her die. Let something new be born."
The symbols around them burned white-hot.
Power shot upward, pouring into Lyra's body.
She gasped. It felt like lightning in her veins. Like ice and fire and something old waking after a long sleep.
"That's it," Elena urged. "Feel it. The shadow knows its own."
Lyra looked down at her hands.
They were smoking. Literal smoke rising from her face.
"What's happening to me?" Panic edged her words.
"Evolution. Transformation. Awakening." Elena's smile widened. "Don't fight it. Accept it."
The smoke grew thicker. Darker.
Lyra's view blurred. The world turned.
For just a second—just a flash—she saw something else.
Not Elena kneeling beside her.
Something older. Something with eyes like bottomless pits and a smile full of lies.
"Wait—" Lyra tried to pull back. "Something's wrong—"
"Nothing's wrong." Elena's voice echoed oddly. "Everything's finally right."
The symbols burst with light.
Lyra screamed as power tore through her. Foreign. Invasive. Wrong.
It felt like something was being pushed into her mind. Thoughts that weren't hers. Memories that didn't belong to her.
She saw cities burning. Wolves running in fear. Darkness swallowing everything.
And standing in the middle of it all—Elena. But different. Younger. Ancient. Terrible.
"No!" Lyra fought, clawing at the invasion in her mind. "Get out! GET OUT!"
"Shhh." Elena's hand pressed harder against her heart. "Don't fight. Just sleep. When you wake, everything will be better."
"You're doing something—you're changing me—"
"I'm saving you. Saving your baby." Elena's eyes were pure black now. Bottomless. "Trust me, Lyra. I would never hurt you."
But even as she said it, Lyra felt something being taken. Memories being changed. Reality being changed.
The last thing she saw before darkness took her was the symbols on the ground.
Not sparkling silver anymore.
Black. Like oil. Like shadow. Like something bad.
And Elena's face above her, smiling.
Not kind anymore.
Satisfied.
Like she'd gotten exactly what she wanted.
Then everything went dark.
When Lyra woke, the world was different.
She was lying in a small hut. Sunlight streamed through windows. The smell of food cooking floated from somewhere nearby.
Elena sat beside the bed, looking worried. "Easy. Don't sit up too fast. You've been asleep for three days."
"Three days?" Lyra's voice was hoarse.
"You fell. The stress of the rejection, the baby, the exposure—your body shut down." Elena offered water. "Drink. Slowly."
Lyra drank. The water was cool. Clean. Nothing seemed wrong.
But something felt off.
She couldn't quite remember what happened in the forest. The marks. The light. The feeling of something being pushed into her mind.
It was... hazy. Like a dream half-remembered.
"You saved me," Lyra said. The words felt right. True. "At the cliff. You brought me here. Thank you."
"Of course." Elena smiled warmly. "I couldn't let you die. You have too much promise."
Potential. The word echoed weirdly.
Lyra's hand moved to her stomach. "The baby?"
"Fine. Strong. Healthy." Elena's smile widened. "You're going to be a mother, Lyra. And I'm going to make sure you're strong enough to protect your child. To give them the life they deserve."
That felt right too. Good. Safe.
Elena was her rescuer. Her boss. The woman who found her dying and gave her hope.
Nothing else mattered.
Nothing else was important.
Except... Except there was something. A flicker in her mind. Something dark and cold and wrong about that night in the forest.
Something she should remember but couldn't quite grasp.
"What's wrong?" Elena asked, watching her carefully.
"Nothing. I just... I feel strange. Like I'm forgetting something."
"You've been through stress. Memory gaps are normal." Elena patted her hand. "Rest. Heal. Everything will make sense in time."
Lyra nodded. That made sense.
She was safe. The baby was safe. Elena would help her.
Everything was fine.
Everything was— A flash. Brief. Blinding.
Elena's eyes, pure black, looking down at her.
Symbols burning like cuts in the earth.
Something being shoved into her mind, changing, replacing, stealing— Then it was gone.
Lyra blinked.
"Did you say something?" Elena asked.
"No. I..." Lyra shook her head. "I think I need more sleep."
"Good idea." Elena stood. "I'll check on you later. We'll start your training tomorrow. Teaching you to control the shadow. To become strong."
She left, closing the door softly behind her.
Lyra lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Something was wrong.
She knew it with bone-deep confidence.
But every time she tried to remember what, the memory slipped away like smoke.
Like shadow.
Like something had been burned out of her mind and replaced with something else.
Something safe. Acceptable. False.
She pressed her hand to her stomach, feeling the tiny life inside.
"I'll protect you," she whispered. "Whatever it takes. Even if I can't remember why I feel so afraid."
Outside, Elena stood listening.
Smiling.
It had worked brilliantly.
The girl remembered nothing. The changes held. The dark seed was planted.
In five years, when the time was right, she'd reap what she'd sown.
And Lyra would never see it coming.
Never know she'd been made into a weapon.
A vessel.
A tool.
For now, she'd train the girl. Make her strong. Useful.
And when the moment came, she'd take back what was hers.
The shadow power that should have been Elena's alone.
But first, the girl had to ripen.
Had to grow into her promise.
Had to become everything Elena needed her to be.
Patient. Elena had always been patient.
Five years was nothing to someone who'd lived for ages.
She walked in
to the forest, leaving Lyra sleeping.
And the symbols on the ground—still there, still glowing dimly with black light—pulsed once.
Hungry.
Waiting.
Growing stronger.