“This place has a history,” Stellan says carefully. “People have tried… the Oath. It didn’t end well.”
“Those ash piles,” Thane adds, his voice tight, “are from people who tried… and failed.”
“What?” The word comes out sharp. “What oath? What are you talking about?”
“People who tried to use the mirrors without understanding what they were doing,” Stellan says. “Without having what was needed.”
“The chamber responded to you,” Gray says quietly from behind me. “The lights, the symbols — none of that happened when Theo and Seth found this place.”
“You brought them,” Riley says, approval clear in her voice. “Good.”
But I can feel the fear still radiating from Thane and Stellan now, the way they’re watching every movement of my Ether with barely contained panic.
Riley’s voice carries across the chamber again, softer now. “This is the first time in centuries this chamber has come awake. The first time the mirrors have responded to anyone.”
I turn back to look at Riley. “What does that mean?”
“It means you have what they didn’t,” she says simply. “What they were all missing.”
Riley studies me for a long moment, then glances at the others behind me. “Not here. Not yet. There are things you need to know first. Questions that need answers.”
“But you’re here. Can’t you just tell me?”
“Some knowledge has to come from the living world.” Riley’s smile turns gentle. “From people who chose to trust you with the truth. But I can tell you this much — when the time comes, the choice will be yours alone. And whatever you choose will be right.”
“What choice? What are you talking about?”
Riley’s expression grows sad. “Ask them. They know more than they’ve told you.” Her eyes flick to Thane and Stellan. “Don’t they?”
The mirror begins to dim slightly, and I feel a flutter of panic.
“Don’t go,” I say quickly. “I just found you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Riley presses her hand to the glass again. “I’ll be here when you’re ready. When you understand what you’re choosing.”
The light in the mirror fades until it shows only my own reflection again. But something has changed. The girl looking back at me isn’t perfect or certain or unafraid. But she’s not broken either. She’s just… me. Real and flawed and that’s okay.
I turn back to face the guys, still shaken by everything that just happened. Riley’s words echo in my head, and I can feel the weight of all the questions I don’t have answers to.
I look at Thane, then Stellan. “We need to talk.” My eyes sweep over the rest of them. “All of us.”
“So,” Jace says, voice rough with emotion he’s trying to hide behind humor. “How about those we-made-it-out-alive pancakes? We’ve earned it.”
I shoot him a look.
“Fine. Pancakes and explanations. Now.”
Chapter 33
Wes
I can’t sit still.
We just got back from the chamber maybe twenty minutes ago, and my skin feels like it’s been stretched too tight across my bones. The trek back was silent—all of us lost in our own heads, trying to process what we’d witnessed. Bree went straight to the kitchen the moment we walked through the sanctuary doors, and the rest of us are wandering around like we don’t know how to be around each other anymore.
The hunger won’t let me settle.
Not the usual gnawing emptiness I’ve gotten used to. This is sharper, more focused. It started shifting that night—Bree giving without flinching, like there was nothing wrong with needing. And then Gray, steady and stubborn, holding me there like I wasn’t going to break him. Different, but both of them hit something I didn’t know I was starving for. Since then the hunger doesn’t just sit in me—it watches, listens. Feels every crack in the room. The tight line of Gray’s jaw. The way Jace keeps flexing his hands like he’s ready to throw something.
