Everything we could have had hangs suspended between us, invisible but so real—our life together, our future. Lazy Sunday mornings tangled in sheets, holidays with our families, summer nights in our own backyard… All the ordinary, beautiful moments we’ll never have, about to be crushed forever at the hands of Sophia, Oaklyn, and the girl who was once my best friend.
From the Journal of Hazel Okada
As Sophia lifted the boulder above Natalie, she turned her gaze onto me. The hair on the back of my neck stood up like I was being stared down by a predator.
She didn’t speak. She didn’t need to. Her eyes flicked from me to Oaklyn, then to something in the trees behind me. I followed her line of sight and froze.
A wolf was crouched strides away, its gray fur rippling in the wind.
I sucked in a breath and stepped back.
No, not a wolf—a chimera. Its purple eyes were fixed on Katie, full of a chilling intelligence.
The golden net was still in my hands, weightless and silky soft. I knew what she wanted. What I was supposed to do. I’d chosen this path when I climbed into the car with Oaklyn last night, and possibly long before that.
“Now, Hazel!” Oaklyn commanded.
She yanked her dagger back, severing the roots that held Katie. Katie barely had time to gasp for breath before Oaklyn lashed out at the wolf. The chimera flinched, muscles tensing to flee, but fresh roots shot from the blade and snared its legs before it could leap away.
It yelped and changed form into a rabbit. But Sophia was already there with her magic, sending a wave of earth to pin the creature down—and the ground rumbled, a deep BOOM filling the air as the boulder crashed down where Natalie had been.
Katie screamed, the sound so terrible that my blood ran cold and tears sprang in my eyes.
I covered my mouth, panic washing over me—but there was no time to think about what was happening. No time to think about whose side I was on or what I was about to do.
Sophia turned her deadly gaze onto me, her voice cutting through the chaos. “Do it, girl!”
Under the glares of Sophia and Oaklyn, my hands moved before my brain could catch up. I threw the net like I’d seen Katie do a hundred times when we practiced in that empty Alchemy lab. Time slowed as it unfurled, its golden threads glinting like a web spun from sunlight.
My breath hitched as it landed on the struggling chimera. The moment the net touched it, the creature’s form flickered wildly—skunk, chickadee, some reptilian monster I couldn’t name—but the net conformed to each shape, tightening until the chimera could barely move.
Sophia was there in an instant, shoving me aside so hard that I stumbled backward. Her face was alight, her eyes gleaming with a hunger that made my stomach turn. She snatched up her prize and held it to her chest like it was her child.
“Nice work, Hazel!” Oaklyn said, but her voice sounded warped and distant, everything swimming around me.
As Katie continued to scream and the chimera thrashed, a knot formed in my stomach.
The chimera’s strange purple eyes locked onto mine through the golden mesh as it surrendered in the form of a small brown rabbit. Something in its gaze sucked away my breath—like this creature was beyond anything I could comprehend. Was Katie right about them?
The knot inside me tightened until I couldn’t breathe.
Add it to the list: another mistake in a long series that would change my life forever.
Chapter 24
Fucking with the Wrong Guardian
Astheboulderdropsout of the air over Natalie, panic clamps down on me like a vise. My vision goes fuzzy, and I sway like I might pass out. Every memory of her flashes through my mind—the first time I saw her in the vet’s office, the first time her lips touched mine, every moment we held each other.
BOOM!
The earth shudders beneath my feet as the boulder crashes down. The impact rattles my bones, shaking the trees and plunging the cove into silence.
“Natalie!” Her name tears from my throat, my voice so desperate and raw that I don’t recognize it. The concept of losing her, this woman who’s become my entire world, is too unbearable to process.
I stagger forward, dimly aware that I’m free from Oaklyn’s roots. My legs carry me automatically toward the massive rock, my mind hovering somewhere outside my body. My heart feels like it’s being ripped from my chest with each step.
“No, no, no…” The words pour from my mouth like a whimper, mixing with gasps as I try to get my breath. Please, not her. The universe can’t be this cruel. We were supposed to have our whole lives ahead of us—to move into that cottage she dreamed of, get married, see the world, and grow old together.
