“You can read my mind?”
“Of course, I can,” she giggles, her eyes shimmering with a sort of mischief and innocence as she lifts a graceful hand to her mouth, the flick of her wrist so regal. “I am you, after all.”
“Me?”
The woman leans against the edge of the table, her body flowing like a gentle wave even when she doesn't move.
“Yes,” she nods, her hair billowing out as if a wind passed by. “I am you, you are me. We are one, you and I. I created you in my image, after all.”
My eyes widen with realization, and I instantly bow my head.
“Moon Goddess Selene…?”
“Yes, child.” She holds out a hand toward me, and I hesitate to put mine forward, feeling so undeserving of such a privilege.
“You are not undeserving, Willow. You are herebecauseyou are meant to be.”
Her gentle reassurance prompts me to take her hand, warmth flowing through my arm and spreading throughout my body as if she wrapped her arms around me.
“Did I die?” I ask as I get to my feet, the Moon Goddess holding my hand as she leads me forward.
“No, not yet.” She shakes her head softly, gracefully. “There is something you need to see first.”
I nod timidly, following the Moon Goddess as she leads me past the table and down a long corridor, every corner of the way lit up with the white light against whiter walls.
It's the type of pure white that doesn't exist in the world I've lived in—so pure, so regal, so utterly breathtaking that I can't bring myself to say another word as we continue walking through the majestic corridor.
The Moon Goddess watches me out of the corner of her eye, pride swelling her chest as she reads my mind, reads my awe, feels the things I'm feeling.
At the end of the long corridor, we arrive at a white marble door, and the Moon Goddess lifts a delicate hand to push it open. The room is made up of tall, glass panes, almost like the greenhouse back home, but the floor is blanketed by white smoke that moves as we do.
“You have not died, yet, Willow,” the Moon Goddess throws over her shoulder as we make our way to the farthest glass pane. “Take a look.”
I do as I'm told, approaching the glass with caution and searching for what it is she wants to show me.
I find it at the bottom of the tall skyscraper we appear to be standing in—the battlefield in Girdwood, the Snehvolk wolves and demons stopping when they see my body bursting from the gaping hole in the ground. With my arms spread out and my head tilted to the sky, my body is covered in gold light that keeps me suspended in the air.
My eyes flit to baby Emile being suspended midair by a demon that dangles a baby to taunt the wolves and witches of Snehvolk. But he was my driving force, the fuel to the fire that compelled me to take the potion and do whatever needed to be done to protect him.
Thane howls at the top of his lungs, the sound reaching the height of where my consciousness now stands beside my creator, and I gasp.
A hand lifts to my throat as I recall the burning sensation from the potion I drank after chanting the mantra of an ancient tribe who once wielded magic and shape-shifting abilities. Hailing from the mountains of Alaska, I feel the energy of decades past—my ancestors who live inside me now.
“I sacrificed myself…” I whisper. “They'll be safe now, won't they?”
The Moon Goddess shakes her head slowly, her hair like gentle waves crashing on the shore. “Not yet, Willow. That is why you are here. You are meant to choose.”
“Choose? What am I supposed to choose?” I frown, and she turns to me with a soft smile.
“Your suffering is over now, child, and you can remain here, with me, if you would like.”
“What's my other option?”
She steps aside and points toward the battlefield at the bottom.
“You may go back into your body, but the pain will be excruciating, unlike any suffering you have endured in your life,” she explains. “You would have to be very brave to want to survive what comes after this moment. Or else, you will return to me,but your soul will remember that pain if you are unable to face it down there.”
I plant my palm on the glass pane, staring at the scene in front of me. Watching Thane fight the demons on the battlefield. Vengeful. Vindictive.
