“You got it.” Davina closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them again, they were black as ink. The air hummed. She didn’t move her body, she didn’t need to. The ground itself obeyed her call.
Outside, the earth trembled. Thick vines burst from the soil, wrapping around each other in a chaotic weave. Thorns the size of daggers tore upward, dripping venom. The vegetation slithered like living serpents, twisting and coiling in defiance of gravity.
The sound was deafening with the low hiss of roots moving like beasts beneath the surface.
When the tremors stilled, Corey exhaled slowly, still watching the windows. “Holy hell,” he whispered. “Remind me never to get on her bad side.”
“How long will it take them to get through that?” Lucy asked.
Davina’s voice was calm, though her breathing was uneven. “A few hours, maybe days. Depends on what they brought with them. But unless they came with chainsaws and a death wish, they’re not getting in fast.”
Mary knelt beside Erin, who was clutching her colouring book tight. “Come on, little one,” she murmured. “We’ll wait in the other room. This is no place for you right now.”
Erin nodded silently, her body trembling. Mary took her hand and led her out just as another distant blast echoed through the walls.
Corey slammed his hand down on the table. “How the fuck did they know everything? The bombs, the wards, the numbers—someonetoldthem.”
The silence that followed was heavy. Lucy’s gaze snapped across the room and locked onto Michael.
“It was you,” she said. Her voice was ice.
Michael froze. “Lucy—”
“It was you!” She was across the table before anyone could stop her, moving faster than the human eye could track. The air rippled around her as she grabbed his shirt and hauled him fromthe chair. Her eyes glowed brighter than they ever had they were burning with fury.
“How do they know?” Her voice came out distorted, layered with power. “TELL ME EVERYTHING!”
Michael tried to fight it, his body trembling as he resisted the pull of her command.
“SPEAK NOW!” she screamed.
The force hit him like a shockwave. His breath hitched, and the words began to pour out of him uncontrollably.
He spoke of the blood-red snow. Of his family and friends dying in front of him. Of being taken by the Lucent, taught that he and others like him were dirty, impure, and born to be erased. He spoke through tears, his voice cracking as years of suppressed memory tumbled free.
“When I connected to you, Lucy,” he sobbed, “I felt that same pull I used to feel as a child. Something inside meremembered. I didn’t know what to do. I was supposed to spy, to send word… but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. I just—”
Mandy started crying quietly. She too remembered the blood-red snowbefore. She remembered the same stories, the same fear. She felt it again now through him it was the connection of those who had survived the same beginning.
Michael’s voice broke. “I’m so stuck. Between what I was taught and what I know now. I’m scared of them, Lucy. I’m terrified.”
Lucy’s anger faded, replaced by something deeper. Pity and understanding.
Without thinking instincts kicked in, she placed her hands on either side of his face. A rush of energy filled the room. Her eyes brightened again, not with rage this time, but with pure intentions.
She dove into his memories.
Images flooded her mind, a storm of noise and colour. She saw his childhood, his laughter, the small moments of joy buried under years of cruelty. She saw the day he was taken, the cold white rooms, the conditioning. And she began to weave.
Every good memory she found, she strengthened. Every bad one, she blanketed with light, her energy was reshaping and reframing them. She whispered into the darkest corners of his mind:
They are the enemy. Remember who you are.
She said it aloud as she worked, her voice echoing through the manor. “Remember who you are!”
Michael’s body shook. His eyes rolled back, breath ragged. The lights flickered overhead. Byron took a half-step forward but didn’t intervene. No one did. No one dared.
When the surge finally stopped, Lucy fell backward, the energy leaving her all at once.
