Page 12 of The Stars

They had just witnessed Mia turn into a dragon and Lucas into a giant dog. A few others had flown.

He had so many questions. What was Mia talking about? Powers? Bloodlines? And how the hell were they both connected to something this big? Every single person standing in the circle seemed to be insane. Even Jacob was in on it. Were they all crazy?

Maybe they’d been drugged? That was it. All sorts of things could cause them to hallucinate.

He knew about some of the past events that the group had gone through. How Jess had been dubbed a witch. The rumors of Xtina’s powers. They had just been rumors. Right?

Before he could voice any of his concerns, Jacob stepped forward, his face grim. “It’s time,” he said, his voice low and resolute. “We need to head down now.”

The group moved quickly through the opened door, down the main entrance of the silo. As they walked, Jess flicked her wrist, and overhead lights turned on as if by magic.

“What’s going on?” Amy whispered to him.

He reached out for her hand in the dim light and held on as they made their way through the maze, finally stepping into the main silo room.

“Jess?” Mia asked.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise as the heavy metal door of the silo lifted and opened.

Amy wrapped her arms tighter around herself, clearly unnerved. “Is this really happening?” she asked, her voice shaking.

Dante wanted to comfort her, to tell her everything would be fine, but he didn’t have those answers. He didn’t even know what was happening himself. And then, as if on cue, the clouds overhead parted, revealing the full moon in all its silvery glory high overhead. The moonlight poured into the silo, flooding over them like a spotlight, casting long, eerie shadows over the group.

There was a sudden shift in the air, a change in tension around them. He felt a cold, unnerving certainty that whatever was coming next was inevitable. That fate, ancient and unstoppable, was finally closing in.

Dante barely had time to process what was going on before Brea stepped forward and touched his shoulder. Her fingers were cool and delicate, but the moment they made contact, a shock ran through him like lightning striking deep into his bones.

“She will have to go forward first,” Brea told him, her voice laced with mystery. “You’ll meet her in the past. This is how it has to be.”

Dante opened his mouth to argue, to demand an explanation, but before a single word could escape his lips, everything shifted. A burning, electric sensation exploded in his chest, racing through every nerve in his body. It wasn’t pain—not exactly—but it was overwhelming, like being hit with an unrelenting surge of energy. His skin tingled, his muscles clenched involuntarily, and his heart pounded as if it might burst from his chest with an unknown force.

He gasped, trying to ground himself, but it was like touching a live wire. The buzzing in his ears grew louder, vibrating in the very core of his skull until he could hear nothing else. It was as if the world itself was humming, tearing apart at the seams. Bright, searing light flooded his vision, forcing his eyes shut, but even then, the light seemed to burn through his eyelids.

The world beneath his feet began to spin violently, faster and faster. His stomach lurched, as though he were on the edge of a cliff, teetering in that brief, terrifying moment before the fall. But then the ground vanished completely, leaving him suspended in nothingness.

He was falling.

Free-falling.

Dante’s arms flailed as he screamed, reaching for something—anything—to grab onto, to stop his plunge into the unknown void. The wind roared in his ears, or was it the buzzing still? He wasn’t sure anymore. Everything was a chaotic blur, his senses overwhelmed by the sheer impossibility of what was happening. His chest tightened with panic as the sensation of falling deepened. His heart was hammering so fast that it felt like it might give out at any moment. There was neither up nor down—just a dizzying vortex of motion and light.

And then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

He landed, but not on jagged rocks or an unforgiving surface. The impact was soft and yielding. Warm. His breath came in ragged gasps as the world righted itself, the spinning sensation easing enough for him to dare open his eyes.

Sand.

Golden grains clung to his hands, to his skin, shifting through his fingers as he pushed himself up. He was still reeling from the sensation of being hurled through space when he took a deep breath. The sand was warm beneath him, heated by a sun far brighter and more intense than the one from the world he’d known just moments ago.

He sat there for a moment, catching his breath, his heart still pounding hard in his chest as he tried to make sense of where he was—or when he was. The air around him was salty and heavy, and the sound of waves crashed softly feet from him.

Wherever he was, the beach stretched out before him for miles. The clear water sparkled under the bright midday sun, stretching endlessly towards the horizon. The coastline was rugged and wild, with jagged cliffs rising in the distance, their peaks softened by the haze of heat shimmering off the ocean. Behind him, a dense forest of olive trees and tall, swaying grasses rustled in the warm breeze. The air was alive with the faint hum of insects.

Dante’s fingers curled into the sand, grounding him. He could still feel the lingering hum of energy coursing through his veins, like static clinging to his skin, but it was fading, the remnants of Brea’s power slowly dissipating.

He swallowed hard, his throat dry as he tried to process what had just happened. The soft roar of the ocean waves was calming, yet surreal. This wasn’t a beach he recognized—he wasn’t anywhere near Hidden Creek, or anywhere he had ever been. The sky above him was clear, the kind of deep, perfect blue that seemed to stretch on forever. He blinked, squinting against the brightness, still struggling to piece together how he had gone from the grip of Brea’s magic to landing here.

The realization hit him like a punch to the gut, stealing the breath he’d only just regained. He was here. Really here. This wasn’t a dream. He hadn’t been drugged. Everything he’d just witnessed was real.