Emerald's breath shuddered out of her as she spun toward the voice.
The chamber stretched endlessly behind her a cathedral of obsidian, the walls alive with veins of blue-white light that pulsed like a heartbeat. Every pulse made the air tremble. She felt it beneath her skin, in her teeth, in the place the curse had once sat dormant like a coiled snake.
Now it was awake.
A figure emerged from the far end of the chamber, stepping into the glow as though she commanded it.
Tall. Regal. Wrapped in layered black and silver armor that shimmered like scales. Her hair fell in a waterfall of ink, braided with pieces of bone and glints of crystalline metal. Her eyes, emerald green like Emerald's own but colder than polished steel.
Aunt Kaela.
Emerald's knees almost buckled. "This… isn't real."
Kaela smiled without warmth. "Oh, it is. More real than that little steel box your friends are screaming in."
Emerald's heart seized. "They're alive?"
"For the moment." Kaela drifted closer, her steps soundless on the crystal floor. "Your magic created a rupture. A tether. You slipped through it and I followed the break."
Emerald clenched her fists, pulse hammering. "You dragged me here."
"No," Kaela said softly, "you brought yourself."
The chamber thrummed again, low and resonant. Emerald felt the vibration in her chest, stirring something inside her—the same green heat that had burst free in the car, reckless and wild.
Kaela's eyes flicked to Emerald's hands. "You feel it now, don't you? The fracture. The power bleeding through the cracks."
"The curse is failing," Emerald whispered.
"The curse is broken," Kaela corrected sharply. "You shattered it when you lashed out tonight. I warned the Council this would happen. They never listen." She sighed dramatically. "Teenagers."
Emerald took a step back. "Why curse me in the first place? Why keep me powerless? Why?"
Kaela's gaze sharpened. "Because you were born wrong."
The words hit like a slap.
Kaela circled her, slow and deliberate. "Your power was never like the others. It refused to obey. It behaved as if you were centuries older than you are as if you inherited something ancient, something unpredictable. A magic that cannot be permitted on the throne." She paused directly behind Emerald, her breath cold on Emerald's neck. "A magic that belongs to the wrong bloodline."
Emerald's stomach twisted. "My mother?"
"Your mother defied the dynasty," Kaela said, her voice suddenly sharp. "She chose the old way. The forbidden line." A dark smile curved her lips. "And she paid for it."
Emerald's nails dug into her palms. "So you cursed me because of her?"
"I saved you," Kaela snapped. "The Council wanted you dead. I argued for mercy." She spread her arms, as if expecting gratitude. "I offered to suppress your power, hide you among the humans, erase the threat."
"But I wasn't a threat," Emerald cried.
"You are now."
The chamber's pulsing intensified, the lights brightening and dimming in waves that matched Emerald's heartbeat. A pressure built behind her ribs, hot and insistent.
Kaela lifted her chin. "Your magic is unstable. Untrained. Too much of the old world in you. If it fully awakens, you will tear apart everything around you including those sweet little human friends you've collected."
Emerald flinched. "Don't talk about them."
"Oh, I will talk about them," Kaela said with relish. "Because they are liabilities. Breaking the curse has already drawn hunters from three realms. The moment you return to that car, they are prey. You doomed them the moment you let your magic loose."
Emerald shook her head. "No. I can control it. I just need.."
Kaela raised a single hand.
The chamber fell silent.
The glowing veins froze mid-pulse.
The air stopped vibrating.
Kaela stepped closer until they were face-to-face. "Emerald. Listen to me." Her voice lowered to a chilling whisper. "You cannot go back."
Emerald's breathing grew shallow. "What?"
"If you return to the human world, your awakening will pull the hunters straight to you. Entire villages have burned for less. Your mother's clan nearly destroyed half the realm when their heir came into power." Kaela's fingers brushed Emerald's cheek in a mockery of affection. "You are worse than she ever was."
Emerald jerked away. "Stop comparing me to her!"
Kaela's smile widened. "Why? It's the truth."
Emerald's magic throbbed violently, like a heartbeat slamming against her bones. Her skin flickered with green light. The chamber brightened in response, as though excited.
Kaela's eyes gleamed. "There it is. The heart of the old blood."
"I'm not like them," Emerald whispered.
"You will be."
A tremor shook the floor. Emerald staggered.
Kaela didn't move.
"The only path forward," Kaela said calmly, "is to sever your ties. Let the humans go. Come with me. I will teach you to wield this power without annihilating half the realm."
Emerald's vision blurred with heat and horror. "I won't abandon them."
Kaela sighed. "Then they will die."
Emerald felt something snap inside her fear, grief, fury all twisting into a single, blinding surge. Her hands glowed bright green.
Kaela's eyes flashed with warning. "Careful, child."
"I'm not your child."
The chamber convulsed.
Crystal walls split open like ruptured stone.
A roar of wind, light, and magic swallowed Emerald whole.
Kaela's voice cut through the chaos, cold, furious, echoing.
"Run, then. But you cannot hide from what you are."
The world shattered.
Emerald was falling. Falling through sound and silence. Through green fire and tearing light.
Then.....Impact.
She hit something soft.
Voices blurred around her screaming, frantic, relieved.
A hand grabbed hers.
"Emerald! Emerald, can you hear me?!"
Sara.
Emerald gasped, eyes snapping open.
She was back in the car.
Smoke filled the cabin. The windshield was cracked. The road outside flickered with residual blue light.
Sam, coughing. Noah, groaning. Sara gripping her hand so tightly it hurt.
Emerald's whole body trembled.
Kaela's final words pressed like ice against her skull.
"You cannot hide from what you are."
Emerald stared at her friends burned, terrified, loyal.
Then whispered,
"We have to move. Now."