Tangled Fates

Chapter 28

LISTEN... HEAR ME... A voice echoed, neither mine nor Caleb's. A voice that came from inside me.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

The voice resonated like wind through ancient ruins, layered and low. A question already asked. The first lie you swallowed. The last truth you'll scream.

"I don't understand—"

You weren't meant to. Understanding is for those who survive the fire. You're still standing in it. Silence fell as if the world held its breath before the voice continued. They called you worthless, an abomination, a half-breed. Your grandmother pried your roots from the earth and carved into your skin and bones. Your mother watched, silent and unmoving. Your sisters held daggers, each one cutting flesh away. And you— You swallowed every wound and called it survival. But I remember. I was there in the silence after your first scream. In the nights you begged the moon to see you. In the blood you buried and the man you loved too softly.

"I didn't asked for—" I protested.

Didn't you? You asked, with every breath you held when he looked at you. You asked, when you watched him bleed and whispered nothing. You asked, when your fingers twitched toward him in sleep. You asked, when you curled around your grief like it might keep him safe. The voice softened but coiled closer, breathing against my neck. You didn't speak the words because words are weak. But your soul screamed... and I answered.

"This isn't real. You're not real—" I insisted, my mind buzzing as I stared at Caleb's face, frozen in place.

The voice moved closer now, a growl curling around my spine. I am as real as every scar they left behind. I am the want they told you to kill. The rage you wrapped in silence. The love you were too afraid to name. I am the scream that would not die. The flame that refused to go out. You called me, and now I am here.

"Why now?" I wondered aloud why this moment was special, why not earlier? There had been many times before.

Because he's bleeding. Because you're still begging with your heart while lying with your mouth. Because this is the edge, Nadia— and you were never meant to be small. A pulse awakened within her chest as the voice shifted, soft yet cruel and kind all at once. He fights for you like he's drowning. And you... You pretend you're not the tide. Let me out! Let me remind the them what happens when something born of ash and agony chooses to live.

"What if I can't control you? What if Caleb gets hurt?" My need to know if this thing would save Caleb was overwhelming, to hell with my own life, but watching him die for me wasn't an option.

The voice chuckled lowly, a twisted half-growl shaking beneath my ribs like thunder growing there. You couldn't even control your love for him! I am not here to be chained. I'm here because you broke. Because you've finally stopped lying! So let go. Burn brightly. Become more. You are not witch. Nor wolf. Not anymore. You are mine. And I am you. Now open the door and let me tear through everything for us.

The world was too quiet after the voice faded, like breath held before a scream. Then it broke open with an audible crack, like ice on a frozen lake giving way beneath too much weight. Violet light spilled from the fracture, pouring from my eyes, my mouth, seeping through my very pores.

I screamed as my skin split along invisible seams. Smoke crawled over me like a living thing, wrapping around my limbs, my torso, my face. It slithered into my open mouth, down my throat, behind my eyes, filling me with a pressure that should have burst my skull.

My bones shifted beneath my skin, stretching and cracking as they rearranged themselves into something new. Something wrong. My fingers lengthened, nails hardening into claws that gleamed like the obsidian that lay at my feet, in the violet light emanating from beneath my skin. My spine elongated, driving me upward, the smoke-like substance supporting my newly-shaped body.